I would consider this week the first week of real school work. (Week 1 is great but you only get your feet wet haha.) The more that I get involved with my classes, the more I have truly enjoyed the subjects that I am studying this semester (so far 😂). These are the classes that I am taking this semester:

• Spanish
• Corporate Responsibility and Business Ethics
• Business Leadership
• Managerial Accounting
• Organizational Behavior

For each class (except accounting) I have to write a reflection on what I learned from that class during the week. I’m not sure if I will do this every week, but I am going to include some excerpts from those reflections in today’s blog.

Ethics:

A stakeholder is someone who is impacted by a decision. I have found that, in life and in business, there are two types of stakeholder. The first is a passive stakeholder and the second is an active stakeholder. As human beings, we drift from one to the other, but in my own life I spend a lot of time as a passive stakeholder. In today’s jargon, this can also be referred to as being “chill.” I will admit that it can be very pleasant to exist as a passive stakeholder or fence sitter. In this passive state, I don’t take a stand on the issues that are presented to me. Perhaps this is because I do not think that the particular issue applies directly enough in the way that I have chosen to live my life. On the flip side, an active stakeholder is someone who has chosen to take a side on an ethical issue. This is exemplified in the issue that I discussed above with my friends and how I motivate myself to do things in life by telling them that I am already doing those things. Another example would be the decision about whether or not you tell your children that Santa Clause is a real person. I have heard arguments from both sides of this issue. Some people theorize how the repercussions of this decision can be very negatively impactful on the growth and trust that the children place in their parents and others say that it invites the children to believe in positivity, doing good things for others, and creativity. I don’t yet have any children of my own, but I tend to side with the latter argument making me an active stakeholder.

Leadership:

The better you understand yourself, the more you understand who you need on your team.

A great facilitator can help a team to think of creative and effective solutions to whatever problem that they face.

Slightly more wordy when it comes to Ethics lol.

Highlight of the week: Last night my friend Michael Petersen and I put on a bonfire in Provo Canyon. It was a nice, chill way to end the week and kick off Labor Day Weekend!

Anyway, I love you guys. Thank you for liking, commenting, and subscribing!

-Mitch