Winston Churchill advised us of the following when it came to language education:
“Naturally I am biased in favour of boys learning English; and then I would let the clever learn Latin as an honour and Greek as a treat.”
When it comes to produce industry education, the Pundit advises that anyone who has the opportunity to attend the United Fresh Produce Executive Development Program — Developed in Partnership With Cornell University is receiving an honor and a treat… plus a leg up on the competition.
The Pundit knows this program from the inside out as he was honored with an opportunity to serve as a member of the Founding Faculty of the program — a rather intimidating assignment as the teaching is mostly done by an ace team of PhD’s and tenured Cornell University faculty members.
The program was developed under the supervision of the esteemed Ed McLaughlin, who has a lot of titles — including the Robert G. Tobin Professor of Marketing, Director of Undergraduate Business Programs, and Director of the Food Industry Management Program at Cornell — but during this program attendees feel like he has nothing else in the world to do than help 40 select produce industry executives to better themselves and the organizations for which they work.
There are many good programs out there, but there is something special about living on an Ivy League campus for almost a week, learning from a top notch faculty and bonding with other industry professionals. If you give it your all, you leave transformed.
It requires commitment; there is no question about it. To get the most out of the program, you have to separate from your day-to-day business and focus on things that are very important, even if they are not urgent.
What better investment though can an individual make than in himself and what better investment can an organization make than in the people it is relying on for leadership now and in the future?
This year’s program is March 9-14, 2008, and it will be held on campus at Cornell in Ithaca, New York. The Pundit is, once again, part of the faculty.
If you can possibly make it to Ithaca for this program, do so. If you can’t then have a team member who you are counting on for great things complete this program. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.
You can read a brochure on the program here.
Download a registration form here.
Act fast if you can. Today — January 4th — is the last day for discounted “early bird” registrations.
