Jan 7 2008 12:04PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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As I wrote earlier today, this week I'll be blogging about our five 2008 Innovators, profiled in the January cover story. If you haven't already, I'd recommend reading that article first.

Today I'm going to focus on Bob Fleming, president of Classic Remodeling & Construction and our January cover subject.

Bob first came to our attention when we were putting together the October cover story on remodelers who give back to the industry and community. We decided not to use Classic in that article, but we knew there was a story here worth telling.

Bob and the other trustees of the American College of the Building Arts are doing something about the big problem: finding good employees. To some, the idea of a four-year college for construction might seem nuts, but the trustees' idea of creating well-rounded employees is a good one, for a few reasons:

1. As Bob pointed out in our interview, these well-educated employees can better interact on an equal footing with clients.
2. In this country, we teach kids that college is where you belong. Promoting construction as an industry for college-educated people is an important step in attracting the best employees to management positions.
3. If there's one this industry needs, it's people who have a better understanding of business.