Tag Archives: Self-development

10 Things I wish I knew at the start of my MBA

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It’s been some time since an update on MBA Nights. To keep things rolling I thought I’d point you towards a two part blog series I did for the Adelaide University’s MBA blog:

10 Things I wish I knew at the start of my MBA

Part 1) 5 Things I wish I knew..

Part 2) 5 More Things

If you just want to cut to the chase, and see the list of 10 here it is (but do read the posts above, you’ll get more out of it):

  1. Don’t hand in safe assignments, be bold
  2. Group Assignments – Allocate someone just to do the editing
  3. Worry less about definitions and more about applying them
  4. Group Assignments – Don’t be afraid to use your company
  5. Read a wide range of business books and biographies
  6. Attend events, make sure people know who you are and that you know who they are
  7. Make notes all over your books.
  8. Get an ultra-portable laptop or tablet for comprehensive notes
  9. Really, truly understand the commitment you’ve made. Make sure your loved ones understand it and support you too
  10. Start a blog or a journal to record your journey & retain your knowledge

Any thoughts or comments on this one? Hit me up on either the Adelaide University’s blog, or below.

Leadership Lessons From Game of Thrones

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With the start of Game of Thrones Season Three only hours away it is a good time to revisit and update one of my old blog posts 4 Leadership Lessons From Game of Thrones.

When I originally read the five available books in George R.R Martin’s ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ I found myself thinking about the leadership and life lessons that could be extracted from the series. Quotes like ‘Kill the boy’ haunted some of my more boy-like decisions, and Ygritte’s ‘You know nothing Jon Snow’ played through my head whenever I took issue with a management decision.  I would reflect on the possibility that many more factors were at play than I could see, and that I still had some distance to travel in my journey to be a more effective person (and leader).

So here is my list of seven leadership lessons from Game of Thrones, expanded from my original list of 4: Continue reading →

MBA Reading List

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MBA Reading List 2013
From a studying perspective, the more widely read you are, the more possible sources of information and references you will have. But the reason to read is bigger than just better marks or an easier time finding references-

Reading is one of the ways you can level-up

By level-up, I mean, improve yourself, to be and contribute more. Think and grow.

Are you reading something currently? There are so many books that finding the right one to start reading can be hard. So if you’re currently without a read, don’t worry here’s my reading list. I’m sure you’ll find something worth your time.

The MBA Reading List

1. The Startup Owners Manual – Steve Blank and Bob Dorf Continue reading →

Guest Blogging for Adelaide University

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Writing this blog is part of my chasing the cool strategy. If I’m interested or excited about something, that I should do it. I thought – wouldn’t it be cool to have somewhere to record what I learn and think about on my way towards my MBA. True to my “Chasing the Cool’ theory, it has started to snowball, and cooler things are starting to happen.

Late last year I was asked by Adelaide University to be a contributor to their MBA  program’s blog.

I’m now a regular guest blogger on another site! Cool.

I put the finishing touches on my second guest post for them last night, that should go live in the next week or two – on W. E. Demming and his management method.

But it occurred to me that I hadn’t yet linked back to, or talked about my opening guest post for them – ‘Why Do an MBA?’.

If you’re interested, please check it out and let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Andy

 

New Year’s Resolutions and The Future You

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I haven’t done a post in a while. I have been too busy having a holiday from work, study and blogging. Whilst it was really nice not having to do any of those three, it wasn’t without some guilt.

So with blogging, I made a resolution to do better –  at least one blog post per week.  Which is a perfect segway into the first post of 2013 – the cultural phenomenon of the New Year’s resolution, personal motivation, and the future you.

New Year’s Resolutions

This year I noticed a number of articles in the media, frowning on the practice of new years resolutions, and this sentiment was also echoed by a number of my friends and colleagues.

Some of the arguments against making new years resolutions were: Continue reading →

Chase the Cool

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I’ve had this saying going for a few months now, where I tell my friends that they need to ‘Chase the Cool’. The concept has had some incubation, and now I think I’m at the point I can walk people through behind my new ethos, my new compass, on what I should and should not aspire to do, or be. I hope you like it and find it useful.

To help illustrate the point I’ll use a real life story. It’s easy to find many stories that match, but for this example, we’ll pick the story of the PS22 Primary School Chorus in Staten Island, New York. Know of it?

Here’s a sample:

PS22 Chorus performing ‘Walking on a dream’ by Empire of the Sun.

The origins of the PS22 Chorus are very humble. It started with the music teacher, Mr Breinberg thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to engage the kids via music? Wouldn’t it be cool to record the kids singing covers of modern songs, songs that probably aren’t normally sung in schools?

Continue reading →