Tag Archive for 'culture'

Commentary: Netflix on Freedom & Responsibility Culture

Netflix takes its corporate culture seriously. Probably the first and only time I would recommend or read a presentation deck of 128 slides. It features FASCINATING insights about its business strategy and culture of work.

I’ve worked for a number of different companies — big, small, new — each has its own set of characteristics. Netflix, thus far, has an extremely unique point of view. The level of transparency is severely refreshing.

Quick kudos to one of my favorite blogs: TechCrunch.

What do you think? How does Netflix compare to companies you’ve worked for or worked with?

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How to Say No and Not Feel Guilty

Harvard students do too much

Sometimes, you just get that nagging little feeling that tells you that you should stop doing something because it’s too hard, too time-consuming, not interesting etc. etc.

BUUT, then you’re alter-ego kicks in and says, but you’ve spent so much time on it already! If you quit, it’ll all be for naught.

OR, they are relying on you! You need to be dependable or else it’ll look bad.

OR, if you suffer through it….it’ll look GREAT on your resume!!!

Here’s a few tips I’ve learned over the years on saying no gracefully and shamelessly. It’s improved my standard of living muchly so, thank you.

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Social (Media) Networking 101′s for the Harvard Student

Social Media NetworksAh, Facebook. It encapsulates both the joy and despair of a college student’s existence. It can gobble up your soul while you’re composing that perfect wall post to your (maybe he / she likes me) crush.

You might spend more time crafting your perfect Facebook profile and finding that awesome Facebook profile pic than ALL of the time you spent preparing for college applications. Scary.

Not that I’m any avid user of social networking sites by any means, here are some useful ground rules for not completely messing up your internet trail forever.

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What They Don’t Tell You about Careers in Other Countries (China)

dscf3041Maybe you were like me, maybe not, but I always thought that working abroad right after graduation in a foreign country (I’m an American) would be fantastic. It’d be a thrill ride, and be totally awesome.

However, after a set of informational interviews in Shanghai, I started to realize that jump starting your career in a foreign country isn’t as easy as OCS makes it seem.

The language barrier can be a total opportunity killer.

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Commentary: Brain Gain: The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs

The New Yorker’s Brain Gain: The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs

A young man I’ll call Alex recently graduated from Harvard. As a history major, Alex wrote about a dozen papers a semester. He also ran a student organization, for which he often worked more than forty hours a week; when he wasn’t on the job, he had classes. Weeknights were devoted to all the schoolwork that he couldn’t finish during the day, and weekend nights were spent drinking with friends and going to dance parties. “Trite as it sounds,” he told me, it seemed important to “maybe appreciate my own youth.” Since, in essence, this life was impossible, Alex began taking Adderall to make it possible.

Seriously? As an “efficiency-obsessed” Harvard student, I absolutely understand the appeal of such mental steroids. Imagine, all the wonderful/crazy/exciting/amazing things I could do if my brain could focus a little bit better, for longer periods of time, if I didn’t need sleep, if I never wearied from writing that damn response paper.

However, if you need a drug to help you keep on top of things, I feel like that’s a sign that something is amiss in your life, that you haven’t examined your priorities, that you really don’t know what you want out of life.

It’s incredibly easy as a Harvard student to just want EVERYTHING. But, that’s just a sign of not actually wanting anything.

Your thoughts?

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How to Make the Most of Prefrosh Weekend

cookiescompI remember my prefrosh weekend. The weather sucked, and I was a sad prefrosh quad-ed in Cabot without other prefrosh roommates. The weekend was alright, nothing extraordinary. I was more tired of being rained upon than anything, but it was the freshmen concert that ended up clinching my decision. There was such vitality and a quality of pre-professionalism that I knew that Harvard was where I wanted to be.

Prefrosh weekend + not many days to make a decision = stress. Read more to learn about how to make the most of your prefrosh weekend (at Harvard).

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How to Procrastinate

l-640-480-ceb4c982-6f50-4fc4-99c2-03b82bcb4d09.jpegIf your reading period is ridiculously easy, read this post. If not, avoid this post like the plague.

Here is my round up of the BEST (and most evil time-sucking) ways to procrastinate.

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Time Debt and Harvard’s Addiction to Over-Commitment

My Economics professor made an interesting analogy last week, comparing time commitments to “time debt.” Harvard students have a tendency to “promise” time to other parties that will be collected at a future point in time in exchange for things like grades, money, fun, etc.

Unfortunately, we too suffer from time inconsistencies regarding our time use. We commit to too much now, but have to perhaps renege on our promises later. Time inconsistencies are generally used by economists to explain things like addiction to procrastination, but at the core of it all, is a self-control issue. Whereas some people cannot help but to pull out their credit card to buy that new pair of shoes, we cannot help but to say yes to an awesome opportunity that will only maybe just take 2 hours a week.

The funny thing about “time debt” — a promise to pay back time/effort at a future date — is that the interest compounds. Time commitments snow ball, people expect and demand more from you, and soon your 2 hour a week gig ends up 3 or 4 hours a week, during a week, of course, of midterms.

So what is this “time debt,” and why in the world is this a problem of many successful people?

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Don’t Be THAT Boy or Girl: What Not To Do Amongst Other Smart People

Being clever and one step ahead, the typical Harvard student probably answered many a question in class, asked many a question, and was generally what most would term a “smarty pants.”

However, drop said newly admitted student into a class of 1500+ other really smart newly admitted kids and smarter, older, maybe wiser upperclassmen, and the game changes. Life Sciences 1a fills Sanders Theater, and no one likes that kid who asks the irrelevant make-me-look-smart questions at the end of lecture.

If you’re among smart people and you’re smart yourself, keep your attitude in check to gain respect from your peers.

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Being the Team Player Among Leaders

Everyone at Harvard is pretty much trained to be a leader. They arrive having been the president of the debate club, CEO of a small company and captain of the fencing team.

One of the major transitions is learning how to work as a team amongst a group of type A people. It’s easy to lead when people are used to following, less so when other people are used to leading.

There are a few strategies you can take to help lead a team of leaders without appearing to be THAT obnoxiously bossy person.

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