With the end of the school year, this will be my last blog post until next year. I hope those of you who have been reading my blog posts have enjoyed and learned something from them. I know I will miss many of my fellow DireLights next year, but I'm also excited to meet our new team next year! I'd like to leave you with some reminders in the absence of school the next few months. Don't forget to stay positive as hard as it can be and enjoy the little things in life. Make the most of life no matter what obstacles you may face, and even better do this with others. Live in the present and don't dwell on the past or in the future. Be grateful for the things you have, and not the things you don't. Lastly, be your true self as it can be so easy to become what others want or see in you. Be your best self and accept who you are as difficult as this can be. Stay healthy and feel free to contact me if you need help!
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As I talked about in my post from last week, this year is quickly coming to an end. With this, the next school year will also start quite soon. A challenge DireLights deals with annually is introducing new students to each of the departments and familiarizing them with the different positions in hopes of them choosing a position they enjoy and benefit from. From my memory, this is presented as a slide deck with the existing positions (unless there's a need for a new position) and summarizes the roles and tasks for said positions. I know when I was introduced to all of the different choices, I had a few ideas of what I might want to do and my main two choices were HR and Operations. Fortunately, while it seems like a big decision you can decide on another position if the one you chose isn't for you. So am I suggesting you try out 10 different positions? Oh heavens no please don't but if you truly want to change your role it can be done. However, I do encourage shadowing someone in their department if you're interested but unsure of what you want to do. Most importantly, watch the company playbook videos! I'm sure I'll either blog about this sometime next year or discuss it for EM1 students, but the videos are informative and help you understand a day in a certain position for DireLights. If you want some personal knowledge and experience, feel free to ask anyone in the department you're interested in about what they do and if it seems like the appropriate place for you. Have a good rest of your day and stay positive!
As we all know, the school year has been coming to a close for some time now which of course has its side effects on everyone. The main issue we face is a lack of motivation especially considering our projects are wrapping up and summer feels within our grasp. However, we still have several obstacles to surpass as students from leaving or continuing a legacy in DireLights, preparing for Senior defenses, maintaining grades, or what have you. While myself and others have said it in the past, there're ways to overcome a lack of motivation but it's up to you to experiment and figure out what's best for you. The most basic suggestion is to embrace a positive mindset. If you're struggling to do so, or don't think you can, you'd be surprised when I say faking it until you make it really works. It's important to remember that you're in control of your life and mind over matter is one of the simplest ways of doing such. Smaller tasks you can take on are creating to-do lists, detailed and personalized calendars, setting realistic goals to achieve along the way, taking mindful minutes, going on walks, and last but not least rewarding yourself after accomplishing a task or goal. While being motivated feels great, it's these small things like breaks and rewards that keep us from burning out in an hour or two of focused work. In other words, don't forget to take care of your mental health as it's so easy to do so. I also encourage socializing with friends and family occasionally to sustain a healthy social life. On that note, I highly recommend you read Asher's blog post from last week. He covers several different topics but notably that it's okay to make mistakes as we all do in life. Choosing not to learn from your mistakes is the true error we may make. Hope you are doing well!
Asher's Blog Page: https://asherentre1.weebly.com/entre-1-blog Hey guys! After a long break, I'm back and this week's topic is overselling sustainability which is commonly referred to as greenwashing. For those like myself who haven't heard of this term until now, greenwashing is the disinformation disseminated (spread) by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. Before I go into this any further, this is a very complex topic and to cover every aspect or even most of them would be an impressive feat. Because of this, I encourage you to do some research of your own on greenwashing after reading my summary. I started by reading an article on Harvard Business Review by Kenneth P. Pucker, a senior lecturer at Tufts University, advisory director at Berkshire Partners, and a former Chief Operating Officer of Timberland. If you would like to read it for yourself, which I recommend that you do, the link will be at the end. The article begins with the creation of greenwashing where many individuals whom he refers to as "Sustainability Inc." came up with the theory of businesses prospering while pushing a sustainability agenda. They predicted 4 things would happen if companies were to measure and report sustainability performance to their customers. These predictions are first that companies' social, environmental, and governance performance would increase. Second, a link which tied sustainable companies to better equity would appear. Next, customers and investors would reward more sustainable companies and pressure others to follow. Finally, the measurement of society's impact on the environment would become more accurate and accepted. So all in all their intentions and expectations 20 years ago weren't that misplaced. However, this has become a growing issue ever since it was put into action. Today, most companies that refer to themselves as "green" report false information, and third-party companies don't check the data. This means that the company may not even be green after all and is using the term purely for profit. Along with this, an excellent point is made that if awareness from businesses has gone up significantly the past 20 years, how come it hasn't decreased any emissions, but increased the quantity! Kenneth Pucker backs this up with two graphs demonstrating the climb over the years. Mr. Pucker also reflects on his time at Timberland from 1992 to 2007 where almost all of their products were made in factories in the US. Today, at least 85% of their products are produced overseas. This may not seem like a big deal, but unlike Europe and North America, other countries haven't had the same focus on the environment, not to mention human rights and safe or even ethical work environments. International producers also have multitiered supply chains making it almost impossible to find the sources. To close out, most businesses have oversold the term "green" for their products for profit while having little to no effect on the environment itself, while deceiving their customers into believing they're making a difference.
To read the HBR article use the link below: https://hbr.org/2021/05/overselling-sustainability-reporting?ab=hero-main-text For our most recent benchmark, we had to create an innovation as a department or continue and build off of the innovation from the year prior to this one. The HR department's innovation this year is DireLight of the week. This was something I thought would be a great addition to help with student recognition similar to an employee of the month. Along with the recognition, we also understand how stressful school can be which is even more difficult when you can't make and maintain connections as you can in person. To help combat this, a blog post pass for a week seemed quite beneficial as you should be rewarded for your hard work. I know as well that it's also nice not having to worry about writing a blog post whether or not your busy. It encourages more personal time and can give you a much-needed break when it comes to writing. Congratulations to Elliot, Nathan, Lukas, Asher, Mia, and Jonathan for being our past DireLights of the week and I can't wait to announce the future DireLights!
This Friday, we had the opportunity to listen and participate in a black entrepreneurship meeting. We got to hear from two lovely ladies being Hasna who created Enchanted Hasna Facepainting and Henna Art and Sunmisola the owner of Jade. They along with DireLight's very own Nick and Darius were asked a series of questions regarding their companies and sharing their personal stories. One of my favorite moments was getting to see the work they had both done. The designs were beautiful and the creativity showed in their products. I love what Hasna had to say about starting up her business as she enjoys making connections with her customers which is important in any business. It was also fascinating listening to Sunmisola when it came to her mission and advice. For those who don't know, Jade (also known by Jhaadey) introduced African-styled clothing for women. She noticed this opportunity when shopping as finding anything that even resembled African clothing was almost impossible as it was almost completely American. Please check out her website, jhaadey.com. I can't wait to see her future designs! Before quarantine, Hasna was offering Henna and face painting services that ranged from one customer to attending parties with large groups of potential customers. Realizing that she could no longer do this with the developments quarantine has lead to, she started her resincarnations. Some of her products are truly fascinating! Feel free to check out her website, enchantedhasna.com. A major takeaway for anyone that may be interested in becoming an entrepreneur is that while it may never necessarily be too late to start, there's little harm in starting now. As with most things in life, businesses take time to grow, and even if it fails, you can learn from your mistakes and continue on.
At some point, we've all been criticized and also criticized others. Criticism is very easily and often misinterpreted. At New Tech, criticism has been a huge part of our education whether most realize it or not. However, it's an important aspect of life no matter what you decide to do after high school. When it comes to criticism and its misinterpretation you'll probably think of saying something positive and then delivering the criticism or vice versa. While this may true, focusing on how you deliver it with your tone and attitude helps reflect your true intentions rather than give off a false demeanor. My grandma would always say that it's not what you say, but how you say it. I think this is a great thing to live by in all aspects of life as words are so easily misinterpreted nowadays. So how can this be avoided? Well, practice makes perfect and there's really no other solution besides that. If you aim to improve, ask a friend or family member to go through some scenarios with you and both of you can work on your delivery of criticism and then give feedback on how to improve the next go around. I hope this helps some of you as I know I've struggled in the past despite thinking I did well. This doesn't mean sugar coat or withhold your true feelings from them as that might make it worse and it's best to be as honest as you can. Until next week!
As we all do in life, getting bogged down in our work and procrastinating is a common reoccurring theme. I know this from experience and have certainly felt it the past few weeks. It's undeniable that it's quite demoralizing to have a large to-do list and not knowing which task to knock off first. So how can you overcome this? Well, there isn't exactly a long term solution that fixes this where your life is sunshine and rainbows. However, deciding to do one task at a time is the first step. After that, mustering up the energy and the positivity to get through it may be the hardest part as few of us actually enjoy work. Even after completing the easiest of the tasks or objectives you may have, it should feel rewarding that you crossed one thing off and now have less work to do. I do recommend starting with the most difficult task if possible as it will relieve so much stress and pressure. Another important thing is taking breaks in your work time. Many of us get caught up in our work and either forget or just think we don't have the time to take a short break. I encourage you to walk outside for a few minutes and enjoy what's in front of you and go back refreshed. If you have the whole weekend then it's up to you how you decide to spread the work out. While it may drain you to do it all in one day you have another day stress-free! There's nothing wrong with doing it over both though as longer breaks are also good for you mentally and physically. I hope this helps you whenever you need it and if it's right now then take a break and go listen to your favorite song or playlist!
As a few of you may already know, a small team of DireLights will be presenting in Political Studies this Monday. Our intentions are to get more students enrolled and interested in DireLights. We would like to make it apparent that no matter who you are, what your skills may be, or any factor, that there's a place for you. I know that several students think you have to be a business person that knows all of the ins and outs and I'd like for you to help me prove them wrong with me. We have a great company with the best employees with whom we share connections. Our community is very special and I'm eager to see how it grows in the coming years. Please take action and share with your peers in whatever ways you can, may it be a presentation, or a conversation with a friend. If you feel reluctant in doing so, please let other DireLights know you appreciate their efforts in our company, and more importantly Ms. Stillittano for giving us this opportunity. Don't forget to let some light in!
With another week going by, you have plenty of time to think about life and more importantly the future. However, it's also vital to focus on the present even when there's little to nothing we can do with some events in our lives. One such focus is employment and where you fit in within a business. Do you start your own? Are you the manager? Or do you flip burgers? There's no right or wrong choice as everyone is unique with what they want to do for a living. Being in human resources and having just interviewed Jennifer Silva, I thought this might help some of those who don't know what to pursue or what suits them. In all honesty, you probably aren't going to find your dream job on the first go or be happy with your position. It may take several jobs for you to find it if you ever do. Like many things in life, it's a series of trial and error where you figure out what you do and don't like. So what're some requirements or suggestions for being in HR? While one shoe doesn't fit all you need to be patient as each situation and the person you deal with will be different. This means also having the ability to work in a stressful or uncomfortable situation. A misconception with HR is that they're the therapists of a company which isn't true at all. While we do care about our employees, the environment still needs to remain professional which means not making emotion-based decisions rather than the right one. Along with this, there can be no "special treatment" or benefits for one person unless everyone receives the same benefits. Communication is a key aspect as you'll be checking in with employees but also gathering information from customers as well. While these are only a few things someone interested in HR may need, figuring out your strengths and places where you can grow are helpful anywhere in life. I hope this helps some of you reflect and leads you closer to achieving your goals!
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