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Paul Sanberg Response Blog

Connect:

One of the main connections that I could draw between Paul Sanberg’s talk and the class was his statement that you can only go so far before you need to get help.  Not only does this tie into multiple readings in class, but also made connections to every other innovator we have had so far. Whether it is the habits of mind or innovators DNA, there are many readings in the class that highlight the importance of being able to work as a team and listen to all other opinions before making a decision.  Another point that he made was that you shouldn’t just do something for the money, you should feel good about helping people.  This shows that Sanberg believes you should have passion for your work and should not go after a career for money or fame or any reason other than because you enjoy it.  This is consistent with the habits of mind as well as they also state that passion is extremely important.  Finally, Sanberg stated that when you can’t find answers, you should go play and then come back.  This goes along with our conversations about not experiencing burn out as you need to take breaks sometimes and regroup before you continue to move towards your goal.

Apply:

The main point that I took away from the talk was to not forget your personal life.  I feel as though this is very important because there were a lot of innovators that stated it was important to give your life to innovation so this was a different approach.  Few of the others have been able to juggle having a successful personal life and a successful career but Paul Sanberg stressed the importance of having both.  This was extremely nice to hear as someone who plans on not only striving to be successful in my career but also plans to have a home life.  Hearing from someone that could do both was refreshing as it assured me that it is possible.  The other takeaway that I had from his discussion was not to do something for the money.  When in college it is easy to get caught up in worrying how much money you will make in a career rather than will you enjoy something, so it was nice to hear that the key is to do what you want to do and the money will follow.  

Questions:

What is the key to balancing a personal and professional life?

How do you find what you are passionate about?

When do you give up on working alone and accept help?

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Victor Poirier Response Blog

Connect:

Victor Poirier had a variety of lessons for us that all tied into the class.  One idea that he emphasized was to be passionate about what you are doing.  He stated that not only should you let your passion drive you but you should also be persistent and motivated, which is easier when you are doing something you are passionate about.  These play into the habits of mind and are essential parts of being an innovator.  This is something that every innovator so far has mentioned at some point and proves just how important it is to find something that you love doing or it is going to be really hard to continue doing it for the rest of your life.  He also talked about having grit and never giving up, as you should never be afraid of failing and should continue even when met with failure.  This ties in with every reading we had about failing in every aspect of life, not being afraid of failure, and having the grit to continue through failure and continuing to excel in a field even when originally met with opposition.  He seemed to personify this as he had created several models for artificial hearts that didn’t work or got shot down and he continued to work until he had something that he was confident in.  Networking and teamwork were also brought up as he stated that you should try to surround yourself with different people to diversify your ideas and learn from people of all different cultures.  The one statement that Poirier made that was significantly different was one where he stated that if you aren’t innovative, you can’t be taught.  This goes against not only everything we have learned in the course but also the entire idea of having a course that teaches innovation as if there isn’t a way to do it then why teach the course.  I agree with him to an extend as I believe genetic disposition plays a role in skill and if someone can’t learn to innovate no amount of teaching is going to help.  

Apply:

I think a lot of the lessons that Poirier gave during his lecture revolved around his idea of how to be an innovator.  His ideas of keeping an open mind and surrounding yourself with different cultures and ideas both stuck out to me as I feel like it is something that I have been striving towards recently.  I have been saying yes to more opportunities like discussed in previous weeks and that has led to me meeting people that I would never have interacted with if I didn’t keep an open mind and say yes to an invitation.  The other takeaway that I had from his lecture was to be a clear communicator. A lot of times people try to sugar coat things instead of telling people exactly what they mean and it can cause a lot of confusion when if they said exactly what they meant there would be no confusion or miscommunication.  I am guilty of this as well especially when I have to tell someone something I know they don’t want to hear so I try to avoid telling them and instead just talk until they begin to infer what I am saying.  I had an interview for a position in Greek life and when discussing leadership methods my interviewer told me that I was what they were looking for and one of the reasons was that I was very straightforward and spoke clearly when we talked. This will make me more aware of how much easier it is for both parties if you say exactly what you mean, especially now that I have seen the benefits of doing so.

Questions:

Every innovator we have talked to so far believes in teaching the next generation of innovators, but you seemed to disagree with that, so why don’t you think innovation can be taught?

When is failure all part of the innovative process and when does it become an obstacle that you cannot get around anymore?

You stated that you had always wanted to be an architect but couldn’t afford it, but given your many successes in the field of medicine, do you feel as though you should do something with your life that you enjoy or should you be doing something that you excel at?

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Seems like this was how David Eddy felt most of the time.

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David Eddy Response Blog

Connect:

This week in class we discussed failure, and the main idea from all of it was that failure is something that can happen in any part of your life, but it is also something you should use to learn from.  This is exactly what Dr. Eddy discussed in his lecture as while he had a long list of accomplishments and awards, he had at least one failure behind each one of them. The reason that Dr. Eddy could become so successful even though he has failures is that he never really saw them as failures, just shortcomings that he had to either find a way to correct or find a way to avoid entirely.  With that being said Dr. Eddy approached failure differently than we were taught as he stated that he lacked grit, which was a huge portion of our reading on how to overcome failure.  He stated that the only real reason he kept going sometimes is that it prevented him from being fired.  He also stated that unlike our readings he never really had a plan he just “white water rafted” through things and hoped for the best.  One thing that was consistent with our class was that Dr. Eddy stated you should always ask questions and be curious, which tied in with our habits of mind.  The other statement he made that I believe fit the scope of our class was to always persevere. I believe perseverance is an important part of innovation as not only is it a habit of mind but it also fits into passion in the 8 ways to be successful.  

Apply:

I don’t even know where to start with the application section considering Dr. Eddy gave us a ton of insights and all of them were great.  One that stuck out to me specifically was don’t be afraid to step down. I think a lot of people, myself included, would take a promotion if offered without so much as a second thought, but if you really thought through what that meant and what you would be doing maybe the decision wouldn’t be that easy.  There are many times where I have enjoyed doing something even if there wasn’t a title involved or something that I could put on a resume to look better.  That leads me into the next point that I liked which was accept as many invitations as possible.  No matter what you are doing it doesn’t hurt to try something once and you never know where it may lead.   Finally, I thought it was really interesting that Dr. Eddy said to start from scratch rather than researching what others have done first.  Not only did that contradict what we learned in class which was to research, but also everything I have been taught in my internship so far. In the medical field when you do research the first step is to lookup if others have done it and if so to see what they found.  Maybe Dr. Eddy’s idea can provide the push we need to have a medical revolution and cure many of the diseases that haven’t been cured for a long time.  

Questions:

Do you think it is important to have grit when overcoming failure?

You mentioned 2 types of failures in class, those blocking you and those of the world waiting to be corrected, but can you benefit from both types or only the world’s failures?

Is there any way to know that an innovation is too far ahead of its time before dedicating time to it?

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Why did Bill Cavanaugh have to sit in a closet forever?

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Bill Cavanaugh Response Blog

Connect:

Much of the discussion from Bill Cavanaugh paralleled what we learn from class as well as providing some new information that may help us.  The first thing that Mr. Cavanaugh talked about was how much he learned from other people and from the school of Hard Knox.  The first part of that statement ties into the habits of mind and innovators DNA and has been mentioned by every innovator that we have heard speak so far.  This reinforces week after week that being able to work cooperatively and building a successful network is probably the most important component to innovation that there is.  

The other point that he made repeatedly was that you should always question the status quo. This played into our definition of innovation as we stated that it requires looking at a problem differently than anyone else has and part of that is to question the current way things are done. 

 He also stated that we need to be open to new ideas, which plays into the definition of innovation but also the idea that you should never stop applying what you learn.  In class, we discussed that the way we are currently teaching does not foster innovation, and Mr. Cavanaugh seems to have found a better way to foster innovation by removing a penalty for failure and by providing incentives to those who innovate.  This applies the idea of yet to a workplace as rather than punishing someone for not being good enough they are told they just need to work harder or longer to reach a goal.  Mr. Cavanaugh’s lecture reinforced any of the ideas we had in class and helped to showcase the importance of what we have been learning.

Apply:

Mr. Cavanaugh had many lessons in his lecture that I will be attempting to integrate into my life. The first takeaway that I had from his talk was that if you believe in something, never give it up.  Being a doctor is something that I have wanted to do for as long as I remember, but as I have gone on through college I have wondered many times if I am smart enough or if I will even get into medical school, but I refuse to give it up because I have wanted it for too long and to hear from someone else never to give up really had impact on me.  The other statement that I took to heart is to tell it how it is.  I have always been very straightforward with people and have sometimes wondered if it would be better if I spare people pain or embarrassment by telling them they’re doing fine instead of offering critique, but I would rather have someone give me criticism than tell me what they think I want to hear.  Mr. Cavanaugh stating that it is important to tell it how it is reinforcing what I had always thought and will help me to try not to sugar coat things as it may do more harm than good.  Finally, he stated that you should never stop changing, and that is something that I took to heart because I believe you should always be pushing to better yourself in some area.  No one is perfect, and no one will ever be perfect, but there is no reason we shouldn’t be constantly working to getting as close to perfection as we can.  

Questions:

Do you believe the military played a significant role in the development of your abilities?

If there is no punishment for failure how do you ensure that everyone is working to the best of their ability and no one is exploiting the system?

If the status quo works, should you still be actively trying to change it?

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Cane or Seat? You be the judge!

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Lyle Schwartz Response Blog

Connect:

Much of Schwartz’s discussion was based on teamwork and being a good leader and tied in which a lot of what we have gone over in class.  Networking is part of Innovator’s DNA and Schwartz discussed the importance of working to do things you can’t do alone which seems to point towards networking and getting yourself out to areas of study that you don’t usually pursue as you could always use another perspective.  Working cooperatively is also a habit of mind and was reinforced throughout all of Schwartz’s lecture.  He even moved facilities around on his campus to stimulate collective action as he said that creating common facilities was a good way to force people to interact and work together.  Another idea that Schwartz bounced around several times was that advances in technology, industry, or any other avenue could open doors to innovation.  This paralleled our class discussions on disruptive innovation as in our discussions in class we talked about how a market has to be ready for an innovation and how if it is put out at the wrong time then it is ill received and I believe Schwartz could be eluding to that as new changed in technology or industry could open the door for a disruptive innovation to take the world by storm.  The other connection I drew is the fixed vs open mindset.  Schwartz seemed to talk a lot from a closed mindset as he stated that he was born a natural leader and it was something that set him above others as they didn’t have the ability to become leaders.  If he had agreed more with the idea of yet that we discussed in class he probably would’ve stated that others around him just hasn’t put in enough work to become great leaders.  

 Apply:

Several of Schwartz’s ideas can be applied not only to the work environment but also to life.  The point that has stuck in my head since hearing it is that you should give opportunities to both sides of an argument if you want to hear the full story.  This should be something that everyone can apply to their lives as it is easy to get caught up in an argument and only hear what you want to hear.  The problem is that is that one person may be lying their ass off, but you won’t know if you don’t have anything to compare it to.   Having the full story from both sides allows you to make an informed decision on the topic at hand.  I tend to lean more towards the person I trust more rather than the person who has more evidence and I feel like that is something that I could work on a lot more.  The other takeaway that I had from the lecture was that you should always be prepared and listen.  When I was growing up I was in scouts and the motto for all of it was be prepared so this is something I have heard before but to hear it from someone in a position of success was reassuring as it proves that having that mindset works.  Currently I assume that if I forget something small or don’t have everything together that I will either be fine without it or that someone else will be prepared and I can just ask them for help.  This is a mindset I need to change as being ready for anything certainly has its advantages when nothing can slow you down from reaching a goal.  

 Questions:

How do you get people on board with moving facilities farther away?

Do you see any importance in having a mentor?

Can leadership be improved or is it something you are born with?

Do you see the cane-seat as the most valuable innovation of the 21st century?

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Selim Chacour Response Blog

Connect:

Selim Chacour’s lecture was surprisingly hard to connect to class.  While he had many lessons in his lecture can be taken to heart, applying them to the scope of this course is difficult.  The main connection I could draw was being persistent.  While it was one of the habits of mind Chacour implanted the idea through numerous examples of his trials and tribulations.  He talked about the importance of having passion for your work and giving a dam about what you do.  Chacour embodied that idea as anytime he spoke you could hear the passion in his voice for what he did and how much fun he had going to work every day.  He also talked about the importance of treating people well and being able to work well with a team.  There was a major contrast in his discussion and that was that he stated that if you want to innovate you can take a design and make it bigger.  This is the exact opposite of what Donald Keck said as he stated that innovations require abstract thinking rather than just making something else bigger.  This poses the question as to whether innovation has a set definition or if it varies from person to person.  In our class, we developed a universal definition for innovation, but before that we all had different definitions that didn’t always line up with each other.  

Apply:

The main point that I took from the lecture was Chacour’s opening statement, which was “give a dam.” The most important thing in life is to find your passion, to find something that you are good at and to continue to get better.  I am religious so I believe we were all put on this earth for a reason, and I believe that Chacour’s lecture spoke to that as he stated that you needed to find the thing you were passionate about and pursue it.  This goes back to the old saying that if you are doing something you love you will never work a day in your life.  The other lesson that I took from the discussion was to do something unique, something that has never been done before.  I want to help cure cancer, and right now we don’t have a definitive way to do that, and it is going to take someone who can come in with a revolutionary new idea on how to cure it if we want to get rid of it forever. Thinking outside of the box is something that we are all taught how to do as kids, but it’s not something that many of us take with us for the rest of our lives.  Most people are content with working 9 to 5 jobs and raising a family, but it is going to take much more commitment than that if we want to change the world.

Questions:

What is the difference between someone with passion and ideas and an innovator?

How does someone find what they are passionate about?

Can someone “give a dam” without being passionate about the work?

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Donald Keck Response Blog

Connect:

Out of all the innovators so far, Dr. Keck probably had to most to say that paralleled lessons that we have had in class.  The beginning half of his lecture was based on the idea that to be an innovator you need to be creative.  This is consistent with that we have said in class as not only did we all agree that is was an integral part of innovation week one but it is also a habit of mind. Dr. Keck was constantly stressing the importance of thinking outside of the box, using contrarian thinking, and approaching a problem in a way that no one else has thought to use, and that is exactly what we agreed innovators do.  Not only did he stress creativity, but he also told of the importance of teamwork. Dr. Keck stated that to complete a difficult task it is often best to break it up into smaller tasks.  This speaks to the importance of teamwork as I believe he was stating that people should be broken up into teams to complete tasks most efficiently.  He also stated that no matter what the project is, you are always going to need additional help.  While all of this shows how highly Dr. Keck emphasized teamwork, none of them were more direct than his statement that the keys to success might be on someone else’s keychain.  All this plays into not only the habits of mind but also innovators DNA as networking is one of the most important steps to securing a good team.  The final tie in with class that I found from the lecture was that Dr. Keck developed a special method to teach people how to innovate. This is exactly like the Ted talk we watched in class that stated the current model of teaching innovation was flawed and that we needed to change it to make it more applicable to innovation.

 Apply:

The main point from the lecture that I want to apply to my life is Dr. Keck’s keys to a successful and happy life.  He states that to happy you need to be good at something, have a dream, and have someone to share it with.  I believe this should be the model for everyone as everyone is good at someone and without a dream life is dull.  The last part about having someone to share it with is also important as not only are friends important but you also need the support system as you will likely not have smooth sailing chasing after your dreams.  Aside from that another point that resonated with me was that it’s better to make something than to buy it.  Almost every male in my immediate family was a carpenter so this sounded familiar as the usual response to wanting to buy something was why should we buy that when we can make a better one cheaper.  My grandfather when he goes house shopping will tell the realtor what is wrong with the house and ask if they need him to fix it for them.  The final point that I will be trying to apply is that when you see a large problem break it up before trying to tackle it.  When I was a little kid I wanted to be a doctor and help cure cancer because I saw my grandmother go through chemo, and while that dream hasn’t changed I’ve realized that it is impractical to think you can cure all types of cancer with one medication or surgery, and I believe that taking each type of cancer down one at a time will be how we finally beat it.

 Questions:

What is the importance of having the right people in place when treading uncharted waters?

When is failure part of innovation and when is it unacceptable?

Is it more important to be creative or well learned when trying to solve a new problem?

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Richard Gitlin Response Blog

Connect:

The main point that Dr. Gitlin discussed at the beginning of his speech was that innovation is a team sport. I believe it was stated early in the presentation because it was an important idea and one of the  first things you need to be a successful innovator.  The idea that innovation cannot be done alone is present in the habits of mind where working cooperatively is one of the 16 habits, and in the innovator’s DNA as it enforced the idea of networking. Networking was also an idea that Dr. Gitlin directly stated as he believed that personal networking was something that should never be underestimated.  He stated never to burn any bridges as you don’t know when someone you know could be of use to you, and while that may sound like you are using people he seemed to mean it more in the sense of don’t threaten people, just tell them what you are doing directly.  Many of the others ideas brought up tied back in with the habits of mind as he stated that to be a successful innovator you need to have infectious passion and stamina.  This to me screamed that persistence is needed but I believe what Dr. Gitlin was insinuating is that to be persistent you must have passion and the stamina to face rejection or your ideas will fall flat.  The last connection that I could make to the class was Dr. Gitlin’s definition of innovation as he stated that an innovation should change the way we live. This mirrored our definition of innovation in class and I feel as though I write this every week as it shows that the definition we made for innovation parallels all of those who are innovators, and that doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me.

Apply:

Many of the life lessons that I took from Dr. Gitlin’s talk were different from the connections I made in class.  One thing that he said was that to be a better innovator you should be able to write efficiently.  This is something that I took to heart as anyone that has peer reviewed my blogs can tell you how hard it is to follow my thinking, add my grammar mistakes along the way and it’s usually a mess even when I review it and try to catch mistakes. His recommendation to take a writing class even if you fulfilled credits before college is something that I will consider as no matter what career you choose you need to know how to write well enough to be understood by your reader.  Another lesson that I took from his talk was have enough stamina to be able to face rejection.  I applied this to life in general rather than just in business as I feel like no matter what you do in life you are going to have critics and people who want you to fail and if you can’t stand up to them you will never accomplish anything in your life.  The final point that I took to heart was Dr. Gitlin continually stating that luck favors the prepared as it is something that I had always been told growing up so hearing it from someone outside of my family had an impact.  

Questions:

What do you consider to be the most defining characteristic of an innovator and why?

How does someone become prepared to be favored by luck?

How critical is it to have the right team when innovating?

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Shyam Mohapatra Response Blog

Connect

Shyam Mohapatra’s discussion was tough to connect to the class as much of the discussion centered on the idea of maintaining secrecy about your ideas until you were ready to patent.  This is in direct contrast of this week’s readings as the reading from Steven Johnson stated that ideas tend to thrive when they are released to a large group of people.  While Johnson’s thought process was, that connections facilitate ideas, Mohapatra enforced the idea of only telling a small group about your ideas to save them from being stolen.  This idea also contrasted the habits of mind as one of the habits of mind is being able to think cooperatively, but that is difficult if you follow Mohapatra’s teaching and never allow anyone else to find out about your innovations.  Not only do his ideas contrast this week’s teaching and the habits of mind, but also the innovators DNA.  The innovator’s DNA consists of four main points, one of them being networking.  Networking is an extremely important part of being successful, but following Mohapatra’s ideology of making everything top secret makes it hard to build a strong network when only a handful of people are aware of what you are doing.  One of the only comparisons to our class that was positive was Mohapatra stating that innovators can look at a set of data and see something completely different than normal people.  This is basically Mohapatra’s way of stating that an innovator has to be capable of creative thinking and abstract reasoning, which is one of the habits of mind.  Mohapatra’s lecture was very interesting as his ideas directly contrasted most of what we learned in class and offered another perspective on what innovation is and how it should be done.  

 Apply

Much of what I took from Mohapatra’s discussion dealt with his description of patents and how you go about getting them.  Not only was it most of his discussion, but to me it was also the most important part as it ties in which my current position.  I am currently a research intern at Moffitt and a lot of the focus there is getting data that can either lead to publications or that can lead to a patent.  This made learning about the patent process extremely interesting to me as now that I am aware of what the patent office is looking for before they will give you one.  This will allow me to know what data and conclusions will lead to patents.  Mohapatra’s discussion of trade secrets was also something that I didn’t necessarily learn to implement but I have started to see that they are used and can be important.  Many of the lab procedures that Moffitt uses are not common and I have realized that it is because some of them are exclusive and not allowed to be shared anywhere else. The world of cancer research shares most of its data with each other, therefore making the only secret part the way the data was collected.  Since procedures are not easily patented it makes sense to keep it a secret to avoid others stealing it and innovating before you.  

 Questions

What do you believe sets the good innovators apart from the great ones?

Is there any importance in maintaining secrecy if there is no monetary benefit?

Given that scientists are also able to see things from a different perspective, what makes someone an innovator as opposed to a scientist?

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Michael Fountain Response Blog

Connect:

Much of Michael Fountain’s discussion was centered on the idea of finding a mentor or team to work with to obtain success.  This tied into the idea of working cooperatively as Fountain told us you should utilize others and that good company really means something.  Fountain stressed the importance of teamwork in obtaining success as well as stating that you should always have a mentor no matter what stage of your life you are in.  He stated that learning peer to peer is more beneficial than alone and that successful people can always communicate effectively.  Fountain also discussed on persistence as he stated that to be successful you must be entirely focused on innovation and should give up everything sometimes to achieve your dreams.  The other main point that Fountain discussed that connected to class was that he stated that research or innovation should always be practically oriented, which directly relates to our idea of innovation needing to have an impact.  Finally, Fountain’s discussion can also be connected with Innovator’s DNA as Fountain discussed not only the importance of experience and being able to draw knowledge from a variety of fields but also the importance of networking and always having a team behind you on major projects.  The rest of Fountain’s talk was difficult to connect to class as it was him discussing opportunities at USF for us to get involved and to get experience in innovation.

Apply:

              The main thing that I took away from Michael Fountain’s talk was the fact that no experience is bad experience.  I had always thought of work for something that wasn’t what I wanted to do to be a waste of time when no matter what the experience is it helps to shape you and the decisions that you make.  My other main takeaway from his discussion was that you should always have a mentor to help guide you through life’s trials and tribulations.  I have recently started working at Moffitt and have become very close to my lab coordinator and have been going to him for advice more and he seems to have become a professional mentor for me.  After I could start going to him for advice it was much easier to make difficult decision as I had a second opinion.  Working across campus is also something he touched on that reminded me of being a balanced man as he stated that being able to have a basic understanding of all things would make someone more successful as they could look at things from a variety of viewpoints.  

 Questions:

Is it more important to have a good mentor or a good team?

What is the most important thing to do to begin innovating?

What do you recommend students do to get a head start in innovation?

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Dean Martin

Connect:

Much of Dean Martin’s talk had to do with how he achieved success in his life.  Many of his accomplishments came from him applying several of the habits of mind to his everyday life.  The central idea behind his talk was to have persistence.  Dean Martin constantly talked about how if he didn’t know something he would go back and read about it to ensure that he knew what he was talking about and refused to give up if he could not find the answer.  Dean Martin also incorporated thinking cooperatively into his life as several times he stated the importance of teamwork and that I was essential to get along is you ever wanted to get anything done.  Dean Martin’s definition of innovation also lined up directly with the one we came up with in class as in class.  In class, we stated that an innovation needed to be an original idea that had impact, and Dean Martin expanded on our idea by stating that innovation is a response to a challenge and should attempt to fix it.  There was one thing that Dean Martin said that I noticed was contrary to our teachings, and that was that Dean Martin stated that sometimes you need to make decisions that you have no right to make and that are sudden and obvious.  This directly contrasted the idea of managing impulsivity as Dean Martin’s lecture seemed to insinuate that innovation requires a leap of faith and needs you to be impulsive sometimes to succeed.  

Apply:

Many of the messages that I took home from Dean Martin had to do with more than just thinking a certain way to become an innovator.  Dean Martin’s dedication to both his career and his family showed me that there is more in life than just being successful.  The fact that the worst failure he ever dealt with was not proposing to his wife faster shows where his priorities are, and they seem to be in the right order.  The ability to balance a home life and successful career is something that I would love to be able to perfect by the time I’m out of medical school and Dean Martin’s tips about making a schedule and setting time aside for the ones you love is a great start to being balanced.  My parents had the same mentality as dinner was always a meal that we all ate together, it was family time and I know that isn’t something that all other families are able to do.  Aside from his dedication to family, I also learned a lot from Dean Martin’s dedication to career.  He moved several times in his career, even relocating across the country and he did all of it in a heartbeat because he knew it was what he was meant to do.  He always seemed to enjoy his work as even when recalling discoveries, he had made you could still sense his excitement.  His life was an inspiration as it showed me the importance of picking a career you love instead of picking a career for financial reasons.  I was always taught to do what I love and money would follow, and that is a statement that I am sure Dean Martin can attest to as he seemed to have heard it as well.  

Questions:

How difficult is it to pick up and move across the country for a career and what did you do to make it easier?

How important is it to have a support system in place when you are pursuing a dream?

Is it more important to be liked or respected? Why?

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Richard Berman

Richard Berman

 Connect:

Connections were hard to draw during Dr. Berman’s talk as many of his topics dealt with not reading the class material as it would not benefit you.  With that being said he did discuss setting goals that you know are beyond reach to measure progress towards an ultimate goal.  This was equivalent to the definition of innovation that we discussed in class as we decided that for something to be an innovation we decided that it needed to have impact.  Aside from that Dr. Berman also discussed the importance of self and I believe that ties in directly with our discussion of metacognition as to fully understand yourself you must be able to think about your thinking habits like we discussed.  The idea of persistence was also one that Dr. Berman discussed as he told us about how he had colleagues that would call employees at 3 am asking how the project was coming.  That dedication points directly towards the idea of persistence and never giving up.

Apply:

I believe that Dr. Berman’s theory of our generation plays directly into how I want to live my life. Dr. Berman stated that he believes our generation plans to make time for 4 different things: money, family, self, and changing the world.  I agree with Dr. Berman and his ideology of finding a way to balance all parts of life as it parallels my own creed.  My fraternity stresses the idea of a balanced man and it plays right into what Dr. Berman is saying about balancing aspects of your life.  The idea of a balanced man is that someone should be able to juggle academics, social life, and self successfully while excelling at all of them. That idea is almost the exact same as what Dr. Berman said and is the way that I am planning to live my life from now on. I do not believe that I will be one of the insane people that call at 3 am to ask my team how the project is going to bring about world change like Elon Musk, but my goal by the end of my life is to have a successful personal life, not struggle for funds, and have a positive impact on the world.  

 Questions:

1.      What is the most challenging part of transitioning from a leader to an innovative leader, and is there anything someone can do to learn or does it have to be second nature?

2.      What would you say is the biggest obstacle to being completely dedicated to a cause?

3.     Do you have any advice on how to become a more balanced man?

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