KSU class teaches how to get your ‘big’ idea off the ground
by Cherokee Tribune staff
July 27, 2012 11:59 PM | 993 views | 1 1 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Bill McMenamin of Woodstock is teaching a new professional management certificate program this fall at Kennesaw State University.<br>Cherokee Tribune/Special
Bill McMenamin of Woodstock is teaching a new professional management certificate program this fall at Kennesaw State University.
Cherokee Tribune/Special
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WOODSTOCK — Bill McMenamin of Woodstock is offering a new class this fall entitled “Vision. Action. Success.”

The new professional management certificate program begins Oct. 1 and will run through Nov. 19 on Monday nights from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at KSU Center. This will be the first class taught by McMenamin at the College of Continuing and Professional Education at Kennesaw State University.

“This class can be compared to the TV hit show, ‘Shark Tank,’ with one great exception: there won’t be any sharks,” said Program Manager Michelle Girage. “This class will foster a collaborative group environment and safe space to develop ideas.”

McMenamin has a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech and a master’s degree from Georgia State University. He comes from a business management background and works in program finance at Lockheed Martin in Marietta, where he has trained many people utilizing the same processes to help them innovate and avoid getting bogged down by the process.

McMenamin said the challenge of any great idea is not losing the creativity in thinking through the steps involved while actually implementing the idea.

“People always fear a roadblock,” he said. “But when you dissect it, it just melts away.”

In the class, students will be presented with examples in which they will explore the key principles and processes required to successfully execute any program, develop any idea, or bring any concept to life. These principles and processes provide a comprehensive framework for idea generation, product development, production, and product sustainment, according to McMenamin.

McMenamin said that often a student has to address their self-confidence in the process of accomplishing their personal goal.

He also noted that often it is the things said by a well-meaning friend, or even a bully in middle school that can squash an idea or instill a fear of failure before they even try something new.

“You will have to eliminate about 99 percent of what people say,” he said.

Aside from self-confidence, sometimes an idea can hit a snag or face a roadblock, but McMenamin said that is why learning the processes taught in his class are important and why it is important to understand you are never going to have all the answers.

“They have the belief that, ‘I can’t go forward if the proverbial traffic light is yellow or red,’” he said. “There is never going to be a time that is going to be all green.”

There is no prerequisite for class. You don’t even need to have a “big” idea.

“It could be writing software or restoring cars — it could be anything,” he said. “The idea does not matter. This course doesn’t state an outcome, but, instead, a learned process.”

For more information about “Vision. Action. Success.,” call Michelle Girage at (770) 499-3340 or visit www.ccpe.kennesaw.edu/management.
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John Roland
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August 10, 2012
Bill is an outstanding guy and incredibly smart. I would highly recommend his class and know professional could benefit greatly from it.
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