Over the last week or so I have done several things to help towards building a new network, as well as tried a few that did not work. One of those was just getting to know people in my classes. Of course this is easier in Merit Discussions (there are less people, and it's not as daunting). Most of the classes do the work for you though. They split you up into smaller groups, and then you get to know your individual groups better. So I have, of course, tried to be friendly and get to know everyone in these groups in each of my discussions.
This is looking to be relatively easy however, so I decided to try something a bit different and bold. I tried sending an e-mail to the president of Nintendo (Satoru Iwata) asking him what inspired him to follow the path that led him to be so successful. The one e-mail address I managed to find only resulted with me getting an automated message saying that the e-mail address provided did not exist. So obviously I need to continue searching for a working e-mail address. I could just use one of the many provided on Nintendo's site, but I know those would only lead me to customer service or some similar lower level branch of the company. Even if I don't manage to find a way to contact him, it's not like it was all worthless. I learned a bit about the Mr. Iwata along the way, like where he started out; that he majored in computer science back in the late '70s and early '80s-which must have been drastically different than it is now; and that his first job was with HAL Laboraties, which is a subsidiary of Nintendo.
In each of these things I learned the value of teamwork with my fellow classmates and that with it, things get done more quickly, as well as the fact that networking can often be easy, but at times it can be incredibly difficult - especially without having a definite means of contact. And even after finding that contact, that does not mean things will get easier.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in that networking can be extremely easy and and extremely difficult, but either way, something good usually comes out of it. Here are my three questions and motivations:
Discussion sections definitely make it easier to meet people in your classes, however, within your discussion section, how (or by what means) did you communicate/network with the other students?
Besides e-mail (since this proved difficult), how else can you contact Mr. Iwata?
Finding out information about Mr. Iwata proved the networking attempt to not be worthless, but how can you use that information you found to help you in the future?
Hey Brandon!
ReplyDeleteIt's so good that you are meeting new people and making connections! I think your idea to try contacting the president of Nintendo is a really good one. What if you tried to contact someone lower on the company chain in a more specific area of interest? If you do this you might get a fuller answer. I'm not suggesting that you abandon your original quest, but you might learn something more! Also, how are you planning to use the information you get from this role model? It could be good inspiration or incentive for school or what you want to do in the future. Lastly, What are you going to do differently next week? It sounds like meeting people, networking, and taking initiative is going well!
That is true that networking cannot always be easy. But I think that makes that much more rewarding when it works out. You should not give up when you hit a bump in the road. My three questions are: Do you plan on branching out and making friends with people who are not in your Merit Discussions? Will you continue to try to contact Mr. Iwata? What inspired you to try to contact Mr. Iwata in the first place?
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you are networking well with your classmates. Networking truly is simple and complex at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHere are my questions:
Do you plan on trying to contact any other of the higher-ups at Nintendo that might be easier to get a hold of than Mr. Iwata? How do you plan to network with people who are at the university but not in your classes (professors, etc.)? How did finding out information about Mr. Iwata help you?