I must say, your projects are the most well-paced projects that I’ve worked on. Most courses have a culminating project, but this course was divided into two parts. Most students wait to do project work at the end of the semester, but in this course we started working on our project within the first few weeks. I believe this led to a better outcome, a true understanding of the material and a sense of pride in the work we had created. Thank you for giving me the tools to think more creatively. I know I will use what I have learned from both your classes in my future!
This course has challenged, enlightened and inspired me in ways that no other class has done because it encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone. The course material and work load was not necessarily difficult, but it did require a lot of invested time for thinking. What are we trying to solve? How will consumer react to our concept? Is our target market going to be attracted to our idea? As I learned from last semester’s class, I allocated time to think, process and analyze the information we had created as a team in order to best follow the procedure. I knw to some students the class feels very controlled, but I think it is the opposite. These guidelines “hold your hand” to help guide you in the way to best think and process. Allocating this time was extremely beneficial because I was able to get a full understanding of our project and mission, not just a surface level understanding. Here are my three main takeaways.
- Step out of your comfort zone.
The idea of creating a product that could revolutionize the hotel industry and improve the environment was daunting. How could I do something that could make such an impact? I put pressure on myself to try and create something that was revolutionary, but all we needed to do was make small changes. In such a large industry, small changes lead to HUGE results. Similar to last class, I still had trouble during the crazy brainstorming sessions because I feel uncomfortable coming up with ideas that are not “good.” But these ideas are good! I did better than last semester, but there is still plenty of improvement to be made.
At first I thought the pitch session was going to be more daunting than it actually was. I really believe in our concept so that made it a lot easier to talk about. We received a lot of good feedback from this. This was a great form of opportunity finding,, as discussed in the syllabus, because I was able to generate information from viewers about how they might have addressed our HMW which leads to a better problem definition and understanding.
- Follow the process
I am the type of person who wants to “cut to the chase.” Take out the middleman and get to the end result. This step by step process taught me patience and the value that each step can bring. I learned to trust the process. We never would have come up with our idea had we not done each step. Yet, it is not even simply “doing the step.” This was a process where each step led to new research, ideas and data to analyze and think about. There is a reason the process is put in place, trust it and give it a try!
- Listen.
This course taught me the importance and value of listening. We received great feedback from our classmates and EP’s that really helped us shape our idea and concept. Our classmates were confused about our concept when we presented it to them for the first time. They really liked our point system idea, thought we should implements changes into all hotel rooms instead of making elite hotel rooms and suggest we expand our target market. It was difficult for us to hear this “negative” feedback, but we were able to capitalize on it and revamp our concept idea. With their insight, we went to the poster presentation and received so much positive feedback. We would never of been able to come up with our concept if we would not have listened to the feedback. You are not going to be able to please every person, but you have to listen to their suggestions because great things can come from them!
The five life lessons that this course and your previous course have taught me are:
- Be a good listener
- You are your biggest critic so do intimidate yourself from expressing ideas
- Allocate time to think
- Go off script
- Communication is key
In terms of mindset, this course definitely gave my grit to get the job done, the patience to see things in someone else’s lens, and spark curiosity. Our team really took on risk by choosing a more difficult target market and addressing such a large and concrete industry. With taking this risk, come the opportunity for discovery. We discovered that this industry has the capabilities to be sustainable if they have the desire to implement changes. All they have to do is attend one of your classes!