In my last post I mentioned that I had an exciting Friday coming up that I would be able to dedicate a blog entry to. I did have an exciting Friday, however, because the partnership is part government agency certain things are confidential. On Friday I sat in on my first think tank for a project I will be helping with. Prior to the meeting I was asked to sign an NDA(Non-Disclosure Agreement) meaning I am not allowed by law to discuss the meeting in any detail. I can share some of what I’ve learned so far and I really like the whole list approach (@Natasha) so I’ll give it a shot.
1. It’s really important to never leave a meeting without fully understanding what it is you’re being asked to do. I’ve seen the frustration in my boss’s face when people come back to get clarity on something they discussed in the meeting. So now when I leave meetings I write down what my task is and I run it back to the person. This was really helpful for one of my projects because I didn’t start on it immediately following the meeting in fact I wont start on it until Monday and I would’ve forgotten had I not written it down, and the point person is really busy and I wouldn’t be able to ask again.
2. When it comes to explaining something to a superior it is super important to be clear and concise. This is not to conserve time. The reason is that the more you talk and explain, their confidence in your understanding goes down. Einstein said “If you cannot explain it simply, you don’t understand it well” . This I unfortunately learned the hard way, but that is the beauty of this project.
3. Local politics are super exciting. This could just be a result of my proximity to local leader like Mike McMillan and Steve Stenger, but I really do enjoy observing how the partnership engages with local leaders. As of right now the partnership is preparing to work with the new St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson.
4. I didn’t know how severe the racial disparity was in the business sector in St. Louis and how many factors there are that affect this issue. One of the factors being financial stability and what is called poverty of access. In order for an entrepreneur to be successful she has to be able to think ahead, weeks, months, years ahead. For many minorities this is simply not a viable way of thinking simply because the short term is far more pressing. This concept is at the core of microeconomics, how singular actors, in this case minorities, allocate scarce resources, in this case money (To be clear money is considered scarce regardless if the actor rich or poor because there is a limited supply).There are other factors that contribute to the racial disparity, of course, education being a big one. It just seems like some of the issues require an understanding of what it takes to be an entrepreneur and understanding the issues people of marginalized groups face. I am truly fascinated by the work being done on that issue and I’m really looking to learn more about this.
I was also thinking maybe instead of presenting this broad overview of my project,what if I presented on one smaller piece of research I worked on and explained my findings. Let me know what you guys think of this idea in the comments. My reason for wanting to do it this way is that I think it will get boring talking about my experience at one place the whole time.
I think that is a good idea. It might be easier for everyone digest too.