The Future of For Profit Education

  I've spent a lot of time recently studying the for profit higher education field.  For those of you that aren't aware, for profit schools have been under tremendous scrutiny by the government over the last couple of years.  Let me catch you up by linking to THIS article.  Have you read it?  Good.  As a generalization, the problem the for profit education sector has run into is the same problem any business has when they get away from focusing on their customers(students) and their product.  When profit is your number one goal you are doomed to fail because there is no substance to your business to fall back on.

The Late Steve Jobs talked about always putting products over profits.  Not that being profitable isn't important, but that being profitable gave you the ability to make more great products. How many of you are reading this on an Apple product?  I promise that Apple made a nice profit on your purchase.   In the Higher Education field, being profitable gives you the ability to train and graduate lots more students and make their lives better and the country richer.  Our industry needs to focus on our mission, our courses of study and our students success.  That's what will lead to long term profitability, as opposed to shady selling tactics.  To be clear, an admissions advisor focused on "sales" is important.  A great admissions advisor will properly qualify a potential student, and then it is his/her job to "enroll" them in the possiblility of what this educational opportunity will provide.  Any sort of higher education program is a big commitment and students do need help seeing the big picture.  It's not only a schools job to help students with this, it is their obligation to have a great academic program that will then back up what the admissions advisor has promised.  

The advantage of a for profit organization is that nothing gets in the way of innovation and improvement.  Theoretically, the more you improve, the more success your business will have.  Recently, one of my children needed academic intervention which my wife and I felt wasn't as robust as necessary to solve the problem.  We were told by the school system that they are doing what is mandated.  A for profit business doesn't think that way.  It thinks, what do I have to do to get the job done as that is the only way to be profitable and stay in business.

Lastly, the schools that will survive are the schools that are commited to offering programs that are better than their competitors.  These competitors are both for profit and not for profit.  Price isn't as much of an issue when you offer a better product.  That being said, schools need to charge tuition that makes sense for the economic times that we are in.  I'm not talking about a race to the bottom, but tuition that makes financial sense for both the business and the consumer.  I personally believe all the scrutiny of our industry is ultimately good.  The education companies most committed to their student focused missions will not only survive, but ultimately thrive, while the rest of the companies will slowly fade away.  Capitalism at its best.

Rich Goldberg

Random Thoughts

  It's been a while since I have posted and I have had lots of thoughts.  So in the tradition of Larry King's old USA Today column's Let's get started.  

I'm not sure why The IPad Mini is so popular.  I would not be happy with the smaller screen.  Why can't LinkedIn make their IPad app more like their website?  I tend to just go through safari than use the app.  I really want to see the new movie This is 40 when it comes out.  Does anyone recommend an online education platform?  I've taken a couple of online courses recently and I haven't been impressed.  Ultimately, it still will come down to the teaching and the content.  I've never been there, but I've always felt I should live in Denver.  I have been to Northern California and I think I should live there too.  By the way, I need a job in either Denver, or Northern California....Chicago would be fine too.  I'm really tired of hearing about the fiscal cliff.  Sometimes it feels like congress thinks it is just "playing" government and that their actions don't really effect the country.  I love the library.  If you don't visit regularly you are missing out.  I hope everyone is having a great holiday season.  Take some time of and spend it with loved ones, they will appreciate it.

We must change the meaning of education

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of Seth Godin.  He is an incredible thinker and has profound thoughts on many subjects.  Earlier this year he wrote a 30,000 word manifesto on the future of education.  Here is a Link to the book and a TedX talk he gave on the subject.  Please share with as many people as possible.  I think the topic of education reform is very important.

It's Hard to Find a Job

I know most of you read the title of the post and thought....Duh!  Of course it's hard to find a job.  Let me explain.  I spent 15 years working for the same organization consistently getting promotions, achieving success, and being a highly respected leader.  I assumed because of my previous success, and everything I feel I can bring to an organization, it wouldn't be that hard to find a new role.....Ok, stop laughing.  I've never really been involved in an in depth job search before.  I didn't know how hard it can be.  The frustrating part is when they pass on you it's difficult to find out why.  I totally get from an HR perspective why they don't want to discuss it, but as someone who's trying to learn how to find a new job it's not very helpful.  

Here is the takeaway for me.  I still think when a company passes on me they are making a mistake, but I also think it's my fault that I wasn't able to present myself in a way to make them understand why I should be hired by them.  I also will be much more empathetic when I do find a new job and have to hire people.  I will keep working on that and keep you updated.  Feel free to comment and share any stories you may have.

The new IPhone

This past Friday the iPhone 5 was released to record-breaking sales and favorable reviews, yet what I have been hearing from a lot of people is about all the things the iPhone can't do, or is a year late being able to do.  Yes, LTE, I'm talking to you.  Every year a new iPhone is released and people are surprised that the improvements are evolutionary and not revolutionary.  Just to be clear, you can only invent the iPhone once.  After that it's just how can we make it better. Samsung took some shots at Apple this week in regard to how much allegedly better the Galaxy S III is.  In full disclosure, I have never used an android phone.  I'm even willing to bet they have some good phones, but there are new android phones all of the time and only one iPhone a year.  Apple is going to make the best overall phone they can make where their competitors make phones in all shapes and sizes and hope one sticks with consumers.  The iPhone, and all Apple products for that matter, speak to people who like things that just work.  You either buy in to the utopian world Apple is trying to create, or you don't.

Terrestrial radio is dead

I read a column last week that Dan Mason, the President of CBS radio wrote, proclaiming that radio was far from dead.  Early in my career I worked in radio, and it's an industry I still follow closely.  Mr. Mason talks about the changing demographics of the listeners and how innovative the industry is with all of their streaming apps  and HD radio and how we may never have another Howard Stern, Tom Leykus, or Rush Limbaugh again.  I fell in love with radio for the personalities.  Johnathan Brandmeir, Steve Dahl, Howard Stern.  To me, this is radio.  Not voice tracks and a few cookie cutter formats.  I subscribe to SiriusXM and listen to people like Adam Carolla and Marc Maron's podcasts regularly.  This is the radio I know and love and this is the radio I choose to listen to.

Goldberg,Version 2.0

I haven't been blogging for a couple of weeks as I went through a very large professional life change.  For the first time in 15 years I'm in between jobs, a free agent, taking time to catch my breath.  Frankly, that's all just fancy talk for unemployed.  The last couple of weeks have been interesting for me as I've transitioned from Rich Goldberg from X company to just plain old Rich Goldberg.  It's not often in a career you get an opportunity to stop and not only smell the proverbial roses, but make different choices.  I've always told my employees as they managed their career to make sure they were going towards something and not just running away from situations that were challenging.  I'm looking forward to the process of going towards something.  I will keep you updated as well as continuing to give my thoughts on other business related topics.  Thanks for reading.