THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 15, 1994 TAG: 9408150225
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
For most of his early life, he was a nobody. Today maybe he'd be called a slacker, somebody cruising in the slow lane, waiting for life to happen. No plans, few interests and friends just as passive as he was.
``I was one of the middle group who wanted to remain faceless,'' he explained. ``No one expected much of you that way. You didn't fail. . . . Wasn't that what school was all about? Show up on time, do what you're told, keep quiet.''
These days, quiet is not part of his vocabulary. In fact, 46-year-old Robert G. Templin Jr. has become almost rabid about success, particularly the success of students who could be stand-ins for his younger self.
In eight years as president of Thomas Nelson Community College, Templin has been a champion of below-average or average students ignored by an educational system designed to funnel the best and brightest to four-year colleges and universities.
Programs Templin designed or brokered on the Peninsula have brought 21st century-style technology to elementary and high school kids who will work as tomorrow's technicians, manufacturers and industrial specialists, and for money that beats dead-end, minimum-wage jobs.
``Our greatest hope is in the average person's ability to make the best decision for him or herself, not based on a bureaucratic or organizational structure,'' he said.
``The key is the ability to access information and the ability to learn. That's where empowerment is. But the average person is skilled in neither.''
Templin, who says his life was turned around by enrolling at a community college in Maryland, is getting ready to hawk such ideas in a statewide arena. On Sept. 1, he will step down from the Thomas Nelson post to become president of the Center for Innovative Technology, the state's high-tech promotion agency in Northern Virginia.
The Herndon center's board of directors search committee unanimously chose Templin from 40 applicants.
``He understands clearly the role of technology in our collective future,'' said Patricia M. Woolsey, chair of the technology center's board. ``When you sit down with the guy, you can see he's given so much thought to this. He just feels such commitment. That's very heartening.''
Talk to Bob Templin and his speech rings with the rhythms of the age. He speaks of paradoxes and pluralism, of dilemmas and contradictions. He believes power must be exercised in a different way, by guides and mentors rather than by dictators and autocrats.
Perhaps, he muses, the next generation's leaders will find greater rewards in channeling creativity rather than squashing it. Somehow, he contends, a way must be found to reconcile the individual's need for freedom and creative expression with the organizational need to impose order and discipline.
``The old rules don't seem to provide good guideposts,'' he said. ``There's enormous power within the contradiction, trying to work through the conflict between the individual and the corporation. I haven't worked out the dilemma of how we - within traditional organizations - create the environment for a highly entrepreneurial climate.''
The climate, Templin believes, will become even more entrepreneurial because society stands on the threshold of what he calls a hypertechnology age. Technology will shrink the distance from drawing board to store shelf so much that a given product will appear virtually instantaneously. ``In today's high-tech workplace, everybody's required to have a portfolio of skills not required in the old workplace,'' he said. ``You didn't have to get along with anyone as long as you did your job. That's no longer sufficient, (as the) workplace has shifted from individual performance to team performance.''
During his Thomas Nelson tenure, Templin teamed up with a fractious faculty soured by years of struggle with his predecessor. The new president mended fences and soothed injured feelings, in large part by giving teachers a greater voice in decision-making.
``I'm a real strong supporter of his. We lived through some very bad times before Templin,'' said Charles Eugene Bush, a professor of architectural technology who has taught at Thomas Nelson for 28 years. ``He came in when morale was at rock bottom and reconstructed trust and respect. I think he's been an ideal president.''
There's also the matter of the Templin clan, a multiracial, multiethnic group of 14 children over which Templin and his wife, Carla, preside. Eleven of the fourteen are adopted. At first, the Templins allowed their unusual family into the media spotlight, but have since decided to shield the children from what they see as overly intrusive publicity.
In public, Templin has apparently managed to strike a harmonious balance between competing interests by bringing together business-people, scientists and bureaucrats.
``I truly think he's a very decent human being, one of the finest I've ever known,'' said Elise Emanuel, chair of the Thomas Nelson board of directors. ``(On the Peninsula) he was able to bring together the defense and economic-development communities and help them work together. It's something no one thought possible.''
Templin concedes that he's better at sketching the big picture than he is at filling in the fine brushstrokes of day-to-day management.
``My strength has been visualizing problems,'' he said.
``The process of institutionalizing change has been extremely difficult at Thomas Nelson. It's not unlike problems being confronted by other major organizations. That will continue to be a challenge for my successor.''
Recently, at the innovative technology center, Templin treated staffers to a catered lunch originally intended for the CIT board. When the board concluded business earlier than expected, Templin invited all guests to lunch and afterward conducted a kind of encounter session, inviting employees to introduce and talk about themselves.
``The staff is thrilled,'' said CIT spokeswoman Barbara Cooper. ``This man is Dr. Partnership. He has this ability to bring people together.''
It doesn't seem possible that Bob Templin once just wanted to fade away, melt into the sea of ordinary humanity. For better or worse, slacker Bob has become President Templin. And the president definitely wants to shake things up.
``I do feel uncomfortable around people who allow the world to direct their future and fate,'' Templin said.
``I'm frustrated by people who don't reach for excellence beyond their own limits. What I do at CIT will be what I did best at TNCC.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by SHAYNA BRENNAN
Thomas Nelson Community College President Robert G. Templin Jr.
will take over as president of the Center for Innovative Technology,
the state's high-tech promotion agency.
by CNB