Understanding...

Knowledge and incite fullness of modern business principles was the theme of our learning.
Understanding the philosophy of company structure are the concepts that we were yearning.
Respect for innovation and aspirating to be great.
Promises to the devotion of people and the relationships that we create/
I have never travel so far in such a short time. And....
Someday I hope to be as knowledgeable as the Professor, yes mine…..

Thank you...

What am I doing wrong?

This entry is not a class assignment but I felt the need to comment. The other day Professor Kurpis asked for student’s option of the classroom environment and teaching style. All were positive in each respect, however many commented about their detachment to the exams. I have spent many days thinking about how and why I have scored or have not scored well on the management exams. And it took me a few days before I discovered my problem. Most management classes are taught based on a discipline, whereas Professor Kurpis teaches management based on a philosophy. I never knew so most emphasis through other philosophers such as Pollack or Fiedler was focused on the philosophy of management. So we say that we can’t find that connection between the class work, homework, and textbook study that would equate to a strong exam grade? I say the problem is not the actual exam but only the results of the way we have been previously taught the subject of business management. I believe in order to perform well on the exams, we need to re-learn the way we have been taught management. We need to think and apply learning techniques similar to the way we think about biology, chemistry, or a foreign language. Professor Kurpis has taught me that Business Management is a much deeper topic than I had original thought. And in order to succeed as a manager, philosophical concepts need to be applied to the obedience and only then will the obedience be linked to greatness.

Communicating via Blog

I started this blog a few months ago with the intention of sharing some personal incite with regard to the lifestyle of a New York real estate agent. As I watched the housing market fall apart and listened as several co-workers totally disregard the true state of the market, I decided to pull back a bit from negative outcry that I had be experiencing. Then came the blog assignments via my management class. If it were not for these assignment, I would have not had any entries since June 2008. I admit that I did not take full advantage of the communication platform. Blogging is an excellent way to share ideas and experiences. And I do feel it should continue to be used as a communication platform for future classes, not only management. The drawbacks that I have discovered are commenting responses should be delivered to the topic creator and respondent's email. For example, I have responded to several postings and currently have no idea to which postings where responded to. Could I have setup an RSS feed? Is there a "find all the posted that you responded to" button? I think I need another semester just to find the old responses. Ahhh....damn.

Opps....The Egg Project

Wow. I forgot to write this blog about the Egg Activity. Well, the egg broke and the 5 extra points went into the trash like the egg. My team worked well together. In a matter of 5 minutes we had 4 different designs to go with. We choose the best design and continued to modify the plan. We did not separate the job of construction, however each shared equally in implementing of the egg casing. One member of the team had some outstanding concepts. Maybe if my one team member did not bounce the egg off the edge of the garbage can when they dropped it, we would have saved Humpty.

The ABCs of DISC

I am a dominant C with a D minor.  “Emphasis on working conscientiously with existing circumstances while shaping the environment by overcoming opposition.”  I always knew I was strange.  While looking through the other interpretations I can spot other influence that I felt applied to me.  However it almost felt like reading through a horoscope. 

 

“Glorious influences should stave off the Monday morning blues: it’s possible that you receive some good or helpful news early in the day. Someone’s attitude later on may strike you as a slightly negative one but if you give this person a little time and space, they will eventually come round!”

 

That’s me!! But wait, that’s the Taurus horoscope for today.

 

“It’s likely to be a successful day, overall. A crazy idea might just work, if you can drum up the support. Don’t be fazed by seemingly negative responses: in amongst the criticism will be some useful advice to take on board, and it’s possible that someone will be quietly impressed with your enthusiastic approach!”

 

This is me!! Wait again, this is the Cancer horoscope for today.

 

“It’s possible that you have a streak of good fortune today; whether that’s a small lottery win or in the form of an unexpected gift something will certainly brighten your day. There’ll also be plenty of time to focus on romance, so make sure you’re looking your best!”

 

This is my correct Pisces’s horoscope for today.

 

I generally tend to look at situations from both ends and make a decision after looking at the facts.  So it’s difficult to make a decision about the management diagnostic test without applying it to an actual working environment.  Wait!!! What I just wrote is what one would expect from a C minor D.  Now I can just wait for today’s small lottery win or unexpected gift. ;-)    

 

 

 

The Power of Vision vs. The Secret

The theme of the movie “The Power of Vision” felt very similar to the theme of the book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne.  The narrator, Joel Parker started by paraphrasing philosopher Fred Pollack by saying “Is a nation’s positive image of its future, the consequence of the nation’s success or Is the nation’s success a consequence of the nation’s positive image of its future.”  The book “The Secret” follows this theory however rewords the principle and calls it the “Laws of Attraction.”  Yet this blog assignment is about my vision and not a debate with regard to the conceptual theories of each philosophy.  As a older student who was seen a season or two, Visions are often marred by the septone of the past.  I have had the pleasure and pain of vision realized and dreams deferred.  And as this economy seems to sit on the brink of ruin, it’s difficult to reach towards the future when the future looks bleak.  I believe the new change in government will help turn this country around, yet is the common US citizen able to compete on a global scale?  I think this is where we fall short, and my take generations before we are able to.  So the blog assignment calls for me to write about my vision.  After graduating, I will be going to law school.  My plan is to practice law in New York after graduating from law school for 2 years and then relocate to Atlanta.  I don’t believe in retiring, so I will continue to work to increases my passive income through real estate, business, and stock opportunities.  Will all that said, a joke I heard some time ago comes to mind.  It went like this:

 

How do you make God laugh?

Answer: Tell him about your plans…

 

 

The Decision Making Process

On Monday, 20th, Professor Kurpis gave the class the option of deciding how the most recent and all future tests will be evaluated. The only contingency was 100% class agreement with the submitted terms. I have to admit after he made that statement I turned to one classmate and said, “He just set us up for the next class topic.” And I watched as the madness simmered. I did not totally disengage, however felt it was going to take a little time to before we would be able to come to a level where the actual decision making could be realized. I equate my action to my experience working with the Emergency Medical Service as an Emergency Medical Technician. Although there are no better times with any tragedy, quite often the best time to get to an accident is not immediately after it happened but a few minutes later. This generally gives people time to calm and therefore the immediate injures can be evaluated. So I slowly watched a train wreck. On Monday, the train collided at around 6:35pm and the smoked cleared around 6:40pm. That is when the work began. I initially suggested the Consult Group method whereby one member from each group act on behalf of their group as we attempt to come to an overwhelming majority decision; as we move to a 100% agreement. Although we did have High Group Freedom and Low Leader Influence, our group skills were not strong enough whereby the optimal choice would suggest the Facilities Decision method; I think the natural environment and ideology of the class would benefit from the Consult Group Method

Management Issue

So I'm back in school and one of my assignments is to note a previous or current management issue. One topic that touched me was whistleblowers and the lack of legal protection for whistleblowers. In my opinion when most people think about "whistleblowers," they recall monumentous actions that caught news headlines. But how about the smaller actions that occur every business day? Do you ever report the wrong-doing or procedure flaw within your business organization? I did. A few years ago I was hired by a major music company to manage the travel billing accounts. In my research I found the error to be in within the marketing division of the company. Little did I know the Director of Marketing had a personal relationship with the CEO's of the company. My report has released during a meeting with all the company leaders. They repremined the Marketing Director and I received the gold star. I went one to clear all the accounts through mid-level management restructure. One of
he changes was that Marketing Director was moved to head my department. The first thing my new boss did was make me an old employee. So do we need more laws to protect whistleblowers? I say, yes.

Coop charges and tax benifit

I'm amazed about the number of current coop owner who are not getting their tax statements from their coop board. Yes people a part of your maintance is tax deductible. If you have not received these documents, go get them. You can amend the last 3 years tax returns. So get those tax docs and see your tax professional or accountant.

More Moves

It may seem I forgot about this blog. Nope, not at all. To enhance my business I work as a Tax Advisor for H&R Block. The past few weeks I have had to study the recent tax changes. I also needed to spend some time developing a few new marketing techniques. I can't disclose the plans. However I will say this....to understand the Real Estate market, you must know the market of real estate.