United Nations Youth Assembly

I am from Ecuador and have seen how big transnational oil companies have polluted the rivers of the rainforest in Ecuador. Also, how the emission of CO2 have affected our planet with air pollution and global warming. I am environmentally focused and would like to advocate for environmental sustainability.

What would you like to accomplish while there?
To learn, become involved and promote development and humanitarian initiatives. I want to participate in the United Nations programs and contribute with new ideas to improve the world we live in.

What do you hope to gain from the experience?
I hope to gain knowledge of different topics and learn about the challenges that different countries are facing. I want to learn to develop good arguments to use in diplomatic debates. I want to do networking and hopefully work in the United Nations one day.

What do you plan to do with this when you return to your home country?
I want to work in the Ecuadorian government and help to create laws that would protect the environment. I want to put a recycling company in the main cities of Ecuador and convert the waste into energy, to create a self-sustainable country.

What do you bring to the table?
My school and work experience in New York and Ecuador. My leadership, language and business skills. A winning business plan that I developed for a contest in the State University of New York focused on environmental sustainability and economics. Also, my social experience helping migrants living in New York and working in the Consulate of Ecuador in NY.

My January quote 2014

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

― Albert Camus, The Stranger

Why do I want a global customer service role at Bloomberg?

I want a role in customer service because I want to be the image of Bloomberg; I want to be the first contact to be able to make the sale or solve a problem, and to reflect a high quality customer service. Since I was a young girl, I have always been very friendly. This has opened many doors to me at school and work. Whether I was a students council representative at my high school in Ecuador, an orientation leader at college in New York, or a community relations liaison for the Government of Ecuador in the United States, I have and will always enjoy the interaction with people. I find no problem answering even the most trivial questions and I get a deep sense of satisfaction when solving problems or helping customers out in one way or another.

Sólo quiero cuidar tus sueños…

Cierra tus ojos, duerme tranquilo, yo cuidaré de cada uno de tus sueños y los atraparé, los cambiaré y te los devolveré como el más bello amanecer. Déjame que sólo vele tu sueño, cuide tu respiración y te cubra con mi energía. En los días que unos kilómetros de tierra nos separe, recuerda que siempre nos cubre un mismo cielo y nos entibia un mismo sol, mi amor. TE AMO FRANCISCO DAVID ZARAUZ CHECA.

http://instagram.com/p/dVcAY7LZnp/

Team Leadership Breakdown

I remember when we started the MBA class “Leadership and Management in the Changing World,” the professor told us that it would be hard to teach us how to be a good leader or put a grade on us based on our leadership skills. For that reason, she explained to us that we would be graded based on our group projects, presentations, exams, participation in class, and evaluations from our peers. During class, we learned different leadership theories, which included but were not limited to the traits and styles of leaders. According to the contingency theory, there is no good or bad leader, and there is no right or wrong leadership style, because every situation is different from each other, so it is important to consider situational variables in order to use the leadership style that would be better suited for that particular situation. Working in a team and making group decisions may seem easy, but sometimes it can get somewhat complicated due to the lack of different internal and external leadership actions. Regarding internal task leadership actions, our team seemed to have a clear goal, which was to finish the paper and PowerPoint presentation by Monday and Wednesday respectively, prior to the presentation day. However, we failed to achieve both goals. Even though, we finished everything before the presentation, we did not meet the dateline that we established as a group.

One of the problems was that we did not assign a leader in our team, so we did not have that one person who would facilitate decision-making. We went with whatever the majority of the members said. This was reflected at the time of choosing the date and time for group meetings, picking the two leaders of the presentation, selecting the way were going to share the information, and whether or not to dress up for the presentation. Not having an assigned leader, created confusion in the team because we were divided in two groups based on the leader we were doing research for, and instead of reporting to someone, we just posted on Blackboard the information we gathered but no one took initiative to put all the information together at first.

A lesson learned from this is that it is important to assign a leader that would delegate responsibilities to the members of the team. For example, in our group we all did research about the two leaders but there were some members who probably put more effort than others. In order to make everyone participate equally, the leader needs to be able to delegate responsibilities, and trust all the members in his team. Otherwise, if someone tries to do everything, that person would feel it is unfair that he worked more than the other members. It is important that the leader shares the information at the beginning, not at the end of the teamwork process, and that he or she shares it with all the members of the team not just few of them.  Another lesson learned is that it is important for a team to take internal task and relational leadership actions in order to achieve team effectiveness. For example, by structuring the team for results, the team would have a clear plan, vision, and goal. Also, by collaborating and building commitment, the team would have all the members involved and more tasks would get accomplished.

Another problem we had was the lack of effective communication. In many occasions, some members of the team sent e-mails to everyone, and nobody answered, or maybe one person replied. The lack of communication played an important role in our team leadership breakdown. Even though, we had competent members in our team, all our knowledge and skills were not maximized because we were not able communicate effectively what we needed from each other. In addition, we did not maintain standards of excellence, meaning that we did not assessed the team members or confront inadequate performance right away. The day we were going to start writing the paper, some team members went home, and some of the ones who stayed kept complaining about their lack of collaboration. This issue should have been addresses immediately, but since some of us wanted to avoid conflict, we did not say anything. Nevertheless, these members who were missing made it up later on by working on the paper or PowerPoint. 

A lesson learned from this is that since communication is an important factor when working as a team, we need to make sure that all the members feel comfortable asking questions regarding their duties and responsibilities, and also feel free to make suggestions. In addition, they should avoid gossip. In order to have an effective communication, leaders should encourage their team members to speak their minds during team meetings. Also, leaders should make sure that the team is on track by checking the progress of all the members’ work in a timely basis and compare it to the objectives that were established at the beginning. It is important to have a clear and open communication among all members, depending on the situation it can be via e-mail or face to face. This would lead to better decision-making and will satisfy the needs everyone.

Another lesson leaned is that it is important to have all the members of the team motivated in order to achieve the goal. In this way, the performance of each member would not decrease. Instead, they will be performing at their highest potential. Discipline, stress tolerance, and integrity are also important factors that we should keep in mind in order to work well in a group. By having discipline, we are able to stay on track and achieve our goals. By having stress tolerance, we would be more patient with other members, and work in harmony. And, by having integrity, we would make the right choices and be fair with everyone in the team.

Team leadership is complex and there are no simple recipes for team success.

Based on Larson and LaFasto’s studies, there are eight characteristics of team excellence which include clear goal, results-driven structure, competent team members, unified commitment, collaborative climate, standards of excellence, external support and recognition, and principle leadership (Northouse, pg 299). In this case, our team lacked many of the characteristics previously mentioned. We faced some challenges including team meetings, communication barriers, and share responsibility that we were not able to overcome. This resulted in our team leadership breakdown. However, we learned a lot from this experience, and writing this paper helped me realize how important it is for a team to have a clear goal and a leader who would encourage team members to collaborate, stay on track, communicate effectively with everyone, and stay committed to the team. I believe it is important for the leader to be optimistic and enthusiastic so there would be emotional contagion among all the followers. Finally, it is important for all the team members, especially the leader, to figure out if something is getting in the way of the team’s goal accomplishment and take action immediately. Otherwise, the team would fail.

3MSC

Ya no hay vuelta atrás,lo sientes. Y justo entonces intentas recordar en que momento comenzó todo, y descubres que todo empezó antes de lo que pensabas. Y es ahí, justo en ese momento, cuando te das cuenta de que las cosas solo ocurren una vez. Y por mucho que te esfuerces ya nunca volverás a sentir lo mismo. Ya no tendrás la sensacion de estar a... 3 metros sobre el cielo.

34th AMA International Collegiate Conference

Sheraton Hotel

New Orleans, LA

3/22/2012 8:00 AM  - 3/24/2012 10:00 PM

Joining the American Marketing Association and attending AMA International Collegiate Conference two years in a row, was one of my best investments during college, money wise and time wise. The theme of the 34th Annual International Collegiate Conference was “Marketing: Always Evolving.” The main purpose of the conference and the workshops was to demonstrate students how marketing the 4 P’s has evolved and changed over the years. For example: products are more advanced, prices are cheaper, placement is now online, and promotion is done through social media. For this reason, new tools for marketing are changing the way marketers do business, and this conference was helpful to teach students how to keep up with social media and new technology tools that are extremely important now a days for the success of a business. Speakers that presented ranged from McDonald's, YouTube, Google, Pearson, Carnaval Cruise Lines, Enterprise, Macy's, Harrah's, to Northwestern Mutual. Topics ranged from social media, to landing a career in marketing, to the changing landscape of marketing.

On Thursday, March 22^nd, we started the conference by going to the T-Shirt Social Scramble where students from all the participating AMA chapters had to wear the t-shirt from their university, socialize with other students and sign their names in little cards with dots of different colors in order to submit that card and participate in the raffle of an iPad. However, the real main purpose of this event was to socialize with students from other universities and learn from them in order to expand our network. Then we went to the “Parade of Chapters Line-Up;” this was the official kick-off event where a representative of each university had to walk on stage and cheer for their chapter. Then, the keynote speaker, John Militello, Head of Creative Innovation at Google/YouTube, showed us videos in YouTube that demonstrated how the advertising behavior has changed, and how the traditional advertising does not work anymore due to the fact that everything is moving faster in the digital revolution. Nevertheless, Google/YouTube is using this as an opportunity to fuel innovation in the digital world. Then, we went to the “Collegiate Chapter Exhibits” where some of the AMA Collegiate Chapters had the chance to be creative and present in a tradeshow fashion style all of their accomplishments of the past year. After looking at their exhibits we had to vote for our favorite booth on a ballot card that came in our badge holder.

On Friday, March 23^rd, we woke up early to pick up the official AMA Collegiate Conference t-shirt. At 10:00am I attended the Carnival Cruise Lines workshop, the theme was “Evolution at Carnival: Fun Ship 2.0” and was presented by their Vice President of Customer Marketing, Rob Borden. He explained how Carnival’s approached changed over the years. They realized that Carnival needed to update and modernize. One of their decisions included hiring George Lopez and had him choose the comedians that would work on their cruises. At 11:00 am I attended the “Beyond Green Marketing: Why Today’s Environmental and Social Challenges Demand More” workshop presented by Rich Bruer, President of his own company, R. Bruer Company. This was my favorite workshop because he introduced a new concept of green marketing that made more sense than the one given by the American Marketing Association. He mentioned that marketers sometimes mislead consumers by making them believe that consuming environmentally friendly products is enough to become “green” but in reality it is not because at the end of the day, you are still consuming, and that is the main issue. The new concept of green marketing includes sustainability; he explained that sustainability is not a market but a way of doing business. Some early green leader companies include Nokia, Nike, and Patagonia. All of these workshops were helpful because marketing professionals shared with us their wisdom and experience about the way they achieved success in marketing and this would help us to prepare for careers in specific marketing fields. Then, we went to the career fair luncheon, and at 1:00p we attended Jim Reed’s workshop called “Maintain Your Chapter Synergy!” where we learned about improving our teamwork skills and build a spirit of cooperation in our chapter. At 3:00pm I attended Nate Riggs’ workshop called “12 Disruptive Technology Trends that are Changing How Marketing Works.” Nate Riggs is the Director of Social Business from The Karcher Group, Inc. He taught us how to use new social media tools for brand communication and how to use disruptive technology to our advantage. At 4:00pm I went to the workshop called “Marketing to the New General Market – How the Changing Demographics of America Are Challenging Everything We Knew About Marketing” presented by Carol E. Koepke, Senior Marketing Director of McDonald’s USA. Carol explained us how McDonald’s has changed its marketing strategies in order to stay relevant to today’s consumers. In the United States only, McDonald’s has 59 million consumers, for this reason it is important for them to know very well the market that they serve, lead with ethnic insights, and grow the business by being better instead of bigger. In order to reinvigorate the brand, McDonald’s decided to introduce a modern menu with healthier options, and they launched the global campaign “I’m loving it” translated to all the languages where they operate. What I found interesting about this workshop was that McDonald’s tried to do a joint venture with Starbucks because they wanted to offer their coffee to its customers. But, Starbucks rejected McDonald’s so they launched McCafe. In addition, Carol taught us the things winning brands have in common: to listen carefully, move emotions, speak honestly, and tell authentic stories.

On Saturday, March 24^th, I had to attend the 9:00am mandatory meeting for all the participants of the Northwestern Mutual Sales Competition. I competed at 9:20am. The product I was selling was a “laptop support” and the slogan was “thin, flexible, and mobile.” My customer was Alexandra Sankey and the scenario took place at her office, where I met her after scheduling a meeting. I was selling my last 10 laptop supports, and I was giving her a 66% discount on the retail price. The main advantages of the device were that it was ergonomic so it helped improved the posture of her employees, saving them time and money since they were going to take less breaks to rest; it helped the laptops to have a natural airflow since the device did not let the laptop get in touch with the desk, making it last longer due to the reduced heat; and it was mobile so employees could work from their office, home or other places if they travel. I got a very positive feedback from the judge; she really loved my presentation and the product, and asked me if that product really existed. I told her it is in the market but not too many people know about it. Also, she liked that I told the customer that I would come back with a new product and give it to her at a cheaper price if she referred me to her clients. I did not make it to the top five, but a friend of mine from Florida International University did. At 9:30am I attended the workshop “Tips for Hosting a Regional Conference” presented by Ferris State University, SUNY New Paltz, and San Marcos University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. At 10:30 I attended the “Enhancing Your Programming to Maximize Your Chapter” presented by Ferris State University and SUNY New Paltz. At 11:30am I attended the “Social Media 101” workshop presented by Jeff Zelaya, Florida International University alumni, and previous winner of the Northwestern Mutual Sales Competition. Jeff is an AMA Young Professional Member and Social Media Marketing Consultant. At 12:30pm I attended the workshop called “Tips for New/Revitalized Chapters” presented by our college, SUNY New Paltz, and Western Connecticut State University. After that, I finally had time to rest and walk around the French Quarter, so I went for lunch with Kristin and Alexandra to the French Market and ate crawfish. At 6:00pm we attended the Awards Banquet where our chapter, SUNY New Paltz, made it to the Sweet Sixteen, and won the Bronze Collegiate Chapter Award out of 152 universities.

This was an amazing experience, it was great to see people that I met a year ago in the same conference, it was great to work so hard on the Northwestern Mutual Sales Competition, it was great to network with students from other universities and learn about their chapters, it was great to attend the workshops given by marketing professionals and be reminded of how technology is advancing so fast, and the importance of keeping up with those changes in order to be successful at the workplace. It was just great to be part of the 34^th American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference and share those moments with my peers, faulty advisor, Dean of the School of Business, and their wives. I feel privileged to have attended this event at New Orleans.