Please join us to hear Futurist James Canton on campus Tues. Oct. 20

Please mark your calendar for:

11 am -12:30 pm

Tuesday, October 20

Ferst Center

Free admission

We are fortunate to have a well-known futurist to speak to us in conjunction with our Strategic Planning process, and we would like for you to join us. It is open to all faculty, staff and students, as well as the community.

Dr. Canton is a renowned global futurist, social scientist, keynote presenter, author and visionary business advisor. For over 30 years, he has been predicting the key trends that have shaped our world. It is only fitting that we would have him join us and we work to plan Georgia Tech's future for the next 25. He will speak for one hour and then open it up to questions and discussion.

Among Dr. Canton's books is The Extreme Future: The Top Trends that Will Reshape the World in the 21^st Century. He is CEO and Chairman of the Institute for Global Futures, a leading think tank that he founded in 1990. He has advised three White House administrations, the National Science Foundation and MIT's Media Lab, Europe. He is a frequent guest speaker of the media, and a commentator on CNN.

To find out more about Dr. Canton, you can visit his Web site: http://www.globalfuturist.com.

For more information on Georgia Tech's Strategic Planning Process, remember to visit the Strategic Vision Web site: http://www.gatech.edu/vision/ The site features some of the big ideas that have been submitted, and also provides a way for you to submit your big ideas.

I hope you can join us next Tuesday, Oct. 20 for what promises to be a very interesting and interactive event.

Steve Cross and Chet Warzynski, Strategic Planning Facilitators

Journal/Reflection: What Should I Do With My Life?

Once again, I have the privilege of teaching a section of GT1000 (Freshman Seminar). As part of the GT1000 experience, we ask the students to keep a journal so that they may reflect on what they are learning. Below is the first journal assignment for my class. Since Tech is going through our strategic plan as an organization (President Peterson has asked us to consider what "we want Georgia Tech to look like in 25 years"), I thought that this same journal/reflection assignment would be beneficial for more than just Freshmen.

You do not have to turn in this "Assignment" (the students do!), but I encourage you to take a few minutes and read these articles and see how you might apply them to your work here at Tech and to your life in general. I'd love to hear what you think (and also, if you have any good ideas for journal/reflection questions for our students). I also encourage you to get involved with the Georgia Tech strategic planning process, starting with the President's Investiture on September 3rd.


Journal Assignment

Part 1
Read Po Bronson’s articles “What Should I Do With My Life? The real meaning of success -- and how to find it.” (Fast Company, Issue 66, January 2006, pg 69) and the follow-up "What Should I Do With My Life, Now?" (Fast Company, January 13, 2009)


Po Bronson states:

“Most of us don't get epiphanies. We only get a whisper -- a faint urge. That's it. That's the call. It's up to you to do the work of discovery, to connect it to an answer. Of course, there's never a single right answer. At some point, it feels right enough that you choose, and the energy formerly spent casting about is now devoted to making your choice fruitful.”

Have you heard a whisper? Do you have any ideas yet on what answer is right for you right now?


Part 2 -- Life List/Goals

Create a life list. Write down 10-42 places to go, things to do, skills to acquire, and/or people to meet. Do not limit yourself to short-term goals. Think about the things that you want to accomplish throughout your life.

How can you use your time and resources while here at Georgia Tech help you to reach some of these goals?