BYU Management Society Hispanic Chapter Gala Dinner

A few months ago I had the opportunity to attend the Annual BYU Management Society Hispanic Chapter Gala Dinner. I was asked to present the goals and vision of the BYU Andean Student Association. It was a great chance to let professionals from Utah Valley know about the efforts that BYU students are putting into helping other youth in Utah develop academically and professionally.

It was also a great opportunity to meet some professionals and entrepreneurs that are willing to assist us in our vision. I also met a few that are willing to provide internship opportunities to students. I really learned the value of attending a professional networking event. It has very unique benefits that can't be found in the typical student clubs.

I will certainly continue to attend events like this. It will be a great opportunity for personal growth as well as finding people interested in helping other students in Utah Valley. It is pretty fun to interact with such professional business people.

The Beauty of Venture Capital Investing

 This semester I have been doing an internship for a Venture Capital company in Peru. We have been developing the venture capital ecosystem in the country, by promoting entrepreneurship, offering mentoring and training services for aspiring entrepreneurs, and providing the opportunity for investments in start-ups.

I believe entrepreneurship is the modern way of creating wealth in people's lives. It is a way in which people can show their full potential, live their dreams, and create financial stability. I have learned that people are creative, they are smart, and some brilliant, but they don't always have the resources to accomplish all they can do. The Venture capital industry is the key to producing the monetary resources needed to "kick start" a new business.

The impact on society as a whole is huge. Especially in developing countries. The new wave of interest on start-ups has the power to transition a low income economy  into a financially solvent society. Individual families will have the ability to become more educated and new generations will enjoy the fruits of opportunity.

My greatest desire is to help improve the financial stability and level of education in developing countries. That is my passion in life. I believe that participating in the Venture Capital industry, whether as a full time job, or as a side activity, will allow me to contribute to these goals. I have started my adventure in the venture capital industry this semester, and am seeking for further opportunities to do so. I am currently in touch with a few different organizations that allow students to become very involved with this industry so I hope to become a part of one of these organizations.

MCom 320 Group Meeting

Last week out team presented a consulting review on complaints that Delta Airlines has received from their customers. The main complaints received were in the following categories: Delays, customer service, checking and baggage, and comfort. 

It was fun to meet up using Google Hangouts and discussing what went well and what we could improve on. It was also fun to meet one of our teammate's one year old daughter.

I think it's a great habit to reflect back on presentation with your team members because you can really get a good feel of how to do better in future presentations.

A few things we discussed that we could improve on were working on timing, using a running agenda for our power point presentation, and practicing more. I think these are great ideas that will help us become much better at presenting anything in front of an audience.

Good Things to Come

Good Things Do Come

The past year I've been scrambling to find a summer internship. I have worked on networking, attended info sessions, gotten involved in multiple clubs, gone to staff members time after time to get my resume revised, gone through lots of training to prepare for interviews, and done everything else I could to have an opportunity to learn and grow during the summer. It's been hard and stressful to accomplish this goal, but it happened. And when I knew I would finally be doing an internship over the summer, the first thought that came to my mind was that good things do come.

These words might be familiar to some as one of Elder Holland's most powerful talks. I couldn't just talk about this phrase without sharing this amazing video. So here it is.

This video by Elder Holland has helped me through so many stressful times. And I've become a firm believer that good things do come, and I've seen them come.

Now that I've experience this one specific thing, the opportunity to have a summer internship, come, I'm eager to start working and take complete advantage of this learning opportunity. I want to learn as much as I can, work as hard as I can, and work as smart as I can, to truly make this summer count.

I just can't stress it enough. But for those that trust the Lord, good things do come. Whether its now, in a few years, or after death. Its such a peaceful feeling to know that we're watched over, taken care of, and loved very dearly.

The Merge

In the past few weeks I have learned the value of teamwork. I have learned that teamwork is combining our strengths, talents, views, and ideas, into one better way of approaching our goals. I want to briefly show how I've learned this valuable lesson by exposing the goal I started with, what my plans were initially to meet this goal, and how I was able to become part of a bigger team to accomplish this goal.

The Goal

There has been quite an excitement lately among some BYU Staff members and a few Church leaders in South America regarding the education and professional development of Latin students in Utah. I was asked to start the BYU Andean Student Association to assist students from Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela throughout their career and professional development during college. The goal quickly expanded to assist all Latin students progress in these areas.

The Plans

The original plans to achieve these goals began with starting a peer mentoring program, holding training events on career development, inviting guest speakers from Latin countries, and providing the opportunity to network with professionals from Latin countries to seek for internships in their own countries if desired.

The Team

In order to follow through with these plans, the BYU Andean Student Association (BYU ASA) partnered with the BYU Management Society Hispanic Chapter. They became our main source of finding networking and internship opportunities. We also started working with the Career Services Office to provide the training and mentoring needed. Shortly after, we started working with the BYU Latino club. We all began working together because we realized we had similar goals, but we were working through different paths to meet these goals. This is when the merge occurred.

The Merge

We transitioned from working on our own and asking for help when needed from these other organizations, to really started working as a team. We learned that the best way for these organizations to work together was to produce ideas together and become one solid team.

The Outcome

So far it has been working very well. Or plans have expanded from the original ones, our resources have multiplied, and our goals have become so much more realistic and attainable. The BYU ASA had a great event a few weeks ago which involved only BYU Students. But because of the merge, we now have access to a much larger community and we will be holding an event in a few days that involves students from BYU, UVU, Weber, other schools in Utah, and other college age kids who aren't going to any specific school yet.

Plans for next semester are now moving forward and I'm pretty excited to see all we can accomplish as we continue to work together as a team.

So I can make a difference?

I've been wondering lately how much of a difference one person can make. It helps to put things into perspective first. I also think its beneficial to understand our personal goals. Then, maybe then, we might be able to figure out whether we can truly make a difference or not.

Putting things into perspective

One of my favorite hobbies is star gazing. I love staring at the stars and admiring the grandeur of the universe. Then, I try to think about my place in this world. Where do I fit in this infinitely large world? Why am I here? And how important is my existence to others? Can I really make a difference in this world?

My Personal Goals

I think its important to figure out why we go to school. We learn all this information and acquire all this skills, for what? To understand the world? To make a good salary? To gain a higher position in the corporate food chain?

I've come to the conclusion that smiles drive me to work hard. Receiving a smile, giving out a smile, but mainly, creating a smile. It fulfills life for me.

So how does this all fit together?

So here's my thought process. Yes, I might feel insignificant in this vast universe, but if I can make a smile, I can make a difference. You see, I believe one smile can be larger than a galaxy or two. 

So here's my purpose for working in school. It is to make a difference, however small I may feel in the grandeur of space. I believe I can make a difference in this world, one smile at a time.

_______________________________________

Here's a fun video that helps put things into some perspective. But to get a feel of a full perspective in my life, I should probably get out of my apartment and make a few smiles.

Learning Leadership

I used to think leadership was an innate attribute certain people had. I thought you were either born with it or not. My opinion on this idea has drastically changed in the last couple of weeks based on my personal experience learning leadership skills while creating a club and by listening to a professional leader at Marriott International. Now, I believe leadership is a learned skill.

Personal Experience

The last few months I've been in charge of starting a club at BYU to aid Latin American students throughout their career development in school. We're also responsible to help them progress professionally and help them learn the ropes of the competitive American culture in the corporate world. When I was offered the position of be in charge of the club, I thought to myself, "I got this, no big deal." But its been quite the learning experience.

The following are a few of the skills I've learned through this experience:

• True leaders motivate & inspire
• Delegation is key
• Hard work ethic
• Charismatic
• Able to execute

Professional Leader at Marriott International

The climax point in this learning experience on what leadership truly is, was a lecture given by Craig Smith, President of the Caribbean and Latin American Region at Marriott International, for one of my classes. He asked us to determine which one attribute, out of a set of two attributes, was the most important one for a leader to have. These were a few of the examples he gave.

• Introvert or Extrovert?
• Fun or serious?
• Listener or reader?
• Easy going or controlling?

Or class seemed to be constantly biased toward one side or the other. Craig Smith then mentioned that neither side, in each of these set of attributes, was necessarily better than the other. All skills different, and can be great skills if used correctly. 

What I learned

In the past few weeks I learned that there are a variety of skills a leader can have. And there is not such thing as the ideal set of skills for a leader. Leaders can be different, and have different attributes. Finally, I learned that having these attributes is all about being effective at leading. And, according to Craig, effectiveness is a discipline, it can be learned, and must be earned.

Now that my perspective has changed and my mind has been opened to the concept of learning leadership, I will focus on developing the skills I need to become a better leader. I will follow Craig Smith's counsel and find out what skills I need through self-evaluation, and understanding how others perceive what I do. I believe learning leadership is worth putting forth the effort to learn and earn this discipline.

Balancing my Life

Two thing I enjoy in life are:

1. Doing a lot of things
2. Doing them well

But because I have been getting involved in way too many activities, my schedule has been packed the last couple of weeks. As a consequence, I've noticed that having too much to do can affect the quality of performance in each individual activity.

So I've learned my lesson. I need to find a balance between doing a lot of things and doing them well. You just can't have both of them without figuring out a good balance.

I've implemented an idea to finding balance in my life. Now, I try to evaluate an activity, in terms of a desired goal, before I engaged in it. 

My thought process:

• For instance, lets say that my goal during college is to become a self sufficient professional who is well rounded in his academic, social and spiritual life. 
• With this goal in mind, I evaluate a potential activity, and ask myself, "Will engaging in this activity help me achieve this goal during my time in college?
• If the answer is yes, I engage in the activity. If the answer is no, then I'll sadly move on without pursuing it.

So far its been helping me not overwhelm myself with unnecessary responsibilities and stress. I will continue to do this and I will probably have to reevaluate some of the activities I'm already involved in, including academic clubs, and social and service clubs. It feels good to have a well balanced life. 

Squeeze Happiness

Ever been stressed out?

I've been pretty stressed lately. I've been really sick for the last couple of weeks, have had added responsibilities with a new club I started, and tests are coming up next week. Feeling stressed is a weird feeling for me because I'm usually never stressed out. But I guess I can't be this super human who is immune to stress.

So I've been trying to figure out how to deal with it. I found two solutions I've been applying lately.

1) Squeeze Happiness
2) Use a daily planner

Squeeze Happiness. It's made life so much better. Yes, I could stress out 24/7 about life, but I decided to enjoy my time even if I have a lot to do while being sick. So I've taken some time to hang out with friends, play soccer (probably not the best idea since I'm sick), and go the temple to keep up that spirit happy and lively. It's been working. It's taken time away from responsibilities I need to do, but my mind has had enough rest to work more efficiently.

Use a daily planner. And I've been keeping a daily planner. I used one last semester and life was great. I thought I didn't need one this semester, and I really haven't until now. But keeping my assignments and responsibilities organized has helped my mind rest a bit more. It's been nice to have things written down so that I don't need to think about everything I need to do 24/7.

I guess I'll continue to keep a daily planner from now on, whether I'm sick or not. It's just been really nice to know what I have to do and when I have to do it, without thinking too much about it. And I'll continue to "Squeeze Happiness." Just taking advantage of good, healthy, entertaining things I can do for leisure to give my mind a little rest every now and then.

Patience

I've learned that patience is one of the most useful skills to have when working in teams. There are always complications when working with others. They might see things in a different light, or might have different ways to do things. These differences can produce positive or negative outcomes. It all depends on our attitude towards it. 

With patience, and a good attitude, differences among team members can produce great outcomes. New horizons can be explored and a variety of ideas can be implemented. Each individual can bring their own perspective into the group and the best solutions can be reached.

From my experience, having a good attitude towards differences is not always easy. Maybe because it's hard to be the ideal team member all the time. I know I struggle with having a positive attitude all the time. So sometimes we just need to rely on patience. Patience with other and with ourselves. Having patience will give us time to think things through, specially when we originally see things in a negative way. It can give us time to reason, release some stress, think logically, and set aside our pride and other personal matters that might be getting in the way from harmonious teamwork.

So I've come to the conclusion that I need to keep working on my patience. I can get frustrated easily. I've specially noticed that this week, in a few settings. I have been somewhat impatient at work and in a club I run. I'm sure that if I'm more patient with myself and others I will have a much more enjoyable time in anything I do.

Thinking too much?

Is there such a thing as thinking too much?

I believe that humans are rational people. They think. Some individuals more than others. But, as a whole, we think.

Why do we think? To make things happen. To answer questions. To find solutions. To prank our best friend. To have fun. To survive. Or maybe because we simply have nothing else to do. Whatever the reason, I've come to the conclusion that as a whole, we think. We need to think.

But what if we over think things?

Let me suggest just one idea to this question. I think we might miss opportunities. Our logical minds might want to rationalize things. They might want to know the ins and outs. The pros and cons. Our logical minds might want to know every possible perspective or point of view. An over analysis of a situation could bring confidence in the pros, but also fears about the cons. The build-up of unnecessary fear has the potential to stop us from acting on arising opportunities.

Lets think for a minute, like humans do. Do we really want to close the door to opportunities of success, change, or even failure, because of unnecessary fear? Don´t we learn from all of these?

So, if you can identify yourself as one who over thinks everything in your life, and can see the adverse effects it's had in your life, here's a solution for you:

Stop over thinking things. Very insightful, isn't it? Just do it. Just make it happen. Take a risk. It could be a great learning experience.

And just so you know, I'm not entirely biased. I'm definitely one of those who over thinks almost everything I do. But every now and then I like to take a risk. A leap of faith. Follow my gut feeling. And I've enjoyed it every time. That feeling of uncertainty and adrenaline can be extremely fulfilling at times.

Breaking the Rules

Yes, breaking the rules can be fun sometimes. I'm sure you've done it. You might have even enjoyed doing so once or twice. There's always a certain way to do certain things, according to the common crowd. But what if we don't like the traditional way of doing things. How willing are we to break the rules? It could be fun...

Think about it in a business setting. What would it mean to break the rules? Maybe to see things in a different perspective. Or going against the status quo of procedures. It could even mean to break the rules of traditional thinking and thinking outside the box. I would summarize all these points in a simple phrase; disrupting the industry.

Disrupting an industry can produce immense amounts of satisfaction to you, and also to those who benefit of the product or service you provide. It means that you're actually thinking of better ways to solve problems. It also means that you truly care about bringing as much value to your customers as possible. 

Here's an example of a disrupted industry. The headphone industry. What did Skull Candy do? They brought coolness to a boring product. They gave music some swag. They gave earbuds a social and emotional value. Wearing Skull Candy not only improves your listening-to-music experience, but it makes you feel acknowledged, as if you had something others don't. Some people might be staring at you -- you enjoying it, of course -- saying, "Man! That dude's wearing Rasta Skull Candy Earbuds!" Yeah, exactly, you become the center of attention. 

So what's my plan then? Disrupt the industry? How? No clue, yet. But it sounds exciting, doesn't it? 

It's time to break some rules...

Change: Love it, Embrace it, Pursue it

                         

Have you ever heard that change is the most constant thing in our lives? I had heard it so many times throughout my life, and even considered it to be a very possible cliche. Now, its become one fo the most real aspects of my life. And you know what, its great.

Things that have changed in my life:

• Country of residence. Actually, Continent of residence.
• My major. From Economics to Accounting, then Philosophy and now Finance or Marketing.
• My perspective on an education. At some point in my life I had to stop "playing the game" and start becoming a life long learner, rather than doing the bear minimum for A.
• Food preference. I'm a big fan of California burritos now.
• Finances? Man, I have to live on budget now. Everything seemed so much cheaper when I lived with my parents...

Yeah, the list keeps going on and on.

So what now. I guess its time to embrace change. It sounds like a good idea to me. I really do enjoy the that extra spice that change brings to my life. I think some people could see change as the end of things they liked, loved, or felt comfortable with. I believe change simply means the beginning to new things. It opens doors to new and exciting opportunities. It truly brings life to life!

But is it really enough to embrace change? Why not pursue it, if it is as good is it sounds. Maybe I'll do exactly that. I need and want change in my life. I'm going to pursue it. Live in different places for the rest of my life, maybe? Or pursue a career formed by a variety of occupations. Maybe continue to explore the most exquisite cuisines in the world. Life just sounds so much more exciting now, doesn't it? 

Reinventing Oneself

Entrepreneurship seems to be such an exciting career path. Its adventurous, uncertain, possibly disappointing, but it can be extremely fulfilling if it satisfies a sense of vocation. I've been working on an on-campus internship with a venture capital company. I've had to investigate certain entrepreneur's career paths and write blogs about their lives. Such exciting lives!

Curiosity has struck me. I have identified myself with their stories, and have been able to picture myself as an entrepreneur. I have learned that self-motivation, creativity, perseverance, and a desire to change and improve are key aspects of an entrepreneur. But, perhaps, the most important element is having the ideal of reinventing oneself daily, according to Alfredo Ramirez, a successful Peruvian entrepreneur. Reinventing oneself means to ask oneself, what more can I do, what changes can I make, what can I improve, how can I exceed my limits. There seems to be no limits for the innate entrepreneur.

I have decided to explore this area. I might be breaking a few of my original plans to do so. See, a few months ago I had it all figured out. Study Corporate finance, and have a steady job as a financial analyst for a company. But I have recently recognized that I need a little more adventure in my life, so I've been changing things up. I'm leading the Marketing projects for my internship, and I will be a Marketing TA this semester. Why Marketing? Not sure, but it definitely sparks out the creativity in me, and it gets me going.

I have a few crazy ideas in mind for this year. I'll see how long I can push the adventurous side of me and explore career paths I hadn't quite considered yet. Although finance is still an option, because I really enjoy it, I feel like there's more I want to do with my career. 

Home

What a great Christmas break. I went home for the first time in two and a half years. I spent time with my family and friends, visited places I used to hang around, and ate my favorite Peruvian dishes. Home stills feels like home, even after such a long time.

After the two weeks I spent in Peru, I realized that home is where my I can be with my family. Even though I enjoyed visiting Peru, I enjoyed the trip mainly because of the people I spent time with. My family is definitely the most important thing for me and it's great to know that we have a very strong bond no matter where we live.

I have set in my mind to make my family a priority. I might be a long ways from home, but I'm sure I can find things I can do to continue to strengthen my relationship with them. My parents and grandparents live in Peru, my brother lives in San Francisco, and my cousins live in California, Las Vegas and Canada, but if we continue to build a strong relationship with each other, the distance between us won't really separate us at all.