Weaving Business and Learning Together for a Lifetime Work of Heart
By | JAYME L. BURDIEK, MBA
Living and learning are the warp and weft threads through which life’s grand tapestry is woven. Support and tension are both present in the structure of the loom. As life brings opportunities and experiences, the tapestry gains threads and a tangible story is created in vibrant visual form. Organizations, like tapestries, are built from varied elements thoughtfully and strategically brought together for purpose, strength and value. People are dynamic and creative therefore business is dynamic and creative. Management and entrepreneurship rely upon those who diligently search, solve and strive for new ideas and markets.
Education or Experience
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” —Chinese proverb
Whether working in local community banks, at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka, or at Security Benefit, education and experience were often at odds as to the advantage they offered in a go forward sense. Which of these would prove to be the catalyst for change this time? How did they impact persons entering the workforce or looking for growth opportunities?
Each position, task, and project provides a learning experience and a chance to bring others along on the adventure. Learning is as vital in this scenario as it is in the classroom. In fact, the work room, when properly managed, is a classroom.
While at Security Benefit, building the Investments team involved interviewing and hiring people, establishing processes and developing systems. Leading new staff to an understanding of derivatives was a thrill. I was able to not only teach them the daily process of trade support, but also introduce an industry holistically made for workers who learned the purpose of policy and regulations, understood the history of the markets, and prepared them to think through and prepare to handle future scenarios on their own.
Instruction or Inspiration
“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” —Robert Frost, American Poet & Teacher
Education is an active process of introduction, assessment and application. Instruction attempts to transfer information from the sender to the receiver for a purpose. Often for student receivers the purpose is short-term outcome based. They must decide whether to memorize facts long enough to pass an exam or to retain for lifelong knowledge.
However, inspiration goes further. Eyes open in a classroom where experience fosters learning. Guest lecturers from companies such as FHLBank Topeka, American Century Investments, Clayton Wealth Partners, and investments/risk management startup Veta Investment Partners, expound upon the financial industry’s footprint in Topeka during my MBA investments class. These professionals speak about current events and market trends, and share their insights on career development. Washburn School of Business purposefully brings business practitioners into the classroom to expose students to real-time scenarios of local companies as well as working on problem solving assignments for multi-national companies in an international setting. As an instructor, equipping students with relevant, tried and tested tools coupled with the ability to use them effectively in practice is the benefit I can bring from years on the investments desk, building teams and systems and serving others.
Advantage or Asset
“The only thing we have is one another. The only competitive advantage we have is the culture and values of the company.” —Howard Schultz, Former CEO of Starbucks
Does the pursuit of a degree provide an advantage or produce an asset? One running thread, woven through the curriculum at Washburn School of Business is introducing students to the concept of competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is established when an organization’s products or services stand out from their competitors because customers perceive greater value in them.
Competitive advantage is not only taught at Washburn, it is practiced through the student-centered, teaching-focused culture. A regional teaching institution must differentiate itself from the educational options available locally, virtually and abroad. There is no patent on research methods. Knowledge and resources are shared regularly for the benefit of others and the pursuit of greater understanding thus eliminating any competitive advantage. Degree programs, areas of study, and facilities can be replicated, mimicked, and perhaps improved upon by competitors. The fidelity demonstrated by the Washburn family is its competitive advantage. The people contrive a social fabric intended to enrich lives far beyond the confines of the campus.
Academics become entrepreneurs when their business is building competent well- rounded graduates who bring exceptional value to the workplace and their world. Alumni who enrich communities by creating jobs and developing products take the Washburn mission further. Equipping tomorrow’s leaders with principled decision-making training, generous scholarship funding opportunities, and promoting exceptional peer competitions set Washburn apart. The Pitch Competition, Business Plan Competition and Student Business Accelerator Fund cultivate ingenuity and entrepreneurship by rewarding new business ideas, start up plans and ventures with cash prizes from alumni and Go Topeka, along with community recognition and support.
The Washburn story is a tapestry woven thread upon thread representing 155 years of Topeka history through the lives of people who have contributed to this work of heart by embracing learning and connecting lives together into the fabric of society.
Each person is represented by their own pattern in the greater work, joined together by the threads of ardent learning and inspired living.
JAYME L. BURDIEK, MBA, is a lifelong Topekan with over twenty years of finance and management experience. She is a Lecturer of Management at Washburn School of Business.
