Month: November 2012

This video is one of my favourite TED talks that has both inspired and motivated me.

As a first year Sauder student, I’ve always wondered how some businesses are so much more successful than others. What is it that makes these companies different from the rest of its competitors? How do you motivate your workers?….What is the definition of a Great Leader?

In the video, Simon Sinek presented a simple, yet powerful model for inspirational leadership. He stated  that most companies operate and communicate with the order of (1) What (companies’ products), (2)How (products’ features and functions) and then expect some results in sales. However, he introduced a new idea in which true successful companies communicate first with (3)Why (Why we do what we do), (2)How, then finally(1) What.  It is what the company believes, its company belief (the brand value), that has driven customers of the same beliefs to purchase these products.

Similarly, true leaders inspire others by stating what they believe in, instead of telling others what they do. Those with no belief, their workers will work for profit; those with beliefs, however, will attract workers of the same beliefs and they will work because they “want” to and not because they have to. Hence, people (whether customers or employees) do what they do for no one but themselves – they choose to follow merely for their own believes.

From this video, I learned to always communicate with my core values first. I learned that in order to be successful, we cannot simply be a leader, but we must become those who lead.

Many companies nowadays have started to switch from sending employees to expensive training lessons to providing online teaching videos. By allowing the workers to be trained online, this creates advantage in terms of cost, quality, and access [1]. Online training provides employees to access 24/7 at their own pace as well, making their learning experience more flexible.

This emerging situation can be seen as both an advantage and disadvantage in human resources. Advantage being that the existing technology can create more opportunities for employees to have access to these resources, which also benefits the companies as well by saving costs. However, disadvantages also arise as consultants and counselors are no longer needed due to their relatively expensive prices. Although some might argue that real life experts will perform and help train the workers more efficiently, there are still video training online provided by true and famous experts of the field.

The bottom line, I believe, is that the human resources organization need to keep up with the pace of technology and the consultants must use them as new resources to their own advantage, and not be threatened by them.

Sources:

[1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/human-resources/e-learning-is-hit-and-miss-how-to-choose-wisely/article5339634/

Image Source:

http://www.3dvia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/banner_training_elearning.jpg

I recently found an interesting external blog of a senior Sauder student in UBC, in which I’ve followed and gained a couple of  tips from.

In one of her articles, she stated her experience of meeting with Microsoft Canada President Eric Gales during her Campus Rep Program, where she provided a few takeaways from their discussion: (1)Innovations, (2)entrepreneurs, and (3)how students can find innovations to help society.

Gale defines innovation as “doing something in a new way;” and entrepreneurs as those who convert ideas into action. He further commented on the fact that people nowadays don’t really have a problem in generating ideas, but the issue lies in what to do once you have one. He states that there are those who “dream big” and those who breathe life into big dreams to become action [1]. “We have to be prepared to believe that there is better way. Be prepared to be wrong and challenging your inner thought. We have to b prepared to put thoughts in benefits for motivation instead of hovering over the risks.”

I find this article very inspirational, as I am a student of many dreams; yet, none of these ideas can come true if I never work to make them happen. By defining the three concepts of entrepreneurship, I feel more confident of experiencing new boundaries to explore my potentials.

Sources:

[1] https://blogs.ubc.ca/valeriesong/

This article gave me some insights into Information Technology which I find quite interesting.

First of all, in the article, to incorporate information technology in a smart way is to set off a revolution in innovation covering  4 dimensions of measurement, experimentation, sharing, and replication. Erik Brynjolfsson, a digital business expert, also commented on an example in which Harrah’s, a casino company, is an offline company that has successfully cover IT in all four ways. While other companies were adding decorations to enhance their casinos, Harrah’s was doing different experiments to find the ultimate force driving profitability.

The problem is that some companies have a lot of data, but they are not quite sure how to make use of these data. As well, Brynjolfsson further stated a shift from long-term planning to more of sense and respond. 

I discovered an intriguing concept – in my previous post where I reflected upon Zara’s case study, one of the key components to Zara’s success was having a quick response, short term supply chain, which is similar to Information Technology. Due to the fast pace in technology, one of the important aspects to business success nowadays is to maintain an efficient, relatively productive speed – so you can beat your competitors within the industry.

Article Source: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/224965860/13221C4DF9B2BA6CADA/1?accountid=14656

Image Source:

http://www.poker-tomorrow.com/casinos/vegas/harrahs/harrahs.jpg