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.