Culture?

What is culture? Dictionary.com states that culture is, "The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group."

The idea of culture seems to be changing as things become more and more global. Approaching problems and situations is ever changing especially as we are integrating the ideologies of other cultures.

We have come to the conclusion that we are becoming more and more global and this in itself is creating a new culture. Being global does not necessarily mean that we have to go cross continents, but it can be our next door neighbor. So what does this mean? A culture of information sharing and the way that we do so has allowed us to differentiate ourselves and allow for use to integrate our ideologies, but this does not come without barriers.

Such barriers such as language and cultural differences need to be understood and we must be sensitive to this in order to be productive. It is because we have come to understand culture is why we have redefined this and more so created a new culture that is always changing.

This seems to be a paradox, but on the contrary, it is what we have come to see as the status quo. Change is what we are about and knowing this has allowed us to break the walls of what we see as our own, and embrace others and allows for us to think outside the box. This culture of change is what we are continuing to define on a day to day basis.

Valuable......

After class many thoughts came to mind, but I am going to write about one. We looked at a model of an iceberg and saw that the value of something goes deeper than that of the surface. This is true in everything that we are doing in the MBA program. Many times we are taking classes, because they are required, and they may seem arbitrary but these classes that we take create value for us.

Why the heck are we in the MBA program, and why do businesses look for an MBA to fill particular roles? These questions are answered through this model, we are trained and we may not know it now, but we have added values that will benefit the company. These values are a firm foundation of how we are set apart from others.

Now does this mean that we have a free pass, absolutely not! We have the tools at our fingertips through our education and social networks we are able to strive to achieve the best, but the idea of being the best has no clout unless back by perseverance and determination.

Each individual has his/her value that they bring to the table, if there was not this value, life would be mundane.

What makes you special?

During the class we were asked to tell something that makes us special. There were many different personalities and experiences that set people apart. There was a greater takeaway from this exercise. We are all unique and we are all special in our own way, but we need to look at things from a macro perspective.

Everyone has their own "flavor" that they add, whether it be in a business situation, a social situation or a family situation. This is what makes things interesting and more so getting these things allows us to understand so many different aspects better. As technology grows and as the idea of globalization becomes more and more apparent, if we are blind to understand the learning and perspective of other cultures that make situations unique we will never be able to achieve greatness.

Change is always happening, by the time I am done with this blog, there will be something that has changed, but understanding that change and embracing that we are able to set ourselves apart.

The exercise allowed us as a class and now a tighter "family" to understand each other and the qualities in which each person brings to the table. We are now able to see each other in a different light and see things from all different perspectives. I am very excited about this class, because it will bring in those perspectives and also allow for us to think outside the box.