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.