According to statistics conducted by U.S News and World Report from surveying 210 National Liberal Arts college, there is a growing popularity among young millennials to pursue their degree in a ranked university (2018 U.S News and World Report). Today, people prefer top big universities with high yield ratio to gain competence in their future job market. There have been counter arguments that small sized universities do also provide quality education, but it is not widely recognized. Statistical reports and media often say that large universities can be easily funded, and students get exposed to plenty of opportunities such as better infrastructure facilities, increase in job prospects as large universities partnership with government bodies and international institutions. Is this a myth that small size colleges lack quality education or do small universities also provide equal level education? It is ambiguous and this concern needs to be carefully examined as this issue is not widely spoken.

During the late 21st century, income distribution has been one of the main factors that divided people to select universities that could provide financial aid, so nowadays those universities which offered financial incentives to students are the one who has large number of students. As Hoxby, a professor of Economics, says these universities gained popularity as it used people weakness to its advantage to capture their market segments ( Hoxby and Long 1999). Therefore, we can understand that students do not enrol in large research universities based on their education quality. In addition, articles as “College ranking are all about money” in SFGate by Stuart Rojstaczer, says that college ranking is based on three main factors: university’s wealth, its resources utilization to build their scholarly reputation and how it maintains students’ satisfaction. Since, most big-scale universities have funds and wealth to support their institution, that are often top ranked by many survey companies. This does not mean small colleges have poor academic standards. The above factors create a myth among students to believe that ranked colleges have better facilities than the normal standard university.

In small-sized universities, students can have a direct and more personal learning experience with the professors compared to 100’s of students in the lecture hall in large research universities. This helps students to gain insight into areas where students in large universities cannot know. Students in small colleges get various flexibility in the curriculum, which helps them to follow their passion and it increases their effectiveness in learning. For instance, there can be more seats in each class thus reducing the need for wait lists for their courses, which might be time consuming and it might hinder their growth academically and personally. Students with inadequate grades in big universities are sometimes forced to take certain courses that do not match their learning objectives, but it will not be a case in small universities as there will be less competition for students to enrol in classes they prefer. These are some factors that make a small sized university learning experience better than a large sized university (2010 U.S. News and World Report). Although these reasons exist, modern generation is failing to realize the possibilities of small universities and they are believing what society insist upon. There cannot be a correlation between declining in small universities enrolments and decrease in their academic standards.

Whether leaders are made or born is debatable. Some say that leadership is not a natural talent, as it can be developed by anyone. On the other hand, many argue that leadership skills are always inborn and there are fixed characteristics leaders have that an ordinary man doesn’t. I have been inspired by many leader’s speeches and my personal experiences; I believe that there are 6 ways we can transform ourselves with the notion of what makes a leader.

Over the past 5 decades, the art of ancient rhetoric has been decreasing at an alarming rate. History says that in early schooling systems, people used to provide free education to students learning rhetoric – art of persuasive speaking and less emphasis were given to core subjects like Maths. Recently, teaching rhetoric is restricted to a powerful privileged few, helping them to speak like leaders. There are six techniques that a layman can follow persistently to transform themselves into leaders. The first 3 magic techniques tap emotions, manipulate the audience’s feelings and keeps them in constant focus with the speaker: 1) Three Breathless Sentences – used to emphasise facts in arguments, help the speakers to give more concrete compelling, convincing and credible statements to grab more attention. 2) Three repetitive sentences – help the leader to express their passionate feelings by stressing the fact purposefully, for instance, market traders used to manipulate investors to get their deal done efficiently. 3) Three balancing statements – use to create an illusion and make people accept their arguments; make them feel that the underlying thinking is balanced.

In terms of neuroscience, the next 3 techniques work because they speak to the instinctive, emotional and logical brains of the listeners. ‘Metaphor’ is a powerful piece of communication in politics and business organization. Speakers used to create beautiful images to lead, attract or recoil, people, it has the enormous impact on people’s emotions. One of the most basic and effective rhetoric devices is the use of ‘Exaggeration’ is usually attractive and grabs their listeners’ attention completely. Last but not the least, ‘Rhyme’ is the simplest technique as it helps individuals to express their emotions and perception in a persuasive manner.

To sum up, these leadership skills can be used by anyone to master the art of speaking to persuade the audience. These rhetorical skills are very significant to people who want to express their feelings, convey positive thoughts and to create a sustainable society.

References:

1. Personal Experiences and Inspirations
2. (2016, May 22). Speak like a Leader. Retrieved April 01, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGBamfWasNQ

Life is not what we think. We all want to progress in life without crossing any hurdles but that isn’t the reality. We might think, why should we overcome challenges? The truth lies in the question because each life lesson teaches us the level of complexity and trains your mind and body to adapt to the respective situation.In future, if there is any unanticipated event that occurs we will be naturally trained to overcome it with ease.

I am a big fan of “TEDx Talks” since all the speech(s) helps me to understand reality better as well as it is always appropriate to the current scenario. I was going through an amazing and self-motivative speech by Bill Eckstrom. In short, he was saying that life can be experienced when we step out of our comfort zone. As I was enjoying the speech, I realized that this idea can be associated with organizational behaviour.

He stated, ” The event that creates discomfort tends to ruin life but departing from ordered life changes for the better,” this phrase fascinated me to know how changing comfort zone will create effective change. However, in an organization, there are diverse people from different backgrounds and cultures. He came up with his new theory – the science of discomfort and growth as ‘ Growth Rings ‘. These rings can be categorized in 4 ways: Chaos, Complexity, Order, Stagnation. ‘Stagnation’ and ‘Order’ level people are within their comfort zone but stagnation has relatively negative impacts. The former level people have low-performing and low-growth environment that often needs various permissions, commands and need forced creativity. The latter is a desirable environment nearly predictable and when followed will increase growth in performance. But it will not cause any improvement in overall growth. Chaos has the same environment as stagnation that occurs between business mergers which can be external or internal. When we feel discomfort then we enter into ‘Complexity’ – Changed Order. This is the only environment where sustained and exponential growth can occur hence, we need to embrace it.

These 3 ways can create a complexity environment: Forced upon, someone getting you in or trigger it yourself. Complexity can be triggered anytime, anywhere and by anyone, even in robust and in stagnated environment. This change of the comfort zone is based on individual response, acceptance of risk for the better. Teachers and parents are the main drivers for an effective change. This critical development decision helps individuals and organizations to come up with an extraordinary decision that helps them to carve growth out of discomfort. We will realize that this journey into the wilderness we accepted and sought the truth ensures permanent qualitative and quantitative growth in the later stages of life.

Reference :

I came across an informative article published by Harvard Business Review. It talks about organizational culture and its role. The author, Lindsay McGregor, came up with a statement saying “Why we work determines how well we work.” This statement caused me to read the article in detail to understand it.

She starts off the article with three questions that transform’s culture from mystery to science:1). How does culture drive performance? 2). What is the culture worth? 3). What processes in an organization affect culture? After a study in 2013, research showed that there are 6 main reasons why people work: play, purpose, potential, emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia. The first three are the positive and competitive forces that act directly on the workforce. The other three are the indirect forces that reduce’ the overall performance culture in an organization.

The 3 P’s (play, purpose, potential) are important for a healthy organization because they make work enjoyable, help you to value your work and enhance your work identity respectively. A highly-performing culture will have more influence on these three characteristics and minimal influence of the indirect forces namely the emotional pressure, economic and finally inertia. The latter three forces contribute to the reduction of performance level in the organization by inducing thoughts such as thinking about the disappointment, or the reward, or why you’re bothering to do the work at all. An experiment conducted by Teresa Amiable, Harvard student says that these factors affect individual in their work as well as their progress. These observations and conclusions creating a theory called Total Motivation (ToMo).

Organizational Culture was a mystery to people and they did not understand what is meant by healthy culture and how it could be developed?Here is the solution. Due to intensive research studies, we have proven that healthy motivation has been the base for a high-profile culture in an organisation. It is proven that highest performing portfolio managers have a higher total motivation (ToMo), so if these 6 forces are directed into proper channels, a great culture is easy to build. Organizational Culture is a set of processes that is influenced by mission and behaviour codes regulated by the motivation of the organisation.

To sum up, motivation is closely related to the shaping of organizational culture and behaviour.It maintains the identity and career ladder of the employees as well as the organization.

Reference :

https://hbr.org/2015/11/how-company-culture-shapes-employee-motivation

Technology in the present is moving rapidly fast as we are discovering new and incredible stuff that will make our life interesting .Humans in the modern world want to make life smooth and easy so for today’s generations Mega Tiny Corp has launched a magical case that can stick to any surface without and stand .

The sales of this anti-gravity cases have increased over time has it was one of the most anticipated kinds of cases that our teenagers needs .The basic principle behind this awesome kind of evolution is that it uses the principle of nano-suction surface .Now with more nano-suction surface area, new colours and swappable backplates, the MEGAVERSE™ Anti-Gravity Case™ is one case with many uses! It sticks even better to windows, mirrors, whiteboards, metal, kitchen cabinets, tile, flat car dashboards and more!. The new ” Swappable MegaBack™ ” plates allow you to add a leather wallet, shatter-proof mirror or bottle opener to the back of your case in seconds! MegaBack plates are sold separately.A fascinating part of this product is that it was originally priced at $ 30 /- but now it is sold by various retailers around $5 – $10 /- .It is affordable and it is quite cheap in comparison to its features .I have brought this case in September , it actually worked well so I would say that it will be one of the most wanted products for today’s generations .

Although it serves with good and productive features ,it also has some demerits Moreover it works really well on some surfaces and really badly on others. When you stick it to a perfectly smooth surface like glass it’s almost like it’s glued in place. It’s a really strong bond — even with gravity working against it.The back feels a little bit like it’s coated with Scotch tape that lost most of its stickiness. You can definitely get used to it, but it’s kind of distracting and definitely noticeable. The packaging material recommends cleaning off the case about once per week. I got enough gunk stuck to the back during testing that I’d say you’re going to want to wash it off more often than that. The case’s stickiness when you’re not trying to stick it to something is it’s biggest (and really the only) drawback, but not one that would keep me from recommending this case to someone who would find it beneficial.

To sum up , I feel that although it has some disadvantages , a consumer can be used to it when it becomes an essential part of their life . However , the benefits derived from the products is more than its limitations in terms of facilities and cost .

References :

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/07/09/sticky-iphone-case-not-to-sticky/29916529/

http://dailytekk.com/2015/08/12/anti-gravity-iphone-case-review/?reading=continue