Innovation and Presentation

I want to post this speech on creativity by Sir Ken Robinson. It is a great commentary on how the educational system is killing creativity. I am proud to say The Merage School is taking steps to change this by focusing their curriculum around innovation; teaching us that failure is perfectly O.K.; and how we can bring innovation to our employers.
Currently, I am taking a course on strategic innovation where sometimes we are asked to do things in an "un-MBA" manner for the sake of creativity. I am sure I am guilty for being one of the first people to roll their eyes whenever we head in this direction. Nonetheless, I must still acknowledge its importance and commend The Merage School for exposing students to it.
As the rest of the world catches up to us, it will not be enough for employees and companies to be efficient. They will need to innovate. They will need to create leaps of new value for consumers, employees, and employers. This will come from creativity, embracing failure, and a slight shedding of some of our educational teachings.
Enjoy the speech. As a side note it is a brilliant example of the storytelling style of presentations. I am also proud to say The Merage School is trying to expose its students to this method of presentation (in addition to other methods that I posted about previously).

Going to the Oscar Red Carpet

Lindsey put our names into a draw to sit in the bleachers along side of the red carpet entrance at this years Oscars. Somehow we were 2 of something like 300 people who were offered tickets! That means we will be up front a personal watching all the stars arrive to enter the theater on the 24th.
Unfortunately, enjoyment of this privilege demands we show up for 8am in the morning a stay there all day until everyone is in the theater. I am sure I will be pretty cranky by the end of the day, but how often do you get a chance like this?
The only risk to our day of fun is that the writer strike is still on, but we hear they may be near a deal. If all goes well, I am sure we will have great pictures to post.

Pretty Darn Busy

Combining a full course load, with a TA position and a 20 hour internship is not the wisest of ideas. I have finally received approval from the International Center to take a paid internship this quarter, so between the TA salary and my internship wage I will be making a decent income for the remainder of the quarter. Unfortunately, it leaves me with little time to do homework. It is especially difficult to coordinate my schedule for group work as I am booked most days.
After taking leadership positions in most of my groups last quarter (some not by choice), my strategy has been to more of a follower this quarter and accept whatever final grades that come (I usually take the lead to drive a higher quality product). It is funny, now that I am not concerned about leading my groups I actually have two groups where we have yet to meet in person to work on the projects! As a person who likes to do things well, it can make me uneasy at times, but I am finding a drop in my stress levels knowing I am not leading the project. I rarely lose any sleep thinking about it (quite contrary to my experience last quarter).
It is the leadership positions that keep me awake. While I know that it is a group project, I take the view that the project is a direct representation of me. Also, I feel obligated to the group that I deliver the best possible project. For highly challenging projects, this can be tough. Those who know me, know that I can be quite the glutton for punishment when it comes to taking on challenging projects. As much as I say it creates stress, the alternative of not leading groups tackling challenging projects would be incredibly unsatisfying.
Still taking a 3 month break from these situations while learning about Private Equity in my internship is a nice break (although a busy one).