If someone came up to me back in August, at the beginning of
this “How Do Innovators Think” course and told me that by the winter I would be
a completely changed person, I would probably think they were nuts. However,
that is exactly the case.
I first saw this class as a lot of work with no real
benefits. I felt like the lessons were unnecessary and didn’t apply to me
because I wasn’t one of the “creative ones”. It wasn’t until I discovered that
creativity could be taught and relearned by anyone that I got over that hump
and started to see the class for what it was: one of the greatest gifts I could
have ever been given. I can see this class being the basis for a whole new me.
As Alan Gregerman said on pg. 64 in his book The Necessity of Strangers, “99% of all
new ideas are based on an idea or practice that someone or something else has
already had”. There are almost no ideas out there that are totally original. It
would be impossible. This is proof that innovation is the driving force behind
the entire world. The things I have learned about innovation have the potential
to turn my very ordinary life into something extraordinary. For the most part,
I used to go through life accepting things as standard. Now I have learned to
question everything I see and experiment with ways to make it better, thanks to
the model of design thinking. Learning about design thinking made it seem so
easy. I now catch myself associating unrelated facts to create an idea when I
don’t even realize it anymore. The Innovator’s DNA is so applicable to everyday
life that my friends and I have made a funny game out of it – see who can apply
the five steps the most in one conversation. We joke around with this but it is
truly such a versatile process that is easily implemented to any situation.
Not
only has this class taught me how to see my faults, but it has also given great
advice on how to implement this new knowledge in my future plans and move
forward to improve. The REFLECT and Special U assessments helped me evaluate my
skills and characteristics from a business standpoint. I have learned to no
longer fear failure. Why should I be afraid of something that I know is coming?
It’s going to happen sooner or later, no matter who you are. So instead of
being scared and panicking, I now take action and plan ahead so that my
failures don’t throw me too much off course. Through ABZ planning, I now have
more of a plan that I ever would have been able to create without this class.
I’ve also learned to try and prevent failures from occurring in the future by
locating my weaknesses and then creating comprehensive plans to improve them.
Compared to what I knew before this class, I have learned so
much about networking through our readings, field trips, and guest speakers.
It’s a skill that allows you to have the world at your fingertips. For example,
Dr. Wellman planned our entire BSE New York trip using LinkedIn and connecting
with UMD alumni. Keeping a strong network of connections is essential for
success in the business world. I have created a LinkedIn of my own and am in
the process of reaching out to people who could benefit me later in time.
Before this class, I thought of business people as strict,
rigid and boring. Now that I have learned about people like David Kelly, I know
this belief is actually the opposite of what is true. There is no one specific
mold that one has to fit in order to have what it takes to be a businessperson.
Take Richard Brandon for example. He’s a high-school dropout who can barely
read. He is also a billionaire entrepreneur that is constantly going on fun
adventures and innovating along the way. This gives me hope that I could be a
businessperson as well. The most important way I changed from this class was
that I acquired a goal to work towards. Taking this course made me realize that
I want and need to be a business major. Unfortunately, getting into the UMD
business school is very challenging. I need to work extremely hard and this
class has given me the drive to do so.
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