Haiku

Leadership without vision

Is a tranquil winter night

Wait till the dawn comes

Blogging

Blogging was an effective way to evaluate class activities and reflect on their significance. However, writing blogs is perhaps not the best way to meet other people since there are social networking websites specifically made for this purpose. And I think it is easier and more convenient to stay in touch with people through facebook rather than blogger.com.

It is true that blogs helped us share our opinions on class activities by letting us express our own views as well as reading others' thoughts and reflections. I believe that this was the most valuable part of blogging experience. We not only participated in class activities but also thought about them and compared our points of view to those of our classmates.

Professor's blog was an engaging one to read as it involved odd information that indirectly related to the class topics. The blog was unique and always interesting to read.

Now the next question is a bit tricky for me to answer. Personally, I prefer having 2 exams (a midterm and a final), and be graded just on those two. There are so many things to keep in mind that writing a blog moves down my to-do-list. It can be challenging to remember those deadlines for blogs and then the second deadlines for comments.

I do not have any plans for posting my blogs about my life now but it is something I may do once I graduate. Hopefully, I will have more time then. 

I think the blog assignments should stay as a component of the course because they give students a chance to reflect on the amazing class activities and say everything they want to say about their reactions. Blogging makes sure that the class activities are not a waste of time but a meaningful experience.

DISC Personal Profile System

DISC is a useful way to assess one's personality type in terms of their leadership and teamwork skills. For me, it turned out to be the letter C, which is conscientiousness. This type emphasizes quality and accuracy. It also stresses working in existing circumstances without changing the environment through opposition or persuasion. 

I believe the test accurately assessed my personality type and I agree with most of the things it says. For instance, I am very attentive to detail (hence my passion for math) and I usually think analytically without rushing to a quick conclusion. Also, I am very diplomatic when dealing with people (this comes from me being born in the year of a Hare). I like to listen to what others have to say and if I disagree with them I will try to explain to them my point of view and prove to them why my view makes more sense. I generally avoid being dominant because I do not think it is an effective way to get my points across and solve problems. 

I am happy with my type and I would not like to change it. I do not think I can become another type unless I fake it or role play it or something.

This test is quite helpful to determine people's management style so they can better understand where they are coming from. DISC tells one's strengths and weaknesses, and one can use the listed strengths to answer interview questions about their personality. In general, I found this test very interesting and useful.

The Power of Vision

I have a few personal as well as career goals that I plan on achieving in the not so distant future.

First of all, I want to get my MBA in some area of finance. I am not precisely sure yet about my exact interest in finance. However, I plan on going to Columbia and this school requires at least 2 years of work experience. Therefore, after I graduate from Baruch I will work full time and a couple of years later I will apply to Columbia for their Master's program.

Another vision I have is starting a family after I graduate. I feel my family is the most important thing in my life as only my soul mate and my children can comfort me when I am distressed and support me in difficult situations. It is always nice to know that after a long workday I can come home and be welcomed and wanted by my family. In general, one's family has a positive effect on one's well being, in my opinion.

And my other goal is traveling. I feel like staying in the same place for a long time makes you apathetic and too comfortable. When I travel, it adds more excitement to my life and makes me want to learn more about other people and their cultures. I travel at least once a year. It does not matter if I go outside of US or to a different city in America. As long as my surroundings are changed, I feel excited and optimistic. I believe that traveling makes my life fuller and makes me more knowledgeable about the world as a whole.

These goals that I have listed above are not dreams. They are my future reality. I do think of my objectives on a regular basis, and I guide myself to the right path, the path that will inevitably bring me to the desired. As soon as I graduate, I will study for the GMAT, which is one of the main requirements in order to get into an MBA program. I don't think the family goal needs any explanation: I move in with my future husband and we just do it :). I realize it is a lot of responsibility but almost anything I do in life requires a substantial degree of responsibility. And of course, I will be traveling. Perhaps not in the beginning when my child is born but a couple of years later. I have been to Ukraine (which is my home country), Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, some states outside of NY, and I look forward to visiting the entire world! 

Decision-Making Exercise

Last week we found out our grades for the first midterm, and many students were disappointed with their performance (I am not speaking for myself here as I am perfectly satisfied). So the professor agreed to calm the students down by letting them come up with alternative solutions of how the exams should be graded. However, the catch was that the solution had to be "reasonable" and most importantly, there had to be a 100% class agreement.

Personally, I used a combination of accommodation and avoidance to handle the chaos during the decision-making activity. I was accommodative because the final decision had a greater impact on my classmates than me (as I received a perfect score). So I would agree to almost anything the class would vote for. I have to admit I did not like the “multiple multiple” choice part of the exam, and I am glad everyone voted to change it to a more manageable multiple choice section. I also used avoidance because I did not believe we could get a 100% approval from the class given everyone’s ambitions and priorities. Almost always, there was one person who had a different opinion and would screw everyone else up. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the result we have achieved.

Given the time constraint, I think our general strategy to achieve the goal was working well. Despite some drawbacks, we were actually able to complete the task successfully. I believe in the end, when the time came to the final vote, many students in the class used compromise as they realized that getting something is better than getting nothing. In this case, an option of the curve, the lowest exam grade being dropped and a different version of “multiple multiple” choice questions is a better deal than not having anything at all.

Planning Exercise Analysis

Overall, the "Eggs-cellent" planning exercise was very interesting and engaging. It taught me some lessons about the planning process. My group was not very specific about each step in the planning process. I think we tried to accomplish as much as possible in a limited amount of time so we rushed through most of the steps. However, we were successful at reaching our goal due to each member's strong motivation and willingness to get the 5 extra points.

Talking about each planning phase, my team spent some time on step 1 where we tried to understand our task as precisely as possible so as not to have any surprises. In the beginning, we thought it may be a trick exercise so we did not want to be misled. In step 2, we examined the objects we were expected to work with and we decided not to use the scissors as we had no urgency to utilize it. Speaking of step 3, we were evaluating alternative strategies throughout the whole exercise. Even when we drew the sketch and had a strategy in mind, we revised it again because we thought of a better solution. In step 4, we did not allocate any roles to the members. Everyone contributed to the team as much and as fast as they could. In my opinion, step 5 was the most crucial for us. We kept revising the plan all the time in the hopes of finding the perfect egg construction. 

I think we skipped some of the steps because of the lack of allotted time. However, this did not prevent us from reaching the goal. Our team work was very efficient and to the point. We could not afford to waste any time on sharing the responsibilities or identifying the necessary tactics to implement the strategy. Perhaps if we had more time and the resources were not limited we could have been more effective. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the work we have performed and the great result we have achieved- after all, our "Unbreakable" egg did not break! 

Management Issue

The biggest management concern I am having right now is the course load. I am taking 6 classes for a total of 18 credits, and my schedule is quite busy. The reason I do this is because I want to finish college in 3 years. I have never taken 18 credits/semester before. The tough part is that most of my classes are related to my Finance major. Because of the way the academic program is set up, I have to take the required course before I can take Finance courses. Therefore, this year will be filled with Finance classes, which will be harder and more challenging than previous semesters were.
I usually go to school and have a job. However, this semester it becomes an issue as I do not want to mess up my GPA. On one hand, I need a job to have some pocket cash; on the other hand, school should be of the main concern to me.
After graduating, I plan on working for some time and then go for my Master's as soon as possible. I believe the younger you are, the easier it is for you to study. Once a family is formed, it is very hard to go back to school.
I guess this whole blog was about managing time efficiently. The people who succeed in life are those who can manage their time resourcefully, which I am yet to experience.