Another Hot Yet Gracious Day in Chattanooga

Good morning from Chattanooga!

This morning started with a stroll down to the Starbucks on the UTC campus and a cup of coffee. The sun was up but the heat hadn’t set on yet. This was a brief period for reflection and relaxation before the morning started with our third lecture in our management series by Dr. Neely.

Dr. Neely’s talk shun light on human capital in organizations, applicable for everyone’s future in some form be it in our own future enterprises as leaders or as hopeful leaders in established organizations. We discussed what was the best way to recruit, understanding that behavioral questions performed best in terms of digging into previous experiences and asking how candidates had reacted or carried out certain tasks, which act as the best indication on future action in a role.

Dr. Neely was able to keep the class motivated throughout the session with interluding group exercises which acted as catalyst for further group discussions. The first being a game of envelopes in which class members were asked to place a certain amount of money in envelopes and depending on other groups actions, groups would either lose or make money. The exercise showed interdependence and trust between groups and led to examining these relationships within businesses. If we all work together, our overall payoff will always be higher!

The second exercise allowed our true skills and competitiveness to come out. A game of shapes, but with a twist! The twist being no words, grunts, winks or helping others in any way. Despite these challenges we were asked to complete the set of shape puzzles. Though most of us are self-confessed puzzle superstars, most struggled desperately. Grunting was experienced and annoyance with each other shun though. The struggle continued until all successfully managed to complete this tipsy turvy exercise. Sighing of relief, as if we had just crossed the finish line of a marathon, we went into debate about what we had learned. The essence of the challenge was to show the importance of communication for everything we want others to do and help with what we are doing. Something we will all carry onwards from now and have not just stuck in our brain, but sewn in.

Lunch commenced and the group preceded to munch on some vegetarian treats from Cashew in Chattanooga with laughter and good humor whilst taste buds slowly sizzles. This turned into the perfect opportunity to pose for the me, the new cameraman.

With our stomachs filled and a slow tiresome walk, we form a crusade to the library to start the afternoon. For our afternoon we were joined by a motivating speaker, Dr. Moise Baptise. With a big smile and strong voice Dr. Baptise commenced to hold us on our toes for the following hour and a half. Talking us through his tales of ancestry, growing up in the U.S. as a Haitian-American and setting on a path to beat societal prejudices. With all eyes locked on him and his slides, he moved us forward to his work in Haiti after the earthquakes and his current work out there. With this he set us on our way to think about our own path and purpose in the world. By the end of the talk, when we thought we had exhausted his wisdom, he succeeded to giving us tools for public speaking for which his speech would now stand as a strong example for drawing lessons and our upcoming presentations in Washington, D.C.

This was one of those rare gifts to peek into how the dynamics of how the U.S. work and what social interactions in the form of discrimination and prejudice consist of in the U.S. And an important lesson in staying humble and encouraging you to expose oneself to different cultures. I am sure most came out of the session much like me, feeling like much was left unresolved and hungry to take on the world and better our society. It was a truly motivating talk.

With that behind us the group split up, with some off to the mall to carry out some much needed shopping, mostly consisting of purchasing wants not necessities it seems! I went off with my capstone group to work on our presentation and get our heads together to figure out what still needed to be done. After the sweat was withdrawn from us, I replenished at Champies for some classic southern fried chicken --finger licking goodness, if I may use the rivals catchphrase.

The night ended with an informal congregation in Ellen’s room with us all digging into a chunk of cheesecake leftover from her birthday, all a good bit of fun and play.