Picture of Our Future
Look at this picture. What do you see? Who do you see? How do you see them? Where do you see them? Why do you see this picture?
Spring 2010---A Management Approach to Organizational Behavior
When I look at the picture, I see my spring 2010 class of “A Management Approach to Organizational Behavior”—a class that whether they liked it or not, moved out of their comfort zones to meet and excel at challenging course expectations.
When I look at the picture, I see a microcosm of Baruch College, the nation’s most ethnically diverse campus of over 15,500 students who speak 110 languages and come from 160 countries.
When I look at the picture, I see decision makers who will climb the corporate—or small business—ladders to achieve the success that they so much want to attain.
When I look at the picture, I see the future, a future that includes other students in classes like mine who will take what they have learned in college and use it to be effective and efficient managers and leaders.
When I look at this picture on my computer or now posted on my blog, I smile. These “students” are part of today’s workforce. While working to be a leader, they are making a difference in people’s lives as a manager, an intern, a small business owner, an executive at their parents’ company, a receptionist at a medical office, a technology lab assistant. They are working to be managers and leaders, and in that process using directly or indirectly the knowledge that they gained in my class.
When I look at this picture, I see these and other individuals who in coming years will be making decisions about the future of America. I like to think that the curriculum of the class that they took with me will help them make those decisions. That required essays to examine their organizational behavior; identify and understand the bully or the procrastinator or the older worker in the workplace; acquire a realistic perspective on women in leadership from guest speakers and conference panelists; and compare a founding father with a technology pioneer helped to put innovation and risk-taking into a meaningful and historical context.
Part of my students’ final written assignment was to write about workplace 2020—what they will be doing, how they will be working, where they will be doing that work, etc. Their essays included finding work-life balance and needing to be continuous learners. One student, the only one in a class where everyone included technology as part of their future, mentioned that soft skills—interactions with others—will also be needed.
Relationships are part of the future. My relationship with my students was a rewarding one, one where I could see the future develop during each and every class. I salute my class of spring 2010 and wish them great achievement.