PERSPECTIVE: The Quant, Mr. Rogers, the Football Player, and Our Future Workforce

“For a while, Mr. Simons traded like most everyone else, relying on intuition and old-fashioned research. But the ups and downs left him sick to his stomach. Mr. Simons recruited renowned mathematicians and his results improved, but the partnerships eventually crumbled amid sudden losses and unexpected acrimony. Returns at his hedge fund were so awful he had to halt its trading and employees worried he’d close the business.”

“Today, Mr. Simons is considered the most successful money maker in the history of modern finance. Since 1988, his flagship Medallion fund has generated average annual returns of 66% before charging hefty investor fees—39% after fees—racking up trading gains of more than $100 billion. No one in the investment world comes close. Warren Buffett, George Soros, Peter Lynch, Steve Cohen, and Ray Dalio all fall short.”

How did he do it? Simons recognized that human beings can only go so far in predicting outcomes. He became the first “quant” — using computers to aggregate and crunch massive amounts of data. Simons could make money for his clients and still sleep at night, knowing that he had mathematics on his side, helping to guide Medallion’s investments.

Can we afford a less-scientific, less-disciplined approach for our greatest asset — the generations who will build our future?

Mr. Rogers  (applying listening, respect, science and innovation to developing our future leaders)

The documentary was Won’t You Be My Neighbor? — now on HBO — a 2018  film about the life and guiding philosophy of Fred Rogers, the host and creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The film received acclaim from critics and audiences and grossed over $22 million, becoming the top-grossing biographical documentary ever produced and the 12th largest-grossing documentary ever produced. It’s very powerful. I encourage you to watch it if you are concerned about future generations.

Fred Rogers was often misunderstood (he was a frequent scapegoat for the perceived generational entitlement that is behind the current Millennial/Boomer divide) and was sometimes caricatured.

But kids got him. Rogers grounded his approach to the young by invoking a deep respect for who they were as people, backed by scientific evidence, a collaborative approach with educators and parents, and a willingness to try innovative techniques.

The result was a generation of people who remember to this day the television friend who listened to them and helped them to sort out the world. The Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children’s Media in Latrobe, PA continues his work with a mission to “help children grow as confident, competent, and caring human beings,” through what Fred Rogers called “simple interactions.”  On the Rogers Center website are a selection of quotes from Fred Rogers:

• “Anyone who has ever been able to sustain good work has had at least one person – and often many – who have believed in him or her. We just don’t get to be competent human beings without a lot of different investments from others.”
• “No child is born with self-discipline,” and “Children feel safer when they know what the rules are.”
• “In every neighborhood, all across our country, there are good people insisting on a good start for the young, and doing something about it.”
• “One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation.”

Fred Rogers should be examined as a pioneer, leading the way as we attempt to build a self-sufficient, competent, disciplined future workforce.

The Football Player (combining metrics, empathy, discipline, and remembering where you came from to mold tomorrow’s workforce)

Demetrius Johnson probably didn’t spend a lot of time watching Mr. Rogers, while growing up as the youngest of eight children of a single mom in the Darst-Webbe housing projects. He focused his attention on football — first in the projects, then for McKinley High School. He frequently tells the story that the first time he ever ate at a restaurant was with a college recruiter.

After earning a degree in counseling and psychology at Mizzou he played in the NFL for Detroit and San Diego. Returning to St. Louis to work as a national sports marketing manager for Sherwood Medical (now Covidien), he founded the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation, which helps kids growing up with backgrounds similar to his with mentoring, financial, vocational and scholastic assistance.

At an awards event I had the privilege of spending dinner talking with Demetrius  He has worked on bringing young persons into our industry with two of my favorite people — Dr. John Gaal, retired workforce and training director for the Carpenters and Tim Wies, CEO of T.J. Wies, one of the nation’s top wall and ceiling contractors.

Demetrius’ background couldn’t be more dissimilar from those of Fred Rogers and Jim Simons. But he speaks passionately of listening to young people — of teaching them the importance of considering possibilities, the need for discipline and the necessity of establishing and maintaining metrics on what does and does not work in our workforce efforts.

Forum 2.0

Currently Construction Forum STL is engaged in an extensive strategic process with the objective of arriving at what we are calling “Forum 2.0”.  We expect to roll it out in early 2020.

Fueled by the leaders of the companies that build St. Louis, the  Forum is moving into its next iteration. Since our inception in 2013, we have enjoyed great success. It is now time to intentionally turn our attention and influence to St. Louis’ biggest industry need: PEOPLE .

Our Vision is: “Social equity, economic opportunity, economic growth.”

Our Mission is: “To facilitate the collaboration of all the stakeholders in the STL built environment in creating inclusive, robust employment and economic growth.”

CFSTL will concentrate on major new initiatives, all intentionally designed to foster  collaborations that will in turn create new paths to put people to work in the St. Louis Region.

The reasons for the Forum’s undertaking these initiatives are compelling:

• There is no organization that is currently effectively convening, communicating, enabling collaboration, and advancing improvement in the workforce/social equity/economic growth space.
• Programs to date have not been very effective. The metrics (where they have been kept) have been for — the most part — disappointing.
• Collaboration — connecting the dots between various players, better communication and recording what works and what doesn’t — can improve outcomes.
• We already have demonstrated the tools through the metrics and impacts of Forum 1.0.
• We are motivated by our informed understanding of the situation and the need for leadership, risk mitigation, opportunity development, and business creation.