Insightful Articles

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Successful Engineering Student?

By Bill J. Bonnstetter, Chairman, Target Training International, Ltd., Dr. Ronald J. Bonnstetter, DeAnne Preston

What does it take to be a successful engineering student? You may think itʼs having a high level of interest in engineering or achieving a high GPA in high school math and science. If you have an engineer in the family, you might wonder if this means that you are genetically predisposed to being an engineer. This begs the question: Are there factors that show you are predisposed to perform well at something?

Yes, there are. Without knowing about your family history or your performance in high school math and science, we can predict your likelihood of successfully completing freshmen engineering courses - and we can predict it with a high level of accuracy. In one study conducted on freshmen engineering students at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, we predicted with 76% accuracy which students would fail the course. How did we do that?

Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Serial Entrepreneur?

By Bill J. Bonnstetter, Chairman, Target Training International, Ltd., Dr. Ronald J. Bonnstetter, DeAnne Preston

The sources of new job creation have taken on enormous importance as millions of jobs have been lost around the globe. The Kaufman Foundation found that U.S. startups (firms less than one year old) create an average of three million new jobs annually and “without startups there would be no net job growth in the U.S. economy.” In fact, even when startups are excluded, young firms (one to five years old) account for approximately two-thirds of job creation. This shows that it is not just small businesses, but startup businesses in particular that have long been the engines of job creation, making entrepreneurs crucial drivers in the race to put people back to work.

This makes it urgent that the strategy for stimulating global economic growth includes reliable ways to identify those individuals who have the characteristics to succeed at building a viable business. Venture capitalists and other funders in particular will benefit from being able to compare the attributes of a funding applicant to a successful entrepreneur’s profile before investing.

I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You

By Terri Kabachnick

As customers we’ve been waited on by people who quit, but never left. As employees we’ve been managed by bosses who quit, but managed to stay. As managers we have managed people who physically attend, but mentally pretend.

Disengaged workers are costing U.S. based organizations in excess of $250 billion as noted by a 2002 Gallup poll. This price tag includes co-worker and customer dissatisfaction plus loss of loyalty on both sides. Who wants to work with a person who performs only enough to get by?

Information That Adds to the Art of Selection for the Financial Industry

By Bill J. Bonnstetter, Chairman, Target Training International, Ltd.

The entire field of psychology was based on the observation of humans. Observation still is a good method, however, it is too expensive and takes too long. Today we are blessed with validated assessments that can help us pinpoint the behaviors and action required to be a superior performer in many job classifications.

The purpose of this paper is to share what I have learned by analyzing the values, behaviors, and skills of successful financial planners. We collected the following data from 254 people: years in the business, whether they are an independent or captured agent, and their annual income. Any individual with a TriMetrix™ reliability score of 0.70 or below was disqualified.

Senior Executives Discussion: The Future of Coaching in Corporations

By Madelon Maupin Miles

In a candid panel discussion, attendees of the Professional Coaches and Mentors Association annual conference (“Conversations that Transform the Future”) heard “insiders” talk about why coaching works in their organizations, and how they use coaching.

We invite you to see what these senior HR and line managers have learned and use their wisdom to guide you as you consider those who may need coaching in your organization and what to look for and consider.