Greg Dekker is having trouble choosing between business, psychology, and fine arts as a major and is looking for advice. The School of Exploratory Studies offers "Handi-Steps" to help students choose a major. A student named S.O.E. asks if they can provide guidance on how to choose.
Live in North Carolina, specifically here, with one fabulous interesting amazing wife, two of these, one of these, and one of these
Grew up in Michigan, specifically here, and loved kindergarten, where everything was possible…big fat crayons and no wrong answers. But then was taught, like you probably were, too, that there is simply one right way to do just about anything. Pay attention – we already know what it is. So, just learn it.
Started to explore art and ideas. Really liked the fat crayons. Finished college with concentrations in business, psychology and fine arts. Some people thought I must have some sort of genius plan for a complex future, but mainly, I was just curious and couldn’t pick just one thing.
Started to explore art and ideas. Really liked the fat crayons. Finished college with concentrations in business, psychology and fine arts. Some people thought I must have some sort of genius plan for a complex future, but mainly, I was just curious and couldn’t pick just one thing.
Started to explore art and ideas. Really liked the fat crayons. Finished college with concentrations in business, psychology and fine arts. Some people thought I must have some sort of genius plan for a complex future, but mainly, I was just curious and couldn’t pick just one thing.
Started to explore art and ideas. Really liked the fat crayons. Finished college with concentrations in business, psychology and fine arts. Some people thought I must have some sort of genius plan for a complex future, but mainly, I was just curious and couldn’t pick just one thing.
Started to explore art and ideas. Really liked the fat crayons. Finished college with concentrations in business, psychology and fine arts. Some people thought I must have some sort of genius plan for a complex future, but mainly, I was just curious and couldn’t pick just one thing.
I was planning to work somewhere in Human Resources, but got a job in a paint store to pay for dating. At work, I looked up in the rafters one day and saw around a hundred step ladders stored up there and the owner said he got tricked into taking them and they never sold. So, I painted two of them in something shiny, put plants and books on them, and put a big sign on the front of the store that said, “YES – WE HAVE HANDI-STEPS!!” and people came in and asked, “Do you really have Handi-steps?” And we sold them all, so the owner said, “You should be in sales.
Over the years, that’s what I did, but my best part was taking a new territory and making it happen, or a territory that wasn’t growing, or a money-losing division and getting it to succeed. Often, there was one or two things holding it back, and maybe just a couple of ideas, if practiced repeatedly, would create massive growth. Sometimes, this worked on really big scales.
Over the years, that’s what I did, but my best part was taking a new territory and making it happen, or a territory that wasn’t growing, or a money-losing division and getting it to succeed. Often, there was one or two things holding it back, and maybe just a couple of ideas, if practiced repeatedly, would create massive growth. Sometimes, this worked on really big scales.
Over the years, that’s what I did, but my best part was taking a new territory and making it happen, or a territory that wasn’t growing, or a money-losing division and getting it to succeed. Often, there were one or two things holding it back, and maybe just a couple of ideas, if practiced repeatedly, would create massive growth. Sometimes, this worked on really big scales.
Over the years, that’s what I did, but my best part was taking a new territory and making it happen, or a territory that wasn’t growing, or a money-losing division and getting it to succeed. Often, there was one or two things holding it back, and maybe just a couple of ideas, if practiced repeatedly, would create massive growth. Sometimes, this worked on really big scales.
Over the years, that’s what I did, but my best part was taking a new territory and making it happen, or a territory that wasn’t growing, or a money-losing division and getting it to succeed. Often, there was one or two things holding it back, and maybe just a couple of ideas, if practiced repeatedly, would create massive growth. Sometimes, this worked on really big scales.
While I’m doing this, people were asking me, “Hey, how did you do that?” So I started to talk about that, and Rebecca and I started a Learning and Coaching company to share this stuff. Really focused on how to break apart sales and marketing into its parts, and teach that. We also began to judge and coach for DECA – a competitive marketing club you see in some high schools and colleges. This is partly where I saw that one of the underlying challenges in business is “how to breakthrough and be remembered.”
If a picture paints 1,000 words, then I believe that an object, since it’s 3 -dimensional, paints at least 100,000 words. And twenty years ago, I used an empty cardboard box to talk to a church about money and the poor. More than maybe any one thing, that speech probably set my identity as a presenter, and I sometimes still get asked, “Maybe you can do one of your box speeches or something.”
My curiosity expanded by living and traveling in different places, and saw that there are as many as 7 billion ways to comprehend anything. And if you have a completely alternative opinion about this, that’s to be expected, isn’t it?
Success leaves clues, and you can find most of them by looking around you. Books and authors have become as good as they’ve ever been. We can learn much from those who have taken on challenges before us, and expand on these ideas to make to make them better. Someone smart told me that if take just one idea from someone else, that’s stealing, but if you take LOTS of ideas, then it’s called RESEARCH! So, be sure to do lots of research. Twenty years ago, I graduated from college and decided to become a serious student. Our learning together is the result of those years of research, failure, success, and practice.