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If you like to read, you need Goodreads.com

Goodreads is a community of readers, like me and like you. Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 13,000,000 members who have added more than 430,000,000 books to their shelves. Like numbers here are some more:

 
More here

First, How it works
“Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone’s bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, are currently reading, and plan to read in the future. Don’t stop there – join a discussion group, start a book club, contact an author, and even post your own writing.” More how it works here

Or just add me as a friend.

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So many things to be greatful for

I read this article in the NY Times and watched the movie. You can see it here.

How truly we forget the things that matter most, how easy it is to think that we are missing many material things.  We have been given so much, and love is truly a blessing.  There is no feeling than having a child hug you and tell you that they love you.

I am so grateful for having a wife that loves me, a child that thinks I’m the greatest dad and a baby on the way.  Even though I don’t have many material belongings, if any, I have a life filled with love.

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3 Down and 1 to go

MBAI really feels like football and I’m on the 3rd down and 1 yard to go.

There are so many things that I have learned in the last 3 semesters that is hard to do a mental re-cap.  But there are a few things that I want to write about:

  1. Living meagerly: As a student with limited employment there is no room for luxury, hey there isn’t room for treats or some basics; but doing so helps you understand so many other things about life.  Parents, friends and relatives that help you are able to reach well into your heart.  Gifts that in other times, might seem small are now cherished possessions.  Getting used clothes, makes you understand how precious donating is.  A wrapped gift on your doorstop wipes gray clouds in Christmas.
  2. Be humble and true: If you are learning about rejection daily you are either single, a student or both.  There has never been a time when I’ve gotten rejected by employers so much as the past few months.  All the rejection helps you stay humble, know what are your weaknesses and areas where you can do better.  The other thing that rejection teaches you is that you need to be true, there are things that you are good at and no one can take them away.  I am an experienced individual that has done business in many different countries. I am a person that can understand complex problems and explain them with ease.  I am an analytical person that loves to tell the story behind the numbers.  Being true and being humble will help you succeed in life, and getting rejected helps you know which are weaknesses and which are strengths.
  3. Never stop improving: The more people I meet that I see as role models, the more I see that they never stop improving.  These individuals read different authors and stories.  They are interested in business, art, fiction, technology, humanities, and news.  I thought I was good before coming to business school, but I see that I can be so much more.  It will take time, it will take effort, but I want to do it.  Here I am, writing to an audience of probably zero, when I could be taking a nap, but I just love thinking and expressing my ideas.
  4. Connecting with people (networking):  I’ve written about “Never eat Alone” and about networking, but now I don’t see it as networking I see it as connecting with people.  Before coming to business school I met many people, but never did I actually connected with them.  Now every time I meet someone, I want to connect with them, I want them to continue to be part of my life.  The more I help people, the more blessings that come into my life.  I’m so happy to hear good news from the people I know, and I wouldn’t be privileged to hear them if I had never connected with them.

I still have 1 semester to go, one final yard.  I’m so happy to have come to BYU and be part of the Marriott MBA experience.

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Why I will say YES to a Cummins Full-Time Offer

Globe_NAmericaFirst, I don’t have a full-time offer from Cummins, I still have about 4 weeks left on my internship.  Today I was thinking, if I had an offer would I accept it?  Then I came up with a different question, Even if I don’t have an offer, would I tell Cummins that I would accept any offer?

The answer that came to my mind was very powerful.  The answer is YES.  Would I work for free? NO. Would I work without any benefits? NO.  So, clearly I wouldn’t work for Cummins under any circumstance, but here is why I’m not worried about saying yes before knowing the offer:

  1. Even knowing that I will say YES, Cummins will offer me a competitive compensation package, because that is the right thing to do.
  2. Any position that I am offered will be as good as any other starting point.
  3. I will not be pigeon holed into a set area of interest, I will be able to move and find the areas that challenge and interest me.
  4. Within Cummins I will be able to fulfill my desire of becoming an international executive.
  5. Cummins is interested in being my career partner, and I am interested in building value for Cummins in the short and long term.
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My Tech Tool belt – MBA Edition – Part 1

So now that I’m an MBA student my tech tool belt changed. So what do I use:

Evernote: This is what you would call your long term memory and is especially great at note taking. Taking notes now is a lot different than when I did my Undergrad.  You will need to link to power point presentation, PDFs, other documents, etc.  Evernote is a great application that can be accessed anywhere from multiple devises. Get it here: http://evernote.com/ Check out all the features here: http://evernote.com/video/  I suggest you read their blog and other use cases so that you get ideas as to how to use it.  My system consists of 1 Notebook per class, grouped together under a Semester heading.  I add 1 note per lecture and I also add my homework and PDF per reading session.  Also make sure you make a notebook for all internship opportunities you find online, and move them from pending application to applied.  Also make a note with a text only version of your resume pasted on it for easy access as well as a note with all your S.T.A.R. Stories so that you can have them top of mind as you wait to go into an interview.

Evernote Web Clipper & Clearly:  You will do most of your research online and you need a tool to help you out.  I like Evernote’s web clipper, mainly because it will be saved to your evernote account.  I just tag each clip with #research.  The other thing I like to use is Clearly which is also an addon to your browser.  Here is a comparison:

You can get these great addons here: http://evernote.com/webclipper/  and here: http://evernote.com/clearly/

Dropbox:  This application is my resent memory for all I do.  Is a cloud storage solution and has great collaboration functions.  It has gotten some heat for not being extremely secure, but for school work is good enough and will make you very efficient.  How to use it, make a folder in your computer with the name of the semester, and a sub-folder for each class.  Add the folder to your dropbox account (I use this plugin to do this quickly: http://satyadeepk.in/dropbox-folder-sync/) and now anytime you want access to a file you can get it from your computer or from the web, including your phone.

Now for collaboration.  You can have a team folder and all will be able to access all the files from that folder.  No more sending large files to and from emails.  One thing Dropbox is not very good a it and that is working on the same file, when you save it creates one file for each version of the opened file.  Now if you keep updating it, it does create a version history (the free account keeps the versions for 30 days).

You can get the some extra space if you download from here: http://db.tt/qqf3Cdm after you register and download the app make sure you take a look at other ways you can increase you storage.

Remember the Milk: If you need more than a nudge to get things done consider Remember the Milk.  This website/app has everything you need to manage your tasks.  I especially like the hooks to google calendar, ipad app, and text messages.  You can sign up for it here: https://www.rememberthemilk.com/signup/ One of the best things are lists based on search terms, so you can have one that says “Readings for Today” and another one for “Readings for Tomorrow”.  Also have one that says “HW due this week.”

Crashplan:  The last bit I want to cover on this post is a good backup solution.  There are a few options for free that range from limited time to limited space.  Crashplan’s free option is to backup to an external drive or computer.  Don’t be that guy that loses all his files the day before they are due.  Leave your drive at home and you should have enough backup protection.  Remember the backup rule:

  • 3 copies of everything
  • 2 types of media
  • 1 is of site

With the previous solutions you should have data in Evernote, dropbox, crashplan and your PC.  You are using Hard Drive (PC and Crashplan) and Internet (Evernote and Dropbox).  You always have 1 copy away from your physical location.  So sign up here: http://www.crashplan.com/consumer/crashplan.html

Stay tuned, next I’ll add more technology to your tool belt including: All things Google, All Things MS Office, PDFs, and later I’ll take a dive into Skype, Prezy, GIMP and Inkscape.

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Erwin Miller

In the search for character and commitment, we must rid ourselves of our inherited, even cherished biases and prejudices. Character, ability and intelligence are not concentrated in one sex over the other, nor in persons with certain accents or in certain races or in persons holding degrees from some universities over others. When we indulge ourselves in such irrational prejudices, we damage ourselves most of all and ultimately assure ourselves of failure in competition with those more open and less biased.” — J. Irwin Miller

I will have to agree, but I have always known that character, ability and intelligence are traits inherited from Our Father in Heaven.
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Internship – Relocating