Cheers to Experiential learning

I did not have much idea about experiential learning before this class, now I hope all my MBA classes are experiential learning :). Cheers to all of us who made this class one of the best learning experience

A proposition!!!

Lets keep this blog alive....to keep in touch.. and....share our experiences....!

Great class, Superb Prof and Wonderful Classmates..!

The day Prf. Osland told us about him, I was eagerly waiting to hear Joseph Stiglitz. It was so fascinating to sit in the same hall with a noble prize winner and listening to him. He analyzed the whole economic turmoil in a very easy to understand way with lots of examples. I was so delighted when one of my questions got selected and he answered it. I asked him about the "American Dream". This is a phrase that I have heard since my childhood, though I used to live in a very different part of the world. When I came here, some how after couple of years I also was living with that dream without even knowing. The whole consumerist environment somehow shadowed my values set out by my culture, which always teaches us to save and live within our means. After listening to Stiglitz, I was so amazed that an American is saying that this is not the right way and it should be changed. Hope we can all try to fix our own little economic problems by taking baby steps and this will eventually make a difference in larger picture.

This was my first time taking an off-campus class as I am an on-campus student for the MBA program. This course was a great experience for me as I got to meet professionals from different background and work with them. The demographics was a great mix which I though was perfect for a course in Global Leadership. I have learned a lot from the Professor's lecture, the fun games and simulations and also from my classmates. Thank you Prof. Osland and my dear classmates. Hope to see you in a different course sometime.

Another End

With only two classes to go in the program it still surprises me how fast a session comes and goes. However, this time, I can honestly say I come away with practical tools that will continue to make me a more globally aware person. The course schedule, activities and speakers took a great deal of thought, planning and extra effort, and as an experienced student, I want to say I appreciate those efforts and thank you all for making this a class I will remember.

last day on tuesday the 23rd

We were all sad that the class had already ended and it seemed really short. It was such a wonderful experience and we all learned so much about ourselves and our classmates, that we wish it was a little longer. The presentations on the last day were also very interesting and fun and we got alot to learn from them. This course was truly amazing and i thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to taking another course with professors Osland's if i get a chance to. Thank you.

Thank you,

Like previous posts from my classmate, I feel like this exciting learning adventure has just started, and there still many global leadership aspects that I have yet to learn. Nevertheless, good thing has come to an end. I’m so glad that I get to be a part of this innovative learning experience. Thank you Professor Osland and everyone for your contributions. I have learned a lot from all of you over the past one month or so.

Au revoir

Why oh why must this end? I guess it's time to put it to practice...

Jane Leu

Jane Leu's talk last week put to life what a social innovator is. Her work illustrates the innovation topics we covered in class. She worked at an organization who helped immigrants find a job and was not content with where she placed them. She then thought about how to help international employees find jobs that meet their qualifications. What's amazing is that she took an everyday problem and found a solution that benefits the new immigrants, diversifies the workforce, and makes money.

One of my favorite Leu quotes was, "Social entrepreneurship is also about being obsessive, demanding, competitive, and ruthless...We are capitalists in pursuit of good!" What a win-win situation for everyone. Do good, be agressive and make money doing it! I think she should host the next Apprentice.

Great end to a great class

I'm very happy I was able to see Joseph Stiglitz speak. He's an excellent speaker with very interesting point of views on the effects of the economy over the last several years. His AIG money commentary was very interesting- I had no idea how much money the government gave them. I supported his position on the school spending and how we could have supported Africa for 25 years with all the money we wasted on the bail outs. It's frustrating to hear the truth and know we're not going to get the money back.
The class presentations were really good. I liked the preso on how to support innovation within an organization. I feel I can take those ideas back to work with me and work with managers on implementing them. Overall it was a great end to a very interesting class. The content was very valuable and the student were great to work with.

Finishing on chapter & starting another one

After attending last night speech at SJSU auditorium and then in-class presentations, felt like one more chapter of my MBA life is over and next week will bring another chapter; the last chapter. Yes, planning to finish MBA program next session.

Similar to previous posting about learning from this class, it will be one of the most referred class learning in my daily work life. This class coupled cultural aspect with organization behaviour and innovation. The three main areas of my passion hence no wonder I enjoyed it so much.

I connected with most of you via LinkedIn. So we will be in touch.

February 23, 2010

Joseph Stiglitz engaged the entire crowd with his awe-inspiring speech. He started with the battle of ideas that led to the BUBBLE. He gave an insight to the failure of the financial market and its reasons. His profound knowledge on current issues was impressive. His view about recession and how to deal with it gave me an idea of how simple changes can help us revive our economy.

After the speech delight, I got ready to give our presentation. We had fun presenting the article in the form of a role play. The three other teams who presented with us were innovative in their own ways. Professor wrapped up the session by saying how "Transformation" acts as the center piece to get to the leader level.

Although this class was for just one month, I have learned a lot about myself and what areas I should work on to become a better person and a global leader in the future. Thanks Professor Joyce Osland and all my classmates for having made the class so delightful.

February 16,2010

The Innovation Projects presented by all the teams were so creatively done and engaging. I liked the site idea in Public Education Budget cut presentation. The Right Brain for innovation team had high energy to emphasize on the thought that creative mind is important for innovation. I totally agree to that. The Plastic bio degradation presentation  was very informative too. We too enjoyed presenting our views on health issues in US and Corporate Wellness programs. Professor's individual feedback on presentation skills helped me focus on improving my presentation skills.

Not to forget the astounding speech by Jane. The speech gave more insight on the prevalent gaps in labor market. It helped me understand the difference between social entrepreneurship and charity. It also provided knowledge on what social entrepreneurs do, answering specifically the question on why there are not many social entrepreneurs and the solutions to it.

The end of one cycle and begining of another

Today was the last day of the class, but before the class we had a great opportunity to hear The n prize winner Joseph Stiglitz. I was excited because it was the first time I was ever listening to any nobel prize winner plus he was an economist a subject of my interest. He spoke for over an hour and there was not one moment where I lost interest.He spoke about the the current economic crisis which is a hot topic of discussion these days. He very briefly covered the causes/reasons for this recession and gave us some solutions that can be implemented and how current efforts can be made more effective. The one thing that stuck in my mind was the concept of savings and lack of savings in t's world. Being from India, savings was a big part of my life...we are taught to save right from a very young age. But I noticed the difference when I moved to USA and I must say the environment here is too tempting to save money. This culture of spending more than your means has caught up in developing countries like India as well. Call it western influence or just a phenomenon of a growing economy. But listening to Joseph Stiglitz in a way reminded me of my asking me to always try d save some money and not live beyond my means:) I think he stated the facts (though they were a bit depressing) and I guess the first step to improve the situation is to accept that their is a problem.

Today's class was a short and we had 4 very innovative class presentation. This has been a great class. Of all the MBA classes I have attended so far, I have had the most fun in this class!!! like many of my class mates, I am going to miss attending this class :(

I hope to implement my learnings from this class in every aspect of my life; in the way I behave, the way I see things and my approach towards problems. I hope to continue this learning process even after this class.

Thank you Prof Joyce and thank you all for making this a wonderful experience ..It was a great pelasure working with you and hopefully we will all stay in touch :)

Anticipation and ...!

Today is our last session....sigh:( The extra bonus is the Stiglitz Speech. But somehow I was feeling a little down when the thought came that now is the time we will be judged and will be graded. This class has been an wonderful experience where everybody interacted with everybody, worked hard to excel and be creative in every aspect. We all worked out of our passion to do something meaningful and innovative. And the whole class was so supportive of each other, giving constructive feedback and wishing the whole class to succeed. The whole purpose was experiential learning, which I think we successfully achieved. But now, when thinking about the Grades, it is dampening my spirit. I wish there was no grading or everybody got the same!

CPQ and GCI - What do they tell us

The global competency index was not really surprising to me. I scored well on relationship management and self management while was mediocre in perception management. This is mainly because I do not ask too many questions and often go along with the status quo. I also realize that this is typically the case when I am unsure or not confidant about something. If it is something I am really passionate about, then I am way too curious :). I guess I need to balance the two.

The CPQ test had me wondering about the validity of the test. As someone mentioned, sometimes we might answer how we want to be and not how we are really. So will that make the test valid? I am not sure. From the results, I summarized that I am in between cultures. While my score matches considerably with my country's result, I also see that sometimes I vary be a large degree. Still these tests are fun to take and gives us an idea how we might be perceived by others.

Social Innovation at its best

The final project presentations were eye openers. Each of us brought our ideas into creating amazing projects. I feel now that the professor could have split us into more groups just to see what other innovating ideas might have come from that. Another thing that I love about this class and one which I hope I have in other classes is the constructive feedback - There were no judgments in the feedback, just the wish to see that everyone benefits from it.

Jane was another revelation. The way she has built a business model from scratch just with passion as the root is a lesson to all those passionate entrepreneurs out there. Her enthusiasm is very contagious and left me with the desire to do something meaningful out of my life.

We can be creative

I really loved our Saturday class. I never considered myself a creative person, but even I could come up with creative ideas during our chapter presentation. The thing I loved most was no 2 presentations were the same, and we all had just 10 minutes to come up with something. Just imagine what we can do when we have much more time in our hands.

The outdoor exercise was interesting too. The first thing that came into my mind when I heard the instructions for the exercise was surprisingly not "this is impossible", instead I (and everyone else) started putting down ideas on how to accomplish the goal. I think this is the primary goal of this subject. Not grades, but how to change our thought process and soar heights in the business world. I am so happy that my classmates and the professor have made this a truly remarkable experience.

My CPQ and GCI scores

GCI:

I found my scores valid to a great extent in regard to relationship management and self management. I scored high in both of them. As I mentioned earlier, I have been living in the international house of SJSU for two years now and that enabled me to meet students from different countries of the world. It has always been easy for me to develop and maintain relationships with them. I was aware of the fact that they are different from my culture and I was able to successfully cope with that while at the same time maintaining my own values and beliefs.

I was so surprised with my score in perception management though. I scored really low on that even though I used to think that I am fairly flexible when confronted with cultural differences. I never thought about the possibility of drawing boundaries when it comes to cultural differences. So, I am really glad I took that test because it made me realize that what I think might not always be correct and maybe I need to stop and deeply think about how I react when confronted with different cultures. After taking this assessment I started to be more cautious and started observing how I react with my colleagues or classmates who are from a culture different than mine. I want to find the reason why I scored low cause I love dealing with people from different cultures and I am really interested to learn more about different countries as my dream is to travel around the world, of course when I get my degree, get a job and be rich ;)

CPQ

My scores seemed valid, most of them were close to the average for my country of birth. However, I was surprised to score very low on the nature of humans. This means that I perceive people as naturally bad. I don't think that this is true, I always treat people as if they are naturally good unless there is a specific situation that reveals the bad side of somebody who I have been dealing with.

Thoughts of an Indigenous...

In the Aracruz simulation, I was among the Indigenous people and at the beginning when I read the case, I was convinced to a great extent that Indigenous people have the right to the land and felt bad for them. However, when I met with my group that consists of the different stakeholders, my thoughts started to change gradually and I started to look at the problem from their different points of view. That was really a great and useful experience because I believe that we face the same situation almost everyday in our lives. And by the same situation I mean that we tend to judge situations from our point of view regardless what the situation is, the consequence is the same because we keep believing our own opinions and hardly think about what others think. So being put in the Aracruz situation I learned that when I give myself a chance to listen to others and understand their point of view, that makes the problem way easier to solve and the solution comes smoothly without a need to fight or get into intense arguments.

I believe that the main reason why my group was effective was because we all knew beforehand that we have to listen to each other and try to understand our different needs and reach a solution that satisfies the different parties. The conversation was smooth and we were able to reach some agreements that we thought were fair to everyone. I think it was an effective group, however sometimes we were kind of confused about what different groups do exactly, maybe we should have explained a little bit before we started what each group is about so we all have a better vision of each group.

I think that the simulation went really well and there is nothing that I would have done differently, we had enough time for discussion and I felt that the agreements we reached was satisfying the different stakeholders.

That simulation would definitely help me in my future career as a marketer especially when dealing with vendors for purchasing different promotional materials. I used to push them so many times to deliver what I want with the cost and deadline that I want. I didn't give much thought about what they think is affordable or reasonable to them, but now I would be more understanding and consider their point of view.

Aracruz Cellulose Simulaton

My heterogeneous group actually worked together quite respectfully. It was interesting to learn from the questions that we asked each other that no one had a complete picture of what was going on. The company representative was just trying to get to a solution that wouldn't change again. The NGO was truly interested in working with everyone to get to a solution that would allow everyone to move forward. The indigenous people present couldn't actually speak for all indigenous people. This was a problem where it was impossible to know who all the participants were, or get them all at the table, because not everyone who was causing a problem was necessarily a stakeholder.

The fact that everyone was respectful of the other team members, everyone listened, asked clarifying questions, and for the most part, didn't interrupt meant that we had a very productive conversation. We stayed on track and did a good job of documenting our consensus.

I don't think there were really any areas where we were ineffective. We came up with a plan that we thought might be effective, including a communication plan to try to address the issue of non-stakeholder disruptions.

I had trouble believing in the cause of the indigenous people I was representing. Based on the evaluation scores I received, I was able to communicate their values and goals effectively, but maybe if I had spent more time researching their plight than I did, I might have brought more empathy to their issues.

The stakeholder dialog process can be applied to almost any issue that involves multiple participants with differing views and needs. It gets applied at the kitchen table with my husband and our kids while discussing how to run our household. In the case of certain chores, the people who do them have determined who will do them, when they switch off, who is responsible for tracking the schedule and how they cover absences. The parents were only responsible for establishing what needed to be done and the quality expected.

This process is also applied in work teams and projects when we figure out who needs to be involved, who has a stake in the process and will be affected and needs to be included. The best way to make good decisions that people will feel they are part of and help you carry out is to use this stakeholder process.

My thoughts on the CPQ

The CPQ was a little less disturbing than the GCI, and what I think I learned from both of the assessments is that I take the questions very literally, which led me to giving some very cautious answers. While that doesn't explain all the differences I see between the results and what I believe or was trying to express, it seemed to be a fairly common theme that I heard expressed by other classmates. There were some areas that did express my beliefs quite accurately, such as my feelings about the nature of humans, but this did seem to be fairly simple to assess. Some of the results seemed to be the opposite of my actual beliefs. A specific example of that was within the concept of time, where I scored very highly on the statement "Business and day-to-day decisions should be based on tradition and precedent" In fact, I think that the other two statements presented, which referred to both long-term future needs and intermediate needs should have been higher. I scored very low on both. So I'm really not sure how helpful this portion was.

What was helpful was seeing the results of someone who was not born in the same country that I was and comparing her results to mine. I think it was very helpful for her as well, as we tried to make sense of the differences. And enlightening for her to see how not all US born respondents think the same way.

I think you probably need to take about 5 of these assessments to understand how they work and to learn how they can be useful to you.

Adapt to different culture while remain authentic to oneself

I find this concept challenging especially when I see the result from my last survey. The feedback suggests that people who can adapt to different culture and still be consistent to one’s self-identity are the people who will become effective global leaders. I never recognized that adapting too much to other cultures can be seen as insincere and untrustworthy. Come to think of it, now I see why doing so will have a negative result down the road. People from the host culture will think that I am gullible since it is so easy for me to adapt someone else’s practice/belief. I personally would not want to be lead by such a leader. So, remaining authentic to oneself is an ideal. I assume this will come with time and practice, lots of practice.

Innovation Projects and Other Thoughts

Tuesday was a night that we all got to experience the ideas the groups had for providing an innovative solution to a problem that exists in today's environment. All the groups were well prepared and passionate about their ideas. I believe that even if the ideas never get fully implemented the awareness that came out of realizing the issues exist brought us to a place where I am quite confident we will all be more aware and participative in making the world a better place.

I was impressed with the level of questions that were introduced. This was a tough crowd:). That tells me that the class had a genuine interest in the subjects.

The guest speaker was great. The lecture and discussion was interesting to me. It is not fair but when you talk about innovation in the context of the lecture I would go to a place that thought the individuals involved were doing things for reasons that differ from reality. Social innovation and the desire to make money can co-exist! Helping people transition into the United States and follow there dream is a noble cause and seems to be gaining some traction.

Great class on Tuesday!

Yet Another Day of Actualization

Last Tuesday night was full of surprises, insight and creativity. The innovation projects were very well presented and I was once again eluded by the thought process of each team, which were quite diversified. It means we MBA students just don't run after big ROI. Another thing that was really amazing that everybody appreciated each and every idea presented, though there were some inquiries from the audience but no judgmental comment. This really sets the stage for anybody to be open and expressive. I wish we can always exercise this positivity in every phase of our lives.

The guest speaker Jane was so full of life and persuasive. She just added another dimension to my thoughts. The notion of Social Entrepreneurship was a bit confusing to me, and after learning about Upper Global and Jane's endeavor to build the company, it seemed SocE could be a good fit for my future goals. Someday I'll really like to be involved in something that truly makes a positive difference in the world.

February 13, 2010

The chapter presentations on Estrin Book was very engaging and informative. The groups had their own innovative style of presenting the chapters.Our group had good fun presenting chapter two in a diagrammatic way. The two presentations on readings were so innovative that I am thinking hard on how to make our reading presentation more innovative and interesting.

Professor's lecture helped me understand the difference between Creativity ( development of ideas) and Innovation ( implementation of new ideas). The group exercise emphasized on the importance of team work . It showed how a given task can be completed without any hassles if carried out in a systematic way and by believing and following people who are good at it.

Overall, I am enjoying every class and cant imagine that it is going to end in a couple of weeks.

Innovative ideas all around

I am always motivated in this class and yesterday was no different. All the group presentations were great. Given the short amount of time in which we had to come up with an innovative idea we all did a great job. these presentations just shows that if we all put our minds to things, we can all come up with amazing creative ideas which can bring about the change. I guess we all have so many responsibilities and are so engaged in our routine activities we do not have time to think and analyze stuff and come up with creative ideas. These projects and reports give us reasons to think hard and I think this is a great way to bring creativity in our day to day life:)
Listening to Jane, was also very inspiring...I felt like doing something ..something innovative..something that helps the society. She had such a positive aura and was so inspiring. She is a proof that if we have passion, will ,and determination we can achieve great things. I always talk about things I want to do, things I want to change, and so on but that is about it. I never take it a step further....I am not prepared to take the risk and do something out of the norm. But listening to Jane made me realize their is hope for people like me:)

CPQ-Culture and Perspective

I took the CPQ test pretty early in the course, may be at the end of the second week. I think if I took it a little later, I would have been more accurate with my answers. But still I feel that whatever my scores are very much portrays my views and perspective. Growing up in a same country doesn't necessarily put two people in a same mindset. There are lots of other factors that contribute in shaping one's perception. But obviously there are some common traits that people of a certain area share. As some of my scores were a bit off from my Avg country score, I was thinking, is it because it has been a while and my perception changed?

As Liz mentioned in an earlier blog, core values don't change. I totally agree. I think after coming to a different country a person actually realizes what his/her core values are. It's really important to know yourself before stepping out and be a global citizen. These little tests, though not perfect, was a good way to learn something about ourselves.

further thoughts on Tuesday class

I love the idea about genetic-modified bacteria and the way your team presented it was very captivating, convincing, and informative…However, I am still resistant to agree that the idea will be more cost-effective or feasible compared to recycling, considering environmental risk impacts from culturing, processing, and tainting our environment with an biological bacteria that are not fully studied, predictable or controllable. Bacteria can’t survive in a low-oxygen environment in old landfills, so does it mean that we have to build new specialized facilities and transport all the plastics, and what kind of fuel, energy, or resource consumption needed to operate and sustain the facilities/bacteria? Will that be worthy or even safe? (Sorry, I support recycling as well as my favorite Target bags that were under attack :-)) The art presentation was very fascinating and professionally portrayed with great catchy introduction from Coleen’s team about how to think “out of the box” and growing your right brain for innovation. The wellness presentation from the ladies group was not new, but brought us to a deeper, higher recognition and reinforcement of its importance. Companies have been doing some fitness activities; but because of the budget and time constraints, I don’t think it will be implemented to a full scale or extent that Alexandra’s team recommended. Overall, very well-done, excellent presentations!

Jane’s speech is undoubtedly inspiring and encouraging. I am sure it was pretty tough for her at first to connect, build trust and partnership with businesses. It seems to me like that she can succeed in being an effective social entrepreneur not only thanks to her fearless and persevering passion, but also her real life experience to realize what works and her free will to live her dream, not being tied down to money or pressured to make profits.

Another Creative & Inspiring Evening

Wow, what a great example of achieving new heights when talented people are a challenged to get out of their comfort zone. I am talking about fellow class mates as well as Jane.

I truely believe that most of us reach a point in our career where we prioritize giving back to society over the selfish personal needs. Some of us reach there sooner than others, then the true meaning of happiness emerges.

Similar to other posts, Jane's journey is inspiring and can be used as a model where one can combine the social needs, desire to formulate a profit-making entity and personal strength / beliefs.

I also echo the feelings of fellow class mates that it is hard to believe that the class is almost over. Who knows, this may be just a beginning of our journey towards Global leadership or Social innovation. Time will tell the story.

SocE ?

Yesterday's class was very informative and interesting. First of we have the innovative ideas presented. I find School Connect to be a very cool idea and definitely feasible. If you guys are ever going forward with the project and need another person on board, please contact me :)

Jane has answered two of the biggest doubts I have about SocE.
- SocE can be a for-profit company. All these while I thought SocE is a non-profit charity with a bunch do gooders. Never would I categorize SocE as a ruthless bunch of people that want to do good and improve the society.

- SocE can make some serious money and get VS funding. As mentioned in class, I had the assumptions that VCs are only interested in their ROI and exit strategy.

See Jane Run!

Jane's enthusiasm was down right contagious and I wanted to get out there and just do something; create, change, challenge. Comparing yourself to others is not always the best approach and Jane sure challenged that notion tonight. She had a dream that developed in the course of her career, took some severe body blows, persevered in the face of obstacles and turned her dream into a multi-million dollar company. Who wouldn't want to compare themselves to her accomplishments? Between tonight's innovative presentations and Jane's enthusiasm, it is so obvious that we all have nothing but resources at our fingertips, by virtue of being in this program, and those resources are invaluable. We can all run like Jane. Great class!

Blue Tarp

Blue tarp, blue tarp, so easy to turn

Though where are the innovative ideas when a solution must churn

One thing to learn, create a team out of communication and trust and

Innovative solutions are then a must

loving my innovative classmates

Hi everybody,

Today I was so impressed by all the problems and solutions presented in class by all the groups. I kept thinking "OMG this class has so many innovative and smart people, I love it :)"

Seriously, I benefited a lot from Today's class. Every presentation opened my eyes to a different problem in our society and the given solutions were very nice and creative.

Also the guest speaker was so good, her presentation touched me personally in a sense because I have been looking for a job since I came here two years ago but unfortunately with no success. It was kind of disappointing though when she said that her organization helps only people with green card, but still I know how these people feel and I am glad that there is such an organization that can help them get a chance in their new society.

tuesday the 16th class

Hi todays class and the guest speakers presentation was a great motivation for me. Infact for all of us ,where we have wanted to pursue our interests and passions at some point but were too scared of the risks and failures. It was amazing to see the passion with which these entrepreneurs go out of their way to make their ideas a reality.

Saturday- very creative class

Saturday was a very fun and energetic morning class that taught me so much. I feel inferior and a bit envious because I have absolutely no creativity in my gene at all, which accounts for 40% of being a successful innovator. That is probably why I enjoyed the impromptu innovative presentations and creativity activities in this class because people say that ones always love what they don’t have. Our classmates are so talented and creative with tons of new, excellent ideas to present the chapters from drawings, storytelling, to chronological role-playing, etc..The outdoor exercise was perfect for team building and strong leadership development. When the game started, I told myself, “impossible! This is ridiculous as there is no way to do that!” But we did it as a team by just following our leader and helping each other. There were several times some of us including myself were off- balanced and almost fell. Someone was always there to lend us a hand and help us up. So, thank you, friends for everything you’ve taught me!

CPQ - Cultural Perspective Questionnaire

According to me, the Cultural Perspective Questionnaire( CPQ) scores seem valid. Although my scores were almost same as that of the Average scores for my country of birth (India), I was quite surprised when the values on individual dimensions were more close to the class group. Thus the scores made me feel that I am part of the group and I am probably in good state of mind to interact with people from other cultures.

My orientation on "Relation to Environment" and "Relationships among people" were higher when compared to the average scores for India. I feel great about doing my MBA in the Bay Area. Firstly, it offers immense opportunities for exposure to various cultures. Apparently, this has helped me learn new things on a daily basis. Interacting with classmates from various backgrounds has given me a clear rationale on the good and not so good practices associated with my culture.There has been an exponential growth in my learning curve and I can't wait to put them in to practice at work/day-to-day life.

Almost coming to the end!

I cant believe this is our last class... we learned so much in such little time. Saturday's class helped me realize I'm not such a bad artist after all! I think all the groups did such a great job coming up with creative ways to present the chapter, and all the hidden talents shone today.
The team building exercises Ive done in this class are not only a great learning exp, but can be used everywhere, and are esp great ice breaking tasks.
Another thing I realized about this course is that there is variety in the course work. Apart from writing papers and doing presentation, we also get to participate in so many activities in and out of class, role play, do personal assessment quizzes and play different games.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Joyce and my fellow class mates for making this such a wonderful and pleasant learning experience for me.

Another Fun Saturday

When we thought we learned enough about leadership and innovation, Professor surprised us again by asking us to push the limits of creativity through the Chapter presentations. Clearly we broke the mould of incremental innovation and came up with impressive presentation formats.

The innovation reading presentation by Anna, Nancy et al is another example of creativity and innovation where a very academic information was shared with a fun flavour.

The group exercise reinforced the criticality of leadership and followership. It also validated the needs to improvise the plan as one starts executing the plan.

Another great class session!

Time flies !

I can't believe how fast time flies. Just a few weeks ago we were tossing paper at each other to learn their names - now I feel like I've known everyone in class for a while. Trusting them with leadership roles during in-class activities and group collaboration.
This past Saturday's class has been quite an interesting class. The tarp activity showed how a well acquainted group can collaborate and work together to achieve a common goal. In comparison to the paper plate activity we had in the beginning of the class, we only did the tarp activity ONCE and succeeded.
Moral of the story: Be a leader when the situation calls for one, follow the leader if he's doing a great job (your turn will come).

Creative Saturday..!

I was so amazed to see the creativity of my fellow classmates with the Estrine Book presentations. At the time the Prof said, "Be as creative as you can"...everybody was in their creative boots, tapping in to a great show. Within such a small time each group came up with fun and out of the box ideas that really captured the theme of this course.

Doing something in a different way, adding something extra...we sometimes don't feel comfortable. May be we feel the whole environment is not so welcoming for new ideas. When we got the feeling that these ideas are being appreciated everybody wanted to do something exciting as well as engaging to make the point. This could happen to any organization as well. Innovative companies like 3M or Pixar provides their employees with such an atmosphere where innovation can be nurtured. And they are not failing to amaze us with their new products and productions. Tonight's class was a vivid example of this analogy.

Outdoor exercise was really fun. It showed that sometimes we just need to trust. May be if it was given in the first day of class, we may have not made it this fast. And thanks to Thu for the yummy food you brought...:)

Tuesday 9th---Patriotic, Playful and Pristine

The class had three reading presentations and each one of them brought a different ambiance to the classroom. I totally enjoyed my presentation with Dianne playing with the baseball theme. It was a challenge for me as didn't know anything about baseball. I just knew the pitcher throws the ball and the hitter hits it. Though I am not such a sports fan, but I followed cricket. But being in a Global Leadership class one of the main lessons is to be willing to learn and show interest in something which isn't necessarily in your comfort zone. I took this as an opportunity to explore new grounds and I had a fabulous partner with me which made the journey even more exciting. Thanks Dianne. I think from this exercise, I not only was able to learn about the topic but also the notion of stepping outside of your territory and gain something new.

Also the class exercise was a fun way to learn about reading between the lines. You can never go wrong by giving an extra effort to do your homework before you start to communicate in a "not so known" environment.

The Innovation Ecosystem...

So I showed this picture to my wife and she responded "I'm not going even to begin to ask". It is really awesome that we are thinking outside the box in this class and exploring our creativity when sharing information with one another.

The team experience on the tarp was amazing. (I have no pics of this - rats =) I was standing there, really not knowing what was going on but had extreme confidence that the individuals giving direction had the team's best interest in mind. That is trust and it is something to be cherished as I have been on many teams where trust was extremely hard to build. I believe this class has given me skills to help build trust and leadership. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, it also helps spark some good ideas.

I really like tthat in this class, we have been able to see everyone express themselves. I have not only learned content, but have also learned a little more on how to interact with people. Creativity is such a huge part of the "valley culture" and I am glad to see it is alive and well in my classmates!

saturday class

The saturday class was very exciting. Especially the chapter presentations were really creative and fun. We will definitely be able to learn and remember it better than if we had just read it. The outdoor exercise also made us realize how well a plan can be implemented if you have trust in your coworkers. The cpq results helped us know our strengths and weaknesses and see a relation between two points for example self identity and ability to going with the group etc. Where one maybe viewed positively as getting along with the group, it may also show that you have low self identity. Hence i think you definitely need to balance and maintain your identity and self esteem while being a part of the group.

CPQ

My CPQ scores were understandable and surprising. Overall, I could see how my scores related to how I interact with the environment, think, view others, and handle time. I'm basically at or just below the class average. My attitudes and views to the areas I mentioned are a bit different from those in my birth country, the Philippines, which makes sense since I grew up in the U.S. Honestly, my most surprising score was my individual-relationship one. I thought my responsibilities were connected more to my family than what my scored showed. While a couple of questions can't define how I connect with my family, my score was an eye-opener. I took a step back and thought about how I view my family.

Keeping with the family relationship theme, I work with a diverse group of people both in my job and in the MBA program. I highly value my family, so when working with others, I assume that their family is important to them also. Last week when I was scheduling presentations at work, I asked my co-worker what times in the day work for her, since she has kids. I then coordinated the late night schedule around her family time. I also ask her a few times a week how her family is doing. Another way I reach out with co-workers and classmates is with something we all have in common: community through food. My family spends a lot of our time eating. So when I met new people in class, for example, I suggested that we need to have dinner outside of class. I believe that eating together is a great way to get to know each other. Now all we have to do is find the time to do it!

Saturday's Class

I think the most interesting part of Saturday's class was the impromptu presentations that everyone provided. The class was very creative and I was left with concise take-aways from each group. I was impressed with what the groups did as far forming a team, coming up with a strategy and then delivering the information in such a short period of time. The exercise was value added as it reinforced the initual reading(s).

The outdoor exercise was enjoyable, but quick. I concur with the group that if we would have done the exercise earlier in the session the results may have been quite different. Everyone knowing and trusting each other is a critical component of success.

The CPQ exercise and feedback gave me an opportunity to examine the difference between how perceive myself and what feedback I got from the tool. For the most part there was alignment, but areas such as the "relationships among people" category gave slightly different results than I would have expected.

Finally our team seems to be moving right along as we prepare for our Innovation presentations. Our team has been really supportive and everyone has been pulling their weight. I look forward to seeing the presentations of the other teams.

Keith

Saturday

I really enjoyed presenting about the 5 innovator skills. I found the article interesting and relieving that I can work on being an innovator. That's not something I think I'm very good at, but at least 2/3 of it is learned so that's hopeful. The class has been a great learning experience. I've been interested and engaged during each class and I've met some great classmates. It's interesting how well we've come together after only a couple weeks of class. I didn't realize how well we've bonded until we did the outside activity. I didn't find this survey as useful as the GCI. I felt the dimensions were to broad and didn't consider the different situations someone could be in to answer the questions very differently.

Saturday's exercise

I was thinking about how smoothly we all worked together on the exercise outdoors that was part of Saturday's class, and comparing it to some of the first activities that we did in class. When we were tossing the "ball" in a circle to learn names, or later tossing an actual ball to speed up and beat the other team, we did not have the same level of trust and cooperation that we showed on Saturday. In those activities, and in the exercise crossing the "ocean" on paper plates, we learned to trust and rely on each other, to brainstorm and plan our actions, and then to follow whoever we determined would lead the activity. I really did feel like I didn't need to see exactly what was happening (I had someone tall in front of me) since I could hear the communication that was going on and trusted that my team would tell me when it was my turn to move.

Global Competency - or lack thereof

The GCI was an eye opening experience. While it reinforced some of the the things that I believe about myself, such as my self-management and general perception management abilities/competence, I was quite surprised to see how low I scored in Cosmopolitanism. But I thought about it, as I think we have all done with the results of these surveys, to try to understand. I know I stopped reading about traveling in the last two years when money and time both became scarce resources and economic and political issues here in the US began to dominate my thoughts due to their more immediate possible impacts. I have had really interesting experiences in other countries, especially Italy and Mexico, where, due to at least some minimal language competence, we could explore without the benefit of a guide or interpreter. And I look forward to more such experiences, but know that I've put them on hold until at least such time as I'm done with this program and feel a bit more economically secure. But it's time to at least start paying more attention to what's going on in the rest of the world (other than economic news from NPR).

The area where I believed that I was weak, and the results emphasized it, was in relationship management. While I am very interested in other people and usually good at engaging them in conversation, I don't think I'm very good at understanding where they are coming from or what they may be thinking (emotional sensitivity). And while I have learned the appropriate social flexibility for various situations in the US, whether business, school or different social activities, I don't know how well I'm doing in these situations with people who were not brought up with the same set of expectations. I've also never really had an opportunity to test these skills outside the US.

On the bright side, I am optimistic and inclusive, so I have faith that if I do work on developing in the areas where I see weakness, I should be able to improve.

Innovative Leaders

One of today’s reading presentations is about innovative leaders. There are 5 skills that make innovative leaders stand out: questioning, observing, associating, networking, and experimenting. Each skill on its own does not really say much about how much impact it has. Taken together the effect of all these skills is to separate innovative leaders from the rest.
For instance, only questioning things likes “what-if” or “why not” is not going to take the leaders anywhere unless they start investigating further through observation. After observation, they start experimenting by associating what they have lean and incorporating it with what they already know through collaboration and networking. I am sure this process is not as easy as it sounds otherwise there would be a surplus of innovative leaders. Knowing how many challenges the innovative leader has to face, I am willing to put myself on trial.

a fun saturday morning

Today's was another fun class. I thought that the presentation given by Nafisa, Nansy and Anna was creative in the true sense! Very nice application of things that we have been learning about in class. When we all had to present the chapters from the book in a 'creative' way, i was curious to see what different groups would come up with. I enjoyed all of them. All the teams came up with really innovative ways to present their thoughts. The outdoor activity was fun too. It made me realize how we have all become so comfortable with each other in such little time. Overall i think "Change is good"!!

CPQ results

I am not sure what to derive out of the result. Like my other classmates even I was very confused answering the questions. I am not sure if I have answered it truthfully or answered it according to what I think or what I want to be. But the results were interesting. I am similar to my countries average in most of the things except for few where I am radically different. I guess my thinking process and my attitude has changed a lot in the past 2 years that I have spent in USA. I guess we should take these test once in while, it helps us reflect on things which we do not have time to think of. I never sat and thought that I am weak in this particular thing and what steps should I take to improvise? But after looking at the results, now I do think how I should work to improvise my weakness. Not only that I am now aware of my strengths, some of which were a surprise to me though..but the point of these exercise is to be aware of our behavior, our strengths, and weakness.

another weekend class

This was the second weekend class of the semester. It was short but interesting. We had an impromptu presentation and I not at all good at it. It need lot of preparation time before presenting, but it was good to step out of my comfort zone and present. I am surprised by the way everyone creatively presented the chapters of the textbook. Seeing the comfort level we have with each other I feel that this class is a huge success in bringing people of all different culture together and bringing out the best in them while doing that. I have never had a class where every one is interacting and working with each other like in this class. Both the article presentation were also very interesting. Both the group did a very good job at it. The outdoor activity was fun too. I wish all classes had this mix of activities, interaction, and teaching!!

Feb. 9th

I was shocked when I took the GCI...

Being in HR I truly felt that I would rate fairly high on most of areas regarding building relationships, sustaining relationships, cultural diversity, etc. Surprisingly I only rated high in one area...so I know that I am not judgmental, however it seems that I do not emphasize relationship building. I just have to wonder if this is accurate and if it is, wow did I have a different outlook on myself :o) This was great for me to learn because now I am much more aware of my conversations at work.

The leadership team that I support is extremely culturally diverse. I believe that for the majority of my time supporting this group I have just assumed that they act and think (somewhat) like me...I definitely have a different opinion now and so much of the push back I have been receiving from them makes sense.

Feb. 2nd

This class and its contect has really opened my eyes to global business and relationships as a whole. I never realized how in depth a subject like global leadership could be. Working with a global company I see the challenges that are faced day in and day out. My company did not go global until recently, they face the challenges of integrating their company procedures internationally. The one thing that we struggle with on a daily basis is that of cultural sensitivity. We are a US based company and expect that all other countrie in which we have set up facilities will assimilate to our culture. Obviously this has not worked and instead has created more of a divide int he company. Currently we are looking at these issues and how to change...more to come when the decisions are made.

This class has allowed me to play an integral role in these conversation to create much needed change throughout the company. Recognizing and understanding is where we currently are with our company...make large strides towards change.

Mark,
Thanks for the picture. I am excited (an maybe scared) that someone with your enthusiasm for trying new ideas is on my team!!

The results of my assessments indicate that I should move more in your direction. I have actually had this conversation with a peer of mine to identify areas that I could improve upon. I work in area that depends on people from diverse cultures to make the whole team successful. I am now thinking that maybe exposing myself to participating in the cultural events of my work team might help inside the 9-to-5 environment. I also am going to hold more skip level meetings that blend the work force.

Tuesdays class was very enjoyable. The three presentations coupled with the lecture made for an informative night. I am hoping our team does as good of a job.

Happy Lunar New Year from VA Governor Bob McDonnell :-)

I think it was very nice of the new VA Governor Bob McDonnell to take the time off his busy schedule to write the Lunar New Year/or Tet Greetings to the Vietnamese Community :)
Too bad that we haven't heard or seen anything from the CA or TX Governors yet :(, even though CA is the most populous Vietnamese in the US, then TX.

Happy Lunar New Year of the Tiger to us all!

----------

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA Office of the Governor
February 11, 2010
Dear Friends:
As we approach the Lunar New Year/Tet, I wanted to take the time to express my gratitude to the Vietnamese-American community for its positive contributions to Virginia.
The Tet New Year symbolizes the beginning of the Vietnamese lunar year and the first day of spring. It is the biggest and most important holiday for the Vietnamese-American community.
Tet is a celebration of rebirth and renewal. It is about letting go of the past and looking forward to what the future brings. It gives us time to honor ancestors, visit family, look up old friends, and celebrate as a community.
The New Year of the Tiger is upon us. As governor, I am honored to represent the Vietnamese-American community here in Virginia. I hope the Year of the Tiger will bring good health and fortune to everyone.
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
Robert F. McDonnell

GCI Results & other thoughts....

If you ever told me 15 years ago I would be eating a chicken's foot and liking it I would have informed you that you were nuts.

But look at me now, enjoying the wonderful goodness of dim sum with my wife's family.

I am not going to lie, my GCI scores were pretty sweet, but this is not something that came over night; it was something I worked on throughout my life.

As I grew older and changed, I realized that the world is an ever shrinking place.

I started to realize it was important to move outside of my ethnic "comfort zone".

In the beginning it was rough. I remember a business trip when I went out to a dinner where everyone invited was not native to the United States. Do you believe they separated the foreigners from the Americans? (I actually sneaked into the meal cause I had to see what was going on =) That dinner was rough not only because the company did not want to pay for my meal, but also because I felt like an outsider. And I was.

There is a way to become an insider - and that is to keep an open mind, listen and just treat others as you would like to be treated: with some respect & understanding. Sometimes it is OK not to know "exactly" what is going on. I'll just ask some questions later =) In the meantime, I will just enjoy my meal and a good glass of wine.

tuesday class on the 9th

Hi

The tuesday class was amazing and i was actually surprised by the creativity of my class mates and the wonderful presentations. The GCI exercise gave me a good insight on my personality traits and made me think about them to know what areas i need to work on and what are my strengths. The decoding exercise made me realize how important it is to do your homework before you go there and know beforehand what the situation will be like and how you can change it. If you have already planned beforehand there will not be any element of 'surprise'.It was also interesting to analyze the hidden meanings in simple sentences like' my staff is not bilingual'. It was a great learning exercise for me.

February 9, 2010

This class gave me insight on soft and hard competencies. Decoding test gave an interesting perspective as to how cues help us decode a situation. When you are in a different country with completely different culture it is always a best practice to build relationships. However contrasting your views could be from theirs, you will get an idea as to how effectively your goal can be achieved by developing trust through relationships. Once the trust is developed it gets little easy to put forth your ideas to get the work done. The test also geared me up to face such situation(s) with patience and positive attitude.

Go Americans and GCI Results

I was a bit taken back by the 'Americans are the winners' article (the preso was great- it was the article I had issues with). While I do think it's important to have pride in your country and try to motivate everyone to be better, I think the 'Americans are winners' attitude has affected our relations with other countries and how the world views us. I'm not trying to get political, but I think when you are a global manager that kind of attitude would not be something you would try to promote.
On another note, at first I was surprised by my GCI score. However, once Prof Osland explained some of my lower score on relationship management it made more sense. I think these surveys are very useful and I'm looking forward to getting my CPQ results back. These surveys put your attitudes into an unbiased perspective which is easier to digest and therefore work on your behaviors.

Decoding and More

It is always interesting to me how an entire class can always come up with the same answers. Being in an MBA class, have we entered a pool of such small percentages that eventually minds do start thinking alike? The Decoding exercise was interesting though obvious too. However, the obvious part may have been that I was fading around the time we had to engage in an activity of the mind. The presentations were fun and a clever way to learn new material. As far as assessments go, well, there is always something to learn about ourselves and results should be taken with some reserve rather than from the absolute.

Decoding Test- fun, intriguing exercise

I like that exercise very much as it provides me with some interesting hints and good advices to decode human’s behaviors and sign language. I learned a lot from the in-depth analysis and intriguing cues in the situation. I think they are by far accurate and useful to employ and observe when we travel. What the exercise lacks is an actual specific action plan to deal with change resistance and unfavorable opinions in a new country. I just wish there were more body languages or facial expressions to see. I know in high-text cultures, they play a significant role in order to decide whether such interpretation is just a hypothesis, or a true insight and clever way to express something.

Global Competency Index (GCI) results – predictable, not realistic test

I think the questions are too easily predictable, obvious, and most likely have inaccurate results. I don’t know if anyone here thinks like me (I am sure there are), but I don’t want to be off the chart, so honestly I was kind of untrueful to myself when I answered the questions. I put myself in the perspective of an effective global leader, not saying that I am or could be. As a result, I scored pretty bad on “self-identity’ and “self-confidence”, and I think that is the only true profile of me. I am so confused. Besides, when I was a tour guide for a foreign adoption agency, and I realized that in reality, when in a foreign country, most travelers just want to get their work done and leave to go home. They usually distance themselves from the locals and are hardly willing to change their values or beliefs at all. It's always easier to say than do it.

Base ball was the theme of the calss!!

The highlight of the class for me were the presentations. All three topic of presentation were very interesting. I really liked the creative way the Basket ball case was presented. Baseball is all greek for me but they made that presentation very interesting and I could clearly see the link between base ball and marketing strategies used. We too did a presentation today. I think it went off pretty well.Hope the class liked it too:) The third presentation was also very interesting. Positive Deviance is a very interesting concept. I never thought of it before this class. But there are so many people around us who could be positive deviance. i think anybody who does things different than the norm and has positive, effective results is a positive deviance. In my previous organization we use to follow a strict procedures of approval from compliance, actuarial and technical departments which has been followed since the inception of our department. However, my manger saw some loopholes and came up with an alternative process to be more efficient and effective which was later approved by the department and followed. I guess he was a positive deviance:)

GCI report got me thinking!!!

GCI was a very interesting exercise. I have taken similar evaluations and I personally feel that these kind of simulations are not very accurate. It all depends on what you feel on that day.But I was surprised to see my results. These evaluation seemed to be accurate for most of the criteria. Like I thought of myself as a very optimistic person and my evaluation reflected it. Also interest flexibility was very true to my attitude of changing my interest based on my surroundings. Over all I was very happy with my Self - Management evaluation. However I didn't do that well on the perception management section. Some of the lows were true to my nature like I am not a very inquisitive by nature and I am already working on that. The most surprising result was how low I was on Non judgementalness and Social Flexibility. I thought I am pretty flexible socially. I am living in a different country with people from different culture and background than mine...I got to be socially felxible!! but I guess I am not. When the professor said that these results are relative i was a bit relieved. However, I will work on social flexibility and the Non judgementalness by being more cautious of how I react and making cautious effort to change. I do feel its difficult to change all of a sudden but it is worth the effort!!

GCI...Fact or Fiction?

I was a little surprised with data in my GCI Feedback Report. I scored very high in the Perception Management section with the exception of "Tolerance for Ambiguity". While I try to maintain a sense of curiosity to different ideas, I'm not sure if my actions "in the moment" would mirror my survey results.

I know from experience that while I perceive traveling and new cultures as positive during reflection, I also know that from the moment I land in a new country until I actually find my luggage, make it through customs, find a cab, figure out the tip, register at the hotel and close the door on my wonderful, new, strange hotel room, I'm on edge. The first morning in a new country is the toughest. The alarm goes off at 6A local time (God knows what time by body thinks it is!). I struggle to fit in the mini shower, discover I forgot my toothpaste, eat some exotic new breakfast with weird tasting coffee and spend the next 8-12 hours being "on" and then I share an evening meal with new acquaintances and drink more than I normally drink in a month?? It's TOUGH! SOOO while I relish the growth that new experiences bring in retrospect, when I'm in the moment, I feel like its more about survival than growth.

I ranked much more "middle of the road" in the Relationship Management section which I think is an accurate representation of who I am.

I also agree with the Self-Management assessment. I was ranked pretty high in most categories which doesn't surprise me. I'm a "the glass is half full" kind of guy.

GCI results....are they accurate?

I wasn't too surprised by my results from the GCI exercise. I have worked internationally for many years and made lots and lots of cultural mistakes in the beginning...I certainly appreciate that my collegues cut me a lot of slack in those early years. One amazing take-away from traveling, is how tuned in to American politics, culture and gossip, the rest of the world is. Most of us (sometimes me included) barely know who the King, Prime Minister, Governor, etc. are in other countries, and here the rest of the world can speak intelligently about our system of government. I try to make it a point to pay attention to the world section of the paper, on CNN or on the news.... there is so much more going on outside our borders.

So back to the GCI, I thought most of the readings seemed pretty accurate although I was a little surprised at the emotional resilience score. I scored lowest on this measurement and, although I thought I was pretty resilient, I must hold onto slights or challenging experiences more than I should or is productive....something to learn from.

You can do it - Nothing is impossible

After the weekend marathon, coming to class on Tuesday was kind of daunting as well as a bit disappointing. I did not expect to feel disappointment in seeing the class half full - yes I mean the undergraduates. I learned so much and had so much fun with them during the weekend session that I felt that the class had only half its strength.

The ball game was very thought provoking just like every other exercise we have had in this class so far. I never realised how much power this simple sentence had - "You can do it. I definitely believe you can do it even better". This actually stimulated our brains to come up with better solutions while also reinforcing the fact that as a leader sometimes your job is just to encourage and motivate your colleagues. The Carlos video again taught us the basic clashes/differences we see in our daily life while dealing with multicultural people. Finally I have to mention about the article on Microsoft. This article shows how a company that redefined the IT world is suffering because of internal politics. It is very obvious from the article that if Microsoft continues this way, it will soon be spiralling towards doom. I previously attended a session with Martin Brauns - President & CEO of Interwoven and an SJSU alumni who stressed the importance of how politics can destroy a company. He actually symbolised politics as a minefield which curbs growth and made sure his company never had any internal politics.

Am I Globally Competent?

Okay...I am looking at my GCI report, sharing some of the result, which is suppose to be "Personal and Confident". Actually I wasn't that surprised to see my stress related score, and I know I have to work on that. But I was rather disappointed to see my score for Social Flexibility where I did very well in cosmopolitanism. I always though that I was quite flexible when it comes to social interaction with people from different backgrounds. But I guess I need to get much more exposure to situations where it is absolutely necessary to shine with your social skills.

I always have an open mind to any culture. I welcome diversity but there are some values and beliefs that I would not change. May be that is why I didn't do great in some of the Perception Management part. Though my overall GCI index is in the High, I still need to work on to improve my competency. I think the best way to achieve this is by growing interest in knowing the world. If we maintain our interests the rest will fall into place with time.

GCI Results

OK, I didn't expect to be cosmopolitan, but the bottom ranking possible? I guess a lot more goes into that than tourist travel. I rarely read the travel section or the news beyond current local and national events, so the assessment is fair. I would love to travel more and would have by now if it were financially feasible. My husband has worked in more countries than he can remember, but never actually saw any of them so I don't think short-term assignments are an effective way to learn about a country's culture.

I had some issues in the relationship management section of the assessment, as the questions kept asking about "values". I don't think we change our core values in a social situation. We adapt, we do our best to understand each other's perspectives and issues, but I don't think anyone changes their core values. They may, over time, develop an appreciation of each others which may have some impact, but I don't think core values change.

I think I'm usually good at engaging others and trying to build positive relationships. The feedback I'm seeing here is that perhaps I'm not very good at it.

There are plenty of positive takeaways, but overall it was a bit depressing.

This opinion piece was in todays SJ Mercury news. I thought it seemed relevant to our class....

Opinion: Ramsey: U.S. must get its innovation mojo back
By Rey Ramsey
Special to the Mercury News
Posted: 02/07/2010 08:00:00 PM PST

Is America slipping? Have we lost a quality that made us the innovation center of the world? Does invention matter to us anymore?
Let's be clear: America is still top dog when it comes to innovation. The United States accounts for nearly a third of the $1.1 trillion spent globally on research and development. We graduate more science and engineering doctorates than any other country and lead the world in patents.
We're not innovating just for innovation's sake. Being the best at creating what's new provides jobs, tax revenue and a lift for many out of poverty.
We still have the innovation magic, but the questions above are becoming more real every day as other nations aren't sitting still. The National Science Board's annual report on innovation found that for the 10 years ending in 2007, U.S. spending on R&D grew between 5 percent and 6 percent annually. Similar spending in India, South Korea and Taiwan grew more than 9 percent. In China, it averaged a whopping 20 percent.
It's as if the United States is walking up a set of stairs while other nations are running up an escalator. Clearly, our global competitors are paying more attention to what it takes to nurture innovation.
We've all witnessed firsthand the transformative power of technological tools. Access to computers, information and broadband grows our economy and improves lives. For example, federal stimulus targeted at greater adoption of broadband will help create jobs and entirely new industries. One study found that a 7 percent increase in adoption could grow more than 1 million jobs.
President Barack Obama understood the issue when he said: "The United States led the world's economies in the 20th century because we led the world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more important than ever. It is the key to good, new jobs for the 21st century."
The administration has taken some positive steps in that direction. The Educate to Innovate campaign to improve math and science education, the Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy effort and commitments to support green technologies, along with investments to deliver ubiquitous broadband, are a good start.
But more needs to be done, and Congress needs to take up the baton. Innovation isn't a partisan cause, but rather something that needs to permeate all strata of American society.
Three Americans took home a Nobel Prize in 2009 thanks to research on telomeres, which play a role in aging and cellular life spans. The scientists attributed the prize to basic research and to America's ability to attract brainpower. Two of the winners are immigrants. One, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, was born in Australia but moved here because the U.S. is a "notably attractive" place to pursue science, something she warned "one shouldn't take for granted."
She's right. Since I became president and CEO of TechNet, I've been thinking a lot about that. We're still a destination for scientists, engineers and innovators of all stripes, but being on top of the mountain may give us a false sense of well-being. It's easy to look down and forget what we did to get here, or to get careless and fall off. To win this race, our policies must encourage everyone to contribute to innovation — urban, rural, immigrant, minority, young and old.
Are we slipping? Maybe. But we should view any stumble as an opportunity to shake off the cobwebs and get our innovation mojo back.

REY RAMSEY is president and CEO of TechNet, an industry advocacy group, and chairman of One Economy, which works to broaden access to technology in low-income communities. He wrote this article for the Mercury News.

Technology and culture

I've recently been aware of a minor conundrum that technology has introduced into my communication with my staff. I have staff located around the world and we use personal video systems during regular 1:1's. My challenge is maintaining eye contact during our conversations. It is such a strong cultural norm in western cultures to look someone in the eye when talking. Unfortunately, if you look into someone's eyes on the video display, you CANNOT look into the camera so it appears you are not really maintaining eye contact. What do we do?

Article "Microsoft's Creative Innovation"

Joyce has posted this article on BB. It makes a very interesting read. The same article can be accessed on the web at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/04brass.html?th&emc=th

It is sad to note that even in a new age corporation like Microsoft, internal rivalry between established BUs is slowly but surely killing off the innovations. The article is authored by ex Microsoft executive and thus gives a first hand view of the malaise within Microsoft.

The senior execs within Microsoft seem to be resisting change and more interested in perpetuating status quo (i.e) keep milking profits from Windows and Office products. Perhaps the execs running the WIndows and Office products BUs have become so powerful that grown so cozy in the status quo that it is cluding their judgement regarding future of Microsoft.

I see this as a failure of the CEO and the board. The organizational inertia and internal politics is killing them. Time seems to be ripe for a reorganization to save this one time icon of innovation from sliding into mediocrity and eventual demise.

The lesson is no to get too cozy in the current slot and constantly keep evolving. Beware of the people who propound status quo.

Rememeber what the legendary founder of Intel Andy Grove said -- "Only the paranoid survive". Innovate while you have the time, gain the first mover advantage and enjoy (for a short time) the success from it.

GCI

Overall my Global Competency Index (GCI) scores were accurate. I am aware of how I deal with stress, relationships, and other cultures. The challenges I've faced in the MBA program and at work have shown me how I handle these areas. I also think about how I can improve in all of those categories.

Honestly the lowest I scored in some areas surprised me, such as cosmopolitanism. I love learning about new cultures and would jump at the opportunity to travel abroad. I know I need to work on learning more about international events, but I definitely do not avoid anything non-U.S. I love food and I use that as a way to learn about other cultures.

Across the board I need to work on stress management and flexibility. I think things are a bigger deal than they seem. As my husband tells me, "Just chill out."

We are over half way done

It is really hard to believe that 12 days ago that class had not even started and now we are over 50% complete. There has been a lot information that has been offered up during the previous two weeks. What I a have taken away is the relevance of the simulations that we have done. Beginning with the debate of globalization and the relevant points that can be brought up to support both sides of the equation. The importance of education and a more thorough understanding of the subjects make decisions in this area and other areas much less emotional based and much more based and facts.

The other simulation when we were asked to role play as part of "The Owl" exercise also provided some interesting in-sights into different cultures. We were the American trying to get invited to a garden festival. We definitely fell into all of the stereotypical behavior. We ultimately were not invited, but I think my partner and I both learned to slow down and evaluate a situation before imposing our will on the other culture.

The Sally Chang case and the Aracruz Celulose, S. A. simulations also reinforced the importance of cultural understanding in problem solving. Many people will take the time to prepare for technical challenges while thinking that is expected behavior. The same due diligence should be used in understanding cultural challenges

Keith

What I will do if I am in a situation likes Carlos was facing in the video? I come from Asia, my behavioral patterns are similar to Carlos has to some extent. Trying to convince my own boss that I’m good for the job is something that I prefer not to do. I remembered how horrify I was not knowing what outcome is going to be; whether I will get fired, get promoted or be stalled in my career. I’ve begun to develop a thick skin after having done so many times now.

In the Video, Carlos’ boss would not listen and try to understand where Carlos was coming from. He tried to argue and point out all the wrong things he could think of to convince Carlos that he was not ready for the task. In a class discussion we agreed that Carlos would give up and quit. Though, if I were him I would not necessary quit the job. I would go back to my desk/cubicle and think of new approach to talk to my boss. Since all he cares was number, I say let’s give him numbers. I would counter what he has to say about the unfavorable ratio with positive-interrelated ratio. I always believe that if the ratio is bad or unfavorable, it does not indicate poor performance. There are at least two factors that make up the ratio, which means that for the same number that negatively affect the ratio can yield a positive affect on another ratio. For instance, a profit margin is low because an increase of cost of good sold outpaced an increase in sale even though the sale is still growing. In this case, I would bring other ratio to counter that such as Asset turnover. This number will be much higher/ favorable, assuming that the only cost that increases is variable cost. To that end, I would say Carlos should work with what is working. If the boss wants to see and discuss only numbers, let’s give him just that.

the Aracruz simulation was interesting. The simulation demonstrated that in any negotiation, there are hidden agendas. Whether you are working with people in other cultures, in other countries, other business groups or in our day to day live, each person or group has something that 1) they want out of the deal and 2) something they are willing to give up to get what they want. I am not a "supersalesman", but my negotiating philosophy is that a good deal is a deal where everyone walks away feeling like they got something they wanted, especially if the parties will have to continue to work together. In Aracruz, we had the Company with their objectives, the community with their own objectives (but they appeared to want the company to be successfull), the people- who seemed to only want what they felt was rightfully theirs, then the FUNAI and the NGO's with agendas that they claimed were to support the people, but I felt had an entirely different objective..power.

I felt our group was effective because we all came in with the attitude that we wanted to make this work, we wanted a win-win for all. I am not sure that this was an accurate depiction of the actual negotiations as I suspect emotions on all sides were very hot at this point...but in the end, we were successful.

how would I redo the simulation???? maybe the story is different (because it is hard in 10 minutes to feel passionate about our roles and truly defend our groups position...this made it easy to comprimise) ...possible scenario....the circumstance is 5 friends planning a vacation, each has someplace they want to go, but for different reasons. Maybe Mexico, France, Vietnam, New York & Costa Rica. some members like museums, some want the beach and the quiet relaxing atmosphere, some want adventure and exploring, etc. Each has a stake in where they go because this is probablly an expensive, long trip and should be memorable. Each person has a personal stake in the outcome, so thy might be inclined to act differently. Ultimately, they all have to agree on 1 destination (it doesn't have to be one of the original destinations mentioned). Just an initial thought and this needs to be built on.....

I think that stakeholder dialogue is usefull in every aspect of our lives. At work, at home and certainly when making large purchases...any time the stakes are significant (parting with large sums of money, values, work expectations, etc.) it is good to remember that the stakes might be just as great on the other side of the table, recognize this and work with it and try and find a solution that is a win for everyone on some level. Win-Lose means someone walks away disappointed and mistrustful, a Win-Win can allow everyone to walk away, saving face and happy.

GCI - February 4, 2010

The Global Competencies Inventory scores seem to be really valid.The factors that it focuses to assess my  intercultural adaptability is quite convincing. Although my overall global competency index is high, I really need to work on Cosmopolitanism dimension. Before pursuing MBA as my career option, I never had a chance to develop interest in foreign cultures, current world and international events. I feel that I lack that quality and I need to really develop this dimension to be more effective when working in a multicultural environment. But my score on one dimension did surprise me.I have always felt that I had a clear vision of what I want from life, my capabilities, values and beliefs. Ironically, the test proved me wrong. So I will try to be more self aware and work towards developing that dimension too. But overall this assessment tool is a great learning experience. In a nut shell, I have to work on looking inward to develop self awareness and looking outward to improve global awareness.And yes, Kudos to whoever developed this assessment tool!

Good Learning + Fun

All the classes we have had so far have been an interesting mix of learning, creativity and fun. The weekend class where we played the card game was a great way to learn what it is like to have to face a new set of rules every so often. It touched upon the aspect of dealing with change and ambiguity and still continue to face the challenge of advancing to the next level. Which is what i think good leaders do very effectively. I also thoroughly enjoyed the role play between the Xians and Americans. There is nothing such as right and wrong when it comes to cultures. It is all about understanding change and accepting it in order to get results. Tuesday's class on the research related to common characteristics of effective leaders was interesting too. The exercise on code switching got me thinking about actually practicing it in order to be more effective. Looking forward to the next class!

I think I am finally recovering from the marathon class sessions over the last week. I have worked internationally for 14 years and thought I was pretty sensitive to different cultures and differing styles. The various exercises we did over the weekend and again on Tuesday, made me realize that there is always work to do in the area of cultural sensitivity. I have spent numerous hours this week with my extended team in EMEA working through some budget exercises. On Monday, I started to approach the discussions and issues as I always have (which has worked for me, but I recognize this could be offputting to others), but decided to take a step back and really listen to how the rest of the team was approaching the discussions. I took out my communication styles handout (figuratively, not literally) and tried to identify what style each person was exhibiting. I was able to recognize the participants who struggled with ambiguity, which participants were circular, which were linear, which were low context and so on. It was facinating. Taking the time to listen for the verbal cues in the discussion (I don't have the luxury of seeing their physical reactions), helped me to better communicate our goals & objectives. The folks that are uncomfortable with ambiguity and high-level thinking may never really be comfortable with these instances, but I hope that by recognizing their struggles, I can frame expectations and coach them so they can be successful.

February 2, 2010

Today's video on Managerial Code-Switching helped me in precisely understanding the different communication patterns/styles that exist in a multicultural environment. I could acknowledge that most of the misconceptions/misunderstandings that happen due to such contrasting behavioral patterns can have great impact at work. I think I am little confident now that,given a situation, I can perceive what is not visible and interpret patterns and the interaction among cues in a better way.

When I was working as a Software Developer with Verizon in India we, as a team, faced many such challenges while communicating with on shore teams. I wasn't exposed to US culture at that time and it caused difficulty in making them understand the feasibility of certain development applications that our team was working on.  Our manager had to focus on deadlines and hence couldn't help us much with decoding the expectations of onshore team.Although we resolved the issues in our own ways it would have been great if I was aware of these concepts earlier.It would have made my life at work more simple.

The Ball game assisted in understanding how team strategies can work wonders when approached with confidence and motivated by a good leader. The article on "Spark Innovation through Empathic Design" identified the positive payoff any product company can achieve by just observing customer needs. It can sometimes help in damage control when applied thoughtfully.