At Midland, we’re invested in creating programs and courses that maximize value for both our students and the companies they serve. From the hybrid structure to the real-world professors, the program is engineered to develop students’ practical skills in the classroom and help them apply those skills as quickly as possible. The elective process is designed with this same goal in mind.
That’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear myself say, but now that I can, I couldn’t be more proud.
I finished my first term of the Midland MBA about two weeks ago, and now that our mid-year break is over and my second term is beginning, I’ve decompressed enough to reflect on how my decision to go back to school has affected me, personally and professionally.
Immediately after graduating from college, Jaime Briganti had her sights set on her career, despite her parents' encouragement to continue her education.
“My mom and dad have always pushed me,” she says. “You need to go get your Master’s, you need to do this, you need to do that. I think everybody hears that.”
More business professionals than you might suspect suffer from “perfectionism.” It’s not that uncommon. Even Steve Jobs has been repeatedly lauded for demanding perfection from his employees and company. However, there’s a difference between striving for the best and being paralyzed by perfectionism.
Two years ago, Microsoft made a huge investment, giving Barnes and Noble $300 million for a stake in the Nook business. Just last week, Barnes and Noble bought out Microsoft for $125 million, effectively costing Microsoft half their investment in under 24 months.
Both big and small deals get made in business every day. So, how do you effectively influence decision-makers to move your own agenda forward?
Avoiding bad decisions might be even more important than making good decisions. But you can’t become paralyzed by an inability to move forward. What are some common fallacies in decision-making you should be looking out for?
Though the title of the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, may seem quaint, the advice in the book is still relevant today. Originally published in 1936, Dale Carnegie's book has been described as a “working handbook on human relations.” It's not so much about how to “make friends” as it is to understand how people think and change your own actions so that people respond to you favorably.
In 1998, The Power of Nice: How To Negotiate So Everyone Wins- Especially You!, by Ronald Shapiro and Mark Jankowski, was one of the top 10 “On the Job” business books. Shapiro was a sports agent before writing his book, and he subsequently started the Shapiro Negotiations Institute to help professionals understand the keys to good negotiations.
In his 2008 book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi investigates what makes an experience or task particularly satisfying. He describes the ideal state of work, which he calls “flow.”
His description of flow is very similar to the idea of an athlete being in “the zone.” People in the zone describe it as being fully engaged in an activity to the point of ignoring all distractions because they are so absorbed.
There's a sales pitch or a big meeting coming up, and you're preparing. You probably know some of the people in the meeting, but you may not know them that well. In fact, you may not know some of them at all. How do you make sure that your pitch will be well-received?