Meeting held on April 26th, 2016, Recorded by Phil Thoden
President Elect Dale Lowe called the meeting to order. Doug Brown led the pledges and Jim Innes gave our invocation of the day. Lillian Aaron led us in saying The Four Way Test. Vera Keric and Steve Stearns were our Greeters and Carl Noble introduced the guests and visitors.
President Elect Dale exchanged Karen Collins’ Red Badge for a Blue Badge. Congratulations Karen!
Ellen Hunt updated us on RCA Global Grants that have been approved and funded, including one for pediatric emergency equipment for a hospital near Monterry, Mexico.
Mary Reynolds shared an update on the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program the RCA sponsors at an East Austin elementary school. She also reminded us about Early Act First Knight Tournament of Champions (with live horses and knights) programs coming up on May 2 at Dawson Elementary and on the 6th at Pecan Springs Elementary. President Elect Dale then reminded everyone to check in for each meeting via Facebook and Meetup.
After a solid 10 minutes of Fellowship, Andy Swanson introduced our guest speaker Marc Miller who has had an eclectic career, to say the least. Marc’s career journey included 22 years at IBM, several thriving tech startups, a stint as a high school math teacher, a gig raising funds for the Jewish Community Center and a near fatal bicycle accident that changed his perspective forever.
Marc started his latest endeavor, Career Pivot, in 2011 to help his generation, Baby Boomers, make career transitions. He has successfully worked in both multi-generational and multi-cultural workplaces for the last 20 years. Having trained engineers on how to design leading edge networking equipment in the Peoples Republic of China, he followed that with teaching Algebra to inner city adolescents. This experience gives him a unique perspective on the issues businesses have adapting to the wave of Millennials entering the workforce.
Marc took us on a generational journey covering the seminal events and technologies that have impacted the five most recent generations: Greatest, Silent, Boomer, Generation X and Millennials. He explained how these factors have shaped each generation and must be understood in order to foster better communication and understanding across various age groups.
Next week’s speaker is Rob Balon, CEO of the Benchmark Company and a restaurant critic.