Let Go My Egg-oh

I never knew I could get so stressed out about working with an egg.  When I stood in the front of the room waiting on line to perform the drop, my heart was pounding with fear of the egg cracking, even when it was in the safety of my hands.  Each time I heard the other teams’ eggs “SPLAT,” it only made the anticipation more nerve-wracking.  Then, it came time for me to represent my group.  I gave Professor Kurpis the paper of the design of my group’s contraption, egg’s name and my group members’ names.  I stepped onto the table in front, extended my arm and “Let go my egg-oh…”  Diablo was no longer in the safety of my hands; it was undergoing its drop of a lifetime – well, the end of its life.  Ahhh, how wretched I felt when it splat… poor Diablo.  

What went wrong?  Why didn’t my team’s contraption work?  After reviewing the steps in the planning process, it became somewhat clear why our plan wasn’t so “egg-cellent.”  Defining our objective was quite simple.  In fact, Professor Kurpis laid out what the goal and objective was, so since we were given it from the start, my group didn’t feel the need to spend time discussing Step 1.  Step 2: My group didn’t fully know where we stood in reaching our goal from the beginning.  We knew we had each other and the limited materials listed in the task to build the contraption and thought that was all we needed to know.  Perhaps if we defined our strengths and weaknesses when we began planning, we would have understood each other better and used what we knew were our strengths as a group to achieve our goal.  Step 3: A lot of the time was used for discussion of the perfect design.  Ideas were getting juggled around and scrutinized for each of their flaws.  Someone took out a sheet of paper, and we started drawing each design out and added details to each one as the paper was passed around.  Step 4: We stuck with the idea of making it sort of like a rocket on both the top and bottom of the egg with straw going around the side for extra cushion in case it fell over to the side.  Then, discussion of how each straw would be used went underway.  Roles weren’t exactly distributed.  We kind of agreed to go with the flow and each step up to the plate when it came time to building the contraption.  Step 5: The plan was executed but changed along the way.  After evaluating what went wrong, perhaps we should have stopped questioning the design we settled on and just went with it. 

We definitely bypassed a few steps in the planning process because of our time limitation to complete the task.  There wasn’t enough time to think everything through.  We may have had multiple designs that would have allowed us to achieve our goal of successfully building a contraption that allowed our egg to be fully intact after a 10-ft drop, but time did not allow us to examine each design entirely.  Though, team work was at its best because everyone contributed ideas for the final design, helped build the contraption and/or watched the timer in the front.  There wasn’t one main leader, but leadership was evident in each member because each person stepped up to play a specific role.  Our planning, teamwork and commitment all played out to our favor, but our time managing skills caused our downfall.  We let time get to our heads and decided to change our design at the last minute, literally.  Our goal towards the end also changed to: Just get it done and make it to the front of the room on time.  Sticking to the original plan would have probably been wiser. 

Haha.. Maybe it was just the name of my team’s egg.  Naming an egg “Devil (in Spanish)” might not have defined its faith in the end in a good way…

In a quandary...

I am thinking of entering the fashion industry because I want to help people make clothing selections that will help make their first impressions lasting ones.  Hopefully, I can someday lead a team of marketers to endorse clothes in a profitable yet appealing and ethical manner.  But, before being able to achieve this career goal, I need to do some walking for all this talking.  As I mentioned in my previous entry, I am working on a fashion show scene.   The show is in a few months, and I’m still unsure of how to exactly go about choreographing and managing it. 

Originally, I had three people who volunteered to work on this scene with me, but it has been incredibly hard to gain their cooperation.  I went on researching about the clothes needed for the theme of the scene (Asian fusion) and contemporary Asian music.  Also, I went on writing up the draft layout for the scene on my own.  

A lot that could go wrong has already gone wrong.  There was no real problem doing this all on my own, but when it came down to starting to make my ideas a reality, I realized it would require some additional human assistance, which I seriously lacked.  The ideas I came up with may have been a little too ambitious as well because there is a limited budget and access to technology.  And, my research may not be sufficient for the success of the scene, so it may be better to consult with people who actually know about popular Asian culture.  I’ve been trying to work on refining the scene’s details, making it simple and doable yet still appealing.  Therefore, I surrounded myself with two reliable people to work with.  One is going to help me refine the layout, making it simple yet appealing and the other person will assist me at the rehearsals/practices. 

Coming up with ideas isn’t that intimidating when it is done in private with a friend, but when more people are factored in, it gets a bit more complicated.  I’m also worried about not being able to manage all the models I need for my scene.  It also seems impossible to fully portray so many Asian cultures in the scene in just 10 minutes.  I continuously question myself about the success of this scene.  Will the music selections I ultimately decide on appeal to the audience?  Are the clothes selections for the models going to be an accurate representation of Asian traditional clothing?  How will I explain my vision of the scene to the models?  Will they listen to me?    

Yes, I do sound a bit pessimistic, but I feel like I have to think everything through to eliminate all possibilities of anything going wrong.

About Me

My name is Denise, and I’m currently a sophomore who is surely interested in business.  My first experience was during my internship at Bloomberg L.P. when I worked on the Summer Scan Project.  It was then when I got my first business photo ID; it was then that I first stepped into an elevator full of successful people dressed in the entire business getup – with the suits, briefcases, and professional demeanor; it was then that I first saw screens that flashed international business data.  The whole experience was amazing, and by the end of it, I knew that just being around this professional setting was enough to tell me that business was for me. 

Currently, I’m participating in Sigma Alpha Delta Honor Society events, all of which are held in professional settings that require key details like organization, teamwork, and the likes for them to be executed properly.  Another project I’m working on is choreographing a scene in the annual Baruch Asian Student Union (BASU) fashion show.  Activities like these promote my drive to move forward in the business world.

I hope to someday have a successful career in the field of operations or marketing management, and I'll continue working hard to get there.  This blog is just meant for me to express some of my thoughts about the principles of management and current issues about the field.  Please feel free to leave comments.