Skip My Mistake; Focus on E-gineering’s Excellence

I absolutely hate making mistakes. Most people do, but when you’re in the communication business the errors are out there for all to read … or see … or in this case hear.

I won’t relive some of the past black marks. At least there haven’t been too many — compared to the amount of newspaper, magazine (and even a little radio and TV) work over the past 20-plus years. I started when I was really young!

Anyway, E-gineering earned the No. 1 ranking on the small/medium list at the recent Best Places to Work in Indiana awards celebration. But while I’m interviewing Nick Taylor, one of the company owners, on an Inside INdiana Business TV segment, I refer to the company as E-Engineering (you know, with the extra "e").

Yes, the name was spelled right on the bottom of the screen. Yes, I got it right in the pronunciation at the end of the segment. And despite Taylor being gracious after viewing the segment on the air and assuring me that the name is commonly mispronounced, I’ll still deservedly beat up on myself for a while.

But for your pleasure, please watch the video (looking past my screw-up) and read the BizVoice story. You will see what a great job the company has done in creating a true family atmosphere in the workplace.

And for a mistake-free video, check out the work of the Chamber’s Tony Spataro in putting together a quick recap of the Best Places dinner. It captured the excitement of the sixth annual event.

Cover Subject is Education Innovator

Take a look at the Indiana Chamber’s BizVoice magazine covers (71 of them over the past 12 years) and you won’t see a lot of people. We don’t have anything against people, particularly Hoosier leaders in their field. We interview them, we gather their insights and we focus on telling good stories.

The lack of photographs is due more to the absence of a full-time staff photographer and the presence of a very talented creative director who has been involved in all but the first two issues of those 71. Tony Spataro won’t want me to mention his name (yeah, right), but I digress.

Our March-April issue does feature a photo of someone making a difference in higher education. His name is Nasser Paydar and he is chancellor of the Indiana University East campus in Richmond. His neighbor, literally across the parking lot, is Ivy Tech Community College.

Paydar eliminated associate degrees and remedial classes (why duplicate what Ivy Tech is doing, he says) and turned his focus to partnerships. He’s giving up potential students in the short run but gaining a strong pipeline for his campus’ bachelor and advanced degree programs. And, most important, he’s operating with the top priority on the students. Sounds like a simple concept, but it’s not one that is always followed.

The in-depth story on higher education efficiency and effectiveness is titled Breaking Down Walls: Columbus, Richmond Show the Way. Give it a read and let us know what you think.