Blog topic # 7: Nurturing Creativity in Business

Thoughts on Management...

Effective management is the key

It can make or break your destiny

If success is what you seek,

Be proactive don’t be meek

Plan, organize, lead, control

To be an effective manager, you have to know it all

Handle your people well

Guide them so they could excel

Achieving goals is possible if you set your mind

Seek creativity and you shall find

Any troubles that you might face

Follow your intuition if that’s the case

If you pay attention really well

There are a lot of things you can tell

Try to move out of the classroom fence

You will realize that management is but common sense

Blog topic # 6: Communicating via Blog

In my opinion, writing a blog (or blogging) is an effective communications tool. It keeps me engaged in my management class. I really don't talk much in class, so by writing a blog after each class activity gives me an opportunity to speak my thoughts and ideas about the subject matter. It also allows me to interact with my fellow classmates by reading their posts, learning and exchanging ideas simultaneously. I've gained a lot of valuable insights from reading not only from the posts of my fellow classmates, but also from Professor Kurpis' blog as well ("meatball sundae" and "lizard brain" are still stuck in my head!). Though I don't know each student in class personally, I get to learn about some of their thoughts, ideas, views, and experiences.

In addition, I think that blogging has helped me to think about the activities we did in class. During class activities, I don't really get to think much about the lessons we do in class. It is only when I'm at home doing my blog assignments that I am forced to re-think about the activities we did and relate it with the concepts that we learn in class. It is easier to grasp and understand management concepts if there's some kind of experience that goes with it.

I do think that doing the blog assignments is a good way for students to control and manage part of their grade. I think that it is a fair deal, I'd rather write a blog than hand in a research paper. But honestly speaking, it was really challenging for me to complete all blog assignments plus the commentaries during the course of the semester. Blogging can be time consuming, so time management is really important.

I'm not really sure if I can commit to continually write on my blog after this semester, but I have no intentions of closing my account. I would probably document it and keep it as a valuable remembrance of my management class.

Blog topic # 5: The ABCs of Disc: High "I", Low "d"

In my opinion, last Wednesday's class was the most interesting activity that we did. According to the results I got from the leadership/management diagnostic, my personal profile is high "I" and low "d". I really find it interesting how the test ALMOST accurately described the type of person that I am. I'm naturally expressive and once you get to know me, I'm extremely talkative and hyper. I can talk about almost anything under the sun. I always do my best to give off a positive aura, and negativity just turns me off. Whenever things don't go my way, or if I fail at something, I just tell myself that everything happens for a reason and that I just have to learn from it and move on with my life.

According to DISC, people with a high "I" - influence (like myself), emphasizes on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others. Professor Kurpis also said that those people who got "D"s and "I"s are more leadership driven. If I were to categorize myself between being a "leader" or being a "manager," (according to the personality profile), I would say that I'm more of a leader. I don't think I'm an analytical or "systematic" type of person ("C"onscientious types) nor am I the patient type ("S"teadiness types). Thus, I don't think I'm the managerial type who focuses more on processes and rules, etc.

I'm really happy with the result that I got, it looked like a "snapshot" of who I am. But it would be nice if I could also possess some of the qualities from the other group types like being able to think analytically ("C") or being able to perform in a consistent and predictable manner ("S"). I think having some insight of people's management "type" can help to better understand where they're coming from and how to interact with them. It's kind of similar to having to know a person's zodiac sign or blood type :)

Blog topic # 4: The Power of Vision

There are so many things that I would like to do after I graduate from Baruch. My top three goals (on my to-do list) are: to pursue an MBA degree, to start my own business (restaurant), and to start my own family.

I'm currently working part-time as a sales and marketing analyst, and I would very much like to continue on working at my current company as a full time analyst right after I graduate. It's funny because I've never imagined that I would become an analyst, it was never a dream of mine to become one. But things just happened, and to my surprise I really like my job and I can see myself going forward as a financial analyst (I guess I realized that being an investment banker does not suit me at all... he he...).

I also envision myself pursuing an MBA in a couple of years. I'm thinking of taking up Management/Entrepreneurship. You may wonder why I picked Management/Entrepreneurship for my MBA? It's because I am planning to start my own business (probably in 3 years, after I finish my MBA). I want to put up my own restaurant. It's always been a dream of mine to have my own restaurant. So I'm thinking, the money that I save from working as a financial analyst, I would use that to start my own business. That for sure, will definitely happen!!!

Lastly, my own personal goal is to start my own family. I would want to have kids (maximum 2) and buy a house in 3 years time. Why in three years time? Well, that's because I want to finish my masters and at least have my restaurant set up before I start having kids. That way, I'll be able to have the time to be a mom, a wife and an entrepreneur all at the same time!

Blog topic # 3: Decision Making

Last October 13's class activity on the "decision making process" was 100% chaotic! When I look back during that time, I can't help but shake my head. I remember almost getting a migraine during the whole entire decision making process. Thirty minutes is not enough time for a group of approximately 60 (?) people to come together with a proposed solution to our midterm problem.

Though there was one brave person who stood up and tried to lead the class, everyone was talking at the same time so it made it really difficulty to come to a consensus. I was thinking to myself that we will never get anything done with the rate that we were going. After 5 minutes or so, a couple of people walked up front and then before the 30 minutes is up, there's like I think 4 or 5 people running the entire show.

I personally chose to be "accomodating" because I was honestly cool with whatever grade I got from the first midterm. Although I didn't get an outstanding grade (I barely even passed), I feel that I deserved whatever grade I received. I'm just relieved that everyone agreed on having the curve, which is more than I could have bargained for. I didn't really join in as much as most people did in class because I really wasn't that much concerned as most people in class were. I did vote though, because I think that the proposal that the class had agreed upon was also to my advantage.

I've observed during the activity, there were definitely a few people who behaved aggressively ("compete to win"). For example, the first person who stood up in front of the class definitely set the pace of the discussion. He spoke in front of everybody, strongly proposed for a curve and dropping the lowest grade for the first two exams. I also observed that there were also some people from the audience who chose to withdraw from the class discussion and just sat there looking at everyone else go throat-to-throat. One example is this girl who was sitting right next to me. I feel that she was confused about everything that's happening. I think that majority of the class tried to "compromise" so that everyone can at least get something out of the activity.

If I was chosen to handle the conflict, I would have broken up the class in groups, give them around 10 minutes to chose a representative and discuss the issues amongst themselves. Then, after the 10 minutes is up, I would ask the representatives to go up front and write their proposed solutions for the whole class to see. We would go over those solutions as a class and vote on whichever proposition is the best. This way, I think that each person will have a chance to voice out whatever he/she wants to say.

Blog topic # 2: An Eggs-cellent Way to Plan

I think that one thing that our team wasn't able to do was to pick out a leader. The whole team was focused on getting the main goal done, which was to design an "egg-protection device," the rest was just a blur. I guess because we were too conscious of the time constraint that everyone was just brainstorming for ideas on how to build the protection device. We sort of multi-tasked between getting the design done and fulfilling the rest of the objectives as well.

Overall, I think that we weren't really able to go through all the steps in the planning process quite thoroughly. All that I could remember is that everyone was just working towards one goal, though we also had an alternative design on hand just in case we might need it. It's interesting because when we finally had the egg and the materials in our possession, it didn't look exactly like how we designed it on paper. There were some additions and adjustments that were made that wasn't in the original design that we planned.

Though we had very limited time and resources, and even if our egg broke (in the end), I think that our group did pretty well. We were able to make fast decisions and we worked well as a team.

Blog topic # 1: Culture Shock

Moving to New York City totally changed my life. The city's fast paced lifestyle with its hustling and bustling personality shocked me down to my core. People everywhere is always in a rush; yet it seemed as if everyone was moving in sync like a ballerina dance. I thought that this fast paced lifestyle only existed on the streets but once I started working, I realized I was wrong. Everyone was working like every duties needed to be completed yesterday. There is always a deadline that must be met or else suffer the consequences of failure. Work is very demanding and time is of the essence.

Unlike back in my home country, the case is totally opposite. Life in the Philippines is slow-paced and more relaxed. People are not as pressured as they are here. Though there are deadlines to be met, it could be completed the following day without any repercussions from your superiors. It is rare to be in office past your regular working hours.

In spite of the hectic lifestyle, I've learned to love living in New York City. It made my living experience a memorable and exciting one