Professor Elam

Tuesday Sept  11 2012

I was frustrated at the lack of connection between my college classes and the real world of business. When I began trading bonds in 1984, I had to teach myself all about the bond market. UT Austin had not done that in any way. So the first goal was to link real world events with what we study in the classroom. 

TAMUSA is basically a commuter campus. Students work and maintain families. There is no student union building or dormitory or tree shaded walks or fraternity or sorority houses where the idea of 'college' as a new expansionary experience used to exist. So, the second goal is to have us all visit in cyber space about what is happening. 

Yesterday after class I had several students ask if they were supposed to make a second post. Okay let's require that. The idea however of assigning one post each for Professor Elam and The Market Perspective was to give everyone a push in the right direction. I had hoped that your Intellectual Curiosity would kick in causing you to read more. Hopefully this would result in students making posts with their comments or asking questions in class. 

For example, yesterday in class I asked 

Who owns Chrysler?  I did one guess of Mercedes, but that was two owners back. Since then Mercedes sold to Cerebus, actually paying Cerebus to take it off their hands. Cerebus had it when it went bust and only the prospect of jobs being lost kept the government in the game. Ownership was then handed off to FIAT, now run by  a Canadian Chartered Accountant. 

AS college graduates you will be competing with other graduates from other colleges. Your diploma is merely a ticket  to an interview not a guarantee, as many grads are now discovering. 

It is simply not acceptable to not know who owns a former Big Three Auto Maker in this country. It is a remarkable story and one you should be familiar with. I checked and my most recent post was Jan 31 2011 on Chrysler a good while back. But if you are following our links at left or reading the WSJ as I recommended, you would have known. 

Okay let's try again. How about another post on the discussion site, this requires you to go back to at least this past spring to spot an event. Another personal goal of yours should be to establish your self as an expert on something. Bruce Howard is a recruiter for a local firm. He regularly visits area colleges and is an Advisory Council Member of TAMUSA. He suggests that students establish their own brand. You can only do this by establishing an expertise in a certain area. 

Start now on establishing your brand. Metaphorically speaking, as Mike Phelps swim coach would say,

get in the financial water. 

Do I follow my own advice?  You bet I do. I maintain a stable of topics so that I can address local professional groups. I have delivered talks enabling these groups to earn Continuing Professional Eduation Credits in their fields. 

San Antonio CPA Society

San Antonio Instiutte of internal Auditors

San Antonio Institue of Managment Accountants

San Antonio Society of Women Accountants

and this month, Texas Society of Structural Engineers