Motivated Innovation

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog Two weeks ago, I was looking at my Facebook News Feed and reading what my friends and former classmates were sharing. One post caught my attention. It was a heartfelt article written by a colleague of mine at Xavier University. We were both Student Senators at Xavier and had spent several hours talking together about campus leadership and campus life. His article " A Stranger Called Me a 'Terrorist' and I Didn't React " is a good reminder about the difficulties and learning experiences that our world sees on a daily basis. I know that I have been in his shoes before, and it hurts. It hurts to not feel welcome. It hurts to be attacked without any regret by the attacking party. It hurts to be publicly shamed and embarrassed, especially without just cause. It reminded me of a time when I was at my friend's birthday party with my older brother and other friends. At this particular sports r...

In 2010, I wrote a couple of business articles on Suite101.com. Since then, the website has revamped its operations and shut down its previous operations. Therefore, I have decided to re-post these two articles here. They were: " Remember When Enron was Overpriced? " " Lessons Learned from CEO Chainsaw Al Dunlap " I also wrote sports articles on Suite101.com and Yahoo! Contributor Network that can be found on my sports blog CAVS.SPACE (formerly known as Hard Workin' Team).  I hope you enjoy these articles!

During my time as a graduate student at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), I had the opportunities to serve as a graduate assistant and as a class officer in the MBA program. As a part of both roles, I wrote on a couple blogs/websites, neither of which is currently active. However, I do have the rights to re-post all of my previous posts, so I have selected several of them and have added them to the "Motivated Innovation" blog. These blog posts can be found under the secondary labels " MBA Blog " (for writings from my graduate assistant role) and " MBASA Blog " (for writings from my class officer role). Feel free to browse through these posts. I hope you enjoy!

In September 2007, college professor Randy Pausch made a presentation at Carnegie Mellon University as part of a university lecture series. Pausch, who was dying of cancer, decided to give a presentation called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", which also became known as "The Last Lecture". The topics covered are ones that most, if not all, people think about at some point in their lives. There is a lot of discussion and introspection around personal passions and career & life goals. My favorite quotes from the presentation are: "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game." "Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want things." I highly recommend watching "The Last Lecture" on YouTube . The video is a little over 75 minutes long, so, depending on your schedule, you may want to ...

Although my career after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) was going fine, I felt stuck in my career and life development. I felt like a plant whose roots had outgrown its original pot; in order to grow and thrive, I needed a new pot and/or new ground. I needed more space and a change of scenery in order to reach my full potential.  During my undergraduate studies, I had talked with several professors and business professionals and had thought about pursuing additional educational opportunities. I learned more about an MBA degree, a business PhD degree, and other opportunities in other fields. Sticking with business seemed the way to go, so I spent a year studying on and off for the GMAT as I continued to research MBA and PhD/DBA programs. The hard work paid off as my GMAT score gave me the opportunity to return to school full-time. I chose the MBA route as it seemed to be a strong credential to add to my strong work ethic and full...

Earlier this month, I read an article on LinkedIn by Mark Stevens about job interviews . For those of you unfamiliar with Mark, he is an established marketing guru who built his business up in a bootstrap manner. That is remarkable! However, I strongly disagree with his stance in this article. Some say he was "trolling" just to receive online responses. If this is true, he succeeded. Here are 3 lessons I share with readers: 1. Understand the role and power of HR From my career experience, HR has become well-connected with other departments in an organization. HR representatives are included with both strategic planning and tactical daily operations. While some reps do not have personal experience in roles in which they are hiring for, they do have open communication with those in the department and have at least a baseline understanding of their hiring needs. They are not outsiders--they are "in the know" and know both what is going on within the company and...

*formerly posted on "Welcome, International Students!" blog Recently, a memorable key chain broke off from my car keys. It was a key chain that my parents bought for me as a little boy at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It said "RICH" (which some of my friends, classmates, and relatives have called me over the years). Looking back, what I remember most from that day was a moment with my oldest brother (who has since passed away). I remember getting really hungry, so my brother agreed to take me over to the restaurant area to buy some food. In front of us in line were an older brother and a younger brother. I think they were the same exact ages as my brother and me. They were born in one of the countries in the Middle Eastern/North African area of the world. They were wearing clothing that was traditional from their country, including headdresses of some sort. We talked for a bit with the brothers. It was funny how much we were just like them. I ...