MBA Geek » career

Because we don’t all “do” IT

Owen — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:15:30 +0000

An interesting experience happened to me the other day. I was sitting in a talk organised by a local organisation, using my laptop to live tweet what the speaker was talking about. Some of my followers on Twitter could be interested in the subject matter, and I’m very much into sharing what I learn. Anyway, at the end of the talk, the person sitting to my immediate right too my aside and proceeded to complain in no uncertain terms about how annoying my “tapping on that infernal machine” was and how it ruined the whole thing for him. My initial reaction was to retort in a similar manner, but instead I chose to listen to this gentlemen, as I did find the whole experience quite fascinating really.

You see, for us immersed in technology, it’s quite easy to assume that everyone sees the world in the same way we do. In fact, most times I have been pulled aside to talk about my “tapping on that infernal machine”, it had always been by people curious as to what I was doing and looking to learn something new. This was different, the person in question was really distressed . I suppose etiquette would dictate that I should ask my neighbours if I was going to do something out of the usual, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind that someone would get so upset sitting close to a laptop. I can’t see him looking for life insurance quotes online or booking his next airline ticket in this way.

I feel sad for the person in question, but it was also quite enlightening to be reminded that there are people out there who have no interest, in fact, quite an aversion to technology; yet they are our consumers, our customers and even our clients.

100 Best Companies to Word For

Owen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:57:59 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

An interesting page on CNN outlines the top 100 best companies to work for. The top three are SAS, Edward Jones and Wegmans but there are also a number of other well known names in there. It doesn’t matter if you went to the best business school or just followed one of those medical coding training courses, it’s good to have faith in your employer and to know you work somewhere that you can be proud of.

So, are you happy where you work? Is your company in the list?

How good is your delivery?

Owen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:23:54 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

How good are you at selling yourself? Your products? Your accomplishments? Well, if you’re not all that hot, it’s best to start working on it. This was the message I read when digesting a recent article on Business Week called Lessons from Google’s Underwhelming Nexus One Show which analyses the recent announcement on the Google Nexus One phone and in particular compares it to the iPhone announcement 3 years ago. Delivering your message is one of the critical factors you are continually assessed on, by customers and peers; so it’s worth taking note and making sure you can do this effectively. It’s not just a matter of throwing promotional products at people and hoping that something will stick, successful delivery will always be key in any walk of life.

What personality type are you?

Owen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:16:57 +0000

Do you know what personality type you are? Well, you may have some ideas, but it’s good to take a personality test to find out. It’s good to know because the way you interact with others is very much dependant on your personality type; and what their personality type is too. One good test is the Myers-Brigg test and the closely related Jung test. It’s always good to evaluate yourself, especially as we all change over time. The last thing you want it to start a medical assisting certification course and then find that it’s really not the right thing for you. So click on the link below and find out what personality type you are.

Take the test!

Working in a different environment?

Owen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:34:07 +0000

It’s quite interesting having a Maltese background and working here in the UK. Not that things are so different here, but my experiences are different from the people around me. That gives me a double benefit. On one side, I’ve seen ideas and executions that are different to what the people around me have experiences. This helps me inject new ideas into what’s going on around me. On the other hand, it provides an opportunity for me to learn from initiatives that have happened when I wasn’t around, thus enriching my own thinking. I’ve read that the UK is making changes around letting Highly Skilled Migrant Workers into the country, hopefully this will have the effect of increasing diversity around us, rather than closing off this avenue.