If you don’t typically think of yourself as creative, and you don’t have The Muse on speed dial yet, can you still become an innovator?

“Yes,” says Holly Green, definitively.

Green writes about innovation regularly, drawing on over 20 years of executive-level and operations experience in FORTUNE 100, entrepreneurial, and management consulting organizations – as CEO of The Human Factor, Inc., former president of The Ken Blanchard Companies, and a former senior executive of The Coca‑Cola Company. This fall, she’ll be teaching critical leadership skills in the Professional Certificate in Core Leadership & Management program at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies.

“The brain has an amazing capacity to consider things differently,” she says.

“Our problem today is that we’re running so fast that we never pause to do that. We’d rather do it over than do it right. The key is to learn some of the triggers for your brain, and to use those. Give it five seconds, and you can be innovative. It’s about asking key questions: What if someone else has different data? What if we look at this from a different perspective? What would our competitor do? What do our employees think is the most important thing to change?

“It’s about considering different angles, changing your perspective, and challenging your own assumptions and your own belief structures,” says Green. “These are fairly simple approaches; the problem is that everything in the world around us beats that out of us today. The more successful we are, the more we get stuck doing the same things that helped make us successful.”

Interested in practicing innovation?

Check out Holly Green’s Core Leadership and Management program at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. She’ll teach you the techniques of regular innovators, as well as covering a wide range of additional skills critical for leaders and managers today.

For more information, please visit CES online or call Kristen Cacka at (619) 594-0787.

If you’re not an “industry insider” yet, but you’re interested in what all the green fuss is about, check out the Green Jobs for San Diego panel during Friday’s 1 pm session. Wendy Evers, senior director of program development at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies, will join Vicky Krantz of UCSD Extension and Dr. Murtaza Baxamusa of the Center on Policy Initiatives to talk about green jobs and what kind of training can prepare you to enter this fast-growing field.

With $43 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allotted for energy-related projects throughout the United States, this sector is poised for major growth – so it’s a great time to polish up your skills and jump in!

Speaking of shining up those green skills, Green Solutions for the Home, one of the five courses in the Sustainable Practices Professional Certificate at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies, begins online Oct. 5. It’s becoming more and more important to know how to evaluate and improve the energy efficiency of your home, including the healthiness of the spaces and materials in it – whether you’re selling, buying, building, remodeling, or just staying put. Sign up to learn how to positively impact the environment while improving the appearance, comfort, and energy efficiency of your home.

For more information about Green Solutions for the Home, or any of the other great green courses offered at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies, visit their green training website or give them a call at (619) 265-SDSU.

The green industry is poised for major growth. In its Green Outlook 2009 report, McGraw-Hill Construction predicts the green building market will double from today’s $36-49 billion level to $96-140 billion, representing 20-25% of new commercial and institutional construction starts by 2013.

In addition, hundreds of governmental initiatives are targeting and funding growth in this area. President Obama has committed to doubling U.S. renewable energy by 2012, and plans to invest $150 billion over 10 years toward the nation’s clean energy economy. He expects these initiatives to create five million new green jobs, and has made it a priority to “ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world.”

“We expect President Obama’s focus on the green industry to generate new opportunities and drive real job growth in the coming years,” says Joe Shapiro, dean of SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. “We see this as a mandate to provide the training and certificate programs that people entering this high-growth field are going to need to succeed.”

SDSU’s College of Extended Studies offers three certificates – Green Building Construction, Green Energy Management, and Sustainable Practices – designed to teach the practical knowledge and skills that employers in green industries will need and value. All certificate courses are being offered online because this training is relevant to green jobs worldwide. International enrollments in these programs are increasing as countries around the world focus on driving their own green industries forward. Students can earn each certificate within a short time frame by completing a series of five online courses. Courses may also be taken individually.

“We’re committed to remaining the pace setters in providing training that effectively meets green industry needs,” says Shapiro. “SDSU has formed a CES Sustainability Advisory Board that brings together 25 committed and energetic green industry leaders. Their expertise and feedback guides our course and program offerings. That’s why we’re the first program nationwide offering professional certificates in the green industry.”

SDSU’s College of Extended Studies reaches out to the greater San Diego community, the nation, and the world with a wide variety of lifelong learning classes, seminars, certificate and degree programs, and other learning opportunities. Career advancement courses are offered in many areas of management, leadership, and quality improvement while self-enrichment courses range from astronomy to web design. Additionally, the College offers more than 35 certificate programs, online courses, and workforce development courses, many of which are approved for tuition remission for eligible participants through the Workforce Investment Act.

Flexibility, and the ability to identify your transferable skills, is important when you start to plan the scope of your job search – especially in this tough economy. For example, if you were laid off from a financial services position, but you’re only looking for a new financial services position, you may end up looking for a while. It may be time to cast a wider net.

That’s when your transferable skills become very relevant. You may have worked successfully in financial services because you were able to listen attentively, provide effective feedback, accurately perceive nonverbal messages, negotiate, and persuade. All of these transferable skills could be very useful in a position in health care, education, or sales.

There is a ‘but’ in all this. Clarifying your transferable skills can give you a better sense of what fields you would enjoy working within, but some high-growth fields – health care and the growing green industry are both great examples – do require you have some specialized knowledge to get your foot in the door.

That’s why the programs over at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies focus on the industry-specific knowledge you’ll need to go along with the transferable skills you already have.

For example, starting Sept. 1, you can enroll in their online programs in Medical Transcription + Medical Terminology, Medical Billing and Coding + Medical Terminology, ICD-10 Medical Coding: Preparation and Instruction for Implementation, Emergency Management Training for First Responders, and Administrative Medical Specialist with Medical Billing and Coding + Medical Terminology. They also offer programs to teach you the skills you need to become an Administrative Dental Assistant, Administrative Veterinary Assistant, Certified National Pharmaceutical Representative, or Pharmacy Technician.

These programs focus on specific knowledge you need to enter the heath care field. Pair these with your transferable skills – like gathering information, identifying resources, imagining alternatives, or solving problems – and you might just fond a career you’ll enjoy that also has great growth potential in this, and any, economy.

All of these programs are approved for Workforce Partnership and Military Spouse funding, so make sure you check whether you’re eligible to receive FREE training.

A team building event planner designed corporate scavenger hunts in Bangkok and Frankfurt, using LinkedIn to source top-notch suppliers in each location.

A launch event was held for a luxury island retreat off the coast of Abu Dhabi, during which all 400 guests were flown by helicopter to the site. Any results in this tough economy? Oh yeah. 40% of the units sold by the end of the evening and over 450 press articles, with an ad value of more than $1 million, were written in the buzz.

A two-day virtual forum about how companies can achieve better energy management practiced what it was preaching, bringing participants together from around the world with (virtually) no carbon footprint at all.

It’s such an interesting time to be working in the event planning industry.

It’s true that extravagant events are happening more rarely as many organizations tighten spending in this choppy economy – there are only so many private luxury islands to launch, after all. But many event planners are turning budgetary limitations into opportunities, coming up with and implementing creative solutions that extend both budgets and buzz.

Earning a Certificate in Meeting and Event Planning at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies is a great way to learn the skills you’ll need to enter this exciting field, or enhance your current career in hospitality or public relations.

For more information, call (619) 594-2517 or email rbrown2@mail.sdsu.edu.

Bypassing simply ineffective leaders, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman zero in on characteristics shared by the absolute worst leaders in their recent Harvard Business Review article Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders.

The worst leaders don’t collaborate, and “as a result, they are set adrift by the very people whose insights and support they need.” They don’t learn from mistakes, and fail to develop others. They lack vision, and “believe their only job is to execute. Like a hiker who sticks close to the trail, they’re fine until they come to a fork.” Or they “accept their own mediocre performance. They overstate the difficulty of reaching targets so that they look good when they achieve them. They live by the mantra ‘underpromise and overdeliver.’”

The flip side? Effective leaders and managers have usually worked to develop a complex mix of skills and competencies, but also possess the self-awareness to continue seeking balance, always working to identify and address any remaining weaknesses.

San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies offers three distinct programs designed to help managers and leaders tackle this continual process:

• Foundational Skills for Front Line Managers is designed to teach managers early in your leadership careers many of the skills you need to be a successful supervisor or manager in today’s rapidly-changing workplaces.

• If you already have five years of experience in a management or supervisory role, but want to take your leadership, productivity, and innovation to the next level, their newest program, Core Leadership & Management, is designed for you.

• Those of you with at least five years of senior-level management experience didn’t make it this far by resting on your laurels. Leading Strategically will help you continue bringing your vision and execution in line, as you navigate these uncertain times.

For more information, please visit CES online or call Kristen Cacka at (619) 594-0787.

So how do you know if a green job will be a good fit for you, and how do you track one of these green jobs down?

Start by researching, and talking to people.

Jacques Chirazi, who works as a Clean Tech program manager at the City of San Diego and teaches in the Sustainable Practices program at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies, says “many green jobs are jobs that never existed before. In the IT market in the late ‘70s and into the ‘80s, no one knew that jobs for webmasters would exist. Sometimes technology gets ahead of the skill sets we need.”

That doesn’t mean all green jobs are breaking brand-new ground. In fact, qualifying for a green job may simply mean retrofitting and upgrading skills you’ve already developed. “Many people – from machinists, to construction and water treatment workers, to electricians – have the necessary skill sets already,” says Chirazi, “but need additional knowledge to play a role in the renewable market or waste water treatment, or to work in positions that manage financial instruments directed toward these kinds of projects.”

This report also states that “although most pharmacy technicians receive informal on-the-job training, employers favor those who have completed formal training and certification. Strong customer service skills also are important. Pharmacy technicians may become supervisors, may move into specialty positions or into sales, or may become Pharmacists.”

If you’re interested in entering a fast-growing field in a job that offers growth potential, check out the online Pharmacy Technician program offered at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. The objective of the Pharmacy Technician Program is to train you with the skills and knowledge you need to qualify for entry-level positions in pharmacies and prepare for national certification. Their program will pair you with an instructor for one-on-one assistance and includes a 40-hour externship, so that you can begin to build and demonstrate practical skills and gain experience before you’ve even completed the program.

This Pharmacy Technician certificate program was developed in response to the rising need for trained technicians to work in hospital and retail pharmacy settings. A nationwide shortage of pharmacists and a growing consumer demand for prescription medications have allowed pharmacy technicians the opportunity to play a continually more important role in today’s pharmacy industry.

With this growing opportunity, however, has also come increased responsibility, and this increased responsibility has made Pharmacy Technician Certification important. Some states now require all individuals who work as pharmacy technicians to become nationally certified. Start ahead of the pack with a practical job-oriented professional certificate that also prepares you for national certification.

For more information about this and other online healthcare training available – from Administrative Dental Assistant to Administrative Veterinary Assistant to Medical Billing & Coding programs and more – visit the CES website or give them a call at (619) 594-3946. And, since these healthcare programs are approved for Military Spouse and Workforce Partnership funding, check and see whether you’re eligible to complete this training at no cost to you.

The career ladder became the go-to metaphor for career advancement in an era when highly-structured hierarchies were the norm. As the needs of organizations and their employees continue to change dramatically, these ladders have given way to more flexible career lattices.

“Lattices allow movement in many directions,” writes Cathy Benko of the New York Times. “Like the literal lattices you see in gardens, these are living platforms for growth with upward momentum visible along many paths — a much closer depiction than a ladder of how today’s careers are built and talent is developed.”

No industry accommodates more flexible patterns of career advancement than health care.

“The majority of job markets are pretty dead right now, with not a lot going on in the way of advancement, but the medical field is growing,” says Dr. Danish Farook, who teaches the EKG Technician program at San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies.

“If you have one certification, it opens up doors for you. For example, an EKG tech has the prerequisite for telemetry tech, and then that opens the doors to become a cardiovascular tech. The majority of people within the technical fields float between positions, opening up new doors with training and cross training, which moves them up the pay scales.”

Flexible career advancement in the health care field is driven by continuing demand for skilled medical care. The US Department of Labor has identified national labor shortages in nursing and some allied health fields, and has collaborated with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning to roll out pilot programs designed to speed career advancement from allied heath care positions into nursing.

These pilot programs are based on career lattices. “Careers do not always follow a linear progression,” CAEL explains on its website. “Workers often make lateral moves in their careers, which can be just as important for their career development.”

Anneke Doty, who teaches SDSU’s professional program in Medical Billing and Coding, says she’s seen many people “start their experience and training doing medical assisting and branch over into the health information management part of it…. There are so many different settings that need health information management people, especially on the billing and coding side, because of course that drives the reimbursement. So that’s where the hot jobs are right now that pay the best money.”

The career lattice approach is familiar to Joe Shapiro, dean of SDSU’s College of Extended Studies. “At CES we’ve been very strategic about identifying practical entry points into the heath care field, and aiming our high-quality training programs there. We offer a range of programs to help you get your foot in the door, as an Administrative Dental or Veterinary Assistant, Medical Transcriptionist, Pharmacy Technician, and more.”

“Our commitment,” Shapiro says, “is to help participants in our health care programs quickly develop the skills they need to apply for good jobs that also position them well for advancement within the heath care industry’s career lattices.”

“Government stimulus programs and the rescue of the biggest and sickest corporations will not alone resolve the problem,” writes Henry Mintzberg in his recent Harvard Business Review article Rebuilding Companies as Communities. “Companies need to reengage their people. The practice of both management and leadership needs to be rethought.”

Mintzberg calls for “leadership that might be called engaged and distributed management,” and suggests “it’s time to rebuild companies not from the top down or even the bottom up but from the middle out—through groups of middle managers who bond together and drive key changes in their organization.”

SDSU’s College of Extended Studies offers three programs for managers and leaders – at all levels of your organizations, and in any stage of your career – who share a commitment to staying current, and recognize the importance of continuing to build your leadership capacities in these times of rapid change and great challenge.

• Foundational Skills for Front Line Managers is designed for early-career managers and those who’ve been promoted to a supervisory role but haven’t yet received systematic training in management skills. Start learning the range of skills you need to be a successful supervisor or manager in today’s rapidly-changing workplaces.

• For those of you with five years of management or supervisory experience, their newest program, Core Leadership & Management, is designed to take your leadership, productivity, and innovation to the next level.

• And Leading Strategically, which starts Sept. 25, is for experienced managers who want to gain insight around the challenges specific to senior management and prepare for further leadership opportunities.

Stay in touch: Come learn the skills of an effective and current manager and leader. For more information, please visit us online or call Kristen Cacka at (619) 594-0787.