Grad 701 Assignment 2-4

In order to be successful in today's world, individuals must know how to network and expand social capital. If not, one would become complacent and have a narrow view of society, and not receive the knowledge and exposure needed to stay ahead. However, nobody is perfect at networking and staying in contact with all relationships built over the years.
The readings from "Achieving Success through Social Capital" made me think long and hard about the multiple interactions that I have day after day. The book referenced my line of business a couple of times, and made me think about how often I see customers come and go from my branch day-in and day-out. This made me realize that many times I make little or no attempt to built rapport or talk to them unless they talk to me first. Even if we have a conversation, many times we never stay in contact or talk again, and the interaction is disregarded for eternity. After the assigned readings, I am going to make a conscious effort to change this and improve relationship building with others that I interact with. Bank customers come in all shapes and sizes, and finding people that are quite different from me should not be a problem. I just need to make a conscious effort to build relationships with these people in order to expand my social network. In doing so, it will allow me to see other viewpoints other than my own, and to expand my mind to different human-channels that I have never explored in the past. The saying "you can never have too many friends" has never made more sense than it does after this weeks assignments.
Not only did the assignments open my eyes to social capital, but it also forced me to reflect on my overall life as a whole in the Lifecycle Plot diagram assignment. I found that over the last half-decade, my life is at a stage of constant improvement. My roughest times were the adolescent and teenage years when life never seemed to go my way. While studying my graph, I began to see a pattern emerge: The more that education played a high role on my priority list, the more positive my overall patterns became.
As for my learning styles, I didn't always take on a visual approach that I do now. Back in my elementary, junior high, and high school years, I maintained decent grades by listening in class and taking average notes. Not until college when I started to use flash-cards and highlight the majority of my readings did I become a studious student. Audio learning stimulants give me little to no benefit, and usually requires me to listen to it multiple times to have the same impact of reading the material once. Also, reading what I write out-loud usually improves my work as well.
As for the legacy I plan to leave on this planet, it is to bestow my knowledge to others in the form of teaching, public speaking, and being a good father and husband. I plan to take my career to the public someday in the form of politics and would like to be remembered as an "honest politician" (many find humor in this statement). To get to this level, I am constantly exposed to public speaking and interaction in my job, and hope to receive more exposure in my graduate program. As for the family aspect, I have great parents that I admire and look up to, and I aspire to be as good as them when I have my own family. Not to sound cliche, but my central reason to wanting this life for myself is so I can leave it better-off than before I got here. The world needs more people to make positive changes, and I believe I can do just that.

Grad 701 Week 1

Grad 701-week 1.

With this classes' pre-work assignments, the readings and papers that are due gave me an immense wake-up call in what I am doing wrong in the office, and the things I am doing right. (but maybe just need to be tweaked a bit). The obvious item that comes to mind is time-management! It makes me ask "where does all the time go!" After laying out a time log and reflecting upon that, I feel that only half of my day (if that) is productive. Even though I feel I am successful in my line-of-work, the potential room for improvement is immense. I am hoping Franklin's program will provide guidance in doing just that and teach me how to apply what I have learned in the workplace.
When it comes to initial discussion points with my coach, I would like to get a very good understanding of how my coach was able to take all of his/her knowledge from the workplace and come to a happy median between work and family. With my exposure within my career, I feel that in many instances, one of the two has to suffer. Is that true, or how can I be respected at both work and on the homefront for the majority of my working life? Next, what is weighing most heavily on my mind is an upcoming job promotion along with going for an MBA. I could use some guidance on whether or not this is taking on too much in my life to get a new job AND pursue an MBA. I am probably the only person who can answer that question, but any guidance from someone that has gone through such decision-making would be extremely helpful. Getting my MBA is at the highest priority for the next 17 months, and I have always pushed myself to the max within my career, but should I maybe take it down a notch at the office to give all spare brain-power to my graduate degree. This question arose in my head after reading "Balance is Bunk" by Keith Hammonds, when he wrote "Lower your standards-nobody will notice". I have a big dilemma in acting upon that, but I'm sure there is some truth in the comment. Also, how were you able to progress in your company throughout the years and keep everyone happy? Since I am currently looking at a job change within my organization, I feel as though I could be burning bridges that I worked so hard for in my current role. These questions are at the top of my list, but others I'm sure will follow.
What I would like to include and bring to this class and the MBA program is my knowledge and experience of change within the organization. Sure- all companies change to keep up with this global economy, but going through one of the biggest acquisitions in retail financial services history has given me a unique perspective on adaptation within core organizational decisions, and I hope that exposure is helpful for both myself and my peers. Personally, it has prepared me for many potential curveballs that can be thown at me in life. Professionally, it has been impossible to work a complacent schedule. I have to be prepared for change everyday at the office. Whereas job security does not appear to be a concern in my industry, getting "burnt out" does, and I need to be able to stay ahead of the curve to stay at the top of my game.