Author: Finola Annibella

At our June Breakfast Meeting Brandon Lloyd, Business Development Manager & Apprenticeship Ambassador at CareerWise Colorado, will cover these topics:

CLOSING THE GAP

Today, the burden of educating the newest members of the workforce falls directly on our schools. But businesses are having difficulty finding employees with the appropriate competencies to effectively fill skilled positions. Modern youth apprenticeship addresses the problem by helping businesses have a hand in shaping their young talent and providing the education system with an applied-learning environment for its students.

AN OPTIONS MULTIPLIER

For students, youth apprenticeship is an options multiplier. Apprenticeship can be a powerful enhancement to their education or a fast-track to a middle-class career, or both.

Apprenticeship is not a diversion from higher education—it’s a rigorous education option that combines theoretical learning with practical learning that focuses career and education objectives. It can also be a direct path to high-paying, in-demand jobs in Business Operations, Financial Services, Advanced Manufacturing, Information Technology and Healthcare.

Any student—regardless of future plans—can benefit from apprenticeship.

A student can start as an apprentice and end with a Ph.D., or apprenticeship can train a student to step directly into a bookkeeper position so they can go on to be a CFO. It’s a model of education that reveals multiple options to career and higher education.

LEARNING FROM THE SWISS

CareerWise looks to the Swiss apprenticeship system for inspiration and has borrowed elements of that model to adapt in Colorado. In Switzerland there are more than 230 approved apprenticeship occupations, and 40 percent of all companies participate in the program. In that environment, 70 percent of Swiss students choose apprenticeships and 30 percent of them stay with their training company or return after college. In fact, many of the world’s largest companies are run by CEOs that started out as an apprentice. It’s that kind of endless possibility we’re building in Colorado with CareerWise—apprentices that start in high school and end with college or career success.

One never quite knows what our Member Engagement Committee has planned for us in May, but you can bet it will be interactive, will require some soul searching and will allow you to get to know other DAB members better!  Based on the feedback we got on the April 12th meeting that Julie Mansfield led, it promises to be something not to be missed!  Feel free to bring a guest if you like.

Bill Mosher is Senior Managing Director for Trammell Crow Company (TCC), with responsibilities for real estate development in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. TCC is a multi-product developer or industrial, office, residential, life science and mixed use projects. Bill will provide an overview of the Front Range real estate market. He will also highlight certain large scale developments in our region, as well as review certain challenges facing the real estate development industry.

Founded in 1948, Trammell Crow Company is the nation’s leading developer and investor in commercial real estate. TCC has developed or acquired 2,800 buildings valued at nearly $70 billion and over 625 million square feet. As of December 31, 2021, TCC had $18.5 billion of projects in process and $9.3 billion in its pipeline. It employs more than 675 professionals in the United States and Europe. TCC has been operating continuously in Colorado since 1958, with recent noteworthy projects including: Crossroads Commerce Park, Denver Water Operations Complex Redevelopment, Riverview at 1700 Platte, Thornton Crossing Amazon Distribution Facility, and Denver Union Station Multi-Modal Transportation Complex.

Blendification … Leading in a rapidly changing, complex, distributed environment
By Dan Bruder

At our March breakfast meeting, we will hear from Dan Bruder, co-founded Blendification to help reinvigorate business as a positive force in society.  With today’s remarkable volatility in labor and consumer markets, many businesses aren’t adapting at the pace necessary to stay ahead of external changes.  Social and technological factors are making it easy for employees and customers to disconnect leaving business leaders lost.  In response, businesses are focused on short-term fixes and overlooking the heart of the issue and the related opportunity.  Human beings need to connect and belong, and business needs to serve this core desire to realize potential.  Essentially, we need to stop seeking the mythical work-life balance and pursue the reality of work-life blend.

Dan’s commitment to blending work and life to enhance the lives of employees, customers, and communities is highlighted in his TEDx Talk, “The Blendification of Work and Life builds Communities.” The process by which organizations accomplish Blendification is outlined in his book, “The Blendification® System: Activating Potential by connecting Culture, Strategy, and Execution.”  Further, his company created the Strategy Whiteboard and Personal Whiteboard which have been digitalized leading to a new industry segment called ConsulTech (consulting technology).

The Strategy Whiteboard and Personal Whiteboard software apps unify and streamline traditionally high-priced and time-consuming strategy, leadership, and personal development consulting programs providing efficient access to everyone in the company through technology. As a result, companies can proactively adapt to external changes and fulfill employee’s core human needs of connecting and belonging and this can be done through work.