Exorbitant student loans constitute just one reason why young people eager to experience the world may want to reconsider college, says Ed Basler, a veteran entrepreneur.

There is now $1.2 trillion worth of college debt in the United States and the average borrower will graduate $26,600 in the red, according to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) Project on Student Debt.

"None of this guarantees a job or even that a college grad will be job-ready," says Basler, CEO of E.J. Basler Co., (www.ejbasler.com).

"After four weeks of business school I, the son of a businessman, had realized that the professor had no real-life experience running a business and that I wouldn't learn the practical principles necessary to succeed. But I stuck with business school for two years until I dropped out, and I haven't had any regrets 40 years later. Hands-on experience trumps a degree all the time."

Factor in the fact that necessary business skills evolve faster than the time it takes to earn a degree and the overall lack of preparation for the real world provided by college and the choice to save time and money is a no-brainer, says Basler.

Business owners and hiring managers should see past the college degrees of potential employees, or lack thereof, and focus on the content of an applicant's skills and character, says Basler, who offers, in his own words, the following tips for hiring.

•  Do not accept any bad attitudes. A bad attitude spreads like the flu, and if you don't stop it, it'll make your whole team sick. Good attitudes will spread too, so look to hire people with a positive nature. Is the prospective hire full of complaints about previous employers? Don't be surprised if you become the next target of such whining. No one is indispensable. I have interviewed people who were clearly bright and skilled. Yet, afterward, I felt like telling them not to let the door hit them on the way out. I've never regretted my decision to insist on good attitudes.

•  Hire friends very cautiously. They can become your best employees. Often, however, they are your worst, and they're hard to fire. Hire family members even more cautiously. Let them know the ground rules and expectations up front. And treat them like the rest of your employees. I hear horror stories all the time from business people who are suffering because of family involvement. But it can also work very well - it has worked out well for me.

•  Hire not only for skills but also for potential. Leaders can be made if trained and motivated properly. I've seen many a young person with no previous experience or knowledge of my business learn a trade or skill and prosper and excel. Many times, it's even an advantage to start from the beginning with someone who does not have the baggage of bad habits or practices from a previous employer.

•  Put people in the right positions. Test them for their personality and skill sets. There are many tests - one good one is the Meyers Briggs and the DISC profile. It's hard, sometimes, to understand where people fit, which is why we try to use testing to learn about their particular skills.

"A college degree is a generic qualification and is by no means the ultimate criteria by which you should hire talent," Basler says.

About Ed Basler

Ed Basler is a longtime entrepreneur and CEO of E.J. Basler Co., (www.ejbasler.com), which provides precision-machined parts and solutions to companies worldwide. He is a sought-after motivational speaker and president of Fresh Eyes Coaching, a firm that helps small businesses identify profit opportunities and obstacles. Ed and his wife, Cathi, also founded and ran a nationally recognized not-for-profit youth organization for 15 years. He is the author of "The Meat & Potatoes Guide to Business Survival: A Handbook for Non-MBA's & College Dropouts."

SPRINGFIELD - Governor Bruce Rauner today signed Executive Order 15-13 eliminating unfair share dues for state employees who do not wish to fund government union activities and positions with which they may disagree.

The governor's actions come after an extensive legal review of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Harris v. Quinn. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act violated the First Amendment by forcing certain state employees to involuntarily pay fees to a labor union.

In light of that decision, the Rauner administration has concluded that the so-called "fair share" provisions of the current collective bargaining agreements, that are similar to those invalidated by the Supreme Court in Harris v. Quinn, are also unconstitutional.

"Forced union dues are a critical cog in the corrupt bargain that is crushing taxpayers. Government union bargaining and government union political activity are inexorably linked," Governor Rauner said. "An employee who is forced to pay unfair share dues is being forced to fund political activity with which they disagree. That is a clear violation of First Amendment rights - and something that, as governor, I am duty-bound to correct."

The executive order allows state employees who wish not to support government unions' activities to stop paying the forced fees. It has no impact on those employees who wish to remain paying members of the union and fund union activities out of their paychecks.

Additional Background:

·         The federal government prohibited the forced collection of union dues in 1978 as part of the Civil Service Reform Act signed by President Jimmy Carter. That law passed the U.S. Senate 87-1 and the U.S. House of Representatives 365-8. Illinois Senator Charles Percy was one of the co-sponsors.

·         29 other states have laws that prohibit government entities from forcing public workers join or financially support labor organizations that they do not support.

·         While Harris v. Quinn only decided the constitutional issue as it relates to a subset of Illinois state employees (home care workers), the Supreme Court's majority opinion found that much of the landmark case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education was "questionable on several grounds."

·         Notably, the Supreme Court said in Harris v. Quinn:

o   "Abood failed to appreciate the conceptual difficulty of distinguishing in public-sector cases between union expenditures that are made for collective-bargaining purposes and those that are made to achieve political ends. In the private sector, the line is easier to see. Collective bargaining concerns the union's dealings with the employer; political advocacy and lobbying are directed at the government. But in the public sector, both collective-bargaining and political advocacy and lobbying are directed at the government."

o   "Abood failed to appreciate the difference between the core union speech involuntarily subsidized by dissenting public-sector employees and the core union speech involuntarily funded by their counterparts in the private sector. In the public sector, core issues such as wages, pensions, and benefits are important political issues, but that is generally not so in the private sector. In the years since Abood, as state and local expenditures on employee wages and benefits have mushroomed, the importance of the difference between bargaining in the public and private sectors has been driven home."

§  "Recent experience has borne out this concern. See DiSalvo, The Trouble with Public Sector Unions, National Affairs No. 5, p. 15 (2010) ( 'In Illinois, for example, public-sector unions have helped create a situation in which the state's pension funds report a liability of more than $100 billion, at least 50% of it unfunded')."

o   "A union's status as exclusive bargaining agent and the right to collect an agency fee from non-members are not inextricably linked. For example, employees in some federal agencies may choose a union to serve as the exclusive bargaining agent for the unit, but no employee is required to join the union or to pay any union fee. Under federal law, in agencies in which unionization is permitted, 'each employee shall have the right to form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from any such activity, freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal, and each employee shall be protected in the exercise of such right.'"

After years of hard work, you've built the family business into a great success and you take pride in meeting the challenges that each day brings.

At some point, though, the day arrives when it's time to turn the reins over to the next generation.

That can be an exciting moment or an anxiety-ridden one, depending on what has gone on before to prepare for the momentous occasion.

"Laying the path to a successful family-business transition requires a bit of threading the needle," says Henry Hutcheson, author of the book "Dirty Little Secrets of Family Business" (http://dirtylittlesecretsoffamilybusiness.com).

"On the one hand you don't want to paint an overly rosy picture to the next generation. That could create a sense of entitlement and the false perception that running a business is easy and all you need to do is count the money and show up every now and then to check on things."

At the same time, he says, if you put too much emphasis on the difficulties of running a business and the stresses that come with it, your sons and daughters might not clamor to be first in line to take over.

Ideally, it's best to think ahead and start grooming the next generation long in advance, Hutcheson says. Give them summer jobs while they are in high school and college so they can start testing their abilities.

When they join the family business full time, find initiatives for them to work on that involve group dynamics. But also hand them individual projects where they hold sole responsibility for the results.

"It's critical when you are selecting the next leader to realize that it's not all about who will lead," Hutcheson says. "It is also about ensuring that those who are not selected are in support of the decision and can work as a team with the new leader."

Hutcheson says there are four key ingredients to developing the right person to take over the family business.

•  Independence. Next generation leaders must have confidence in themselves, their thoughts and their beliefs. "Much of this can be developed while working in the family business by constructing and leading significant projects," Hutcheson says. But one shortcut to accomplish this is to work for some other company early on. Many multi-generation family businesses like to make that a requirement for family members.

•  Competence. This is more than just being able to do the work. It means developing bottom-up experience. Not just being the accountant, but being able to reconcile the accounts and perform the journal entries. Not just being sales and marketing manager, but having been on a quota and worked the trade shows. Experience doing some of the day-to-day grunt work can pay dividends down the line.

•  People skills. "It's not enough to just be smart and confident," Hutcheson says. "You need to be able to work with people." He notes that in the book "Emotional Intelligence," Daniel Coleman outlines two studies that measured the success of a batch of high school valedictorians and Harvard graduates. Those who were able to perceive the emotional state of others and react to it appropriately proved to be the most successful.

•  No special privileges. The person in line to take over the family business needs to be willing to show up to work on time, stay late, take on special projects and be measured by the same metrics as everyone else. "This will show that you are part of the team and that you want to be judged on the merits of your work, not your bloodline," Hutcheson says. It will also help the next generation gain the respect of co-workers.

About Henry Hutcheson

Henry Hutcheson is president of Family Business USA and specializes in helping family and privately held businesses successfully manage transition, maintain harmony, and improve operations. His newest book is "Dirty Little Secrets of Family Business: How to Successfully Navigate Family Business Conflict and Transition" (http://dirtylittlesecretsoffamilybusiness.com). He's also quoted in "Kids, Wealth, and Consequences" and "Sink or Swim: How Lessons from the Titanic Can Save Your Family Business." Hutcheson grew up working for his family's business, Olan Mills Portrait Studios. He studied psychology and has an MBA from Columbia Business School, and is a popular speaker at professional, university and corporate-sponsored events.

Comptroller welcomes comprehensive approach

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger released the following statement Wednesday in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner's State of the State address:

"Governor Rauner showed leadership today by addressing our challenges head-on and laying out a comprehensive strategy for getting our state, and its economy, back on track.

"Too often, Illinois has taken a piece meal approach to governing, managing crisis to crisis instead of addressing the root of the problem. The Governor took a different tact in his address today, clearly defining the most pressing issues facing our businesses and families and offering his vision for how best to address them.

"To be clear: we will not agree on everything. And when the Governor offers more detail in his budget address later this month, there will be plenty of debate about how best to move forward. But that spirited discussion is exactly what is required and I look forward to working with all parties to ensure that it results in real solutions for our state and its taxpayers."

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