step by step, i let it consume me
all these processes have conquered my life,
never did i think one course is the synopsis of it,
One course gave me the blueprints of my life

Planning and decision making summed up in one day,
all my years of puberty and pressures of life
could be solved with a mere activity
one course mocked the experiences of my life

Personality tpe D high is who i am
all the time and experience i've gained in life
shaping my qualities and characteristics in one phrase
one course critiqued the essence of my life

Many more activities, lectures, and debriefs
summarized past present and future of my life
now i know how to break down situations to come
one course aiding the management of my life

Poor Blog Communication

communication through blogs have been quite poor throughout the semester, despite my own lack of post and responses. Blog topics consisting of specific questions to answer, or touch upon, leaves no room for open statements and opinions which would be more inviting for responses or replies from other students.

Throughout the semester, when responding to blogs it seems i have to read at least four other blogs of my peers before coming upon one worthy of a good quality, thoughtful, and educated response.

These blog assignments could improve if there were more open statements and opinions within blogs posted. In addition, if the professor responded to student posts, it would enhance the quality of responses from students, and advance replies.

To post a topic vague enough for numerous responses, with the help of the professors response to student posts, and more peer to peer communication (not particularly topic based), would improve blogs assignments for MGT3120

D High I

The leadership/management diagnostic was quite accurate in describing who I am. I was described as a D/High I, where D which stands for Dominance, is my dominant personality, with an 'I' which stands for influence, describes my secondary personality. Not only does it describe my qualities as a leader, decisive, and authoritative, but also describes my weaknesses, which is to be impulsive, where I don't weight out pros and cons or deliberate before making a decision.
I think it is quite helpful to know someone's management type in order to understand their approach to certain issues. Then you would know what environment would be suitable for the person or how to create an environment that suits each manager of leader, what to expect in their character, and where they may lack in decision making.

My Vision

I have always been a person to set goals for myself and stick to them, and although some may seem absurd, it is the way I think.

1. My top priority/goal is to graduate college at the age of 19. I am currently 18 years old of Junior status, and hopefully I will be out of Baruch by next fall. This has been my goal ever since I graduated high school at the age of 16. It would be wonderful to be the youngest college graduate in my family, and break the current record of 20 years old, set by my mother.
2. A dream of mine since the age of 4, which was the age I first started playing the piano, was to be a Jazz musician. This was a dream deferred since the radio station 101.9 FM no longer played Jazz. I realized that Jazz music was no longer considered popular, and the idea of MUSICIANSHIP which is lacked in today's popular music is no longer appreciated. Since I entered Baruch, I realized that I did not have to be an actual Jazz artist to still be a Jazz musician, so my goal is to own a Jazz club by the time I retire.
1. With owning the Jazz Club, I would love to work with my staff: whether it be helping at the bar (I wanted to be a Bartender at one point in my life), performing on stage, or even cooking in the kitchen.

3. I love to cook, and my best friend and I agree there are not good Soul Food Restaurants in New York City (especially one that makes some good Fried Catfish, and Smothered Pork Chops… Ruthie's makes some okay Collard Greens… but I digress). So he and I are thinking about owning a restaurant together (or maybe combining the Jazz Club and restaurant, similar to Blue Smoke). I believe this is my most absurd vision/goal, however nothing is set in stone, but I want to stay true to my Jazz influence and Southern roots.

I appreciate any responses of your opinions of my visions/goals/dreams.

Chaos in Decision Making

During the chaos in class on Monday, I believe I approached the problem with the role of compromise, yet I did it in a very assertive manner. The best way to approach the situation was to take all students and the professor into consideration when making the decision. How can all the students benefit? Will the professor approve of some of our ideas? With the chaos in the front of the room, when trying to write our ideas on the board, I thought it would be a decent ideas to see what the commotion was about and try organize the thoughts of the many peoples, and get it written down, HOWEVER it was a failed attempt.

I think that what should have happened is that ONE person, should have rised among the whole class in the very beginning and approached this as if to organize a regular meeting. A specific amount of time would be given to discuss the many options we can come up with. When that time is up, all possible ideas from the class are written on the board. One by one each option is discussed and narrowed down to 3 options, and voted on. Based on majority, there will be a total discussion (persuasion) on the one option that most of the class has voted for until 100% consensus. This would have been better because it is organized, and one of the reasons why the class so so chaotic is because, there was no organized plan on how to come to a decision; with a less chaotic environment, and an organized plan, i'm sure time would not be an issue either, since each second would be used effectively.

An Egg-cellent Way to Plan

My group thoroughly went through the steps of the planning process. One particular step that we went through was the third step: Develop several alternative strategies. Within our group of 4, each person had a plan; and every member dissected each plan that was 'brought to the table' and found flaws in each one, so that we each can think of an even better plan. We finally collaborated to create a blueprint in which we found absolutely no flaws in.
I don't believe that there was a step in the process that my group bypassed, even though our egg broke, and our plan failed. We were successful at our collaborative execution. As we started to build, we found our flaws yet we still did not stray away from our idea. My team's performance was ultimately flawless although the effectiveness of our plan had failed. Besides the blueprint of our plan, I would not change a thing that my group had done or did not do. And if that means that the egg shall break again..... then the egg shall break!!!!

Managing Time to Study

One of the biggest problems I have this semester is finding time to study for all my classes. I'm used to studying about 3 hours every night since high school, which was mandatory at the boarding school I attended. I came back home to college where I live in a studio apartment with my mother, who used to work nights, which is when I usually study. This semester my mother began working days, which is when I attend school. When I come home, which is around 9 p.m Monday-Thursday, I notice my mother, who is also an insomniac, watching television which does not turn off until she is leaving for work again. I also work 6 hour shifts during the day, from 8 a.m to 2 p.m and full shifts on weekends which doesn't give me enough time to study during the day or on weekends. I do try to study on my train rides to and from school, yet its not enough. I also tried to stay after class at the library, however I'm only 18 years old, so I'm not allowed to stay out late. When will I find the time to study?