Midweek Update: No I haven't forgotten the blog

Hello all my faithful readers,

I haven't forgotten my blog, I've just been doing final projects, and the blogging has taken a back seat.

I got this

I will return to telling you of my adventures before too long, don't worry.  For now I'll just give you a hint.

I learned about win-win negotiations last weekend.  I'll tell you more about that soon. For now, just know that the key takeaway was to focus on people's interests instead of their positions.

Today I learned to read Korean because I was procrastinating.

The Carnegie Project update

As many of you know, I'm reading through Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, one chapter per week, and writing my reflections on it.  Thanks for following along.

One thing I really appreciate about this book, is that the chapters are simply stories from people's lives, short anecdotes about how the principle applies.  It's a light read.

Previous Principles

Part A: Fundamental techniques in handling people

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain

2. Give honest and sincere appreciation

3. Frame things in terms of what other people want

Part B: Six ways to make people like you

4. Become genuinely interested in other people

5. Smile

6. Remember people's names

7. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves

8. - Talk in terms of the other person's interests.

9. - Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely

So like I said we had a negotiation seminar last week and I was one of the organizers.  The speaker had amazing material and was practically donating his time and his exceptionally valuable knowledge, and we were really grateful.  We had also learned from running these events in the past that it's important to make the speaker feel really valued, because he was really valuable and important.

So we took him to lunch with the organizing team, paid for it, got him a bottle of wine as a thank you... it's the little things.  He wasn't expecting all that and I think he really appreciated it. I think and hope that making him feel like he was important to us paved the way for him coming back next year.

This week's principle

On to part C - How to win people to your way of thinking

10. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it

General idea:  

• A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still 

• If you lose an argument, you lose... But if you win an argument, you still lose

•  It's generally not worth arguing with someone.

This one runs counter to the way I've grown up.  Now, I'm sure there is a time and place and purpose for  arguments, however, this is just one instance in an increasing body of literature I've encountered that suggests that arguing is not effective for convincing people of something.

I suppose that if you're in an argument with person X, and the argument is public, the argument may be good for convincing the crowd around you that you are right, but it will only entrench person X in his position. Hence politics.

It reminds me of an article I read recently that said similarly, that facts do not convince people of truth, and that psychologically, people don't present facts, argument, or anything like that to others for the purpose of revealing truth. They do it to establish dominance over the other person.  Since reading that I've found myself taking a whole different view on how I approach disagreements.

It's also related to the negotiation seminar I took. People state positions in arguments.  I'm for this or against that.  But really, what are their interests? Pride? Dominance in the conversation? Getting approval from you? Learning to see discourse this way takes some getting used to.

Midweek update: TCP, Student strikes

This morning I had a great idea.  I was going to do a video update instead of a regular blog post.  I can speak so much faster than I can type, so if I do a video it'll take less time and be more interesting, right?

Wrong!

Japanese restaurants - what constitutes authenticity?

Greetings one and everyone.  Now I'm no foodie, but I have been writing a research paper about Japanese food, and the appeal of Japanese culture in the west.  Also about how to exploit that for business purposes.  That is why my lovely wife thought it would be a good idea to take a trip to a Japanese restaurant.  Now I'm not really a 'foodie' and this isn't a foodie, blog, but it is a good opportunity to discuss some of the things I've learned.

Midweek Update: School begins and CANS

Back to reality.  The John Molson School of Business International Case Competition (JMSB ICC...  what a mouthful!) has come to a close and now classes have begun.  It was fun pretending I was a real business man dressing up in a suit every day... but I'll be finished in four short months. This semester I have a lot on my plate, but it looks mostly interesting.  Two case-based courses and economics.  And a research paper.

Midweek Update: at the MBA Case Competition

As planned, here is my mid-week update.  Articles Monday, miscellany on Thursday. And it's been a busy week!

I'm a lead volunteer at the John Molson School of Business MBA International Case Competition for the second year in a row, and have been kept pretty busy. This event is the oldest and most prestigious of the case competitions and it's quite a to-do.  36 schools from around the world have teams to represent them, and

The Four Ps of Marketing

So I was reading a marketing question on a forum today from a guy who was promoted from being a waiter in a Cajun restaurant to being director of marketing.  He had no idea what to do and most people were suggesting various promotional tactics such as giving free meals to hotel clerks.

I was transported in my mind back to marketing class, which was one of my favourite classes because I had a great teacher and I understood it well.  So I went through a classic analytical model, one of the basics they teach in marketing class.  The 4 Ps of marketing. Acutally, with services like restaurants they talk about 8 Ps, so I went through all 8, which I now present to you, dear reader, because I believe it's interesting.

Monday Update, random thoughts

I'm in the middle of the most hectic week left in my school year.  Just finished one presentation, have another one Wednesday, and a paper due over the weekend.  Nevertheless I'm writing.  Why?  I found some really interesting things that I wanted to share with everyone!

Reflections on New York: BBH

This past summer of 2011 I had an amazing opportunity.  I went to live in Manhattan for a month on a school exchange.  I stayed in International House, a dorm near Columbia University, and I attended the Levin Institute taking classes in Global Leadership and Management and Global Finance and Marketing.  It was an intense 4 weeks, but the best part was the site visits.

An interesting case of caught in the middle

Yesterday Quebec students staged a large protest against tuition hikes.  As a director on Concordia's Graduate Student Association (GSA) representing the business school, I find myself torn, both in how to represent my constituency and in how I feel about the situation.