Green and Blue Water (Intern Edition)
Ever think about all the different colors of water? When you look at a beautiful lake, you see what can be called blue water. There is also something called green water. It is equal, if not more, abundant. But what is it? Read on and discover what it is and how it applies to life.
Water Cycles
We were taught in grade school about the water cycle. It is simple enough, isn’t it? Water evaporates from the earth, rises up and becomes clouds, and then rains down after traveling vast distances and cooling off. Sometimes it comes down as rain. Sometimes as snow. It is a cycle that sustains life for all of us.Water in soil and plants on the ground – green water – rises up to eventually become blue water in a distant lake. Transpiration is what it is called in plants. Perspiration for us.
Just so, a green student rises from a college or university to participate in an internship. Through this process they may travel vast distances either literally or figuratively as they embrace new ideas and meet new people they would not otherwise. While still very green, they start to become blue, in our case, Agile blue through their work and efforts.
It is a cycle – a process. And just as the earth does it, ours is done with precision and care. Intern Management, that didactic tome I co-wrote, guides the reader through its distinct steps.
Common Good
One could consider the water cycle a common. As the Romans knew, commons are neither public or private. They rest somewhere outside the two – until of course a government entity or individual look to make it a public or private good. Certain transmitting frequencies were commons until they were sold off to radio stations and cellular companies. Similarly, Antarctica could be considered the commons today. Meanwhile the Arctic is quickly being divvied up.
One could also consider internships as a kind of commons. Green students participate for a period of time and then go back to being utterly free to choose as they wish. They may have Agile blued up a bit, but they are still mostly a green hue inside. The internship allows them to engage in a wide open world with all its characters – the adults in the room – and characteristics – the things we call work today. Once they graduate they rise like the clouds and blue up fast in the working world.
Hues Next?
Green water becomes blue through an extraordinary earth cycle. Green students become bluer through experience over a summer or semester. Perhaps consider yourself someone who makes this cycle happen if you host interns.
So, how different are your colors? More importantly, hue are you in the matter of life?Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers