Tristan Schwartz

Abandon your instincts

One of the thinygs you’ll hear from (t)om more times than you can count throughout the semester is to forget about your traditional classroom practices.  At surface level, this means stop raising your hand, create your own grading system, and DO NOT call him “Dr. King!”  But past the semantics, there is a very important piece of yourself that you need, and need to want (I’ll explain), to leave at the door to succeed in this experience (it feels wrong to call this a class):  your pride.  This has layers, and is a culmination of many things I learned in this class, so bear with me through it.

First of all, you don’t need to do anything in this section of MGT 401.  No, seriously.  First day of class, tell tom you don’t want attendance to be a factor in the grading system and you don’t have to step foot in that room again.  Granted, you’re not going to pass, but you won’t be getting an email, “You’ve missed two out of three of your allotted unexcused absences, one more and you’ll be losing a letter grade.”  In fact, you probably won’t get any email at all.  What you will get, after a few weeks, is a GroupMe message, a phone call, or a tap on the shoulder walking across campus from a classmate (likely classmates) who cares.  Because after a few weeks, they want to be there, and my hope is that you want to be there too.  Once that mindset shift happens, everything that was once an obligation is suddenly a source of excitement.

Now back to the pride discussion

This one is obvious, so I won’t spend too much time on it, but remember to ask questions.  This is complex course material and none of my class knew anything coming in.  The kids who acted like they knew everything in the beginning were annoying (I can say that because one of those kids is now one of my closest friends, and part of that comes from this experience).  Equally annoying are the kids who refuse to ask questions for whatever reason.  Everyone is starting at zero, and everything you gain from this experience is progress and can help you in many aspects of life, both personal and professional, so be comfortable knowing what you don’t know, and ask questions to learn.

The first time I got recognition for my contributions to the group was when I drew the connection to the text that we each bring something unique to the table, and can’t possibly be good at everything, so we should focus on what we’re good at and let someone else handle what we’re not-so-good at, because there’s probably someone who is good at it sitting across from you.  Forget about being the “CEO” of the group that is a finance whiz and a brilliant marketer.  You’re one of 20 students, you don’t need to carry everyone.  I always wanted to be great at the finance stuff and work with money.  Turns out I’m better at strategizing and organizing/talking to others.  Lucky for us, there was a pre-finance MBA guy on the team who gladly took care of the numbers better than anyone, while I made sure we were working cohesively.  Win-win-win (for all you Michael Scott fans):  I got to be good at something, he got to be good at something, and the class was saved from my mediocre knowledge of financial statements clouded by pride and my desire to be someone I was not.

Here comes the most important part

You know how it’s cool to not care?  Not do the readings, make jokes about it, sleep through class because 10am is early and you don’t need to be there?  Not so cool here.  Ask me why I have a D on my transcript from Managerial Accounting my freshman year Spring semester, I thought I was too cool to ask for help to the point that I dug myself out of a GPA ditch the rest of my college career.  If there’s one thing I learned early at PC it was to not be a hardo in class; not the case here. Whether we admit it or not, this is a serious feeling that every student worries about at some point.  You don’t want to be that guy or girl that takes learning so seriously in the classroom that you affect your relationships with the kids around you when you walk out the door.

Please take this advice seriously and abandon that worry, at least for this course.  Expressing “unpopular” opinions is necessary for growth in Organizational Theory.  Arguing with your group members (respectfully) is necessary for growth in Organizational Theory.  Progress will not be made without conflict, and letting fear for personal relationships get in the way of that conflict is a damn shame.  I promise you that giving your all to this experience will not make you lose friends, and in the end, you’ll be thanked by your teammates for it.  If it’s any reassurance, my classmate Jackie and I, as two of the most outspoken in the group, outwardly argued most classes from day one.  We didn’t agree on much that we learned at first, and expressed that often.  Despite that, she is one of my closest friends and one of the people I talk to most, even after graduation, and we didn’t really even know each other until halfway through our junior year in MGT 401.  Like I said, this is a learning experience, not a class, and everything you can take away from it will give you skills to succeed in many aspects of life, so start that personal growth as early as possible (even if it means looking like a hardo in front of 19 other students).

Lastly (and I only thought of this as I was re-reading so I’m putting it here), be candid, be genuine.  I’m using those two to avoid sounding corny by saying be yourself.  Forget professionalism, forget formalities, forget stringent rules,  IF that’s not you.  If it IS you, then remember them.  Every stage of life needs every kind of person.  Be the person that is most authentically you, because that’s the person your group needs you to be, and that’s the person you’ll be most comfortable being.  Remember this inside and outside the classroom.

SO, if I can give you any advice as to how to leave your pride at the door in a few bullets:

  • Show up—it may not be required but come on, just go to class
  • Ask questions—a study showed that asking questions actually makes you appear smarter to your peers (I learned that yesterday. Everything happens for a reason.)
  • Admit you’re not the best at everything—but you are the best in the room at something, so take that and run with it
  • Be a hardo (a person who tries extremely hard at everything)—it will not make you lose friends or look like a nerd.  Hopefully all of you take this one seriously and have a full class of try-hards.  That’ll make your job way easier, tom!
  • Be yourself—life is easier that way

Thanks for reading this.  I guess another thing I took away from tom’s classes is the inability to write out my thoughts in less than 1,000 words.  But seriously, MGT 401 was the first time I ever really felt engaged in a course.  It helped me become a better public speaker and writer, gave me more confidence, completely turned around the way I learned, and made me appreciate PC as a whole even more.

Long after the course ended, tom has been a mentor to me, and one of the most influential members of the PCSB community, and I plan to keep in touch and work together in the future (if he ever answers my emails).  Keeping in touch with the PC community is something I’m really interested in doing, so maybe I’ll be lucky enough to come in to speak in a class or meet with some of you, but regardless, if you have any questions or concerns with tom’s classes, feel free to reach out to me (this is a genuine offer, I’d be happy to help).  Take what you can from the rest of your time at Providence, inside the classroom and out.  I call it the happiest place on earth, and time flies there, so enjoy every second.