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Last Lecture Exercise

Lessons learned:   Last Lecture Exercise       Placing God first can transform difficult challenges into rewarding and spiritual experiences.   This term while completing case studies and trying to understand lessons from others’ lives, it brought to memory the time my wife and I had to learn a very tough lesson.   As a field service technician for Cummins, one of my first assignments was to shadow a journeyman mechanic in the Phoenix valley.   I would travel with him and work either on the same projects or on the same work-site as he would.   This was a rewarding experience for me; it was successful in building a solid foundation with Cummins.   After six months, I was assigned to be a resident diagnostician for one of our larger clients.   Each day I would report to their service facilities and diagnose and direct repairs on their fleet.   I had three new co-workers that seemed dependable and easy to work with.   This specific assignment was coveted by many in field service, s
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Week 13 Journal

This week my wife and I sat down to discuss our own personal finances.   We decided to create a budget, not unlike a small business budget that I’ve created in the past.   We slowly applied each debit and credit to our budget sheet and when concluded, I created a simple balance sheet with a projected profit and loss statement.   If I was to ask Sadie to do this with me years ago, it wouldn’t have been near as meaningful as we are now very close to paying our mortgage off and starting a new and exciting chapter in our lives.   I included both my pension and 401K as, with projections for retirement in 15 years.   We both feel if we remain strict to our budget we can have both mission funds and college education set aside for our two sons.   At times, discussing the budget was tense and nerve-racking.   However, we have had the same goals for over 18 years now and will continue to do so.   We are looking forward to the future. After the last two terms of school, with all of the fin

Week 10 Journal

       This week I enjoyed reading about marketing and understanding methods my own personal mentor may have marketed their successful businesses.   I was taught that the customer is everything, their opinion may not always be the best, but you must make them believe it is.   I’m truly grateful for some amazing mentors.   I’ve been able to share burdens with some great men and woman in both my personal and professional life that showed me the things in life that don’t kill you, will only make us stronger.   I found the methods of marketing very interesting.   While some businesses thrive on television and print ads (car dealerships) there are others like Starbucks that have virtually no marketing, only word-of-mouth networking.   I think it takes a lot of forethought to know what kind of audience you need to make your business successful, then develop a plan to engage and attract those clients.        Having worked in the auto/ truck/ engine repair service for over twenty year

Week 9 Journal

This week I really enjoyed my study time, reviewing a case study on Southwest Airlines.   I’m surprised how a seemingly simple idea of localized service grew into one of the eight largest airlines in the world.   During my review time I would continually jot down quotes and ideas presented by past and present employees of Southwest.   I found these quotes to be highly motivating and leadership positive.   Upon further research, it seems as though all of the persons selected for employment either learned to focus on work-life happiness or they already possessed an acuity towards Southwest Airlines leaderships values and goals.   Also, I was surprised at the laidback atmosphere developed and portrayed from the top down.   It was clear the employees and case study author found this endearing and desired to find the root cause.   As I completed my study time, I found the root cause of this to be actual love and caring for their fellow employees and leadership. A trait I’ve been tryi

Week 8 Journal

I was completely astounded this week while studying about different company motivations, hiring practices and employee engagement practices.   I read about a software company SAS Institute.   This company has an internal daycare, personal ergonomic coach, employee cafeteria, employee gym and unlimited sick leave for employees to enjoy.   Jim Goodnight believes that a company will only succeed as long as the employees are healthy and happy.   I didn’t realize there were companies that practiced these kinds of principles.   My current employer has a mission statement that includes words like “Mission, Vision, Values and Goals”, however upon further reading of my own company propaganda it appears that most of these words are fluff, with no real intent or plans behind the hype.   Hopefully, after earning a degree, I might be able to find a company that can afford to treat its employees as well as the stock holders believe they do.                I chose a close personal friend as so