During lunch today, I met a P3 Fontysider who instantly associated my name with my blog. This has happened on many occasions this period. 2 of my new groupmates, JPD and SA, who were sitting with me, asked why don’t I blog about the new core subject group.
Well… I feel that we still don’t know each other that well as we only have two core subjects. I see these 2 guys in other electives so I know them better, but I don’t think I share elective classes with the other 2 groupmates (JS, SD). However I had a meeting with SD on Monday and we got our part of the homework done pretty efficiently. I also appreciated that while JPD was clearly overloaded with other work he still tried to help, and offered to lead the next assignment.
I do miss my old group sometimes - the easygoing hotel magnate GM, the ever efficient professor RB, the all-rounded rockclimber MEK and the passionate chessmaster ES. We used to joke about our behaviours by referring to our Meyers-Briggs personality types. What I appreciate (although at the time it felt awkward) was that we spoke up quite frankly to the specific people when things weren’t going well. I’m starting to see how useful that is. We argued because we cared.
With the new group, I’d say the dynamics are different - not quite opposite; just very different. This week, for instance, I never imagined I’d be the one wielding the whip. I just wanted to get our work done in a manner which doesn’t waste anyone’s time, and submit answers that gelled together. Maybe I should find out my new groupmates’ personality types too… I’m getting curious. My ‘Feeling’ side is fairly sensitive to nuances and I’m picking up some vibes.
I also have 2 elective groups. MarkStrat has made me feel a little topsy-turvy and I’m not enjoying this as much as the core Marketing course. Our virtual company went through a lull as the low-margin underdog but we have finally done well this week. However it’s mainly because rivals are spending lots of money on the next step while we’re still catching up. Also, having international classmates sometimes creates miscommunications even though we have good intentions. This happened with my old group and it seems to be happening with this group as well. Last week after the professor gave some tips in class about following through big ad spending with salesforce spending, I wanted to boost our sales force in our strongest channel by percentage as well as absolute numbers. As I changed the numbers in the software program, the 2 non-native English speakers in my group shouted incredulously, “What are you doing?!”, then we realised we meant to do similar things. We just had to stay calm! Also, 2 of us are risk takers and the other 2 are conservative, so we sometimes have a split decision.
For Strategy Execution, I’m excited to be working with JL and JP who I think are great people who can be longlasting friends. It helps that I’ve known them for a longer period of time. Would you believe I’ve never worked with a fellow Asian from P1 until now!? I appreciate how the administration arranges things so that we get good exposure to other nationalities, though. Here’s hoping for a most productive assignment with ingenious solutions!
Gotta go sleep. Marketing class is in the morning and we have to write a 10 page memo by Friday. Ugh!!!
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