To speed up the process of getting to know one another, would you please introduce yourself with a posting?
Who you are; what you do; what you would rather be doing?
Maybe a comment about why you are taking this course.
Have fun-- see you all on the 26th,
Hal
Hello everyone. Looks like I'll be kicking off the introductions. My name is Dana Polyak, I just recently came back from an extended stay abroad and am happy to be back in the Bay Area. I am currently on one-year LOA from Cisco Belgium where I was a Service & Support Manager for the incumbent SP in the Netherlands. In my role I was doing consulting, customer advocacy, and business development for the account. I have a general idea of the professional direction I want to move in and believe that this class would help me get closer to the long term goal. In addition, it would also provide the intellectual stimulation that I really enjoy. Feel free to ask for any clarifications or details.
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Kat Blasband Page and I am here as a partner in the Sloan Program. I am also on LOA from my job as Vice President of Development and Production at Tapestry Films, a film production company which has produced films including Wedding Crashers, Point Break, Van Wilder and Pay It Forward to name a few. My responsibilities included searching for, developing and selling screenplays, original ideas, book and life rights and subsequently working on physical and post production as well as marketing. I have been considering a career shift into entrepreneurship and am excited to take my creative skills and learn how to apply them across different industries.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Karen Gonzalez. I work as an Associate Marketing Manager for CPP, Inc. This was my first job out of college and I've been here for almost 4 years! Our company publishes assessments such as the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and other tools used in organizations to aid in team building, leadership development, career exploration, etc. I work in the Education market and my responsibilities include creating and implementing targeted campaigns, editor of our quarterly newsletter, managing social media for this market, public relations, working on creating/updating ads/flyers in-house when needed, and managing trade shows. I actually feel really happy where I am because I have been able to grow a lot in my professional development due to the opportunities presented and I find my job fun, though at times challenging. But I really enjoy it. If there's anything else I'd like to be doing, it would be scrapbooking! I'm taking this course because I'm always looking for new ways to learn and grow. Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Kurt Hemmingsen. I work for a very large supply-chain company, Agility Logistics, as Director, integrated customer solutions. When things get complicated between sales, operations, I.T. and our variety of customers, they rely on me to develop innovative customer solutions. I manage projects related to process management within forwarding and supply chain solutions, pricing, modeling, developing and presenting value propositions to customer. I get a lot of ideas, and find it sometimes challenging if our executives do not share my enthusiasm. I hope to find new inspirado! efficient ways to share, to rationalize, to present and unharness creativity. I think it may work if I mingle with professionals sharing same challenges. See you soon. Cheers, Kurt
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Rachel Seidman. I am an AdWords Account Manager at Google. I graduated in May 2010 from college so this is my first job. I work with over 100 Travel clients. My responsibilities include making sure my clients are happy with their AdWords campaigns, providing optimization suggestions, looking for scalable solutions for all of my clients, and figuring out effective ways to grow their business. I am happy with my role but want to take on more leadership positions throughout the organization. Being scalable requires me to be creative and I want to start harnessing my ideas in a more effective manner. Excited to see you all next week!
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Elaine Villatoro, I'm Brazilian, I worked for 4 years in supply chain area as a consultant and as a buyer for big companies such as Nestle.
ReplyDeleteI came to US last year to improve my English proficiency and business skills.
I guess this class is gonna make me pay more attention about my ideas, some times I don't give them importance. I'm also gonna look for a leadership position when I go back to Brazil so I'm pretty sure the class may help me to get ready for this.
See you soon.
Elaine Villatoro
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ReplyDeleteHi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteThis is Utkarsh, By formal education I am an engineer,I work with the global marketing team for a company in the consumer electronics space. Apart from that I also do consulting in the Search Engine Marketing domain. I love what I do, nevertheless my goal is to translate this into doing this full time and start a independent business. Very excited to be a part of this class and to apply the ideas and principles learnt here to my goals and ambition in life. Looking forward to meet everyone. Good day.
Hi all, my name is Ariel Hathaway. I am a Deployment Specialist on the Google Apps for Education team at Google. I worked in consulting for 6 months right after graduating from college in 2009 and then began working at Google. In my current role, I work with colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada as they roll out Google Apps. I serve as the primary technical contact for these schools, working closely with their technical leads and, at times, CIOs. I'm hoping that through this course I will learn skills to assist me in my current job as well as prepare me for potential leadership positions in the future. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone next week!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Prachi Balaji. I am a Research and finance administrator at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, Computer Science Dept, Stanford. I am very happy for what I do. I am taking this course for personal grow and learning. Also, to explore the creative side of me.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amanda Fein and I work here at Stanford in the Otolaryngology Department. I work as a Project Supervisor and Database Admin. for the Tobacco Research and Education team.
ReplyDeleteI love my job so I am perfectly happy here doing my work... well with a small break!
I am interested in taking this class because after reading through the brief description and reading about the class and book on various sites it sounded so interesting I had to invest!!
Hello! My name is Eileen Beaudry and I am passionate about the topics that we will be exploring and look forward to bringing some new ideas back to my organization along the way. For the past 10+ years I have been working on talent development and organizational change for the City of San Jose. My passion is creating learning experiences around innovation and leadership and helping organizations grow. While we've had some great moments over the years, the pace of and potential for innovation and change in government right now is not terribly inspiring, sad to say. I am eager to find a nimble, creative company and to make a career change in 2012.
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ReplyDeleteHi everyone. My name is Annabel Huo. I graduated from Stanford EE department two years ago and joined my current company, Comba Telecom as a software engineer. Recently, I was promoted to be the product manager. I am really excited at the opportunities and challenges I am facing in the new position. However, they also make me raise some questions in leadership and management techniques that we are currently adopting, especially in this rapidly growing, international team.I really hope this class could shed some lights on this. I look forward to the class next week.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Kathy Aronson. My background is in Merchandise Buying for department store, specialty store and e-commerce companies. I am currently working for a start-up in Silicon Valley to build their merchandising strategy and develop vendor relationships. We are a 'flash', private sale retailer built on the Facebook platform. I am delighted to participate in this class and meet all of you. I love learning and growing and look forward to the ideas that will be sparked by participating in this class. I am in NYC this week for business and look forward to meeting each of you next week upon my return.
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm Julia Bradley. I look forward to meeting everyone soon. My background is tech marketing and communications, with experience at a few big companies, like Symantec, and a startup or two, more recently at one acquired by Reputation Defenders. I am interested in this course in order to learn new techniques and strategies that can help me infuse greater creativity into my work initiatives and leadership style.
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Wendy Petersmeyer.
ReplyDeleteI am mainly taking the course to learn and grow professionally and I resonated to the content of the class as well as the experiences of both professors. I am a Stanford grad (’76) and worked in marketing/account management in SF Advertising Agencies as well the client side in early Silicon Valley. I dedicated over 25 years to raising three daughters while working most recently in leadership roles in their schools and at a non-profit founded by Jim Thompson at Stanford University over 10 years ago, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). I am a certified ski instructor part-time at Sundance Resort in Utah. I am hoping the course will give me a fresh perspective as I embark on some new endeavors. I would like to get out of my comfort zone/think outside of the box and explore some new approaches and techniques for problem solving, managing projects and working with groups of people. (I have been doing things the same way for a long time.)
I am working on strategic marketing and branding for PCA and market research for a start up in LA. I will be facilitating focus groups for both. In addition, I will be the moderator for a women’s group for the next year and just completed YPO-WPO moderator training as the group is affiliated with YPO-WPO.
I look forward to taking the course and meeting you all.
Hi, my name is Carolyn McKenzie. I am a stay-at-home mom to two young children. I am originally from Southern California, and I recently moved to Stanford after spending several years living out of the country. Before having kids I worked in investor relations for a mining company in Chile, and I left my job when my husband's work took us to the UK. Someday I would like to go back to work, but for now I am really enjoying being at home with my kids. After almost three years out of the workplace, I see this class as a chance to do something fun, intellectually challenging and very different from my day-to-day activities. I also hope to be able to apply what I learn here when I do go back to work.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Lisa Antillón Kantrowitz and I moved to the Bay Area with my husband and three children (ages 9, 7 and 5) last December. I studied International Relations (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Georgetown University) and I am passionate about understanding and communicating best world environmental and educational practices, including those of less developed countries.
ReplyDeleteBesides taking care of my children, during the last few years I have been a contributor to the Reforma newspaper, Foreign Affairs Latin America, had a regular spot in Mexican public radio, designed a communications strategy for last year´s Cancún United Nations Conference on Climate Change and had a CNN Mexico blog on climate change. It was a hectic year.
I am taking the course because I want to expand my mind in order to explore new and exciting personal and business opportunities in the United States.
I am very excited to meet all of you tomorrow!!!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Brittany Merchant. I work in Development here at Stanford, in the School of Humanities and Sciences. I have always been intrigued by organizational leadership and behavior and I am very excited to take this class! I look forward to meeting everyone tonight and exploring how to bring creativity and leadership to my work, despite the fact that I'm not currently in a leadership role.
Hello All, My name is Mahesh and I work as an Engineer at Force10 Networks in Networking space, which was recently acquired by Dell Inc. I recently moved to US and enjoy being in CA. I'm feeling very stagnant, so I took this course to break it. I do inted to take leadership roles int the future, I hope this class gives me some insight into Leadership. Looking forward to meet you all...
ReplyDeleteHello everyone! I am sorry for my delayed post but I had trouble accessing the internet over the last couple of days. My name is Gloria Vila González and I am from Spain. After reading about all your backgrounds, I guess I'm going to be the 'baby' of the class since I have only just graduated in Buisness and Tourism. I don't have any professional experience; I hope this isn't inconvinient for anyone, nor a reason for the course to go at a slower pace. Also, I don't feel my English is as advanced as most of yours, but I will do my best; I'm sure that this course, combined with your expereiences will help to enrich not only my learning, but my development as a person. I look forward to meet you all later this evening.
ReplyDeleteHi my name is Robynne Morando; currently I work at Stanford University in the Controller’s Office as a Project Accountant. I work with several schools and departments overseeing the finances for capital projects to ensure expenditures are correct and the project are within budget. I am also involved with database management, testing and process controls.
ReplyDeleteAs a part of my annual goals I wanted to further my education and this class really piqued my interest. I am always looking for new insights to share with my team let alone helping me grow as well.
I am looking forward to meeting you tonight.
Hi, my name is Gosia Grabowska. I moved to Bay Area 2 years ago and decided to dedicate this time to my family, as well as personal and professional development. My background is finance and banking, I used to work in risk chain and as a relationship manager in Corporate and Investment Banking for Citigroup in Poland. I loved my work as it was giving me opportunity to meet many creative people – business founders and talented leaders. I'm taking this course to learn creativity techniques and ways to avoid what blocks my personal creativity. Looking forward to meet you all this evening.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone, my name is Marcela Gonzalez. I am from Monterrey, Mexico. I have just arrived to Stanford because my husband is starting an MBA. I just finished my undergrad studies in business administration. I worked in a logistic company back in Monterrey and also as a teacher in kindergarten. I see this class as a challenge because I don’t consider myself very creative neither a great leader. I wish the class will make me grow professionally and personally.
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ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Gregori. I'm from Barcelona, Spain. I've been in the Bay Area just for 5 days and everything here is new for me. I'm looking for a new experience in this university and this subject that seems very interesting. I'm a It engineer in Barcelona, and I also collaborate to a language department in a Catalan University. I've came here because I want to develope a project that I have on mind to teach Catalan on internet.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to meet you all.
Hi Everyone! My name is Stephanie, i am from Mexico. I recently moved here with my husband, he is at his second year at the GSB here at Stanford. I am Graphic Designer and first started working at an advertising agency back in Mexico. Two years ago I did a little twist in my career by focusing in packaging design for a dairy company. I am really excited about this course, because in my career we are always talking about creativy and new ideas, but this concept sometimes gets lost in the daily routine and becomes part of the job, leaving the real creativy behind. So i am looking forward for new concepts and fresh thoughts!
ReplyDeleteNice meeting you all!
Hi … Sharon Kristensen Deméré here. I missed the first class as I have been on the road (and still on the road). My many previous attempts to post my intro have been unsuccessful!
ReplyDeleteI am a small business owner and started Organization Plus, a consulting and hands-on services firm, in 1976 in Southern California … moving to Northern California in 1985. Currently, I work with small businesses and individuals, providing paper, project, space and time management, filing and archival systems development and projects galore. On the home front, I help develop home management systems, filing and archival systems, processes to eliminate clutter, home remodel management, advocacy with medical insurance issues, divorce and death matters. I assist individuals transitioning from corporate to small business, to retirement to downsizing and living simply without clutter.
I’ve signed up for this class to focus on and reassess my leadership abilities, improve and build on my leadership skill set. I look forward to meeting you all October 3rd.
Hello! My name is Mayara. Im an exchange student from Brazil. Ive been in US for a year and half.During the past year I lived on the east coast and now moved to CA.
ReplyDeleteBack home I'm majoring in Computer Science.
I decided to take this course because thought it could be a good way to learn how to take more advantage of my creativity.
Greetings all. My name is Kyla Dreier. I’ve lived close to campus for seven years and this is the first continuing ed class I’ve taken – it seems the perfect Stanford course to begin my adventures! I’ve been interested in Creativity and Leadership for many years but have previously thought of them as separate topics. I’m in Marketing so creativity is core to most everything I do. And, on the leadership side, I’m responsible for the global marketing of my firm’s Human Capital group, which includes consulting in the areas of leadership assessment and development. In addition, I’m a relatively new leader to an area that experienced both staffing and budgetary reductions a year ago; we’re still wrestling with the impact of those decisions. I look forward to exploring this topic with you and my Sloan partner friends, and learning tools to give me insight to help address those issues at work.
ReplyDeleteHi all! I'm Anton, originally Russian. Moved to CA about a year ago from Italy where I was working as a researcher in Augmented Reality in University of Rome. Now I'm working with Sony Ericsson at the Research Department, I'm all about Media Technologies. To be creative is a crucial part of my work, so I would like to learn new mechanisms and methods to enhance my creativity.
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ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Kirtida Parikh.
ReplyDeleteAfter moving to the US 20 years ago, I have been dreaming of studying at Stanford.
I am very excited to meet Hal and Julie and EVERYONE in the class. I am looking forward to understand different perspectives.
The main purpose for me to attend this course is to get a fresh perspective on how creativity can make anything we do interesting.
Greater awareness on leadership will help me tremendously as I am about to join a new organization (Silicon Valley Bank) after my long term association with Wells Fargo.
I have been involved in translating data into information, business intelligence, and insights which is essentially used for strategic planning and marketing.
My interest in organizational leadership is continuing to grow while working with different managers and leaders in banking industry and public utilities.
I love what I do in the office and enjoy gardening, (Indian classical) music, traveling and cooking.
I am looking forward to Monday evening(s) as this is HIGHLY recommended course by many professors around the world!
My name is Scott Friedman. Until December of 2009 I was the CFO of an investment management company in San Francisco. During the past two years I have been engaged with some small consulting projects. I am looking forward to working with the Creativity and Leadership material as I am presently working on some new business ideas.
ReplyDeleteI have taken several Continuing Studies courses and during the past two summers have been enrolled in the Stanford Summer program.