Goodbye Ireland

Yesterday Jan asked us to do an exercise where each person had to say what they appreciated about everyone in the group. We took turns and each person had his or her five minutes of compliments. At first I was hesitant about the assignment, but it turned out to be extremely meaningful. I could tell each person tried to say something truthful and unique about each member of our group. 

I also thought the timing was necessary. I felt the group had experienced some frustration the past few days with the stress of the group projects and tensions were running high. We really needed something to bring us back together and remember the positives of our classmates.

I was really taken aback by some of the feedback from my peers. Sometimes I dwell on my negative attributes and it was nice to remember some of my strengths that I bring to the table. I hope I can remember what each person said the next time I am feeling insecure at work or school. I really do believe this MBA program could give me the confidence I need to take the next step in my career. I honestly think this exercise will be one of the highlights of the entire trip. Not just because of what it taught me about myself, but remind me how a compliment can reunite a team.

Today we listened to three guest lectures and then toured the salesforce and google offices. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Salesforce and Google, both companies less than 20 years old who went from small startup in a basement to billion dollar companies. In my opinion, the theme of both of these companies is innovation. As long as companies constantly pour time and resources into research and development, they will continue to be a top player in the industry. They can never become complacent and need to continue to change the vision.

Time to head to our goodbye dinner.

Ireland has been a great trip with lots of highs and lows. Even though I complained about keeping a blog each day, I do like getting into the habit of reflecting on each day. I am excited to collect all of my thoughts about the trip into our final paper and figure out what I learned from the experience as a whole.