For the past several years, creativity has been on the rise as a characteristic that is greatly sought after in today’s highly competitive job market. As a matter of fact, according to a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 71% of present day employers list this quality among its top three qualities when considering a potential employee. It is thus extremely important for today’s college students to have experiences that allow them to improve their creative abilities.

Maddux, an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD (European Institute of Business Administration), a multi-campus international graduate business school and research institution well-known as one of the leading business schools in the world, published his research  titled “Cultural Borders and Mental Barriers: The Relationship Between Living Abroad and Creativity” in 2009. He discusses his findings with Adrian Dearnell in a live interview conducted for INSEAD’s Knowledge series, a web portal showcasing research from INSEAD’s distinguished faculty. The video of this interview is as below:

The findings Maddux’s research showed that people who have lived abroad were more creative than those who haven’t. In fact, his research also found that the length of time spent living abroad also contributes to an increase in creativity. However, the defining element in whether or not one’s experience abroad enhances creativity is greatly reliant on how much an individual chooses to engage with the foreign culture that he or she is living in. The level of adaptation is a crucial element. The more people had adapted while they were abroad, the more creative they tended to become. In other words, short stints traveling abroad or living abroad without engaging the culture does not help boost creativity because there is “insufficient psychological transformation”.

Maddux does, however, acknowledge that living abroad is not the be all and end all when it comes to creativity. He believes that his research has provided strong scientific evidence that living abroad helps build creativity but he is also not afraid to admit that one can develop creativity within a single culture that is diverse and values creativity. He points to the American culture as an example of this: Americans have had a long track record for excellence in entrepreneurship, a field that requires high levels of creativity; yet at the same time, Americans also have a reputation for being isolationist, seeing that only 10% of Americans have passports. However, as a culture, Americans greatly value individualism and promote of innovation. These character traits of American culture serve to compensate for its citizens’ lack of experiences living abroad.

ELI 360 believes that its students need to see the two-fold implications of this study: First, that living abroad indeed has a strong effect on one’s creativity. In addition, ELI 360 encourages its students to be as engaged as possible during their time in university here in America seeing that adaptation breeds creativity. Secondly, ELI 360 believes in the quality of the American university education. The cultural trait that is shown to promote innovation and creativity is one that is strongly evident in all of ELI 360’s partner universities.

* For those who are interested in tracking down this journal article, here is the non-APA, non-Chicago Manual of Style citation:

“Cultural Borders and Mental Barriers: The Relationship Between Living Abroad and Creativity” by William W. Maddux from INSEAD and Adam D. Galinsky from Northwestern University published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 96, No. 5, 1047-1061 (2009)

World Professions

Far too many people select a course of study that leads to a career based on some popular notion about “how to get rich.” Even parents sometimes push their children toward a major at the university that is believed to guarantee a high salary. Such thinking, though well-intentioned, frequently results in a lifetime of drudgery at work.

COO of Microsoft

Kevin Turner is the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Microsoft after a successful career as President and CEO at Sam’s Club, a division of Wal Mart. Kevin’s new job places him over 32,000 employees around the world, a global organization that produced more than $40 billion U.S. during 2005 alone.

During a recent speech given to a group of university students, Turner told the crowd to “pick a profession you can believe in…believe in your cause. Aspire to be a part of something bigger, and something that you can dedicate yourself to.”

In this presentation, Turner reminisced about his former boss, Sam Walton the founder of Wal Mart, and compared him to his current boss, Bill Gates. Turner stressed that the philosophy of Walton and Gates reflected a desire to improve people and businesses around the world. They did NOT work for money but rather “to make things and the communities around them better.”

This philosophy lifts an individual above the masses that stagnate in self-centeredness. It provides a sense of purpose and meaning to a young life that leads to higher productivity and satisfaction at work. Clearly, this philosophy of work should guide young people as they consider their choices of career and major at the university. When a person combines this way of thinking with a realistic assessment of his/her talents and abilities, good choices can be made.

The October 23, 2009 edition of “Inside Higher Education” reports on a survey of more than 500 human resources professionals and business leaders. The survey focused on contemporary concerns among business leaders about recent college graduates and their abilities to enter the workforce, integrate into the corporate culture and become successful professionals. The results of the study should influence your decision about which university you choose, especially for your bachelor’s degree where your professional formation takes place – or doesn’t.

This particular study revealed that:

88 percent of the respondents think of professionalism as being related to a person rather than the position. To that end, the traits or behaviors mentioned most by the respondents as being characteristic of professional employees were “personal interaction skills, including courtesy and respect”; “the ability to communicate, which includes listening skills”; “a work ethic which includes being motivated and working on a task until it is complete”; and “appearance.”

Similarly, the traits or behaviors most associated by the respondents with “unprofessionalism” included… “poor communication skills including poor grammar”; “poor work ethic”; and “poor attitude.”

Among the traits or behaviors employers value most, and that they believe are most deficient in the recent graduates they have hired, include “accepts personal responsibility for decision and actions,” “is able to act independently,” and “has a clear sense of direction and purpose.” The study notes that colleges need to put a particular focus on imparting these traits to their students.

Clearly, the study mentioned above, reveals the “gap between employer expectations and student realities.” Your choice of university is one of the most important choices you will make and should be considered carefully. Will you have small classes in which you can relate to your professors as a mentor? Will the university help “shape you” into the kind of professional corporations are seeking?

At a private Christian university, the model for teaching students includes the development of character, integrity as well as intellect. These are critical elements of “professionalism.” At these universities, professionalism and advisor/student mentoring happen in so many different contexts that the development of these qualities becomes pervasive.

All too often, young people come to us with the idea that in order to be successful, they only need to store up a lot of factual information in their brains or they only need to graduate from a famous university. Don’t fall for it. Consider such studies as the one cited above. Make decisions that are well informed by factual studies.

Study Abroad

Some things seem to me to be so common sense! But to others the positive effects of living abroad serve as a topic for serious academic research. INSEAD has posted on YouTube an interview with professor William Maddux, and presents a compelling argument for extended study abroad programs. “Does living abroad make you more creative”? asked the commentator. Maddux and other research colleagues establish the fact that living abroad results in increased creativity. In fact, says Maddux, the longer one lives abroad, the greater the level of creativity achieved by the individual.

Given the rapidly changing world of today, a world that is shrinking because of technology and travel, greater creativity is required in the workplace to solve old problems, provide new services and discover new ways to utilize the latest technologies. As long as a person only knows one way of performing a task or solving a problem, he or she will remain bound to that one way. Living abroad affords the individual many opportunities to discover that other culture groups view problems and situations from a variety of perspectives. Education is not so much about “filling the mind” but rather “opening the mind” to the world about us.

Take a few minutes and hear what this research project discovered.

http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2009/10/youtube-interview-with-researcher-co.html

After you have listened to the experts describe the positive results in terms of greater creativity, start looking for a study abroad program that will teach you to see the world from various perspectives instead of only one.

The Nations at ELI 360 Universities

ELI 360 partners with many universities that invest heavily in hiring highly qualified professors that enjoy teaching young students how to think creatively and conduct research at higher levels. Creativity can be learned in these smaller classes through the mentoring of experienced professors. Earn a degree from one of these U.S. universities!

In just 24 hours, I will begin the long trek to

On behalf of ELI 360, I will also begin our work with our newest Independent Associate, Mr. Sam Balachander, a well-known leader in the Indian Christian community. We are optimistic about the future of working with Sam and his colleagues and optimistic about bringing many young Indian students to the smaller, private universities in the ELI 360 group. Their presence on these campuses will contribute toward the education of the American students as well as other international students already here.

In light of the above, we at ELI 360 have spent hours researching the kind of higher education institutions that will serve you best in maintaining the values you have tried to teach your own children and, at the same time, prepare them well for their future professional careers. Clearly, the best choices are smaller private institutions that reward great teaching and insist that professors teach students in small classes and not adjuncts and/or graduate students.

We recommend you research the use of data about “who teaches” that has been produced by popular magazines. For example, take a few minutes to read this article: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/03/usnews. In this article, the author points out the fact that some large state institutions disregard the number of adjuncts and/or graduate students that teach many of the undergraduate classes when they calculate the percentage of “professors that teach.”

Consider this quote from the aforementioned article:

“In an interview, Lawrence N. Gold, director of higher education at the AFT (American Federation of Teachers), said he was bothered by the unwillingness of U.S. News to fix the error and to make sure that the faculty figures are all correct — and that the union would formally ask the magazine to reconsider. The concern comes at a time when the union has launched a campaign — called “Just Ask” — that encourages parents and prospective students to ask colleges about the percentage of courses taught by tenure-track faculty members… We think it’s awfully important for parents and students to know who is doing the teaching and how those people are treated,” he said. “Teachers are the most important factor in any student’s success. The overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty is something they should be aware of and take into consideration.”

Who will teach your children? Think about the importance of this issue for their future career development and success.