Guest Speakers

Kammie was the first guest speaker that we had in class, she came in and talked about the importance of networking. She had a couple of main points that really stuck out to me, the first of these being that she said networking is more than just going to a networking outing with drinks and nametags. Instead it is the actual relationships you build with people through your job and everyday life. The second point that I thought was interesting is how she said the best jobs come from networking and not on a job site like monster. I had never really thought of it like this but thinking about it afterwards it is obvious that this is indeed the case. When I came into class today I did not think that this speech would apply very much to me since I plan on becoming a football coach, but the more that Kammie talked the more I began to realize that it will be EXTREMELY important in my future as it is the main way that coaches get their jobs. I learned through this speech to treat all of the people you meet with respect as they could one day lead to an important reference or job recommendation source. The main thing I enjoyed about this discussion was seeing networking in a new light that I had not seen before, it made me realize that no matter what field you decide to pursue, networking is a very important aspect. I plan on using this information in my job search by simply creating and maintaining relationships with professional individuals that I can hopefully use as a source for new and interesting job positions.

Monica was the next speaker that we had talk to the class; she talked about the behavioral interviews that were being used by express scripts. Monica described many different things in her speech all the way from being interviewed to the pressures the interviewer are under. In this speech I learned a lot about how interviews have changed throughout the years. I thought that it was very interesting how she talked about the importance of conducting effective interviews is for the company that is looking for a new employee. I could not believe how much money companies spend on training, interviewing, and losing employees each year. This really made it obvious why interviewing is becoming more and more focused upon by employers. While Monica was speaking I really enjoyed hearing about what goes on from the other side of the desk at an interview, and how the small things such as focusing on each interview as an individual so that you do not fall into the trap of comparing one interview to the next or last. Another small thing that I did not think about is how careful the person conducting interview must be to avoid certain questions. Before listening to Monica speak I had not clue how much effort goes into conducting the interview. I am going to use this in my professional life more as a stress reliever than anything. I feel that by thinking about how much pressure the interviewer is under to pick the right person for the job will ease my stress as I know that both of us are under high expectations.

The Magic Box

Overall I really enjoyed J.J. Abrams magic box speech. I thought that he did a great job of using humor to keep his audience involved and interested, however he did it in such a way that it did not take away from the seriousness of the speech. Another thing that I liked about the presentation was how he used something small like the magic box as a visual, it was just enough to peak your interest and make you wonder if he was going to open it or not. His videos were also very good as they once again kept the audience interested but at the same time had relevance to the speech. With these good things in mind I do think he could have made the speech better by cutting down on his use of the word “um”. At the beginning of the speech he used the word continuously and it became very distracting, I will say however that once he got farther into the presentation and established a flow he used the word a little less. Another thing I would do differently if I was him was I would not have had a video playing while I was talking about something important this was distracting at times as your attention was on the video and not him. The main thing that I think can easily be transferred into the business world from Mr. Abrams presentation was his use of visual aids. In the business world it is important to have visual aids in your presentations so that your audience can better visualize what you are describing.

Blog Baby Blog

I found a blog that was recently created in August of 2007. The blog is for the Memphis light, gas and water company. The blog is named Bird on a Wire, after a hawk that hangs out around one of their substations. MLGW is the largest three service provider in the nation providing service to 420,000 people around the Memphis area. The blog has lots of different topics to read about varying anywhere from their new e-billing system to the aforementioned hawk. It also has blogs many blogs about the green movement. I recently sat down and had a Q&A with business blog analyst Austin Bortle:

Q: Why does this blog interest you?

A: This blog interested me because you would not think of a utilities company have a blog to help sell their product. Once I found it I soon became more interested when I saw how well made and interesting the blog actually was.

Q: What three elements of this blog make it successful?

A: One element of this blog that makes it very successful as well as interesting is how often the blogger actually adds new blogs. The blogger will add something every weekday for the most part and sometimes on one of these days they would even have up to three or four new blogs for the subscribers or any passer by to read. Another reason that this blog is very successful is the fact that the company includes information that is important to the company. For example, the have recently started an e-billing option for their customers so their are several blogs telling customers about the product as well as answering questions that have been frequently asked. Finally, the site is very easy for users to navigate. It has a simple layout where you simply scroll down to see the most recent blogs, but it also has an archive so that you can go back and look at what has been written in the past.

Q: Any final words for our readers out there?

A: As a professional blog reader I think that the MLGW blog is very useful for its customers as well as interesting to your average passer by. However, the blog that you write for seems to be average at best, having random topics and is not being updated very often....so you might want to get on top of things.

Join me next time on Business Com. blogger when I will do whatever the Prof. assigns!!!

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is important in your everyday life as you will run into anywhere from the grocery store to the office, and it is important for individuals to know how to deal with this situations properly. A main example in my life was the conflict that arose on my football team a few years ago. The team had its least successful season since the new coaching staff had taken over and there was a lot of finger pointing going on. People that were once great teammates had quickly become bad apples and were destroying the team chemistry that had been built. To help resolve this problem the coaching staff set up a leadership committee to help think of ways to get the team back on the winning track, as well as, regain the team chemistry that had been lost. I was one of the 12 people appointed to this leadership team where we talked daily about different methods to use and how we could become better leaders of the team in order to make sure that once resolved these conflicts would not come back. One of the main things that this committee came up with to help resolve the problem was to have more team "bonding" activities, these were basically activities where the team would get together and simply hang out and communicate with one another. This helped to build stronger relationships that would be harder to break and also helped grow a level a trust and respect among the teammates. After a year of these activities the team came back and had the second most successful season in school history winning 10 straight games and qualifying for the national playoffs. This showed me that the work the team put in merely to trust and grow as a group helped us to get back into a winning way, as well as, building a great team that was more like a family.

Respect

Respect is treating others in a way that you would want to be treated. This means that you should treat everyone that you come in contact with professionally and with the up most courtesy. This includes but is not limited to saying please and thank you, not using profanity, and of course not talking with your mouthful. I first learned respect from my parents; they taught me this mainly by example in the way that they carried themselves. I also learned more as I grew up, from my teachers and coaches, who would very quickly correct me if I was being disrespectful. I believe that everyone can improve on being respectful towards others, as we all make mistakes and will forget to act in a respectful manner at times.