Posted on

Getting to Yes

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Book Cover Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
Roger Fisher, William Ury
Penguin Books
1991

I really enjoyed the book, in particular the Objective Negotiation part. I really feel that the book creates a good framework for a negotiator. A good companion book would be The Truth about Negotiations and Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation.
The other part I really enjoyed was that of one-text, the idea being that for multilateral negotiations or when a 3rd party is needed, the best way is to use one-text that each part can comment on. I did a simulation not too long ago, and had we used this method all parties would have come out with a better agreement.

Posted on

What is love?

A few days I go I wrote about being grateful, and of the life of a teacher.  Today I was listening to a BYU Devotional by Dallan Moody titled: What Happens When Life Gets
One Degree Colder? Moody shares part of his life having a child with special needs and all the miracles that he experienced because of this child.

I was particularly touched by a quote he used from  a message given by Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in July 2004, “Miracles of 
Faith.”  The quote is this:

Mothers and fathers 
who anxiously await the arrival of a precious child sometimes learn that all is not well with this tiny infant. A missing limb, sightless eyes, 
a damaged brain . . . greets the parents, leaving them baffled, filled with sorrow, and reaching out for hope.

There follows 
the inevitable blaming of oneself, the condemnation of a careless action, and the perennial questions: “Why such a tragedy in our family?” . . . 
“How did this happen?” “Where was God?” “Where was a protecting angel?” If, why, where, how—those recurring words—do not bring back the 
lost son, the perfect body, the plans of parents, or the dreams of youth. Self-pity, personal withdrawal, or deep despair will not bring the 
peace, the assurance, or help which are needed. Rather, we must go forward, look upward, move onward, and rise heavenward.

It 
is imperative that we recognize that whatever has happened to us has happened to others. They have coped and so must we. We are not alone. 
Heavenly Father’s help is near.”

I remembered seeing my new born girl through a glass as doctors put on her the life support she needed.  I remember how strong the feeling of “WHY?” came over me.  After listening to this devotional all those memories came back.  Although my girl is  still very small for her age, she is a healthy girl.  I can’t imagine a life without her, but also I can’t imagine how else I could have learned to trust God, if not by all the trials we went through.  I’m not saying my life is in anyway comparable to that of Dallan Mooney or teacher Jeffrey Wright, I’m just saying that when you start questioning why, you might be missing the miracles within you.

You can listen to the devotional or go to speeches.byu.edu.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Keeping it nerdy

NerdySo here is the story.  I decided to “dress up” as a nerd for Halloween.  So I grabbed my pocket protector and put in on the outside of my square print blazer.  I put on a stripped shirt and did a special knot on the tie that I saw on youtube and  is based on a knot from The Matrix.  I pulled my pants up a bit and hung some USB drives on my neck.  I really thought I had it, until I show up at the party and someone came up to me and said: “So, did you have an interview today.”  So I guess that you can’t call a costume stuff that you own and wear.

On a more intellectual costume was me pursuing an MBA in Marketing.  The more I saw myself as a sales manager or marketing director the more I felt like a weirdo.  But I knew that I liked the MBA program and I know that I could do something in marketing, but what.  There must be something where I would feel at home.  I had a few interviews in California for a market research position.  The people that I would be working with I could totally relate.  These people where professionals that loved data, math AND marketing.

The past 2 weeks I have re-re-invented my self, more like deconstructing than inventing.  First, what is my passion?  I knew that, my passion is information.  I have a degree in computer science with an emphasis in data modeling.  I have been working with data bases and information for the past 10 years.  4 of those years have been with pharmaceutical information and I really enjoy it.  An MBA with an emphasis in market research is what I wanted.

So how to shape an MBA into a market research emphasis.  I met with the department of statistics to see some core competencies.  I also met with the department of Computer Science to do some Data Mining.  I also met with the Marketing director for the MBA for him to signoff on the changes I wanted to do.  In the end it wasn’t as hard, I have now shaped my MBA experience to something I really feel passionate about.

So in the end I continue to be all the NERD that I can be, even with a Marketing MBA.

Posted on

Inspiring stories

The other day I read about a new program in the mormon channel called “Conversations.”  It is a radio program interviewing several Apostles and some other people with inspirational lives.  So I signed up for the podcast and downloaded the first episodes.

Today I finally listened to the first episode and what a wonderful experience.  I truly have been inspired by the stories of faith.  I’m now going back and downloading all the previous episodes so that I can listen to them.  Each episode is about 1 hour long, so is perfect for my comute, but make some time they truly are inspirational.

Here is the link for the site: http://radio.lds.org/programs/conversations?lang=eng

And here for the podcast: http://feeds.lds.org/LDSConversations

Posted on

Bancos de Guatemala

Hoy, como todos los mese me tocó que visitar nuestro sistema bancario. Lastimosamente no tengo consolidados mis tramites en un sólo lugar. Debo de ir de una cola a otra, tratando de hacer todos los pagos. Tristemente cada banco es diferente y cada uno tiene sus fortalezas y sus debilidades. A mi hoy sólo me ha tocado experimentar las debilidades.

Mi único consuelo es que ente màs me tardo, màs fria estará la Coca Light que me esta esperando en la oficina.

Posted on

That age

I believe I’m now at the age were I have to say no to certain milk products 🙁 No more pastrami swis cheese burgers for me. And to think we just met.