CandidProf is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at a state university. He’ll be sharing his thoughts and experience teaching today’s students anonymously every Thursday— anonymously because that’s the only way he can write truly candid posts.

I teach physics and astronomy. Physics, in particular, is a very mathematical subject. That means that students are expected to be able to solve complex problems. The introductory astronomy for non-majors also has some mathematics, though it is very simplistic. Both classes require reading and studying. Unfortunately, most of my students come to college not having learned these skills at the level needed to be successful in college. While teaching any student is difficult, teaching the unprepared ones is particularly challenging.

There are many reasons that students are not well prepared. Where I teach, the state has mandated a series of tests. School funding is tied to these tests. The more students who do well on the tests, the more money the school gets. So, there is pressure to teach to the test, not to prepare students for college or a career. Unfortunately the tests are not good predictors of how students will fare in college. These tests are fairly simplistic. Students learn to memorize key words. This word matches that word. If you ask them the shape of the Earth, they will say that it is round. That is the answer as worded on the test. But, round in what way. A surprising number of my students don’t realize that round means spherical. Many of my students envision Earth as a disk. Anything that is not tested is seldom taught in school. So, my students come to me with great holes in their knowledge and skill base.

Students need to be properly prepared in order to be led to learning. An Army officer cannot lead troops into battle that have never fired a weapon. No matter how good of a leader someone is, he will fail if he tries to lead troops that have never been trained. No matter how wonderful a corporate leader someone may be, he will be unsuccessful in leading an airline that does not have anybody who knows how to fly an airplane. The best surgeon on Earth will lose his patient on the operating table if he tries to head up a surgical team composed of himself and people taken from the street who have never even seen an operation, much less assisted in one. The most loyalty inspiring leader on the planet will fail as a fire chief if no one in his fire department has ever had any fire fighting training.

Now, these may be extreme examples, but similar principles occur in education.

What do you think?

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What reality do you live in?

Not your spouse’s or your kids’; not your parents’ or your friends’. You live in the reality created by your MAP.

The reason is simple—perception is reality.

We filter our mental, emotional and physical surroundings through our MAP and, like snowflakes, no two people have identical MAP, so no two people perceive identically.

Does perception influence corporate culture? Absolutely.

Look at Google, since it’s one of the most discussed corporate cultures it’s easy to compare perceptions. Outsiders usually mention the stock options, food, concierge services and in-house massages first, while insiders hottest buttons are the 20% time to work on their own ideas, how well they are heard, opportunity to make a difference, and respect shown at all levels.

Consider the CEO who describes his company’s culture as open, fair and motivated, while the workers complain of regimented work and spend their time on job sites. Aside from CEOs that don’t walk their talk, the difference is often perception, i.e., what is a tight ship to one is micromanaging to the other.

In spite of perceptions, for culture to work everyone needs to be on the same page. That requires the culture-setters/enablers at the top to listen to perceptions other than their own—even when that’s uncomfortable. And not just listen, but act.

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By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.

Have you ever wondered where leaders get the inspiration that helps them guide and lead their organization? The responses I’ve received to that question have been pretty amazing.

For instance, I’ve heard… “I wake up in the morning and get my inspiration in those few moments between sleep and being completely awake.” Or “I start reading something, and before I know it, I’m thinking through the critical things I need to solve and I’m getting great ideas.”

More often, unfortunately, I hear, “Inspiration? I feel lucky just to be able to maneuver through the day.” Or “I had so many meetings today that I didn’t have time to get any inspiration.”

Inspiration is the lifeblood of a dynamic, growing company. I hurt for those corporate leaders who are so driven by the “tyranny of the urgent” that they can’t hear the inspiration to greater greatness that is calling to them.

Sadly, this describes all too many corporate leaders and managers.

Compounding that problem is the fact that very few corporate leaders have anyone they can honestly talk with to really work through their fears and weaknesses so they can discover a real vision they can passionately pursue.

What do you say we all chip in to buy them a vacation?

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In April David Kirkpatrick, a Fortune senior editor, wrote about what it takes for adults to find value in Facebook; less than two months later comes a story about how recently hired Serena Software CEO Jeremy Burton is using Facebook to change the company’s corporate culture.

Serena isn’t a hot growth company, but a profitable 25-year-old company building mainframe software and Burton isn’t a kick-ass Millennial, but rather a 40-year-old veteran of Oracle and Veritas, who says “We’ve got to be relevant to the future. So we instituted Facebook Friday,” and dared his people to participate and learn about each other—to date all 800 of Serena’s 900 employees have accounts. But the real message was “Guys – the world is a different place and if we’re going to stay relevant we’re going to have to wake up.”

He’s also using it to evangelize the software-as-a-service business model he believes is necessary for the company to thrive in the future.

Burton says, “I think we gain rather than lose productivity this way. We have a theme, but I leave it up to them to choose what to do.”

Millennials and many Web 2.0 proponents believe that the most important thing is to incorporate the technology because it’s there, but, as Burton shows, it works better to bring it in with a specific goal in mind. He understands that people worry about, and often fear, change, so wrapping change in a palatable way works faster.

The great lesson to take away from this isn’t about Facebook; it’s a reminder that “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”

Do you think that sugar-coating change is good or bad?

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A post on Yielding Wealth asking readers how they defined ‘wealthy’ reminded me of a post I wrote year ago about executive pay, which included having your taxes paid on various perks, and even on compensation.

But the “golden coffins” being made public due to a rule change 18 months ago really blow me away.

This isn’t about life insurance; it’s about really big bucks if they happen to die while still in office. How big?

“Eugene Isenberg, the 78-year-old chief executive of Nabors Industries Ltd… If Mr. Isenberg died tomorrow, Nabors would owe his estate a “severance” payment of at least $263.6 million, company filings show. That’s more than the first-quarter earnings at the Houston oil-service company.”

At 78 there’s a good chance he’ll collect, too.

And then there’s the death-related non-compete clause.

“The CEO of Shaw Group Inc. is in line to be paid $17 million for not competing with the engineering and construction company after he dies.”

We all know that the pay-for-performance principle often doesn’t hold true, but death benefits have to be the ultimate nose-thumbing on that subject.

Shareholders are in revolt and have forced Comcast to scrap its plan to pay the 88-year-old chairman of its executive committee his $2 million annual salary for five years after his death.

In addition to hard cash, stock options are subject to accelerated (read: immediate) vesting resulting in yet more money upon death.

Certainly sounds like a good motive for a murder mystery—unless you’re a shareholder.

Read the article and you tell me, are death benefits fair?

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It has always bothered me that influence is listed as one of the top defining characteristics of leadership.

Influence—good or bad—is anchored in the ability to sway people through communications, but that has nothing to do with the ability to implement and execute.

Am I off-base here? Are people whose rhetoric fires up those around them, filling them with a passionate desire to accomplish X, but are incapable of doing the rest of what it takes to make it happen truly leaders?

You tell me.

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Technology has the potential to save the world—if it can figure out how to deal with the idiots.

“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” –B.F. Skinner

“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.” –Rich Cook

“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.” –Terry Pratchett

“An idiot with technology is still an idiot” –Anonymous

What’s your take on technology and us?

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James Heskett is a Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus at Harvard Business School and posts some of the most intriguing research questions I see at HBS Working Knowledge (FREE registration).

This week is no exception.

“According to Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman, nearly all research techniques commonly used today probe humans only at their conscious level, though it is the subconscious level that really determines behavior.

Online forum OPEN for comment until June 26. Jim Heskett asks: What is your organization—and what are you—doing to bring more deep thinking into work and life?”

I hope you’ll take a moment and share your thoughts both here and at WK.

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