Recognition of Personal Strengths

Today was a fantastic day in my life (Surpassed only by a handful of days), so this log entry will be very long-winded.

I honestly don't know where to start because everything is so exciting in my opinion and it all means so much. In that case I'll start with a short comment I made to my wife this morning. I told Whitney that "I think today is going to be a really good day". I don't feel prophetic because there were signs in my life that pointed to it being a good day. I already gave it away that it was a fantastic day, darn, I should have left you in suspense.

Since my last journal entry I have spent about 5 extra hours a day at work looking for an elusive software bug. The issue was severe and complicated, and every lead that I found was a dead end. I spent a total of 57 hours looking for it, but today was finally able to pin it down. That was one thing that helped start the day off right.

Thirty minutes later I checked my grade for Marketing and every grade turned in was an A. That guaranteed the final grade I was looked for in my first Masters class. Awesome. Fifteen minutes later, my boss stopped by with even more great news that I won't go into. I'll revisit a part of my conversation with him here shortly. Without all the details of this scenario it may not sound amazing, but I assure you it was fantastic for me.

Backtrack to last week. Last week was full of stress because of the second econ test that I hadn't really studied for. All my attention has been so focused on Marketing that I really hadn't gotten a full understanding of the econ concepts like on the first exam. With work keeping me late each night, Friday rolled around and I was panicking about studying for the test. So, I sent a shout out to John Griffin and another classmate to see if I could join their study session on Saturday. Of course they were gracious enough to let me join them, and I think we all benefited from the session. Paradigm Shift is their team name (they even have a logo, overachievers). I invited Paradigm Shift to attend Team 1's (my team) review session to reciprocate the favor. Paradigm Shift made review sheets and prepared a great study guide for the test including videos and webpages with graphical displays that were quick, concise and not confusing. I am very thankful for their efforts. All in all, I felt prepared by the time that we had to take the test.

Ironically, that was the abridged version of my thoughts toward the study session. Needless to say, I will be joining forces with Paradigm Shift again, soon. I really enjoyed opening up to another group and starting to operate as a team with the entire cohort and not just my team. Previously, I had been working with one other classmate, but not another group.

Leadership class - To start the course, we were required to take an online assessment that accompanies the book Strength Finder 2.0. This helps readers to identify the areas that they are particularly talented at. They are identified as areas that are likely your natural strengths. There are 177 questions to answer and each must be answered in 20 seconds to make sure that you answer with your gut and don't over think your answer. My gifts were the following with a brief (biased) description:

Learner - I find it easy to learn new information and am always trying to attain knowledge
Achiever - I like being busy and getting things done
Significance - I need to feel important in other people's eyes
Strategic - I can quickly come up with solutions, and have a good sense of logic
Communication - I like to talk a lot

So those aren't exactly the descriptions that go with these as a talent, but they were what I saw when I read the results. I was actually very upset with one because I thought that it wasn't something to consider as a strength. That one I had an issue with was Significance. I have always been very humble and never try to be important to others. This leads to a conversation we had in our leadership course.

Dr. Ford asked for our thoughts on our strengths and I spoke up to say mine pretty much stunk. It sounded so selfish. Then she asked everyone to quickly review significance. There was a roar from the class, and others were saying I wish I had that, and I was completely puzzled. Who, in their right mind wants this gift. Then, the craziest comment came from my teammate. She said "You're a poet". I replied "What?" She whipped back with "You wrote your wife a poem to propose to her." Again, puzzled I said "How is that ... oh". She finished my thought by saying "You obviously wanted that moment to be important for your wife." This was a revelation. Her comment flipped my perception of the word. So much so, that I have spent all day focusing on how awesome this is. It made so much more sense. Also, I'm now realizing that my work is the quality that it is, because I honestly believe the things I do in life have meaning. I'm very excited to think about my gift in this way.

Learner and Achiever were givens and everyone would get that after a 15 minute talk with me, but I'm more interested in learning more about significance.

This week in class was a moment where the whole class came to my defense so that I could embrace my gifts. Also, through my transparency, displayed through this blog, and my communication gift, others were able to help me grow as a leader. This was a priceless moment. My wife and I agreed that already the cost of tuition paid off in that one evening.

Back to my discussion with my boss. I handed my boss, Toby, a list of my strengths this week and he quickly glanced at the meanings before we spoke today. He had the same thought about significance that I had, but after sharing what I learned in class last night I was able to explain how this is truly a gift that will help to mold me into a great leader. This is important to note, because while I have a mentor at work, we tend to have a similar perspective since we are a part of the same work culture and we are engineers by trade. This is a great reason to surround yourself with different types of people with different talents.

I look forward to any thoughts you may have about talents and strengths. If you know what strengths you possess, I'd love for you to post them in the comments. If you don't know your strengths I recommend buying Strengths Finder 2.0 ($10) and taking the online test. It's easy. Thanks for hanging in there to read the whole post.

End of Marketing Management

Last night was the end of my first master's class. I'm sure I made an A, but not guaranteed just yet. We finished class by turning in our two group projects, performing group presentations, and finishing up a few individual presentations.

My final thoughts on Marketing were that I originally was frustrated by the fact that I "had" to do a Facebook project. Professor Warren didn't show his hand as to why the project until the end. I won't give it away for the next class. I was pessimistic on the project, and it didn't yield anything incredible, but it did allow me to look into the issue a little further.

In an odd twist, I met up for coffee today with someone I met in August at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and he is currently writing a chapter for a book where he will discuss Facebook marketing. I found that ironic and was able to point him to the David Meerman Scott book that we just read in class. He already had read the book, so at least he was going in the correct direction. This can be a small world.

Marketing was a lot of fun and set the pace for the program. It's cool to think that we are 1/9th of the way done.
It's been stressful as all Concordia MBA bloggers have pointed out. For future students, I recommend you start your group projects immediately. I had to sacrifice some family time as a result of poor planning early.

Economics papers were also due this week, but no presentations just yet. We discussed different business competition markets and Dr. Estrada recapped the items that will be on the exam next Monday.

While we as a class are collectively anxious for the econ test, I think a few of us are anxious to begin our leadership "self" course. It is only a five week course but this is the real reason I wanted to get an MBA. Leadership is not just important at work. I think that everyone leads something regardless if they know it, but not everyone is highly effective at it. Some people also lead others to places they didn't want to go to. I use the words intentional and effective when I describe what kind of leader I want to become.

One issue I have been dealing with and learning about at work is understanding the difference between controlling and leading. My frustrations with my ability to lead at work, may be related to my inexperience at the moment. I like that I have support from my boss and director, and they have given me votes of confidence with my project. It may not be a perfect ride, but it is effective enough this time around. That's as much detail as I feel comfortable getting into in this forum. I will say that discomfort in a position can cause some people to buckle, but others transform as a result of the difficult circumstance. I think that is the mold I am from.

For those wondering about my grandma, she is back at home and was in great spirits tonight. I didn't expect my grandma to be doing so well, as today was her first day home after 3 weeks in the hospital. Grandma and I had a great chance to catch up. I told her I was coming by this week, but I don't think she expected me tonight. I hope that was a good surprise for her.

<Here's were I let out a big sigh> There's a lot going on in life, but everything is positive. I will try to stay up-to-date with my blog now that all the papers are complete. Just a lot of reading left mainly.

10 classes down, 80 left. I can do this.

Speed Limit

Personal thoughts (Not really school related, but I need to share these thoughts)

I would describe my last two weeks as very difficult, because I have been running at full speed. My school and work life have consumed all my time over that period. Fortunately, I have been getting the results I want from work and school. I have maintained high marks in class and my project at work is functioning as desired.

There is a problem though, I am not giving myself time to relax, time for family, or time for reflection. Up to this point I have been very good at turning work off after hours, but that has changed now that I'm in school.

Last weekend my grandma emailed me to say that she is so proud after reading my blog, and I got a chance to respond and apologized for not making time to come see her, as I'm so busy. Unfortunately, on Monday morning I got a call to tell me that my grandma is the hospital. I don't want to share the details, but my grandma has suffered a serious health issue, and it kills me that I couldn't even make time to get over to see her this week. I plan to try this weekend, hopefully I can wrap up my paper, my presentation and get a rough draft of my team project also. Put that with sharing some time with my precious daughter and wife.

I never expected that going back to school would be easy, but I didn't realize exactly how free I was before starting the MBA program. I could have easily handled this load nine weeks ago. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I've been keeping something from my journal. My wife is (16 weeks) pregnant. I've described this time as "having a full plate, with no reason to go for seconds".

I apologize that the content hasn't focused on school so much, but this was therapeutic for me this week.

Reflection from school: Second Marketing test complete, and I think I scored a 100 on it as well. I'm kind of owning school, I would consider focusing less on school and more on my personal life, but for my family I want them to see that I didn't sign up half-heartedly. I'm in to win it, if I can say that.

I need to work on my paper, because I really want to see my grandma this weekend.

Grandma, if you read this soon, please know that I was glad you read my blog, and I'm glad I make you proud. I've always been proud of your courage as well. You are in my prayers tonight, as you are always.