The Brand Above a Brand, and a Goodbye

           There are a lot of points made in the article by Josh Hyatt on Fortune Magazine’s August 16, 2010 issue but what I like most is his statement that ‘a personal brand must highlight your special strengths, yet at the same time it also must not be too self-promotional…’ It is because I think it summarizes the entirety of the paper. The article also presented different cases wherein the application of self branding which is for me significant as a student who foresees himself working in a corporate-legal firm and who also dreams to have a “brand within a brand” as what the article calls it.

            MEASURE. The article emphasized that having a right gauge on yourself, which can be for example a SWOT Analysis of one’s self can be helpful since knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you in determining and focusing which talent needs to be highlighted. I’d see this aspect as a basis on academic performance, for example measuring your current standing in a class.

            COMPARE. It is really important to your classmates’ standings as well to be able to determine where you are at in the class. As applied to the industry, it is also your advantage if you know a lot especially the in and out of your field since it is vital for you to be able to compare yourself with others and thus can lead you to a good decision and course of action.

            ACTION. If you have determined and established your skills- in this case your grade standing, and compared it to the class and to your standards. An output will be obtained from these data that will make you decide on what action is pertinent to the situation. If your grade exceeded your expectations, you have to maintain it but if it is lower than your standards you have to push through your limits to reach or to exceed your standards.

            This article is so relevant especially nowadays when social networking media and the internet penetrates the working environment. But the article emphasized something on the values of the company where you are in. The first case presented that employees who successfully build brand within companies must know and must be hyper-aware of the behaviours and values of the company, since it might be violating its self-inflicted regulations just like what happened to Mark Pannell, the personality in the first case who was kicked out of his job just because the company thought he was just wasting his time online.

            Among my classes this heart-breaking yet enjoying semester, BA 101 would be one of the first subjects that will be on my mind as I reminisce this sem, maybe after a year. It is because this subject made me more aware and opened a wider perspective on the corporate world. And it totally changed the self-inflicted stereotype I have had to the students of the College of Business Administration. 

Corporate Leadership

            I find it ironic that the paper I am writing is on leadership and the reason why I was absent on the day when a speaker Ma’am Barbs of Avon Philippines, was on leadership, too. It was because I was selected to lead my co applicants in the UP Circle of Entrepreneur (I am also an applicant of UP AdCore) in our Entrepreneurial Fair Exhibit on the same day and on the same time. Thanks to my BA 101 casemates- Andrea and Angelo, for sharing what the talk was about.

            If I will be the General Manager of our family business, I will use the transformational and charismatic leadership styles. According to Robbins and Coulter, a leader who stimulates and inspires followers to achieve extraordinarily outcomes are the transformational leaders, while a leader is enthusiastic, self-confident whose personalities and actions influence people to behave in certain ways is a charismatic leader.

            In one conversation that I had with my dad while undergoing an apprenticeship in our business, he told me that to be able to influence others to do their tasks for you as the one who handles the business you have to know your strengths first since these will be the key for influencing others. He told me that I have charisma and that I may use it for leading others. I also remember our SSG adviser back in high school as she told me that as the SSG President of a school that comprises almost three thousand students, I need to transform my fellow officers in such a way that fits our population.

            I will choose these two styles of leadership because they do not require you to change but rather needs you to be yourself to influence your employees. I think your personality will also be essential in motivating your workers since it is an advantage for you and the company if you know their needs.

            It really is my loss not being able to attend such a great talk, as what I observe to my casemates as they tell their experiences on the lecture. Now I learned my lesson that if you will lead a group or company, you better distribute to your fellow workers or to your employees the work needed to be done, for you not to suffer all the miseries just to save your group or company. I should have applied my these two leadership styles early on. 

A Requirement in BA 101

First Semester, SY 2010-2011

Prof. Nicardo Falcis II

24 September 2010

Extraordinarily Happy and Productive Day

So I woke up at around two-thirty in the morning after sleeping for six hours.
I woke up hoping that I can finish reviewing BA 101. I did.

BA 101 MIDTERMS. So I was late for five or so minutes. I am happy enough that I saw a classmate in my English 30 class named Demy as I rode on UP-Katipunan jeepney. I was about to hand-over personally the excuse letter to my professor until I saw her. I was then able to be not so late in my exam. I found the exam hard on the problem-solving part. Dude, I was not able to guess even a single answer. I tried solving it though. Math, what's wrong with you? :)) After the exam, our case group net and I found it so fun talking with Gelo and Andrea. I so like them both and they are not the other type of BA students. Now you know what I mean?

CONFESSION. At last1 After several months, or a year I think. I finally confessed. I feel so light after the confession. I think Father Anil was the one who administered it. I feel so blessed and relieved! Super thank you Lord!

BIG NEWS. I am so happy about the new member of the family! :) I was not able to witness it though. I can't reveal much information here, just as yet.

WHY LAW. UP LAW. So I have been so moved about the symposium. It was, according to Dean Leonen of the College of Law, their first time to conduct such endeavor. And I was lucky enough to be part of it! I am so inspired by the talks, about being a SOCIAL LEADER. About helping others acquire JUSTICE. I think I have to reconsider changing my plans on having BA as my minor since I need to prepare for law- even if the speakers said that there is no such thing as a preparation for law.

PUB's 2nd MILESTONE. Did the 2nd milestone of the UPCE Business Proposal. Had fun doing it with Mike and Jeric. Thank you guys!

HAIRCUT. Since I went to SM North to borrow some movie CDs for my BC180 paper, I took the chance to have my haircut. Rafael, the haircutter of Bench Fix, had a great job on my hair! I so liked the service and my new cut!


I AM THANKFUL I HAVE MY GOD WITH ME.
Thanks Lord for all the blessings this day.

EXPENSIVE DAY it has been

Upon waking up yesterday Saturday, I immediately went to the bathroom.
It was 8 in the morning realizing that I am left with 1o chapters to review more for Monday's BA 101 midterms.
I took a bath, prepared to go outside and thought that it was a holiday so the library was closed, I just decided to go to TechnoHub and study there at KFC.

I spent 10 straight hours in that restaurant.
It was past 6 in the evening when I decided to go home and attend a mass.
But due to Philcoa jeep waiting for the vehicle to be filled with passengers, I was not able to attend the start of the mass. I just stayed and said my prayers.

After an hour of resting in Ipil, I decided to go to Philcoa to continue my review.
This time at Chowking. I thought it was silent there. it was until ten minutes after, the radio was on.
I spent three straight hours in that place and now I am home.

I spent 700 pesos for the foods I ate in just for this day.
It was really an expensive day.
But I think it's better than not reviewing at all.
I am praying and hoping that I will pass and get high grade on the midterms.

I pray.

The lady behind Cornetto’s tugs-tugs and the future lawyer

          The brand manager of Unilever’s Cornetto Miss Gina Madrid talked about business planning in a multinational environment, wherein I learned a lot especially the techniques in proper planning. I was amazed on what she shared that there should be only one kind of brand in a regional or global level. She cited Dove as an example wherein the Dove in the Philippines should be the same Dove in India it is because, according to Miss Madrid, it is a good impact to the brand since most of the consumer are from the same region and people are not that so different from each other.

                Miss Madrid also said that your business strategy should never change in three years and that it should not keep changing. I just thought now what if the environment changed, wouldn’t the company adapt its business strategy on the change in the environment or will it just stick on its original strategy?

I also liked the message that Miss Madrid shared to class, “On planning, you have to cascade and inspire, excite your people. A person who is inspired will go beyond the implementation.” I totally agree to her because inspiring your teammates and encouraging them to think big is really effective. I have experienced this before and is still doing it now especially in my organizations in school. Sometimes, I buy food during the planning session so that everyone can really think effectively without being hungry as we make important plans.

On 2013, I will be a freshman law student in the most prestigious law school in the country. Wherein great lawyers are trained and taught. I believe that knowing the ins and outs of the legal world can really be of an advantage- advantage in a way that you can help people achieve justice. And to be a future lawyer, I have to use the SWOT Analysis to help me know myself more.

I am good at writing and public speaking which are said to be one of the vital foundations of being a lawyer- knowing how to write resolutions and cases, at the same time knows how to speak well enough to be able to defend his client in court rooms.

Though, I am not that so good in memorizing and solving Mathematical problems. These two waterloos of mine are undeniably two of the basics in the legal world- knowing how to memorize acts and laws, and knowing how to think logically. I still believe I can develop these skills of mine.

I consider my courses that I am currently taking and the ones that I already took during the first two years of my college life as my opportunities, since I am trained on the basic skills I need to prepare myself and hopefully to become a great lawyer defending the people and giving them the justice they deserve.

The threats that I believe I have as of the moment are the people who are trained and majored in Political Science, Economics, and History; since these courses are the ones that really prepare students in becoming a law practitioner. 

First published as a class requirement 

in BA 101 under Prof. Nicko Falcis

1st Semester, 2010-2011, UP Diliman

[PODCAST] US Prof talks about Competitive Advantage

To my BA 101 classmates and also to my  friends who are interested, here the poscast goes.
I hope you find this endeavor helpful. I will soon upload the third part of four podcasts.

I am sorry, I met some technical problems so I just wrote the link to my podcast site.
Please also visit the following links that I have.
PODCAST
YOUTUBE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

US Prof talks in my BA 101 class

     State University of of New York professor Dr. Edwin Portugal talked about Competitive Advantage in my BA 101 class this morning. This cool and generous professor gave a great lecture and a lot of perks and gifts to the class!

     (Dr. Portugal, me, and Sir Manny)

     Prior to the start of the class, I asked the permission of CBA Dean Dr. Ben Paul Gutierrez and the speaker himself if I can record the entire seminar and he said yes. So I decided to make it a podcast-like production wherein I will upload the seminar which I recorded, in podcast! 

(Photo from Dr. Portugal)

     The class was lucky enough to win a lot of prizes such as t-shirts, playing cards from Las Vegas, a circular playing cards, and medals! My team won the medals! According to Dr. Portugal, the medals came from the town where Ice-Olympics occurred.

     The professor shared his knowledge on business administration and also on proper pronunciation of some words!