A Little Holiday Reading

You'd think with the tremendous amount of reading we do in grad school, the last thing I'd want to see while on Winter Break was another book! Yet, 1,500+ pages later, here is what learned over Break (yeah, yeah, don't judge me, I've always been a bookworm - but don't worry, I got in plenty of hiking, theater-going, Krav Maga, film editing and family and friends time during the 6 week break!):

The Theme: Ultimately these books are how-to's on competing in the global market - and like it or not, we're ALL competing in the global market.

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

Pink was preaching to the choir with me on this one! He tells us that to be effective in the Conceptual Age (vs. the now withering Information Age) we must use the gifts of BOTH sides of our brain. While he argues that the MFA is the new MBA, I however have to say he isn't considering the Digital MBA because the dMBA offers a more holistic and current approach to business.

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas Friedman

OK, this was the 3rd edition, you know, the one with nearly 700 hundred pages! Happy Winter Break to me! But so worth it - I had been wanting to read it forever. Even at 700 hundred pages, this book concisely gives context to our current global environment. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of wireless devices... it all makes sense now!

Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself by Daniel Pink

Whereas Friedman explains that we have shifted from a world of globalized nations, to globalized companies, to globalized individuals, Pink gives us the lowdown on the quintessential globalized individual - the Free Agent. A good bit has changed in the way people work since this book came out in 2001 (no kidding), but that perhaps only underscores the necessity to meet the challenges of a constantly changing market.

OK, Baker, Winter Break is over, get back to work!

Course in Human Relations & Organizational Behavior Re-Framing My Thoughts on Storytelling

I’ve been on Winter Break for a few weeks now – it’s been glorious to sleep in, relax w/ family & friends and most of all, NO DEADLINES to worry about!

So steeped in relaxation since my last final (Accounting – aggggghhhh!), that it came as something of a surprise when, over happy hour with a girlfriend recently, I found myself with “business-school speak” quite naturally dripping off my tongue. My friend, Stephanie, recently started a new job where she manages the Programs department for a national non-profit. It had been a while since I had seen Steph (since just before the semester started to be exact – no surprise there), and, given my natural curiosity about people, I gave into my usual habit and ended up “interviewing” her about her new position.

A part of Steph’s role requires her to manage volunteers once they’ve been recruited and trained. One challenge for her is retention, and as I continued to interview her I learned that most of the turnover seems to be tied to volunteers who come in with unrealistic expectations.

As a media producer, my first thought was, of course, “Let’s make a training video to address this issue!” So we brainstormed on ways to frame a video that would help manage the expectation of a potential volunteer. But then our conversation went even deeper – and for this I give credit to the Human Relations & Organizational Behavior (HR/OB) class I took this past semester.

First, thinking from the Organizational Behavior perspective, I asked her questions that allowed us to identify a breakdown in communication between her department (Programs) and Marketing (who is responsible for recruiting volunteers). Then, by looking at the issue from an Human Resources perspective, I suggested that the video, through the means of telling a compelling story, needs to address the HR topics of on-boarding, organizational culture & cultural fit and training & development.

Suddenly I stopped myself – poor thing – it was a Saturday night and in my excitement, there I was grilling her about work. But she told me to fugggedaboutit – turns out she was super excited to think about these daily work issues from a fresh perspective.

Who knows what will happen with this idea (perhaps it could be my capstone project in my final semester), but regardless, Steph was very excited with how I was able to break down the issues and supply practical business solutions to an ongoing issue. And I am SUPER excited, that after just one HR/OB class (more to come in the Spring), that I was able to enrich my story-telling capabilities and include these additional facets of traditional business principles.