Reflection Post for the Semester

• If you had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what you have learned from this course, what would you share?

    1. Overcoming Challenges:

There is a wide variety of challenges in our personal and professional lives. Just when we think that we are getting our head above water... BAM... another challenge! As a business owner, you will be faced with different challenges daily. How we react to these challenges will determine our fate. Personally, we will have challenges as well, the same advice applies to both situations. I can not watch the video by Elder Holland without crying. I can relate to his situation. I love the advice he would give to his young self, "Don't you quit! You keep walking.You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late, and some don't come till Heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God, and believe in good things to come." 

    2. Personal Balance:

It is critical that we have balance within our personal and professional lives. Many of the stories we have read this semester talk of going through a divorce. 50% of first marriages end in divorce. Is this because they are incompatible or because they have not figured out how to balance professional and personal time? I do not know the answer to that question, I just know personally that when you don't feel valued in a relationship, you want to change that. Both parties have to desire the needed change for the marriage to work. The stories we read where they stayed together during start-ups all placed value in family time.   

    3. Journey of Gratitude:

Remembering to have gratitude for what you have been given is the glue that will keep you happy.  When you are struggling with overcoming challenges, count your blessing. When you are struggling to find balance in you life, remember what your most precious blessing are. When you are feeling depressed, find something to be grateful for. 

• What would be your last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey?

I would tell someone who was beginning the entrepreneur journey to make sure they were doing something that they had a passion for. You must have a passion in order to build something that will change the industry you are going into. 

• What words of advice, direction, or caution would you give him or her if you had only one chance to give your own last lecture?

I can answer this question with 2 words... See Above! The advice, direction and caution I have already stated really fits this question as well. Whether it is a group of students or singular person the message stays the same.  

Journey of Gratitude

 

    In school this week we are taking some time to remember to have gratitude in our lives. We read a talk from Thomas S. Monson titled, An Attitude of Gratitude. President Monson began his address by retelling the story of the 10 lepers from the Bible. I wonder if I would have been like the nine that were seeking the Priest instead of thanking the one who cleansed me? This picture by James C. Christensen is a wonderful depiction of the story of the ten lepers. I see wonder and awe in the eyes of the leper as he turns back to the Savior in gratitude. 

"And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." Luke 17:15-19

    It is vital that we remember to have gratitude. This year has been difficult. President Russell M. Nelson asked the church to flood the internet for seven days with messages of gratitude. How wonderful it was to look on my personal feeds and read the uplifting messages that were shared. During hard times it can be difficult to remember the good that we have been blessed with each day. I am grateful for all of the many blessings I have been given. Below there is a link to the song Count Your Many Blessings. I love this song and enjoy its gentle command to remember to have gratitude.    https://youtu.be/D7lhYa9WDSU

Becoming a Change-Maker

 

Based on what you read, why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

    We read an article from the Harvard Business School titled, What’s a Business For? written by Charles Handy. Because of recent financial scandals people are reexamining the purpose of businesses. Several scandals have created a distrust in corporate leadership based on fraudulent financial reports. Handy said, “Not everyone is so complacent. Markets rely on rules and laws, but those rules and laws in turn depend on truth and trust. Conceal truth or erode trust, and the game becomes so unreliable that no one will want to play” Investors want to trust the financial reports given. The investors want to be making wise choices with their money. Handy says, “Trust, too, is fragile. Like a piece of china, once cracked it is never quite the same. And people’s trust in business, and those who lead it, is today cracking. To many, it seems that executives no longer run their companies for the benefit of consumers, or even of their shareholders and employees, but for their personal ambition and financial gain.” Creating financial documents with integrity will help to build trust with the investors in the future. People want to have faith that they leaders of the company they are investing in are people that have virtue as a leading characteristic.

According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

    In the article Hand says, “The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something” becomes the real justification for the business. Owners know this. Investors needn’t care.” Handy discusses the importance of helping others. We need to think of how we can make the world a better place, not just make ourselves more money. “To mistake the means for the end is to be turned in on oneself, which Saint Augustine called one of the greatest sins.” implores Handy. Thinking about helping others is what a business is really trying to accomplish.

What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

1.    “More honesty and reality in the reporting of results would help for a start.”

a.     I totally agree with this solution that Handy proposed. 

b.  We need to have a sense of honesty from those who are running companies. We also need to have reality in looking at the financial reports. We can not always be growing at record rates.

2.     “Global businesses not only do harm, but that the harm outweighs the good. If those charges are to be rebutted, and if business is to restore its reputation as the friend, not the enemy, of progress around the world, then the leaders of those companies need to bind themselves with an equivalent oath. Doing no harm goes beyond meeting the legal requirements regarding the environment, conditions of employment, community relations, and ethics.”

a.     I agree with this solution proposed by Handy. 

b.  We have all heard of cases where a company dumps toxic waste in an illegal way to avoid expensive costs. This would be unacceptable if the people in charge were honest and committed to “Doing no harm.” We must as a community of business leaders set an example of doing what is right even if no one is watching.

Personal Balance

This week we learned about finding balance in your professional and personal life. 

    In a video featuring titled, Balancing Your Life/Your Career Successfully with Randy Komisar we learned:

•    Life is a challenge... Love what you do
•    Set Priorities... Seek what you love
•    Pay attention to what is important... family 

    Keep a group of people who really know you close... These people will help to ground you throughout your life. 

Acton Hero: Cory Bell

Cory Bell had great advice to share. I will sum up his advice as:

•         Write a vision plan for your life.
•         Everything is possible if you want it
•         Give back- make an impact on the world. 

Surviving the Entrepreneurial Life: Work and Family

    Meg Cadoux Hirshberg talked about balancing work and family while undertaking an entrepreneurial dream. She talked about including your kids and spouse.

Kids:

•     Share your work with your kids by talking with them about your work.
•     Take you kids to work with you occasionally.
•     Spend casual time with your kids, not just games and recitals. Spend time relaxing with them. 

Spouse:

•  Stay connected with your spouse by doing things that make them feel special. (Whatever that is for your specific partner.)
•  Attend  company meets with your spouse, even if you are not working at the company. This gives you talking points together.
•  Travel with your spouse if possible.

    Starting a company can be all consuming, if you include your children and spouse in the process you will have a better work and family balance. Including and sharing will increase your family's ability to tolerate your long work hours as you start a new business.   

    My favorite address this week was from Thomas S. Monson. His address came from an Ensign message titled, Formula For Success. In this message we are given three admonitions on how to lead a successful life. They are:

1. Fill your mind with truth.

    Seek knowledge out of the best books. We have so much available to us in the form of learning. We must continually be growing if we are to reach out eternal potential. 

2. Fill your life with service.

   We each have  the opportunity to serve our family. We also need to remember to give back to those around us. We are taught in the Book of Mormon, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). Christ lived a life of service, if we want to be like the Savior, we too must serve our fellow man. 

3. Fill your heart with love.

    When we fill our hearts with love, we are able to serve better. Love will increase our desire and ability to help those around us. When motivated by love we are able to accomplish many many things we thought impossible. 

The final thoughts from Thomas S. Monson that I found very important were:

Be Prepared, Be Productive, Be Faithful, and Be Fruitful!

Dream Big

This week we are focusing on dreaming big.  We read and watched several videos that encouraged us to dream big and then reach for your dreams. Several of the messages made an impact on me. 

    License to Pursue Dreams-- Marissa Mayer addressed an audience describing the concept that Google implements called 20 percent time. The concept is basically work four days a week on Google work and on day 5, work on whatever you want to work on. This is a very interesting concept. Many people believed that Google was wasting 20 percent of its productivity. However, Mayer mapped out Google's product launches and found that 50 percent of the projects released came from the 20 percent of time. She surmised, "It turns out if you take really smart people, give them really good tools, they build really beautiful, amazing things that are really exciting, and they do it with a lot of passion and momentum, in such a way that you actually see two and a half times the output of what you would expect given the time." This is really amazing! I can understand this because when I have a passion for an idea, I am willing to work harder and longer without even realizing. 

Think Big-- Taylor Richards addressed a group of people and said two things that were interesting to me: 

1. Do not over underestimate yourself. You can do it, you can accomplish the goals and dreams that you set and if you involve the Lord, you can do the impossible, you can do amazing things you can do great things. Just like it says in good to great, it's a whole lot more fun to do great things than to just be good.  Or to just be mediocre. And it's no harder to be great than to be good.  

2. Pursue your goals and dreams. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. And involve the Lord, you can do great things.

Richards told a story about making the top 100 as a boat dealership. He was not trying to be a top dealership in the nation. He was striving for excellence every day and loving what he did for a living. In the beginning of the countdown he was underestimating how well he compared to others in his field. Richards learned during the countdown that he had been underestimating his team. They were ranked 11 in North America. This teaches me that if I try to just do my personal best, I can shine above the competition. 

Trust and Leadership

 

In my learning this week I read a portion of a paper that was called, A Message to Garcia. A big takeaway from this paper was the idea that,” if you want to be entrusted with important tasks, you have to get the job done.” People will gain trust in you when they see that you are not all talk and no action. The application story was very interesting. Here is the story:

 “It was 1899. President William McKinley needed to deliver an urgent message to General Calixto Garcia, the leader of the insurgents in America’s war against Spain. But Garcia was lost somewhere deep inside the mountain vastness of Cuba. “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia if anyone can,” someone told the president. So McKinley summoned Colonel Andrew Rowan. Rowan took McKinley’s letter, “sealed it in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia.”

Getting the job done without being told what to do step by step is a quality that is lacking in today’s society. With the invention of the internet, we are always looking to google or YouTube to teach us or walk us through our next task. The new technology is not the problem in my eyes. If Garcia had GPS on his phone, I am sure he would have used it to traverse the mountains in Cuba. I believe that we need to use our brain along with the technology to “get the job done.”

Another assignment was to watch a video featuring Guy Kawasaki. It was titled, Aspects of Building Trust. Three key points are:

1.     Trust others, then they trust you

·       If you first trust people to do the right thing, they will trust you in return. He equated this to 3 business that have trusted people. Because of this trust in people, they are well trusted by consumers which drives return customers. You as a person or company have to trust in your customers to do the right thing.

2.     Bakers VS. Eaters

·       Eaters see the world as I have to get all that I can. Anything you have takes away from what I have. “I need to get as much of the pie as possible.”

·       Bakers see the world as shareable. “The world is an opportunity to make more pies and bigger pies. Trustworthy people are bakers not eaters.”

3.     Default to yes

·        This line of thinking causes you to ask yourself, “How can I help that person?”  Which is in contrast of the normal thinking, “How can that person help me?” By learning to help others you will be trusting in people and helping them will in the end, help you.

Overcoming Challenges

 

This week I read several rousing talks about overcoming challenges. 

    Brother and Sister Holland spoke to the students of BYU in the winter of 1983. They both spoke about not faltering amid challenges. I was inspired to “hang in there” during hard times. Brother Holland recounted the story of the building of the Salt Lake City temple. The saints were faced with the possibility of war, yet again. They feared the Government soldiers would take over the area. So, they filled in the foundation that had taken them nine years to dig. This had to be devastating to the people. Once the threat of war was over, they had to start the tremendous task of digging the foundation again. This example of overcoming challenges helps me understand that I can be like the saints by doing hard things.

    The Acton Hero this week was: David Carrington. He had some great advice for overcoming challenges. He taught:

1.Come up with solutions that no one else is thinking.

2. Don’t take advantage of other people’s tragedies.

3. Challenges force us to reassess. We can look at our lives and see if we are living with balance.

4. Business should not run your life, instead your life should be running the business.

5. Don’t get so wrapped up in business that you forget why you are in business. Don’t accept customers or clients you don’t really want to do business with.

6. If you understand who you are and what your brand is, and consistently execute that brand, you will be successful.

    I like how simple and straightforward this advice is. It is something that you can implement into your everyday life in many areas not just business.

    I saved the best for last! I love the video, Good Things to Come.(link is below to full video) It is a story of learning patience and perseverance. Putting your pride aside and choosing to do hard things. Sometimes we forget that everyone has hard times. How we respond to these challenges builds our character. I do have faith like Brother Holland, "Don't you quit! You keep walking.You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late, and some don't come till Heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God, and believe in good things to come." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsXFuG3XkRs