branding..

I chose Customer-Centric as well. I guess my reasoning behind it was mainly that I had already worked on the definition for Innovative in my color team group and wanted to switch it up a bit. I also felt like this one was the biggest challenge. It was interesting to be a part of the discussion, since I don't have the same interaction with members that most of the group did.

Branding

When we did the branding activity, I chose to go to the "customer-centric" group. I was pretty passionate about using the word "audience" to replace customer. I also chose this group because I felt it was one of the more important words. When we first started doing the branding activity, it was discussed that we are here because of our members. We wouldn't have work to do if it weren't for all 10,000+ of them. They are who we aim to please and who we work with and for on a daily basis. Having a word about catering to their needs and wants only made sense.

I was disappointed that the word ended up getting "thrown out" but it was explained to me that the word doesn't necessarily need to be called out, because it comes through in the other four definitions. Hooray for developing company-wide core values!

Final Branding Session

Yesterday we spent the majority of the day going over finalizing our branding. During one part of the session, you were asked to go to the word you felt more strongly about to help define the definition.

What word did you choose, and why?

Sorry for the delay! It’s been quite a while since I’ve been in the office. 6 day break and I’m definitely ready to get back to work and I’m sick of this snow! It needs to stop already.

Anyways, when do I know that I am successful? Usually with a project, I know I am successful when I feel comfortable with and am proud of the finished product. For my co-op, I will know that I am successful because I have learned so many new things about myself. I came into this co-op knowing that I had no idea what I want to do with my life. Now, I definitely have more of an idea. This is exactly what I wanted out of these 6 months, other than a great learning experience.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and days off!

PS…it’s my birthday tomorrow!! WOOHOO!

Success

I know I am successful when I have worked hard enough and my hard work pays off.
I have short term goals and long term goals. When these goals are accomplished step by step, I know my hard work is paying off.
At the end of this 6-month co-op cycle, I would know I am successful if I finish the Resource Guide for the new QI Assistant successfully and if I finished every task that was given to me from the beginning. I would consider myself successful if no one was disappointed in me and my hard work was not underestimated or overestimated.
There are several ways I would define success, but one thing that would be common to every definition would be working hard enough so that you have no regrets in the end, and in the end you accomplish the goal towards which you put in all that hard work.
Hard work is basically my definition of success. Because I believe that it always pays off.

Have a good long weekend :)

Successss

Just like everyone else has said, I can define success in several different ways, and there are definitely short term, and long term definitions of success.

Today is a great example of short term success. We had two days off of work due to the snow, and I came into work bombarded. At 5pm, I know I'll be successful when:
We are all packed up for the Rocky Mountain Chapter Meeting
I get through all 72 MA Resumes
I finish all of the FHM/SFHM Basecamp stuff
I get all of the dates for the Resource Guide onto Basecamp
I begin the list of Committee Members who are/aren't registered for HM10
I finish the agenda for Tuesday's meeting
I finish the "form letters" document

These are the most important tasks that I want to focus on today, and I personally think I have done an amazing job at multi-tasking. I even turned in my dashboard before noon today.

As far as long-term success, I think it's a matter of feeling accomplished personally, but also having a deliverable to tell people about. I remember last year, something I felt successful for was growing our Facebook group by over 400% (yeah, it's on my resume). I know that after my co-op is over, I will be successful when the MA website is launched, the Resource Guide is up, and I work part-time into ...??

Alright, back to work work work!

successful..

I would say I think a project I've completed is successful if I'm proud of it.. if it's not something I'm proud of/don't want to show people then it's obviously not successful if not even I don't appreciate it. As far as a 6 month co-op goes, you are successful if you learned a lot and can take away stuff when you leave.. and as Christine said, I think I was successful on my co-op considering I'm a full timer at SHM now! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Success in my eyes ...

Success in my eyes …

Meredith, I think success for you would be getting those shoes…. Whether that be suckering someone into buying them for you, saving your money to get them yourself, or making your first credit card purchase ;-)

Definition of Success …

Personally I find happiness in purpose, so I consider that success for me is achieving what I've set out to do. Currently success at school means that I complete my masters and learn as much as I can about strategic leadership. Strategic leadership to me is the art and practice of aligning an organization’s vision and strategy, and motive people to accomplish something extraordinary. Three areas that I hope to focus on are: my professional growth, seeing the ‘big picture’ and becoming an expert in planning ‘best interests’ of an organization and the society at large. Success at SHM means that others believe/trust in my work and see me as a leader. I want my coworkers to see me develop into a leader and see that I am credible. I want to be the difference between a good leader and an exceptional leader. Success in my personal life means that I am happy and continue to live up to my values.

When I was a co-op, my definition of success was to prove myself through my work ethic. I feel like I succeeded at that because I was offered a job at SHM. But, knowing that I put 110% into my work when I was a co-op was all the success I needed. Going above and beyond to make my co-op more than just a summer job was what I would consider success. So to all of you co-ops, you still have time to make this co-op the experience of a lifetime … you get out of it what you put in!

Success...

An interesting question Meredith...and I find myself actually agreeing with Jake which somewhat scares me :->.

Success is a moving target in every sense of the word, and with far more than just one piece/definition in play at any one point in time.

That being said, more often than not, I do see success as being much more about the effort than the outcome. I guess that's because effort is all we can really control and more often than not, working just a little bit harder than the next person will set you apart - there is a lot of truth to the statement that "to win the game you have to play the game" and that's all about effort/work ethic.

I think you also asked how we made today a great day...I'm honestly not sure on that one, at least for today...maybe my answer is as simple as I helped folks sleep in a little extra this AM (oh wait, that was really mother nature)...I actually think I'm going to go back to effort - if you're effort is there...your days are more likely to turn from average into great.

So Meredith...I posted today and can't wait for my prize...perhaps no FB or Google Chat for a week? Or you'll come visit a little more often? Sorry - couldn't resist :->

"Her Purple Suede Shoes"

Dear Meredith. If those shoes arent preposterously expensive and you do win our bet, I may be willing to consider buying those instead of your original prize. Lets talk details offline.

My definition of success varies depending on the situation. If its on a project, Id say success can be measured a few ways. If I am able to talk to the project in every way shape and form and answer all questions posed, I consider that successful. Also if my project or presentation were to have some staying power, such as people talking about it later on and its impact, that would be successful.

As far as co-op goes Ive been asked that question since my interview here and I actually asked Todd the same question during my interview. Id say my co-op would be successful if I was able to take skills and knowledge that I have learned here and past them on/ use them later on in my co-op experience/drexel classes/life. The co-op experience is why Im at Drexel and its main purpose in my eyes is to prepare me to be successful in the working world. Hopefully im well onto that path.
Boom. Getting my blog post done ON MONDAY. Thats gotta be some sort of personal record. Also I have no idea whether those shoes are actyually suede, but it fits my famous quote blog titles well so thats that. Have an awesome week and BE CAREFUL out there. Almost got hit by a car that couldnt stop Saturday night. Peace

"Go ahead, made my day"

How did you make today a great day?: Late start helped make the day great but its still a Monday. Tough to make Monday's great. Made Friday great cause I had a longtime friend from home in Philly from Pitt for the weekend. Definitely made Friday great though.

Did you find a way to "play," while staying serious about your work? Always gotta find a way to play during the day. John and I had some lunch on Friday and shot the breeze for about an hour. Fun time and we need to do it more often. Always a few good laughs in those conversations.

Did you make anyone's day? Definitely made Johns day Friday by giving him a hand with his mathcbacks for his email. Hopefully he wont need a hand at the 11th hour next time and we can knock them out early in the week.

This week, the guest bloggers are: Christine and Todd! Hoorah.

Jake, John, and Roshni, please answer last week's question before answering this one!

I've been hearing the phrase "define success" thrown around a lot lately, so why not post it in the blog?

What is your definition of success? For example, when do you know if you are successful with a project you are working on, or even in the end of a 6 month co-op? Ready, set, go.

PS - the color scheme this month is obviously Valentine's day, so everyone have a great Sunday (and day off on Monday) whether or not you have a significant other!

Also, can someone please buy these shoes for me that I tried on this weekend?! I am legitimately in love with them, and I would even wear them to work, even though I think they're too high to be "work appropriate."

How did you make today a great day?: It's Monday, and I'm not feeling so hot. So I don't really know how I can make today a great day. The delay to work was pretty great though.

Did you find a way to "play," while staying serious about your work? Throughout the week, Christine and I find time to play by throwing rubber bands back and forth at each other. It doesn't take time away from our work and we always get a laugh out of it. ...Especially when they land on our heads or in our cups of water.

Did you make anyone's day? I mean, it's only 11:15am, I don't know if I made anyone's day yet...If I make someones day today I'll be sure to edit this post before I head home.

Adios

Sorry, short post...

I agree with Kat…today’s just great because it’s Friday! But, I also made today great by staying optimistic about the snow storm! I can’t wait to get snowed in and relax all weekend. It is very much needed!

Today I found a way to “play” at work by looking to Meredith’s Facebook pictures for embarrassing pictures because she is our profile of the week!

I made Vernita’s day by bringing her a giant piece of king’s cake!

Enjoy the snow this weekend!

How did you make today a great day?: It's Friday! It's a great day on it's own. BUT being in a good mood/upbeat always helps make the day better.
Did you find a way to "play," while staying serious about your work? Yes.. we watched "Little Jersey Shore" during the traffic meeting.
Did you make anyone's day? I made Splinter's day.. by feeding him this morning. He's happy once he's fed. haha.

I'm starving, where's my sandwich?

A quote from the book, FISH!

"As you enter this place of work, please choose to make today a great day. Your colleagues, customers, team members, and you yourself will be thankful. Find ways to play. We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be present when your customers and team members most need you. And should you feel your energy lapsing, try this surefire remedy: Find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good ear - and make their day."

So, this weeks' question(s):
How did you make today a great day?
Did you find a way to "play," while staying serious about your work?
Did you make anyone's day?

Motion picture drive, I've concluded that my DreamWorks

Quick shout out to Chiddy Bang for the title for my blog post. For those who havent heard them Chiddy Bang is a musical act from Drexel who are starting to get some serious consideration in the hip-hop world. Theyre touring with Wale right now and I just got theyre latest mixtape...its really nice. Check em out. Something unique I did last week...well my cousin just started a welding class at U Arts in philly and I went and sat in with him on a class. It was really cool and very interesting to see all of the projects the students were working on. My cousins particular project is a grill. Its (hopefully) going to have a propane range, charcoal range, propane sideburner, all of which will be connected to a smoker section. Its pretty intense and I wanna see if he can pull it off. the experience was unique for me because I havent been involved in any of that since highschool. I took small engines for two years and we worked on building an engine from ground up and we did some spot welding. But since then i havent done anything like that at all. I think it would be cool to get back involved with some hands on work. Wonder if drexel has a surfboard shapeing class. I made a minature surfboard with my dad awhile ago and it was a ton of fun. I would love to learn to shape a full size board. So thats that. Peace

Something interesting...

Since I was a slacker and didn’t post last week, here it is…

My post can somewhat go off of Ashley’s. Last week I challenged myself and spoke up in order to change some of my tasks here at SHM. After doing so, I couldn’t have been happier. I immediately got assigned to new projects that have been so much fun and more rewarding. I learned that it is so important to speak up if you want something to change. This is definitely an interesting experience that I won’t forget at SHM :-)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

PS – MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 17 DAYS!

Improving Your Reality

Something unique that i did last week...
All too often we just accept things as they are and do not question them. Last week, I sat down with our advertising contact at Wiley to see if we could streamline the advertising submission process.

This was not a process that was broken, but was one that we both thought could be improved upon. All it took was two people sitting down for five minutes to think of ways to improve upon our current process - to make a huge difference. We challenged our current process and came up with one that will save a lot of time and energy. In our hectic everyday lives we often just accept things as they are, or think that since this is the way that it has been done in the past that it must be the best approach when this isn't always the case.