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Career, Paul, Student Life

A Stand

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Lady Justice

Most people that know me hopefully see me as jovial for the most part. I pray I am slow to anger and generally cheerful. Every once in a while, though, I see something that upsets me.

Last week I read a story about a girl in Philadelphia that angered me. I am truly irate. My jaws were sore on Saturday morning from clenching my teeth all day Thursday and Friday. Even after trying to give myself some time to cool down, I am certain that I can’t. See, this little girl was denied a kidney transplant because she was mentally disabled, and I cannot keep silent about that. It’s a blatant slap in the face of civil rights.

Why is this important to MPAs? I have said on several occasions that MPAs, because of our role in society, need to be civil role models as well as corporate role models. That is, we need to go vote, volunteer, etc. Our actions need to reflect the values we hold. It would be hard to look up to someone in the boardroom when you knew that that person was slime when he left the office.

For me, this is no exception. It would be difficult for me to stand by passively on a topic too close to my heart with such a responsibility on my shoulders. So here it goes:

Amelia Rivera

Amelia Rivera is three years old and has Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. She needs a kidney transplant within a year, to live. However, a doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”) told her parents that she could not receive a kidney transplant there because she was “mentally retarded” and because of her “quality of life.” More upsetting is the fact that when her parents told the doctor that they would try to find a donor on their own, the doctor insisted that he still would not perform the transplant.

This is clearly discrimination against those with mental disabilities. Even while I am cautious to go to an extreme on this issue, it seems that there was no other rationale from this doctor to deny this child her right to live. Had several other reasons been given for this child to be denied her kidney, I may have been more understanding. As it is, I am not at all understanding. Continue reading A Stand →

Career, Employment, Paul, Recruiting, Student Life

Heads-Up on Recruiting Season…

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Snoopy as Joe Cool and Woodstock: the epitome of charisma.

As the Spring semester commences, intense recruiting begins for third-year MPAs. While technical knowledge is crucial, it’s interpersonal skills that make or break a recruit on this field. Keep in mind, even if you are interested in a firm, that firm is not going to be interested in you unless they perceive you are interested in it. In other words, this is not merely an “avoid losing” situation; it is imperative that you demonstrate to recruiters that you are interested in them.

Why am I bringing this up? (1) A recent study by MIT and (2) two commercials that just irk the hell out of me.

Charisma

CBS Sunday Morning had a segment on charisma. What charisma actually is is still inexplicable. However, it is undeniable that really successful people have it…whatever it is. (Even the etymology of the word comes from the Greek word for “gift.”) Notwithstanding, researchers at MIT devised what was called a “sociometer” which, as best as an accountant can explain, tried to measure the energy that one radiated. Movement of the hands, inflections of the voice, etc… contributed to giving off more energy.

What’s the point? The point is that MPAs have a LOT of charisma. Recruiting is not the time to be nervous or shy, unless you want to be overlooked.  Without being overbearing, use your personality, listen genuinely, and become interested. This will help make recruiting successful for you. Continue reading Heads-Up on Recruiting Season… →

Paul, Student Life

Paul: A work in Progress

A co-worker of mine once warned me “beware of the person you may become.” I wasn’t by any means doing anything wrong, so don’t let that counsel change your impression of me. However, the idea that my actions today will escalate and snowball, forging either a respectable creature or a leviathan, haunts me. Aristotle said that “excellence is a habit.” Conversely, I could say that to achieve excellence, I need to practice good habits and that poor habits impede the quest for excellence. When I was given this recommendation though, I merely resolved that I needed to be the man today the man I want to be when I was fifty.

And what constitutes greatness anyways? Little things or big things? In my agenda to continually improve my being, how much can I change in a given year? If I cannot sustain my actions then I have not really accomplished much. I’m still excited that I can remember to floss every other morning (one of the great accomplishments of 2009).

I continue to struggle with what I perceive to be the ideal Paul, I attempt to keep three things in mind every day.

First, as Coach Wooden put it, “What [one] learns after [he’s] learned it all counts most of all.” I see this as a way of saying never stop learning. As an accountant I’ll testify that once I’m done learning, I must be a “finished good.” Hopefully, that means I wouldn’t be a finished good until I’m finished as in buried.

Second, be open-minded. It would be foolish to expect to improve one’s self without considering feedback from others. This advice must be taken with a grain of skepticism; discernment is needed to distinguish between those who look to exalt you and those who are trying to hold you back. Overall, if I enter every conversation knowing that I’m absolutely correct about everything I’ll be missing out on an opportunity to gain insights and perspectives I may not otherwise have. Continue reading Paul: A work in Progress →

Academics, Paul, Student Life

Finals Fatigue

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My last post and subsequent rebuttal were quite intense. So were finals. As such, I will keep this column short and puff it up with some conversationalia. After all, break is here.

What is great about the MPA is the intensity that I get the opportunity to bring to the table everyday. There’s really no way to survive the program without this type of effort. And, frankly, it’s a privilege to get to compete for grades with other great minds.

But gosh, is it draining!

As of a couple days ago, I realize just how emotionally, mentally and physically drained I am. Like a great workout, it has been worth it. I know that after some rest, I will realize how much I have learned—both in class and in life—over the past semester, be able to reflect upon it, rejuvenate and return to classes in the spring recharged for my final semester.

Until then, it will be nice to return to being the Paul that is a cousin/nephew/uncle/brother instead of the student/corporate robot. Stated another way, for at least a couple weeks, it will be nice to be hot chocolate Paul instead of coffee Paul.

I wish all well with their finals and pray that professors will grade exams mercifully. Until grades are released, here is some conversationalia…

Continue reading Finals Fatigue →

Academics, Career, Paul, Student Life

Joe Paterno and Responsibilities of an MPA Student

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I rarely post a very direct blog. Usually, my intent is to keep this column very effervescent, but this incident has left me very distraught. Perplexed even. See, it has been very difficult for me to reconcile my emotions over this event because the line of what I deem right and wrong is now hazy.

Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in FBS with 409 victories, was recently fired by Penn State for failing to report an incident involving former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.

If you have not heard, the winningest coach in D-1 football, Joe Paterno, was fired amidst a sex scandal involving an assistant coach. Paterno was allegedly notified of a sexual assault incident in 2002, reported it to Penn State officials, but failed to take further action. The assistant coach, in the meantime, had allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct for years and was even seen on the Penn State campus weeks before the scandal emerged, despite being relieved of official business nearly a decade ago.

The rub is that Paterno was fired and this angered many Penn State fanatics. Paterno is not accused of any actual misconduct; however, he was the head coach, overlooked the program, and as a result, is at least partially to blame for the scandal….right?

How does this relate to MPA? There are numerous times when certain people in a firm engage in poor practice and put the jobs of many employees in jeopardy. Nevertheless, even those who engage in poor practice in a firm are usually on a larger team and whatever work they do should be reviewed multiple times.

Yes, I said that: someone did something unethical, it was reviewed several times and it still got through.

The question is how does this happen? Are those who let such actions occur necessarily bad? I don’t think that Joe Paterno is bad… Continue reading Joe Paterno and Responsibilities of an MPA Student →