Can it be true? Only 21.7% graduation rate in the Detroit public schools this year? How is this acceptable? What are we doing arming less than a quarter of Detroit's 18 year olds with a high school diploma? Is this a path to prosperity?

More disturbing data, according to Kristin Collins of the National Science Teachers Association - only half of the American Indian and African American students graduated with a diploma this year. And a paltry 55% for Hispanics. The most alarming trend - 30% of our ninth graders across the board are failing to graduate with a high school diploma.

This does not bode well for the future of America. Education is the key to success. Are we on a path to success?

Wow!!!! I am extremely dismayed by these statistics. Further evidence of the dumbing down of America.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:39 AM | Permalink

My travels often stumble upon remarkable stories. Stories that don't make FOX or CNN's news reels. Stories told by your average every day person, too small to make headlines, but large in the life of the story teller. Sue Scott, a resident of Detroit, Michigan told me her story on Father's Day just a few weeks ago at a bar in Crystal City, Virginia. It really hit me hard and I just can't seem to forget her story.

We were two strangers having our meals by ourselves, side by side at the bar. Inevitably we struck up a conversation. I guessed she was from out of town and asked her what brought her to the Washington, D.C. area. She said it was in search of her missing brother, CPT. Douglas David Ferguson, an Air Force pilot of an F4 plane. CPT Ferguson at the age of 24 was shot down in Laos on December 30, 1969, and remains missing in action. Unaccounted.

For the past 36 years, Sue Scott has tirelessly searched for the truth about her brother. What happened to him? Did he survive the crash as photo evidence might suggest by two opened parachutes found in the area? Was he taken prisoner? Is he still alive? Or did he perish that day?

Answers. That's all Ms. Scott wants. Ms. Scott pushes on, calling on various government agencies. Hoping. Keeping the faith that someday she will find the answers and be able to account for her brother.

What a task! What passion and tenacity she exhibits.

"What keeps her going?" I asked. Well it's statisitics and progress. Amazingly enough, as the years pass, we are still accounting for the MIA's from the Vietnam War. As of today, since the end of the War, 1,568 MIA's have been accounted. 1,802 personnel remain unaccounted. Included in these numbers are 194 accounted for in LAOS with 375 still unaccounted. Every year additional personnel are accounted.

This gives Sue Scott hope. She will not stop looking for answers. She just can't. She must keep trying. And so should our government. We owe it to those who have not come back yet.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 2:32 PM | Permalink

American Electronics Association has released

California Cybercities 2006: An Overview of California's Largest High-Technology Metropolitan Areas

Not such great news, tthe average wage for high tech workers in Sacramento is considerably lower than the statewide average. Statewide's $90,600 compared to Sacramento's $72,495. The highest wage was found in Silicon Valley - $126,700. High tech wages were 106% of the state's average private-sector wage.

The report will be the buzz of the AEA/SARTA/Sacramento Executive event on July 19th. Don't forget to register on the home page of this site.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:57 AM | Permalink

Another interesting post at AlwaysOn

So warns MIT’s Henry Jenkins. Government regulations would widen the “Participation Gap” Panic, hysteria and overheated media coverage of privacy issues at MySpace threaten the growth of emerging social networks, says Henry Jenkins“, co-director of the Media Studies program and Professor of Media Convergence at MIT. Henry believes that social networking will be essential to young people as they organize in groups for social and political action. He is concerned that the backlash surrounding the problems with MySpace could force Congress into creating restrictive laws which would bar computers in libraries and school from using social networking software.

Much has been said about the “Digital Divide.” Henry sees a real danger in what he calls the “Participation Gap” – the gap between young people who can participate in social networks and others who are blocked – and says the backlash against MySpace will only widen this gap......

Andy Plesser

I wish we would stop reacting to a very small number of incidents by passing ridiculously restrictive laws. The short-lived attention the politicians get have long-lasting negative effects.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Ralph Nader

Are you in the early stage of your career? Do you want to rise in your corporate endeavors? A key to moving up the corporate ladder is to seek out a mentor. Having a mentor can be a true discriminator. You would be surprised how little mentoring there is in corporations. Most executives don't mentor. But if you just ask, they will be willing to do so.

According to the Bureau of Land Management:

Mentoring is a dynamic, evolving partnership with people who invest time, know-how, and effort into enhancing another's growth, knowledge, or skills. Mentoring responds to critical needs in an individual's life, preparing that person for greater satisfaction, productivity, or achievement in the future. Mentoring is not about being sponsored for a promotion; it is one of many tools available to aid in employee development.

More specifically, mentoring at BLM is a voluntary program where self-directed people can work together to meet developmental needs. Mentor/Mentoree partnerships are established on a one-to-one basis. The partnership is a constantly evolving, growing process with both members providing insights and feedback

Mentors provide a wealth of experience and mentorees can improve their development by taking advantage of this knowledge. The level of involvement and interaction is up to each mentor/mentoree.

Mentors are to provide support and advice. Mentors are not personal trainers or coaches or your next step for promotion to a new position.

The following are among the mentor's roles and responsibilities:

• Teaches the mentoree about a specific issue


• Coaches the mentoree on a particular skill


• Facilitates the mentoree's growth by sharing resources and networks


• Challenges the mentoree to move beyond his or her comfort zone


• Creates a safe learning environment for taking risk


• Focuses on the mentoree's total development

Mentorees are actively seeking to broaden understanding about the profession, work environment, as well as seek to improve mentoree skills, talents, abilities, and commitment.

The following are mentoree's roles and responsibilities:

• Establish specific goals and objectives for the mentoring relationship


• Actively seek to broaden understanding about the profession, work environment, as well as seek to improve mentoree skills, talents, abilities, initiative and commitment


• Understand potential areas of growth, clarify and negotiate needs and expectations, be enthusiastic and take action


• Use mentor as both a resource for knowledge and a sounding board for ideas and issues


• Be open and honest about concerns regarding the profession and work environment and be willing to listen and learn by receiving constructive criticism and feedback

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:10 PM | Permalink

I had a chance to hear Colin Powell speak on Tuesday in Washington D.C. at the AFCEA TechNet 2006 Conference. I thought his speech was great. Little did I know about Mr. Powell's humor. The speech touched on leadership, politics, military, technology, and his life's journey. I was amazed at the depth of his understanding current technology issues.

One area that I didn't agree with was his anti-Michael Moore comments. Why does the mainstream political leadership disrespect Michael Moore so much? Is it fear? Does Michael Moore speak truth or folly? Here's truth - U.S. military deaths continue to mount in Iraq - we are over 2,500 at this time. Does Powell have any remorse regarding the handling of the Iraqi war? He commented that we should have deployed more troops in the region. I was rather surprised by has candidness.

Moving on to other topics, Colin Powell sees the global playing field will focus on three key areas - economics, energy, and education.

I agree with him. I believe education is going to be the discriminator. From a macro perspective, the more educated a nation is the greater the advantage that nation will have on the global playing field. An educated nation will grow in economic standing. An educated nation will see the errors of fossil fuel energy dependency and seek out alternatives. An educated nation will solve problems such as affordable healthcare for all, environmental issues, intolerance of those who are different and crime.

A point of interest on the diplomatic front, if Powell could be granted one wish from a genie, he would wish for a Palestine state living side by side in peace with Israel.

Hopefully some day the genie will grant Colin Powell his wish!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:01 AM | Permalink

Local entrepreneur, investor and photographer, Mike Posehn, has created a beautiful film that can currently be seen on the Independent Film Channel. The film was shot with a digital still camera over a period of three days in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The final film was prepared from 35,000 digital photos. The progression of nature over the three day period, enhanced by the beautiful music from the album "Shiva Shakti Om" by Angelika, is a truly awesome sight. And the staggering beauty and simplicity of nature coupled with the complexity of the technology makes for an amazing combination of opposites. Check it out and if you like it, give Mike a high rating. That way, we can see this masterpiece in full screen mode on the IFC Channel.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:20 PM | Permalink

Here is a post from the always interesting AlwaysOn-Network. Something for both investors and entrepreneurs to mull over.

Are Acquisitions Replacing IPOs? Tim Draper blames impatient entrepreneurs. Tim Draper [Draper Fisher Jurvetson] | POSTED: 06.19.06 @07:03

Tony Perkins discussed digital media and the entertainment industry with venture capital insiders Tim Draper, John Jarve, and Brad Feld during a recent breakfast panel.

AlwaysOn: There has been a lot of press about the Skype deal and how much money Google and Yahoo have, and that is presumably influencing venture capitalists, steering their investments to track features toward the unmet needs of these major players. Is this a real phenomenon? Is it true that there's a trickle of IPOs now? Or is the IPO dead, and instead its all about aligning yourself with the major buyers and getting acquired by, say, Electronic Arts for an amount greater than an IPO valuation?

Tim Draper: (Mr. Draper is the founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.) It's a complicated answer, but I'll give you a few of the data points. I never wanted to sell Skype. It's is a wonderful phenomenon; eBay got a great deal and is going to do great things with it. But does that create a trend; does that mean that there is a tendency for more of these companies to be bought out by Yahoo or eBay or whatever? No. Sarbanes-Oxley has been a disaster for all entrepreneurship. There is no way. We used to be able to take a company public that was profitable at $20 million in sales. But today Sarbanes-Oxley means that you have to pay your accountants and lawyers about $2 million a year to keep the thing going. So that $20 million company is now in a loss position, and it doesn't make any sense to go public.

So companies have to go a lot longer before they're really big enough that I can take them public. But entrepreneurs became impatient. They said, 'There are going to be another four years? I've put six, seven years of my life into this thing, and now it's worth a lot. I can live really well if somebody buys it.' That created a great opportunity for big companies like Google and Yahoo and eBay to pick those things up.

Another thing happened, too. There was the boom and the bust, the bubble and the bust, and during the bust years, everybody was afraid, and big corporations cut back really heavily on R&D and marketing. They were expecting the world to end. The smart ones kept investing. But now they're saying, 'Oh my God, we're four years further along. Technology has marched on, but we have no product to sell. We weren't inventing it in here, but boy, it sure got invented. So we've got to buy up whatever we can.' It's a simple question with a lot of variables for an answer.

John Jarve: (Mr. Jarve is managing director of Menlo Ventures.) I think there is one more slice to that. Part of what's going on is this notion that the right approach to funding a company—to creating a company—is to try to have it bought. I've been referring to these buyers lately as [Agile Amy], because my wife's name is Amy and it's an acronym of Amazon, Google, Interactive, Liberty [Media], eBay, AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

But the idea that this collection of companies is going to pay billions of dollars to buy startups is completely illogical and, in fact, the deals that are getting done today are in the $10 million to, maybe, $30 million place. An entrepreneur who doesn't raise any outside money or who raises a little bit of angel money can do very well by selling a company for $25 million. About 2,000 companies started like that in the last 12 months because of the resurgence of web 2.0. This year, there will be maybe 10 or 20 acquisitions among the [Agile Amy]. So what actually happens is way out of whack relative to people's expectations.

And, by the way, none of those should be venture-backed companies, because VCs are not happy when companies get bought for $20 million or $30 million—those are not good returns for us. Even if we make two times or three times or 10 times our money, on a $500,000 investment, that doesn't help us. So there's a real disconnect at the low end of the market in terms of expectations, and at the high end of the market . . . well, Skype is a great example, but it's a [rare] phenomenon. Hats off to those who funded and created it; it was amazing. But you can't say that's going to be the future, because only one out of a really big number of companies turns out like that. It doesn't matter whether it's 2005 or 1983—you have the same ratio of really stellar outcomes [compared to the total number of startups]. So I think that's playing into it as well.

Draper: Like I said, the future does keep getting cooler. I mean Skype took a lot less time to become worth a billion dollars than any of its predecessors. Hewlett-Packard took 40 years to become a billion-dollar company, and Oracle took 15, I guess. Microsoft took about nine. Then eBay and Yahoo were in the two- to three-year range, and Skype took a little less than two years. The world is opening up, and geographic barriers are crumbling, so it's going to be a lot easier to reach many more people. Consequently, the market size is growing, and the speed to the market is faster. I agree with everything said here except that last little depressing piece, because there is huge optimism. You come up with something like a Skype and boom! It rocks.

Jarve: I didn't mean to be depressing, but I think there is a fantasy-versus-reality phenomenon among entrepreneurs and investors (which, by the way, is incredibly healthy, because without the fantasy you would never get to any of the reality). But I think you need to step back and recognize where you are and what your goal is and make sure you're linking your actions to that goal, recognizing that you might end up in a singularity that's totally unexpected.

Draper: Yes, if you're an entrepreneur thinking, 'Hey, I'm going to do a web 2.0,' you shouldn't be; that's not wise. Instead say, 'I'm going to project where the web is going to be in 2012 and then figure out what I should create for customers then.' The fear is this flood of business plans that DFJ is seeing, which all say the same thing: digital media to digital web 2.0 and all the right buzzwords and it's obvious that this is going to be a disaster.

Brad Feld: (Mr. Feld is the managing director of Mobius Venture Capital.) In the past 12 months, Mobius has had two series of investment opportunities in which it had term sheets; the competing offers, in both cases, were from Google. In one case, Mobius won, basically convincing the entrepreneurs not to sell. In the other case, the company had already launched a product, and it was acquired by Google. Typically you have half a dozen founders—you know, a $30 million or $40 million acquisition value and no delusion from venture capitalists. We saw this in 1999 and 2000, when Cisco was essentially buying startups at very high valuations. Today Google is doing this. I guess 50% feels okay.

This is part three of a three-part discussion excerpted from a breakfast panel hosted by KPMG. Tony Perkins led the discussion with Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; John Jarve, managing director of Menlo Ventures; and Brad Feld, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital.

Part One: Digital Media's Compelling Success
Part Two: The Grab for Entertainment Mind Share

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Internet and technology are rapidly changing the real estate industry. A new study by the National Association of Realtors underscores just how much things are changing.

The real estate study, one of the largest of its kind ever conducted, shows that use of the Internet to search for a home has increased dramatically, from 2 percent of buyers a decade ago to 77% in 2005. That’s up from 74% in 2004.

When asked where they learned about the home they ultimately purchased, 24% of buyers in the study pointed to the Internet, an increase from 15% a year ago and 2% in 1997.

The study revealed a number of other interesting findings, such as:

1. While a growing number of people first hear about their homes on the Internet, 36% still learn about their home from an agent and 15% from a yard sign.

2. For-sale-by-owner transactions continue to decline with just 13 percent of sellers conducting transactions in 2005 without the help of a real estate professional. Nearly half of those were private sales between two parties who knew each other.

3. The median sale price nationwide for sellers who used an agent was 16 percent higher than the price for a home sold directly by the owner.

4. Typical buyers walked through nine properties and searched eight weeks before buying. They also moved at least 12 miles away from their previous residence.

5. Typical sellers listed their home for four weeks, had lived in it for six years and moved at least 15 miles to their new residence.

6. Married couples accounted for 61 percent of transactions, and single women outpaced single men as homebuyers, 21 percent to 9 percent.

7. Four out of ten buyers surveyed were first-timers, and the median age of entry-level buyers was 32, with household income of $57,200. Such buyers made an average down payment of 2 percent, but 43 percent purchased with no money down.

·8. Typical repeat buyers were age 46 and had a household income of $83,200. They placed a down payment of 21 percent, but 11 percent paid cash for their home.

The study provides a glimpse into the behavior of today’s buyers and sellers and underscores the growing trend of Internet use. What does this mean for professional real estate agents?

Not too long ago, some industry observers believed that the growth of the Internet would put real estate agents out of business. Reports demonstrate just the opposite. Membership in the National Association of Realtors has grown sharply, and use of the Internet appears to have encouraged more, not fewer, consumers to turn to real estate agents. A recent study by the California Association of Realtors reported that there is now one licensed real estate agent for every seven residents in the state of California!

A whopping 81 percent of buyers who use the Internet end up purchasing through a licensed professional, and nine out of ten homebuyers overall still use an agent in the search process, the association study found.

The real estate industry is evolving as a result of changing technology and consumer expectations. Today’s real estate company and agent bear little resemblance to those of a decade ago.

Investing in the Internet and technology is no longer an option for the real estate professional. In an industry that seems to be moving faster and faster, successful individuals and companies must keep deploying the latest technology. Their consumers should expect nothing less!

Caroline Jensen is a Real Estate Broker with Coldwell Banker in Sacramento, Ca. She is one of a select few REALTORS to earn e-PRO (real estate technology) certification by the National Association of REALTORS. Currently, only 1 percent of the nation’s 1 million REALTORS are e-PRO certified.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Heartwarming story arrived as a press release today.

SACRAMENTO -- Teacher's Assistant Desirae Zine Starts out as a Bystander in Transitional Skills Training Class, and Learns Essential Skills for College and Career

When Will C. Woods High School Business Department teacher Dr. Edward Murphy won a Teacher of the Year Award from Wal-Mart in 2005, he didn't spend his prize money on a vacation or a new, big-screen TV. He invested the money in his students by purchasing The Job Journey transitional skills training program.

Dr. Murphy taught The Job Journey as part of his business class curriculum. Dr. Murphy's teacher's aide for the class was Desirae Zine, a senior and star golfer at Woods High School.

On Zine's first day in the class, Barbara Dwyer, CEO and creator of The Job Journey, was guest teaching. Dwyer called on Zine for an interactive role-play. Zine participated, but felt unprepared if called on in future classes. As teacher's aide, Zine was not required to complete the coursework, but she studied the materials and completed the worksheets as homework.

Along with completing The Job Journey coursework, Zine practiced the skills she learned in class, including goal-setting, communication, leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork, all necessary to succeed in interviews and on the job. Zine also identified her strengths and her interests and defined her college and career path.

When offered a golf scholarship, Zine turned it down, stating that she didn't want to fall behind academically because of golf. Instead, she applied for academic scholarships through the Vacaville Rotary and the Boosters Clubs through her school's career center.

On May 18, 2006, Desirae Zine was awarded the William J. Carroll Memorial Scholarship by the Vacaville Rotary. On May 24, Desirae Zine was also awarded the Rachel Davis Memorial Scholarship at the senior scholarship awards ceremony at Woods High School. She credits The Job Journey with her readiness for the application and interview process. "I felt prepared because of what I had practiced in The Job Journey," recalls Zine.

After her graduation from high school in June, Desirae Zine will be the first member of her family to attend college. She plans to attend Sacramento State University and study business and criminal justice or forensic science.

"Too many students of this generation are leaving school alarmingly unprepared to begin their lives as young adults," says Ms. Dwyer. "Schools and businesses are beginning to wake up to this fact. Schools such as Will C. Woods High School are moving forward by offering soft skills training to their students, giving these young people a chance to learn essential advanced communication skills, to set goals and achieve them, and to be remarkably successful and competitive in the workplace."

About Vacaville Rotary
Chartered in 1944, the Rotary Club of Vacaville has nearly 120 members. While many Rotarians are in business, the club does not exist to promote trade between its members. Rotary's motto is "Service above self." Our club is part of the world's largest service organization, Rotary International, which supports 1.2 million members in 168 countries, on every continent. Rotary is a truly diverse organization, having admitted women since the 1980's. The club actively seeks members from varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The Job Journey (www.TheJobJourney.org) is a Sacramento, California-based organization that helps prepare students to transition into the world of work. The intense and highly interactive career preparation program is offered as a turnkey solution for schools and youth service programs, or as an independent-study package of DVDs with accompanying study materials. The Job Journey is produced by a uniquely qualified and highly motivated team of human relations, communications, and education professionals with a diverse and comprehensive skill set and a passion for their audience. "Changing a generation by turning young adults into young professionals."

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:54 AM | Permalink

As we drove from Sacramento to Dallas, there was almost never a time when we didn't see the pollution. We began our drive down 99 deep into the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, which now has the worst air quality in California (and the highest asthma rates). The air was heavy and the pollution clouded the sky. The next day, we drove on through Bakersfield, Barstow and the Mojave Desert on the way to Phoenix. Everywhere we looked, we could barely define the outlines of huge mountains shrouded in almost opaque air. Even in the desert where one imagines open spaces and clear air, the pollution was seeping in from LA. When we arrived in Phoenix, the temperature was 110 and the air pollution was clearly visible. It really wasn't until we arrived in Texas, just outside of El Paso, that we began to see clearer air, although as we drove closer to Dallas-Fort Worth, the yellow-tinged area was back again.

What amazed me most was not that the air of our cities is polluted, but that the air of our cities is now polluting places I imagined to be pristine. Surely between saving money on gasoline and health care costs, we could make a life changing argument for cleaner burning fuel?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:50 AM | Permalink

When Pierre and I moved to Sacramento in late 1998, the Kings had their first winning season in 16 years. And for every year we were there, the trend continued. (Although, sadly, even though they came close, they never won a NBA championship).

Pierre and I drove into Dallas to set up our new residence on Saturday just in time to see the Mavericks win the Western Division Championship and gain a berth in the NBA Finals. A first for the Dallas team.

We are thinking about offering our good luck karma to other NBA cities, selling ourselves to the highest bidder and moving to their fair city.

Oh, no, was that Detroit that started the bidding?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:39 AM | Permalink