#5

A part of the book I read yesterday was focused on the way you treat other people when working with them. One way to be successful in business is to involve strong interpersonal relationships which will help make others want to help and worth with you in a way you simply couldn't make happen without their support. The author talks about always learning the names of low level employees and remembering the birthdays of business partners and sending them cards to show you remembered the birthday. The last thing, and in my opinion the most important and impactful thing discussed, was having a genuine interest in others. Really paying attention to how the other person is thinking and showing that you value what they value. I think that this is the most important of all the three suggestions about how to make friends and have good business success. I do think its worth mentioning that this idea is a bit of a juxtaposition from the books name, which suggests that friends something to be "won" like possessions, or collectables that one owns. If you have a genuine invest in others, it would probably be noted that people don't like being owned or claimed as an object might. This strange name which is so different from the message of the chapter is curious and makes me want to understand why such a specific wording was chosen for the title.   

#4

This week I read the part of the book How to Win Friends and Influence People that concentrated on positive interpersonal relationships. It is arguably one of the most important parts of the book, as it can be used by anyone whether or not they are trying to go into business. The chapter talked a lot about "having a genuine interest in others in order to make friends." This is very true, as it has also been said that peoples favorite subjects are themselves. In friendships, families, businesses, and classes, having a genuine interest in other people is very important. It really helps people feel comfortable when they are listened to when talking about things that are important to them. I believe that the way you treat others is very very important and so taking interest in others in a big part of that. The next part of the chapter talks about how important smiling is. A person tried a test where he had to smile pretty constantly for a week, even though he frowned often. I will be trying this for the next few days, because I would consider myself to be at least somewhat nice, but the act of smiling much more consistently I hope will bring other benefits to my life, I also know that smiling and laughter whether genuine or artificial have the power to release chemicals for happiness ad thus better health in the brain so I can see why this is important and I'm excited to try it as the book suggested!

#3

I would like to begin this blog post with an apology for not having uploaded it earlier I hope that you will still accept it if not I suppose it can be counted as blog post number four unless you would prefer that I do a different reading for blog post number four and skip the reading I did for blog post number three…

The chapter I have read about has mostly to do with complementing other people and affirming their desire for recognition and attention. The author claims the people mostly bought approval this is the opposite of the first chapter which talked a lot about not wanting criticism they go hand-in-hand. As I have continued to work on my project at the MIRA coalition, i've had an amazing experience. I have been able to be in contact with high-profile people in the media and the Guatemalan consulate and several churches across the state in order to promote the citizenship clinic. We have businesses cosponsoring the event, and we will do the door-to-door out reach and canvassing on Monday! I'm really excited for how things have been going, and I am thrilled for the event. One major challenge we've had has been balancing near is very practical and secular way of running clinics that have been a high model of success compared to the way that the Evangelical churches want to do things in a more conservative or fundamental way. Balancing these two parts of our network has been a bit of a challenge at times. Even so, maintaining a very nonjudgmental and complementary state of mine has really helped me to move the project forward with minimal interruptions or setbacks. Both my amazing supervisor and he and I have done our best not to criticize the ways of the church but simply to let them watch over us off for a few compliments use some parts of the suggestions and then go back to the office and do the clinics that we and Mira has been doing for years successfully. This has really helped us in other ways as well because we have gotten members of the church who own businesses to cosponsor, gotten donations from church members, and been very widely accepted by the church community. 

This outreach has been seemingly successful, and I think that that is partly because our cause is good and just, but also because we have done our best to treat others really well in the process. We are working hard to make people feel appreciated and show that we are very grateful for their assistance and explain to them all the ways, small and large, that they are helping the cause. I certainly believe that making others feel appreciated and valued in a project makes them want to continue with you. I myself have left, or disliked, classes or jobs where I felt unappreciated and not valued, and I have thrived more so at the places where I feel valuable and appreciated. In our work with volunteers and co-sposors, thank you notes, beginning calls sharing how excited we are to have their presence, and listening in a way that makes them feel valued, are all important parts of my job that (for me) confirm the positivity of complementing offers on a business project.

How to make friends and influence people #2

The book I am reading "How to Make Friends and Influence People" has pleasantly surprised me by being actually useful in my senior project. I have been working very hard to get approval for the citizenship clinic, have applied for a grant, made fliers and other posters to distribute, made announcements to congregations, and other things. It has so far been a lot of work but I have enjoyed it. Even with a lot of time consuming pieces of the project, the hardest part has been maintaining strong relationships with some people who have very strong personalities. Hermana Juanita, Pastor Quiles wife, is a very loving but extremely strict and analytical person. She  is gentle and kind, but very particular about what she wants. She wanted me to present to her my project again once I had a three ring binder, wanted my flier to have a header, wanted the name of the congregation (Islesia Cristiana Jesucristo Vive) not the church (International Community Church) on the flier, and the flier should be a full page, not to speak for more than four minutes to the congregation etc. She had strong criticisms and clear requests. I remembered back to the  second chapter of the book, where it said that criticism is useless and gets in the way of progress. I agreed with this statement upon reading it. Criticism makes people feel less confident, and thus can lessen their ability. I certainly know this from my work with the pie business where Sophia and I can be quick to criticize each other at times, and we are trying to remain more positive in the project to improve the business as a whole. Now, after being strongly criticized (yet also strongly supported and cared for) I feel a bit differently. I knew that according to this book, the criticism should have gotten in the way of my success, but simply because I knew that I decided in myself that I would have to prove it wrong. Instead of feeling discouraged I used the criticism to help me grow and as an opportunity for Hermana Juanita to get to know me and in part educate me on how this were going to happen in her church. It was thanks to the theory I read about that I was able to be conscious and not let the criticism effect me, so I'm really glad I chose this book and read it because it has already proven helpful and this is just the second blog post!

In light of the fact that I was obviously too excited about my project, and said almost nothing about my reading, I will do a little elaboration. Criticism is hard to take, and at times I think its necessary because kind and constructive criticism helps us improve our work, especially when that criticism comes from people who care about us and our successes enough to say things with empathy and positivity. I definitely understand the idea that strong criticism from people who ae just upset with our performance isn't generally very effective, and doesn't leave much room for the person to improve. I do think though that people are oftentimes overcritism. not because they want someone to improve, but because they are frustrated with someones poor performance and criticize not for the betterment of others, but because they aren't handling their emotions well. This typeof criticism is unkind and counter productive but we somehow all do and should really be careful to avoid it. Instead we can support the positive development of those we care about to improve.

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE #1

For the next C4E project, I will be reading the entrepreneurship book, "How to Make Friends and Influence People." This book is a classic in entrepreneurship and I am excited to begin reading it for this class. The book was written by Dale Carnegie. More than 15 million copies have been sold and the book is widely renowned in the field of entreprenuership as well as many many others. I read the forward of the book which is meant to convince people to read the rest of the book. The book is written in a storytelling and conversational tone which I am enjoying because I don't much care for the dry tone many similar books have. The stories of Al Capone, and other big gangster and public enemies are being psychoanalyzed to show why certain tactics, such as criticisms, is ineffective and doesn't help get a leaders point across. So in short, this book is so far interesting and I look forward to reading it!

Jan 16th 2

The $200 project is continuing in a positive direction and we are excited about the presentation of our storefront work. I think that in the last week our group has been able to come together pretty effectively, and especially under Becky's  leadership we have been a bit reunited. Despite some shortness of Freshmen sales we are hopeful about breaking even and are looking for ways to do so. We have offered free candy with bracelets, and sent fliers to freshman advisories, both to no avail. Our next plan might be selling at Freshmen sports games, or trying to get the administration on board with advertising to Freshmen students. It's interesting because we all expected Freshmen to be the quickest to buy bracelets, and Seniors not to care nearly as much, but its been the opposite completely. I guess this goes to show that sometimes you can't anticipate how the market will play out, and you have to take a risk and try what you think is right. In hindsight I would have made all bracelets the same, without any "Class of" on them. This way we would have double the possible students and teachers and staff could also participate in purchasing the wristbands, but you learn as you wok and this is one of those lessons. Now all we can do is try our best to find creative ways to sell the remaining freshmen bands, and a few senior bands, in order to finish the project with a profit.


Also Mr. Fischer thank you for teaching me how to speak up in front of crowds eloquently in Freshman scholars, I am always grateful for all the skills you gave me and my fellow Scholars whenever I have to do a similar presentations and feel like I know how to be successful!!

Jan 16th 1

I have just finished the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg. Overall I think it was an excellent read, because it helped promote a national conversation about feminism, and because of its mainstream feel and constant name dropping of current day important people, the book was very successful in engaging people far and wide to think about or advocate for gender equality. I work for like than fifteen families as a baby-sitter, and I saw this book in almost every household, and found myself reading a few pages here and there. Now in class, I've have the opportunity to read the entire book and give myself a chance to really reflect on it. Sandburgs voice is very clear and present throughout the book, and in my opinion she isn't the most relatable or lovable character, I felt that she was a little bit cold and harsh, despite her eloquent points. Maybe this strong and decisive female voice will inspire other women to add some strength to their own tones in the future. Even though I am not a huge fan of he way Sandburg's personality shine though in this writing, I also realize that she likely had many people pushing her many different ways as this was a very commercial production, and in many ways her motto "Lean In" is exactly what she's doing by speaking very mater of factly through out her writing, and never act as though she doesn't know best, when in reality, its HER book and she should be able to know best. This is a bit abrasive, or annoying, but maybe I would be a bit more accepting of this behavior if it hadn't come from a women. Either way, I am happy to have read this book as it has challenged me to consider the ways I think about gender especially as a woman who has grown up with a fairly strong and independent attitude myself.