Thursday, April 4, 2013

time to jump off the cliff !!

First Day of Orientation and there were a lot of sessions lined up. Some informative, some to kick start the learning process.

Session on case method was good. I liked the fact that the content of actual session was so different and better from the reference material that we were told to pre-read. Also the fact that even after we thought we had discussed all that is to discuss about the case in our group, when we came back to the class, there was so much new information to process.

But then right after, in comes Erik to talk about Ethics and WOW !!
The ethics workshop never felt like that boring mandatory thing anymore, which I have experienced in company orientations before. It was so much information, and so much fun, and so much learning and the way Erik delivered all of that was simply amazing. He was our star of the day.

But for me, the highlight of the day was not just the case method session or not just the ethics workshop. It was the commonality that I found in them.

We worked for almost 3 hours on a case where a manager sends a specific order to some people and they don't comply with it, and then came out with the conclusions in class that people need awareness, they need motivation, they expect Leadership and they may need a mandate for sub-ordination or compliance to get them working.

And then, Erik gives us this Harvard Ethics Oath - a student initiative, and shows a Jon Stewart video about how people are reacting to it. Of course, Jon Stewart has his own style, but when I watched the actors speak of the Harvard Oath, I could so easily relate them to the executives that did not follow their managers instructions in the morning session.

And then, we get to see why ethical behavior is necessary, and the "Erik factor" brings in that leadership and motivation, and we are also briefly reminded of our enrollment contract which expects us to comply with the IE ethics code. Guess what, even though most of us were not so keen on signing the Harvard Oath, we all sign up the IE Ethics Code within few seconds.

So, we not only studied a case that day, but we also lived it and that for me, was the highlight of our first day of orientation.

I guess, this correlation is enough for me, to let go off that tree in Erik's concluding story and jump off the cliff - because I am now assured that the leap is going to be an adventure. Besides, there is someone up there to watch over us anyways.

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