For my semester-end blog post, I tasked ChatGPT (I know, I know, totally original idea) to brainstorm creative ways to write my end-of-course post. It initially pitched writing it in a different language, then in all pirate talk, then finally this idea that I think is the most reasonable, useful, and entertaining. So, join me on this adventure as we go forth into this together and I ask for some grace in the oddness of this format compared to a typical one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a strong start for our awards ceremony, the panel immediately hit a speed bump in deciding on which actor (speaker) would win this coveted award and its prize (there is no prize). However, I am pleased to announce that the winner of the best actor (speaker) award is New Age Capital, with founders LaDante McMillon and Ivan Alo. New Age Capital brought a fantastic sense of style, fun, and tons of interesting and insightful information to our semester and it was an absolute, unanimous vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wait, it looks like there was a correction. It looks like there are TWO winners of the Best Actor award for this year, never before seen in all of this show\u2019s history! Our second winner is Silicon Valley Bank for its thrilling performance in the show, Bank Run (is this too far?) \u2013 with the lead actor, Sean Thompson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while some may accuse the panel (me) of being biased, I do believe that we got to see such a great display of both rising up in the ranks and what a harder perspective and place in business can look like between these varying actors (guest speakers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This award was a tough decision, lots of different pieces stood out to me so I\u2019m going to instead offer 2 runner-ups and the final winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the first runner-up position, Andy Ruben shared with us the idea that a company shifts its environment every 2 years and gave the analogies of climbing trees vs. living in the fields, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the second runner-up position, Mark Mahoney shared that the best way to understand your clients is to understand \u201cwhat keeps them up at night\u201d and read into that and resolve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lastly, for the final winner position, was Doug Shaw\u2019s advice about \u201cI\u2019d rather sell painkillers than vitamins\u201d for the perspective shift that it brought. I did have some bias as I heard this after hearing from a non-profit director \u201cWe should work ourselves out of business\u201d so I did just enjoy (the panel was biased) the different advice here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some ways it does pain me as it felt like the trend of our course, but the most obvious award here goes to any discussion around AI. Specifically when there was a post using wording such as \u201ctop 10 ways AI can transform your life\u201d or the like of this. I have a love-hate relationship with AI, as I think a lot of us do as well so while I did love seeing those posts (and shared some myself), and also always looked at the top 10 ways<\/em>, I also did get AI burnout at moments. Nevertheless, AI (albeit reluctantly) gets the award for the favorite Twitter talk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The top takeaway award goes to a theme more so than an individual statement. The recurring theme of, it\u2019s actually <\/em><\/strong>okay to take risks in life and especially early on. Countless speakers shared with us that the best thing to do after graduating is to start taking risks or to absolutely double down and that both could and likely will eventually lead to success. It was not anything new but it was really great to hear that and let it sink in, hearing it from incredibly well-successful and established individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe thing that makes my teaching different is that I was a Methodist pastor for 10 years.\u201d \u2018Nuff said. I\u2019d love to elaborate on this but I honestly believe (and so does the panel, of course) that this was a fantastic comment and summed up a lot of the course structure, style, and takeaways. Y\u2019know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The award for the coolest class conversation goes to Blockchain! The panel (still, just me) came into this course with zero understanding of blockchain and while I did try and get ChatGPT to teach it to me (like a 5-year-old, using different analogies, and in real terms), nothing could compare to the teaching and conversation that followed in our course. The takeaway was both a lesson on the blockchain, and how much I still don\u2019t get it, and also how effective conversations are with multiple people with many different backgrounds and understandings on a complex topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, the award for the biggest area of growth goes to\u2026 confidence, all of you, and us! Over the last few months of us meeting for classes, I (the panel) have been able to see a lot of personal and professional growth in all of us, myself included. From the ways we ask questions, to speaking up to (at times) intimidating guest speakers, to even learning as a collective group – there has been so much growth in all of us and especially in our confidence in what we know and who we are. I am proud of that and this award was genuinely the easiest to decide on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for joining me tonight for this year\u2019s awards show. We\u2019ve had a great lineup of speakers, discussions, tweets, blogs, TedTalks, and Professor Kane comments to pick from, a thoroughly enjoyable and informative class experience, and a good send off to senior year. I am personally very thankful for the experience this class has brought me, the new perspectives, and the rekindling of a love for learning this course has brought for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the curtains close on our MIST 5720 Awards, I thank you all for the last few months of great discussions and conversations. I wish you all the best in all of your future endeavors and hope that we can all be a resource of encouragement and support if ever needed in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n p.s. I\u2019d love to hear if you have any thoughts for different awards or different winners, the above opinions are solely my own and meant to be humorous and light-hearted above all. And I\u2019ll include a comment including how ChatGPT encouraged me to conclude this awards show if you\u2019re interested. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For my semester-end blog post, I tasked ChatGPT (I know, I know, totally original idea) to brainstorm creative ways to write my end-of-course post. It initially pitched writing it in a different language, then in all pirate talk, then finally this idea that I think is the most reasonable, useful, and entertaining. So, join me… Continue reading The MIST 5720 Awards<\/span> \n
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