One and a half quarters and I'm not going to finish. At least not in this state.

  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 14:03

 
testing ftp from my new site.

  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 19:48

 
Third term and I'm taking two courses again. It was really nice only taking one this summer but I need to finish this program so I get on with my life.

During the last term I realized that I am against "big business" in its most heinous form. Big Businesses think that they can do anything they want and that they don't have to answer to anyone. They think that they can act unilaterally and pollute, claim any land they want, and play with the lives of its employees at will. What I'm saying is that Big Businesses are the cancer of society--they keep growing and devestating the host until they finally kill it.

Just so we're clear here, by Big Business I am referring to companies like Enron and all those other companies that think it is OK to swindle stock owners and employees out of their life savings. These companies feel that they don't have to contribute anything to the larger society. They think they are already giving to the community by hiring people from the community -- the same ones they are willing to layoff at any whim.

But, a business that is larger is not always evil. Some companies do contribute to society by acting responsibly. And they better because I feel people are starting to get fed up with the behemoth companies down the street and filling their skylines. They are starting to realize that a life spent working for a large comapany that doesn't value them as employees, let alone as people is a life wasted.

There are some good large companies. I think Starbucks is a good company because it tries to act responsibly. They have their own annual report that is geared specifically toward corporate social responsibility. Ben and Jerry's ice cream company is another one that tries to put people before profits. I'm not saying it's easy. Publicly traded companies are at the mercy of the market and have a lot of pressure on them to show profits no matter what.


  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 06:03

 
I'm well into the second term now and I decided to take only one course, 21st Century Professional. It took serveral weeks to really figure out what the class was really about. The course is supposed to prepare us professionaly for getting into the business world. We are focusing on three areas:
*Communication
*Leadership
*Career Development

We've spent a good amount of time working on Leadership and Career Development but haven't explicitly worked much with communication. Of course you can't really talk about Leadership or Career Development without using and building upon communication skills.

Our first weekend after the course began we all went on an Outdoor Leadership Experience weekend where we did a bunch of team-building activities and did the ropes course. This was a very valuable experience because it was a kind of "applied leadership" experience. Instead of learning a bunch of theory and then trying to find a way to eventually apply it, we used the theory to help us critically review our leadership experiences.

I'm really glad I'm only taking one class this term. It has given me a chance to kick back and think about things like leadership and my career. If I did what most students are doing I'd be taking a Statistics class and spending all my time on that class instead.

One of our deliverables was a presentation on a "leadership" book. I selected Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen's "The Leadership Engine." I think I chose the perfect book for me at this time. It was practical and wasn't too introspective like all those Covey-type books where they look at trying to figure out which of your character flaws are keeping you from succeeding. My guess the main thing keeping those folks is their poor choice of reading materials. That's a bit harsh but if they're going to spend all of their time wondering whether they have the personal qualities of leadership then my guess is they don't have them. Instead, they are George juniors who have been used to having things handed to them all their lives and then find themselves in the precarious position of actually having to become leaders.

What I am starting to realize is that leadership is not something that is going to be handed to you. No one is going to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to pounce into action. Leadership is a process. That doesn't mean that you have to spend your whole life studying the subject in earnest. It means you practice it and then teach others. I came across an article the book The Leadership Engine and it was entitled, "Those Who Can Do, Those Who Excel, Teach Others." That is pretty much what the book is about, teaching others within your company, organization, or community.

  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 15:33

 
Just checked out the ChicanIndie film festival and it rocked!

  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 12:00

 
This Monday I will be starting my third week of an MBA program. The first couple of weeks have proven that I am not a very good capitalist. On most issues I tend to be on the socialist or communalist camp, or at least that is what others claim.

One of my classes is all about Values and I think I've had this course before. I had it before because it is trying to hammer in the concept that Western Civilization and capitalism is the epicenter of the universe.

Business has to be about more than just the bottom line. There is a thing called social responsibility and business are going to be held accountable as soon as the masses figure it out. They haven't figured it out because we're too busy being inundated by Friends re-runs and the over 100 film and TV awards that are constantly on. Even 9/11 hasn't totally sunk in yet. People are still shocked because they don't understand why people in some country thousands of miles away hate the US and its capitalist structure enough to attack us.

Despite all this I am still going to keep an open mind and listen to everything that is said. The more I do my homework assignments, the more I will be able to intelligently articulate my points on this BLOG and in class.

All students are encouraged to use a name plackard so that the instructor can learn our names. I think on Monday I'm going to change the name on the plackard and see if he calls on me this time. In parts of Africa, there is an aural tradition where messagers carry certain types of staffs with carvings on them. The different types of carving signify different messages. For instance, a chieftan might walk to another chieftan's village/city and he or his courtier will carry the staff that might deliver the message "we accept the terms of the agreement" or something like that. The two chieftan may talk for a few minutes on any other subject and then part company and just by the type of staff that each is carrying they can know what the bottom line of the visit was. In this example, they came to an agreement of some sort. Well on Monday I will do something similar in class where I will write how I am planning on behaving that day.

After reading Milton Friedman's essay on the onerousness of social responsibility I feel it is safe to say that tomorrow my placard will read, "TROUBLEMAKER".



  posted by Jesse P Luna @ 20:43