#fullsaillife

The Data Visualization and Creative Reporting, class, is my second favorite class out of the Business Intelligence Program. The first week we created an infographic and charts that described who were.  I found this to be a challenge;  it is always hard to talk about yourself. The second week was also challenging, we were given options for movies and had to explain their plot using only visualizations.  I chose a favorite “The Sound of Music”, even though I knew the movie, it was still hard trying to gather data to put into visualizations.

Week three was the most fun for me, we created a super hero dashboard.  I chose Iron Man, I created gauges and boxes like schedules and text messages that would be useful for Iron Man’s everyday life.  I added in innuendos from the recent Spider-Man: Homecoming movie and turned my dashboard into a presentation with the “I am Iron Man” theme song. Lastly, week four was the most challenging, but most important, as we were taking everything we have learned over the month and adding it all together to create visualizations and dashboards for our working companies.  

The biggest take away for this class is understanding that data visualization is important and being able to express the data visually can be more impactful than just plain graphs/charts.  The analogy that I learned in this class (during one of our video/reading assignments), is that data is like a cake, it can have layers of information, if those layers are not correct or don't contain good ingredients, it doesn’ t matter how much frosting and design you put on the cake, it's still not going to be a good cake.  If the layers of the cake are correct or have good ingredients and there is only a little bit of frosting, the cake is going to be good, not great but good enough to eat. Having the ability to serve an audience a great piece of cake will be more reliable and impactful, they are more likely to understand the data/message being communicated.   

The course (Marketing and Consumer Research Analysis) was a bit of a jolt for me. Since I have been working in my field for ten years, I was comfortable in each of my classes, until this one. What I mean by that is, my time management and grades were impeccable prior to this class. After I looked at the requirements for this class, I noticed I struggled with keeping up with the pace. I preferably would have liked to start on this class during the Christmas break. But, I see how that could have been an unfair advantage to other students taking this class at different times of the year. I was reminded in this class why I do not like group assignments. I struggled with depending on the nonprofit contact I chose to support. Due to lack of quick feedback and guidance on how I could help improve the organization, I asked for my first extension and had to come to the realization that I may have to repeat a class. I had to be ok with that. I learned that failing is possibly in the cards, but that does not mean you can’t keep moving forward.

My personality is Type A normally, I like to keep things clean and in place. I can shift out of that personality and that is what I had to do during this course. My motherly chores were neglected, and I became fine with that. Getting this Master’s will be worth every piece of clothing on the floor, unmade bed, missed event and free time.

Every piece of information that I have learned in my program, I have been able to apply directly to my current position. I have confidence in knowing I am being taught skills to put me ahead of my peers in the same field. If I had to select one word to describe this course, it would be CHALLENGE. For those taking this course in the future, start as early as you can.

Envision the chef Emerald,” BAM!  We are about to take it up a notch” in this Marketing and Consumer Research Analysis course. Get ready!

 For my next course, I will go over the entire course before I start the first assignment, so that I can make sure I manage my time better.

Continuing on my Mastery Journey, the path takes me to Negotiation and Deal Making class. This class has been SUCH an AWESOME experience. The professor, Mrs. Elizabeth, is super knowledgeable, down to earth and overall amazing. In this class I learned the basics of negotiations. Knowing and finding out about the underlying interests and positions of the parties can be a huge factor in coming up with solutions and hidden opportunities that will ultimately have both parties satisfied and hopefully curve their mindset about negotiations (since the overall connotation of negotiations is seen as a chore more than an opportunity). There’s more than just this that goes into a negotiation though. You have to take into account emotions and basic human needs. This is where empathy on your part and knowing yourself comes in.

Well, speaking of knowing yourself, this class has helped me learn more about myself as well. We took a short but interesting personality quiz and the choices were a Thinker, Inspirer, Commander, and Quiet Supporter. I found out that I am a Thinker and some characteristics about this personality is that we’re great at creating a plan, organized and can figure out solutions out of a large problem. The downside is that we can’t empathize as easily as the other personalities, not doing as well in chaotic situations and have a hard time expressing opinions on personal matters. This stuck out to me a lot because it does describe me somewhat and I have been thinking that I need to start thinking more empathically and this confirms it for me this month.

This month has helped me a lot with learning to handle negotiations and being able to think a bit more creatively, especially during an exercise we did in class. Not only do we roleplay with fact patterns, but we played Monopoly! This is a genius idea to have this as an exercise in a Negotiation and Deal Making class! Not only did I learn new tactics to use in life and in the game, but also it gave me a chance to use everything I’ve learned in the class in real time and had to learn how to use these techniques on the fly and see what works and what doesn’t and learn how to read others so that way I can tailor my approach to them and get the favorable outcome I’m looking for. This class has been by far my favorite class of this program and being halfway through this journey, I’m getting fired up for the second half of the program!

Today’s inspirational quote has been brought to you by Colin Powell. Now, this one resonates because it fully says what it takes for you to be successful. Our measures of success can be different, but what it takes to get there is all the same (for the most part). You have dedicated to your craft, put in hard work, and fail. You’re going to fail and it’s okay. Your persistence and passion will be the main factors that will help get over that failure and help you be successful. Help you to be come a Master.

Because I can’t help myself, here’s my APA citation,