Motivated Innovation

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog Hello everyone! How are you? I opened my Facebook inbox a few minutes ago and saw an article that Souvik had forwarded me from USNews.com. The article, "6 Tips for International Graduate Students Enrolling This Fall" , lists some general tips for helping new international students prepare for graduate school. This article immediately grabbed my attention because I remember Souvik and some of my other international graduate classmates discussing these matters throughout our MBA program--for themselves, for their peers, and for new incoming students. Obviously, moving to another country to attend school is a life-changing experience; the opportunity should not be taken lightly. By going to the campus community earlier, you are able to meet people sooner, learn about important resources and locations sooner, and start developing your daily & weekly routines before classes even begin. My international c...

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog Looking at the calendar today, I realized that my grad school experience began 4 years ago. On June 26, 2008, my parents and I loaded my belongings into our vehicles and drove across the Ohio Turnpike to Bowling Green, Ohio. This was just 2 days after I had finished working at my job. While I enjoyed working with my co-workers and learning about business, law, and medicine while also watching Cleveland's major sports teams have strong years in 2007 and early 2008, I knew that the next step in my life was to head to b-school for my MBA degree. To advance in my career and my life, this was the next step. The next day was our MBA orientation day. What a blast that day was! It was amazing seeing everyone mark on the map where they were from in the United States and across the world. As we introduced ourselves, people made comments and asked questions. Some classmates who had attended our school or were from the B...

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog A month and a half ago, we took a general look at U.S. university classes . One of the major points that came up was that U.S. students--and other international students--can be very curious and eager to learn about their international classmates. At times, this can lead to class discussion questions being directed to specific individual students. A few days ago, a friend and former classmate of mine brought up a great point that I wanted to share with all of you. Paraphrasing what he said, "It can be intimidating and overaggressive to direct numerous questions towards one student. It is better to talk with the individual student face-to-face/in private with these types of questions, such as after class." That is, even with the friendliest and most academic intentions, asking questions can get out of hand and students--whether born in the U.S. or elsewhere--can feel intimidated and/or embarrassed by a...

"Time, why you punish me?" These may just be lyrics from a Hootie & The Blowfish song from the 1990s, but they are quite appropriate to descriptions of time in relation to creativity. That is, there tend to be 2 main approaches to time & creativity in business, education, and general life. The first main approach emphasizes that time serves as a hindrance to creativity. Artists do not just spend a set amount of time to come up with the idea for a masterpiece and create the masterpiece. Drawing, painting, music, etc.: innumerable masterpieces were created without a strict timeline in mind. Similarly, a large number of great brainstorming sessions do not require set time limits, defined schedules, or strictly defined actions & activities. Rather, brainstorming sessions (for marketing, management, event planning, etc.) flow due to a lack of rigidity and structure. On the other hand, the second main approach emphasizes that efficient and effective creativity flows...

Every day, people submit resumes, apply for jobs, interview, and compete for jobs.  In the current economic recession, a higher unemployment level means that competition for job openings is at higher than average levels--with more people applying for the same jobs. This is not to say that every industry and every job classification are of the same status--lower unemployment in certain industries and technical expertise requirements do lead to fewer people applying for some jobs. Regardless, the combination of high levels of candidates & resumes and the power of mass communication via the internet have altered the nature of job searches such that the filter of candidates to choose from is almost always much wider.  In light of this, how can people stand out? Resume formatting and understanding of other print, electronic, phone, and face-to-face business communication--including networking--remain important to job search success.   Dr. Tom Clark  of...

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog When enrolling in U.S. university classes, both international students and American students need to get familiar with different types of classroom environments. While students throughout the world are familiar with lecture-based classes--where the teacher leads the classroom and does most of the talking--several U.S. university classes are very interactive, with students discussing class lessons, world events, philosophy, ethics, and other academic and professional topics. In most cases, speaking during class discussions is optional; most professors still evaluate students through exams, essay papers, and in-class presentations. In some classes, professors award points and give better final course grades to students who speak more frequently during class discussions. This can be an adjustment for shy people as well as any students that have only experienced lecture-based classes--challenging both American and ...

I have three questions for you: 1. Have you ever had an "Oh yeah!" moment? 2. Have you ever had an "Oh yeah?" moment? 3. Have you ever had an "Oh yeah..." moment? Wait a minute... Did I just ask you the same question three times? Let us consider: "Oh yeah!" = celebration "Oh yeah?" = I didn't know that "Oh yeah..." = I forgot about that but just had an 'a-ha!' moment In typing these questions and having you read them, you may have already thought of them as three different questions. However, had I just asked you one of these questions out loud in person, over the phone, or via web chat, would you have caught the difference? Would it have been clear to which "Oh yeah" moment (!,?,...) I was referring? Throughout daily business and personal communication, we say many words, phrases, and sentences. Yet, the way we say these words, phrases, and sentences help define their meanings. In the ...