Tipping way out of balance again!

Things sure have been crazy again at work. I'm training a new team and we are really starting from scratch. This has caused me to work more hours and have a great deal more stress.

The good thing is that it has helped me return to the basics of sales and marketing. Sometimes I've gotten away from the basics that have served me so well. I guess you never know something really until you have to teach it to someone else.

That is the nice thing about my new team. I always enjoyed teaching customers about our products, doing training, demonstrations and seminars. This time I'm training "internal customers", my new team!

PS: If any of my former MBA classmates stop by the blog, drop me a line! (Chris, Charles, Tito and the rest!)

Marketing and stuff

I'm reading a good book these days called "The Marketing Mavens" by Noel Capon. It is a pretty good book and it is based on the premise that very good marketing companies are really tuned into the markets they serve ( and don't serve) as well as letting Marketing Departments really drive business ( instead of just sending out newsletters).

This is a hard concept to grab since I work for a big multinational chemical company. We don't seem to embrace this concept very well. I'm going to do some benchmarking after I finish the book and hopefully we can adopt some of these concepts.


That's it for now...

The time sure has flown by!

I had been so excited to finally finish my MBA and get some free time that I seem to have filled it back up again! Family activities have consumed a large portion now as I had certainly cut back on them to get thru school and get all my work done.

Now I've got a new position at work and it has consumed the remainder of that "free" time again. ( OK that and the new kitchen table and storage bench system I'm building!). Did I mention woodworking is one of my hobbies?

Well anyway, I'm going to try and resume posting again.

The Last Day of my MBA!

Wow! What a great feeling to be done with the MBA! I'll certainly miss the great people including my learning teammates. I've been lucky to have some good ones!

Well this will be a sad day too as I've really enjoyed the intellectual stimulation. It has forced me to be brutal with my time as well. Now I will have a bit more relaxation.

Maybe I'll post more often now.

Final Paper Turned In!!!!!!!

Well I just turned in the final paper and now have to wait a bit til grades come out. I'm hoping to keep this A streak alive!

Now I'm exhausted from the past 21 months of school while working full time and traveling all the time. That PhD is calling........

Perhaps it can wait a bit!

The last 72 Hours of my MBA

The finish line is so close and I am really sweating out my last paper ( a strategic plan) for this last course. I am going over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure I don't miss anything.

I keep telling myself that just 72 hours from now I will have completed all the requirements for my MBA program.

This has been a great program for me. I've learned a great deal from my learning teams and all my classmates ( spread all over the US and Europe). I've found I am able to apply much of the learning from the program and already received both a raise and a promotion since starting the MBA. I attribute both to the tools and skills I learned ( and was able to put into practice).

Well, I have to finish that paper........

MBA Countdown - Less than 3 days!

Here I am taking a day of vacation to work on my final MBA paper. This is a complete strategic plan exercise and I find myself bleary-eyed and tired but pretty satisfied so far. I figure one more day's worth of work and I'll have it complete.

What a journey - lots of late nights and very early mornings. In spite of writing so much, it seems hard to actually describe.

This has been a goal of mine for years so I feel very satisfied to be on the verge of achieving it.