Workplace Diversity

Tip of the day: read the news every single day. It's an amazing habit to pick up because 1) you obtain knowledge (superfluous or not) from brilliant perspectives (acquiesce or not) you'd never expect, 2) at the very least you are challenged to react and THINK (and not simply accept) while reflecting your personal opinions, and 3) you'll never want to stop. My personal favorite is the NY Times online (especially the editorial section), and I connected to a recent article on workplace diversity since I've been researching and interviewing with countless employers to jump start my career (more about my career plans later...).

The promotion of workplace diversity is a prevalent characteristic--core value, even--for all of the companies I've researched, and these companies span from purely financial services to IT products to the medical industry. Diversity is commonly associated with variety in races, sex, nationalities, or essentially, superficial elements. Of course, hiring cannot be based on such traits (because it's illegal), but these characteristics are prima facie conduits to diversity because differences in race and cultures supposedly link to differences in how we approach and solve problems.

But here's the problem. A majority of these companies seek top talent from top-rated institutions. However, these business schools (my case) select college students through specific criterion, groom them through the same rigorous curriculum, and then produce a more or less standardized output of job seekers with the same analytical mindset and KSA's.

Interviews are tough. A 30 minute window to impress seems unfair and ineffective, especially when there's a host of psychological factors affecting the competence of the interviewer (but when supply outstrips demand so much..what can we do?) Aside from basic competence, most companies seek a specific personality or way of thinking that matches with the company (diversity?!). I think (or I'd like to think) there's an unfortunate instinct to pass preferential judgment (interviewers are humans too) that fails to separate the nuances in our personalities as an arbitrary fraternity recruitment process to "fit-in" versus an opportunity to leverage eccentricies for workplace diversity.

BU Graduate!

Yup..four years (more precisely 3.5 years) later, I am finally a Boston University School of Management Class of 2010 Graduate!!! And if any professionals are reading this by chance..it'll be with Summa or Magna Cum laude honors (still waiting for this semester's grades to come out).

I haven't decided if I'll be walking in the spring because honestly, I don't seem to be very excited. Happiness wouldn't be the first word that comes to my mind to describe my sentiments. I realize that right now is probably the most pivotal moment in my life. I'm oscillating between urges of inspiration and a brooding sense of anxiety. On the one hand, I can seek the comfort of beginning a business career where I can grow professionally. But in doing so, I don't expect satisfaction, inspiration, or purposeful living. On the other hand, I can no longer use college as the mental excuse that prevents me from finally doing what I want..experiencing the world, spreading compassion, feeding my being. In doing so, however, I don't expect financial security, normalcy, or parental consent.

I am now standing on the threshold of two paths and I need to decide (soon) which way to start walking: freedom and its perils or comfort and its sacrifices. I guess I can backtrack if need be..but from what I've observed, most people cannot escape the race they've chosen. So better yet, maybe I'll just create my own damn path.

Oh yea, Happy Holidays! I would expound on the topic..but I'll save my negativity (on the fallacy of these holidays' religious foundations and its disgusting commercial evolution and secular adaptations) for a more suitable day.

Man's (Career) Search for Meaning

The following tidbit in a post from The Financial Philosopher pretty much sums up the dilemma that's been driving me needlessly insane.

Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for." ~ Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl himself believed that meaning -- the meaning of a sacrifice -- could be found in suffering. I'm not so sure, however, that working in a stressful career to achieve higher monetary, material and social wealth fits Frankl's idea of finding meaning in sacrifice. Unfortunately, however, this willful sacrifice of one's mental, physical and spiritual health for that of financial health is more common today than not.

With regard to money, the basic utility of your job or career is to earn enough money to pay for food, shelter and clothing with perhaps a modest amount remaining for life's little pleasures. It is quite normal, however, to perceive the function of your career as something quite different -- as a tool to achieve material wealth far beyond what is necessary and to overlook the opportunity to do something significant -- to achieve your innermost latent desire -- to find meaning and purpose. This common sacrifice of self for money, material wealth and social status is where problems begin:

* Life goals become defined by monetary goals -- or at least you perceive that money is the primary enabler for fulfillment;
* You make your life fit the demands of your career, rather than the opposite;
* And if you hate what you do, you rationalize the stress as a sacrifice for providing for your family, your retirement goals and/or your desire to identify yourself as somebody.

One or all of the preceding points likely have some degree of relation to your existence; but what can you do about it?

Where most attempts fail to make lasting and meaningful change (i.e. diets and budgets) is where they begin. Your brain likes shortcuts -- lists of things to do -- that are quick, easy and painless. If you could take a pill to lose weight, your brain wants this. If you could read some quick tips on how to get rich and retire young, your brain wants this.

Rather than looking for shortcuts and rewards, which may be your greatest detriment as a human being, start taking small and meaningful steps toward goals, the least of which should be defined in monetary terms, if at all. Finding meaning in one's life can not be prudently obtained by shortcuts and lists of things to do. Put simply, this meaning is acquired by aligning who you are with what you do, which first requires self-knowledge.