Management Strong - Poem Dedicated to MGT 3120

Management Strong

Are you a leader or a follower?
The choice is yours.
But to be a manager, you have to be strong.
Not Army strong of course, but none the less,
You have to be strong.

Don't sweat it! The help is here,
Management class in Baruch is here!
We learn all the skills needed,
Yes, sometimes its silly,
But that's how we learn to be the greatest
Managers on the face of the planet!

Communcating via Blog - My Thoughts

I have several opinions about the blogging assignment. At first, it began as a fun tool to express my thoughts about the class. It gave a great opportunity to get to know my classmates better and connect with some of them. I enjoyed reading everyone's first post just to understand others in the class a little better. I realized right away that it will be a fun class because everyone is so different. Having to write a blog after every class assignment forced me to think back to what we actually did. It was interesting to see that all of our fun and seemingly pointless games actually made sence in the end. Fact that I did not do some of the journals, does not mean I did not think about it ;). It would be helpfull if blogs would concentrate more on outside material. For example, write a blog about an aticle or a theory. This way it might be a bit more educational versus fun. From the very begining of the class, I thought that this will be an easy 20% of my grade. However, I did not realize that its not the case untill almost the end. Another aspect of the blog grade that I still don't understand is weather quality of the blog matters. This was really the reason for me not doing some of the previous assignments. Since these blogs are public, I did not want to make a fool of myself and then simple forgot to go back and write a quality entry.

To be perfectly honest, I am not planning to continue my blog after the class ends. It has been both fun and challanging, but I see little purpose to it outside of class. However, I might write an occasional entry just for rants and vents.

I think this part of the class should be continues in the future with some adjustments. I would make blogging assignments count for less of the overall grade and leave the rest as extra credit. For example, you can pick to write any 5 entries during the semester, and do the rest for extra credit. This will motive students to put effort into it instead of just getting it over with since we all work better for extra credit.

This was my first experience blogging and I can see how it can become a crucual part of education in the future.

Who am I? DISC

Taking the leadership diagnostic test wasn't as bad as I thought. I pretty much figured out the point of it after the first few slides. However, I decided to play along and see what happens. I know my management style pretty well, so I knew what to expect. I scored extremely high on Dominance and Influence scale. I like to get things done the way I want and I want to always be in control of the situation. Since I knew the kind of person I am, this test did not show me anything new. I am completely fine with being the way I am, even though it might be the most likable trait. However, I think this test would be helpful in a group. This way, when everyone knows what type of style they prefer, roles can be assigned more accurately.

Isn't culture the same anywhere you go?

Cultural shock is a funny thing. Some people live their entire life without realizing that not everyone is like them. My first cultural shock was when I first moved to United States, but since I was relatively young, it did not impact me very much. However, when I want to Australia 4 years ago, I was very pleasantly surprised. People there are much more laid back than in New York. Sydney is a big metropolis just like NYC, but there is just no rush. No one pushes you on the streets or metro, store clerks are eager to spend 5 minutes talking to the customer. Being "American," I had to take a step back and relax. I realized that what I thought was normal pace of life, was only normal for NYC.

Story of my life

I was born in Belarus, also known as the last dictatorship in Europe. Moved to States with my family in 2001, exactly 2 months before 9/11. Graduated from James Madison HS in Brooklyn and went on to Baruch as undergrad. I always wanted to run my own business, but got side tracked in high school by investment banking's promises of insane bonuses. Now after 2 years of college, I decided to go back to my original goals of owning my own business. I am a full time student and work full time in the auto industry.