Martin Diaz
4/20/15
Journal 3

Journal 3

My final Journal will focus on what I’ve observed and learned throughout the past month. Our previous six classes have mainly focused on Ethics, professional relationship maintenance, and adaptation to multiple variables. Of the previous Journal periods, the focuses of the last three weeks relate most directly with the professional world and its connection to our personal lives. My last Journal touched on perception and how important that is in the professional world, but one of the largest tests of a person’s perception of you is the ability to do what is right. Avoiding the dirty deals and sketchy personal agendas keeps you out of trouble and within respectable name sake. Maintaining both personal and professional relationships is incredible important to a person’s overall happiness. Being unable to find that personal balance of work and play is a make or break for goals of success. Without our ability as human beings to adapt, we would have been wiped off of this planet a long time ago. Effectively reading and reacting to a situation takes awareness, experience, and proper instincts. All of these lessons pertained to professional life as well as real life. In a perfect world, the ethics discussion portrays the simple comic book difference between light and dark. It should be a classic battle of good versus evil, but Business Ethics, in the reality, is mostly made up of gray area. Some people use the rules of ethics to find legislative loopholes, and others are guided by a moral compass steering them in the right direction. Ethics are determined by social norms of the public. To me, that means that sometimes you really don’t know you’ve done something wrong until the deed is done and the public governs your decision as either clever or unethical. I never really understood it until the blunt truth was told in class. It was said that some people are just assholes, short and sweet. That ideology is backed by the same psychological data that explains bullying, abuse, and chronic submissiveness. These personality traits originate with childhood experiences and the Nurture Effect we all hear so much. The same reason we avoid getting into the head of an individual with a school shooting on his record is because maybe there really is no figuring it out. We always seem to figure out the how, but never truly comprehend the why. There are ethical dilemmas in our everyday lives. In a college setting, those dilemmas aren’t exactly rare occurrences. For the past year and a half, my roommate and I have this bar tradition. Every night we go out, we each pick a girl that the other has to interact with by the end of the night. There have been few issues with this tradition until last weekend when my buddy picked a girl for me that tends to be a heavy drinker. I told him that I probably shouldn’t and he, like any good friend would, tried steering me out of my comfort zone. I said, “Ok, how about we put a contingency on this interaction.” He seemed confused so I made the interaction contingent on her sobriety so I was not pressured to interact with an over served female which actually happens a lot more often than it should. Setting that contingency saved me from a tough position between peer pressure and doing the right thing. Relationship maintenance, in my opinion, is paramount in the business world. That, however, does not mean that it should be taken lightly in one’s personal life as well. Being a good people person is vital, but if you’re constantly going back on your word, throwing customers under the bus for wealthier customers, or promising more than can be delivered none of your sociability will matter when word gets out. Being a good people person with poor relationship management skills is like going all out when asking a girl to prom but realize that you forgot to buy the tickets. There’s no point in doing one, if you neglect the other. Relationship maintenance is the primary way to create returning customers as well as a professional network. This skill breeds long-term success. Every day, I partake in this task to promote healthy working and personal relationships. I was always taught that everyone is an asset and is good for something. Not knowing what that something is always kept me from burning bridges that I would later cross in personal benefit. I can honestly say that I believe doing business with real people requires genuine character. There’s no way around it. Talking to someone you have a mutually beneficial relationship with and then dropping them is a waste of time. The minutes of your day necessary, to keep up with someone, can be the difference in a difficult deadline. A simple text of interest can mean the world. Just a few weeks ago, I was at my buddy Ryan’s place enjoying a cookout. I left that cookout with a full belly and a smile on my face. Thought nothing about it. Word on the street was that he had a big party the next night. I texted him to make sure that if needed an extra set of hands the morning after, he could let me know. About a week later Ryan had another party. My other friend attended. So the morning after that I shoot a quick text out to both of them making sure they’re in one piece, and it just so happens that my buddy lost his phone that night with absolutely zero clue of when or where he lost it. It just so happens that Ryan’s response contained details regarding a phone that had been left in his basement. I went over to Ryan’s place to help pick up for a few minutes, grabbed the phone, then went ahead and returned my buddy’s phone. Knowing that replacing his phone would have cost him more money than he’s worth, he offered me lunch and a beer as a reward. The moral of the story is that a few quick texts and some interest got me free lunch. My father always said, “When you’re driving, pick the lane with fewer cars.” He would always tell me that more variables equates to more opportunity for unexpected activity. It doesn’t help that the roads in Illinois are packed with pissed of individuals maneuvering in fear of coming in last. The same goes for negotiation. More moving pieces always has the potential to shut down your operation. The same could be said for our tenth role play. However when you share the same goals as the parties that oppose you, getting what you want takes honesty and trust. Each student threw two bucks into a pot. Three groups had to negotiate who got the majority of the cash, who got the smaller share, and who got screwed. Our initial strategy was to be honest, understanding, and trustworthy. We just wanted our money back. The other groups had the same idea. I went in personally expecting to get screwed so our group made sure that we would simply get our money back, and the residual loot could be divided freely between the others. Typically the last groups to talk to each other would side together, but our class interacts too often to risk the spark of a personal dispute. Personal reputation dictated our approaches and offers. I anticipated that Dan and Kirk’s group would try pulling the fast one. You just have to put yourself in the winning position. We chose Colton to represent our group because our main concerns involved Dan and Kirk’s history of being tough on their deals and aiming at the throat right off the bat. Colton and Dan have pretty good chemistry and read on each other from what I could see. Greed did not separate us, and green was evenly distributed amongst the groups as discussed. My favorite role play of this Journal period has to be Role Play 9. Basically our characters are driven to personal distaste and frustration because of consecutive error in communication and poor relationship management skills. I played the role of the AuraCall Manager. I was told to be furious because the salesman and I agreed on a program that would educate my employees in a timely manner, and functionality posed as a show stopping issue. I reached out several times looking for a solution, but nothing is being done. I went in to the meeting expecting to go to court. Court was my BATNA. In those situations, it’s hard to stay calm. The chance to explain his behavior was offered. In my eyes, this deal had to get done as soon as possible so we could wash our hands of that terrible company. The case got us both so wound up on why we were never going to business with each other again that when we got into the negotiation, our agreement was almost instantaneous. We chose to go the consulting route for a timely verdict. We felt that was the best process to go with. Looking back at these negotiations, makes me think about what I have to do to be a better business man. Learning to adapt to and overcome whomever in order to achieve what you want is something that requires strategy, homework, and practice. Thanks to these simulations two out of the three were part of the ordinary in-class process. The homework varies, but the way it can be collected and translated takes experience. Experience is the next step. Thanks to this class I am one step closer.