Dean Kamen, Manual Laborers, and You

[Isaac501]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

'nobody wants a manual labor job'

I'm worried that I've lost one of those mentors (who said to me, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can support this anymore"), and at least one -- if not both -- of those sponsors, who were deeply offended by Dean's callous and elitist comment.

I was sitting 45 feet from that podium, and the message that I got from "people don't want those jobs back" was very different than "screw manual labor", especially in context, considering dean was talking about the recent economic downturn. But hey, context is everything, and the internet doesn't need context to make controversy.

Besides, when people only listen to 6 words from a 27 minute speech, and take their toys and go home ... It doesn't seem like you're losing much, really.

People don't walk out of group meetings and empty out their desks because their CEO makes a misstatement, but it seems like that's what your folks are doing. Validating that sort of behavior is counterproductive, no matter how much money or time they give to the organization. Maturity and professionalism are venerated at FIRST - try and remember that. Walking because your pride is hurt by an unscripted oops is neither mature nor professional.