The Classroom of Experience
By Kwok-Sze Wong, Ed.D., Executive Director, American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
People often tell me how happy they are that the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has a business person like me as the executive director. I think it’s time I make a confession I’ve told very few people: I’ve never taken a business class in my life.
Which is not to say I don’t know anything about managing a business or, to be more precise, about managing a nonprofit organization. I started working in association management 25 years ago and worked in the private sector before that. Although all my business training has been through experience, I think it’s been every bit as educational as formal training, and unlike a degree program, it’s been going on for 30 years and counting.
One of the more pleasant byproducts of wandering into the business world is that since my older son, Tyler, started taking business classes in high school, we’ve had some intense but exciting conversations about things like equities vs. fixed-income investments, double-entry accounting and the difference between income and revenue.
This summer, Tyler said he had to declare a major and couldn’t decide between finance and economics. Honestly, I don’t know the difference. Tyler explained they have the same course
People often tell me how happy they are that the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has a business person like me as the executive director. I think it’s time I make a confession I’ve told very few people: I’ve never taken a business class in my life.Which is not to say I don’t know anything about managing a business or, to be more precise, about managing a nonprofit organization. I started working in association management 25 years ago and worked in the private sector before that. Although all my business training has been through experience, I think it’s been every bit as educational as formal training, and unlike a degree program, it’s been going on for 30 years and counting.
One of the more pleasant byproducts of wandering into the business world is that since my older son, Tyler, started taking business classes in high school, we’ve had some intense but exciting conversations about things like equities vs. fixed-income investments, double-entry accounting and the difference between income and revenue.
This summer, Tyler said he had to declare a major and couldn’t decide between finance and economics. Honestly, I don’t know the difference. Tyler explained they have the same course