The Jim Mann story brings up an interesting point. Mann stepped down one day after taking a job as computer geek for the executive branch of Kansas government. That came after a story broke that he held a business administration degree from Devonshire University, which is not accredited and seems to have a pretty bad reputation in American human resources departments.
Mann was hired by Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, who admitted that his staff had not thoroughly investigated Mann’s education background, but they had taken a good look at Mann’s work history. What really mattered to the governor was Mann’s twenty years on the job … his experience.
This story illustrates what – to me – is a flaw in American employment practices. Do we give too much weight to education and not enough to experience?
When hiring someone, we want to see a good educational background. But how many times has human resources missed a real gem who knew more than how to define the work, but with a record of actually doing the work?
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Our thought for today is from Franklin P. Jones:
“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.” 
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