Week 4 Reading Reflection

1.) While reading chapter five on opportunity identification/searching for new ideas, I noticed several key points that I found were interesting. In the beginning of the chapter, Kuratko writes about different types of sources that promote innovative ideas. He listed trends, unexpected occurrences, incongruities and process needs as the sources and explained each one in detail.

In the Trends section, I noticed that he put down economic and government trends and it automatically caught my eyes. For me, whenever I thought about opportunities and for ideas that have potential, I only thought about societal trends and technology trends. I never really thought about how regulations, terrorism, and things like higher income can create new potential opportunities. I thought about some of the things that economic and government trends would create and it was tough for me to list things that
have opportunities. I'm guessing it is because its something I never really thought of before. One things is for sure, I will start thinking about these potential opportunities in this trends for sure starting now.


2.) "In their struggle to achieve security, many people also tend to rely on
the theory of probability thinking to make decisions. An over reliance on this decision making method, however, can distort reality and prohibit one from taking calculated risks that may lead to creative endeavors. Probability experts report that the predictive power of probability theory increases in proportion to the number of times an event is repeated. If a person wishes to predict" - Kuratko, Donald F.

One of the things from the reading that confused me is the over reliance on probability. Above is a excerpt from the text. I think I understand what Kuratko is trying to say here but is it not probability that leads you to take a calculated risk? Calculated risk is based on probability no? I understand the keyword is over reliance however, I think more clarification is needed on Kuratkos part. Also, in the end of the text, he says that the power of probability increases in proportion to the number of times an event is repeated. Duh?

 
3.) If I can ask the author a question, I would first ask bout is risk. The reason I would ask him is because he rarely goes into the topic of risk and I believe it is a pretty big principle when it comes taking advantage of opportunities. Even in the principles of innovation, he talks about failures but does not go into risk taking.

 
4.) There was nothing from this text that I disagree with. I think the author is very knowledgeable in his field of work and I enjoy reading from this textbook every week. However, I think I would want the author to go in more depth in to certain topics. It feels like he says just the key points and leaves it at that.

Overall, I think chapter 5 was a very good read. I enjoyed reading about the creative process, the trends, the brain hemispheres, the innovation process.

Top 5 World Problems

Ranking order from 'most serious' to 'least serious'

1. Poverty
2. Terrorism
3. S. Korea vs N. Korea
4. Mass Shootings
5. Income inequality

Ranking order for Solutions. 

1. Mass Shootings
2. Poverty
3. Income Inequality 
4. S. Korea vs N. Korea
5. Terrorism

Why did you select your "top problem" out of the list of five?
 
The reason I chose poverty as my "top problem" is because its an issue that stunned me the most when doing the research for the problems and solutions assignment. Just in the USA alone, 46.2 million Americans currently live in poverty and a lot of them are children and young adults. I also find it amazing how we choose to allocate our funding to things that aren't top priority. In my opinion, this comes first. There is no reason children in America should starve day in and day out.

  Out of the 5 I listed, I felt like this is an issue that most people aren't aware of and its something people really need to look into and look at the numbers and try to get involved. Myself included.



http://www.povertyusa.org/our-mission/


What leads you to believe that your "top solution" is really the most implementable? I chose shootings as my top most implementable solution. The reasoning behind my choice is due to the fact that if we take extreme measures on to trying to stop most of it, we can. I feel like we can. It just costs a lot money and involves going a direction a lot of people will oppose. For example, guns in South Korea are banned. South Korea doesn't have shootings. When it does, it only happens on military bases where someone goes nuts. I'm not saying we need to ban guns now... All I'm saying is increasing security, LONG and thorough security checks, banning certain type of guns to the public, and having a movement as a group, can help stop the shootings. I found this quote from a Korean blog that wrote on gun control that I agree with.

"Obviously, getting America's gun regulation to Korea's level would be a difficult task, because Korea's history has no element like America's historical relationship with guns. But know this: when gun advocates say something like "Psychopaths will find a way to kill with or without guns", they are blatantly lying. Despite filled with people with famously fiery temper, Korea has never suffered a mass murder like the ones happened in Columbine or Virginia Tech, in which civilians were able to kill scores of people with legally obtained guns."

Week 3 Reading Reflection

I enjoyed reading chapter 3 from the textbook. I was surprised when the author mentioned team building as a important quality of a entrepreneur. The reason I was a bit surprised is because in my interview with a entrepreneur, she talked a little bit about team building and that it was important for her to keep her team motivated and fueled to go after what the common goal together. She talked about teamwork and being able to build a team that share the same vision as you do as an entrepreneur. The chapter went hand in hand with my interview.

This chapter to me was pretty straight forward and enjoyed read it. It was clear on what a entrepreneurs motives and goals are and I learned that entrepreneurs  have to look at every aspect of their dreams and goals.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1.) Delays/travel cancellations (East Coast blizzard is causing thousands of flight delays..)
http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/east-coast-blizzard-is-causing-thousands-of-flight-delays-and-even-more-stranded-travelers

Story: All over the US, travelers have been experiencing delays to their flight or even cancellations due to weather of late. Businesses who rely heavily on tourists and those who have meeting to get to have been affected greatly. I can't imagine the frustration, if my flight was canceled and I had to get somewhere on time.
Here in Orlando, the biggest PGA Golf convention is happening this week and a lot of exhibitors were supposed to get here on the 23rd but were stuck in airports all over the US. I believe mother nature sometimes causes a lot of headaches to a lot of headaches.


2.) Raising Minimum Wage (Raising minimum wage would cost a million people their jobs)
http://nypost.com/2015/11/14/raising-minimum-wage-would-cost-a-million-people-their-jobs/

Story: First, I'm not an economist. However, I do believe this article is spot on about a couple major points regarding raising the minimum wage. The writer believes that the average American workers are underpaid but raising the minimum wage to $15 is not the solution. Instead of doing good for the American people, he believes that it will actually cut around half a million jobs. I understand that a lot of minimum wage workers wants to see an increase in their paychecks but if it means people losing jobs, I'm not for it. This topic will affect a lot of businesses and a lot of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck.

3.) Ever changing technology/Tech Disruptions (5 technologies that blur the line between robot and human)  http://www.job.com/career-advice/tech-news/5-technologies-that-blur-the-line-between-robot-and-human.html

Story: It seems like everyday that I see stories of new upcoming technology on the news, in stores and online. Smartphones are adding new features,  machines are swapping out the human touch with robotic/automated services, cars that park and drive on its own, and even drones that can deliver items to your own backyard! These are only a few things that the writer touches on but there are so many other technology that changes the way we live and I believe it will increase productivity. For those companies that have been the front runners of drones and other things like VR/AR will soon be seeing the hard work that they put in pay off. Especially with companies that makes drones, if some laws regarding the safety of drones are changed, the return seems endless. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

4.) Social media (Benefits of Social Media for Small Businesses)
http://www.business2community.com/small-business/benefits-social-media-small-businesses-01431621#Z6BJAUcD24TRr7GJ.97

Story: The article explains the benefits businesses can have when using social media. The game has changed and now small businesses can get there name/brand/item into the market due to a more playing field by using social media.

Creating a relationship with customers and reaching to your audience became simpler and the good thing is that its relatively non costly. Due to this reason, you can see that almost every company has their own twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat that can quickly and effectively reach their fans/loyal customers very quickly.

I hope in the future, students like us, won't fail to realize the importance of using social media when entering the world of entrepreneurship and recognize the limitless opportunity it can create!

5.) Faster Travel (Hyperloop Race Picks up Speed)
http://www.wsj.com/articles/hyperloop-race-picks-up-speed-1453426042

Story: Imagine traveling 760 miles and hour, getting from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes. Imagine the saved time with a technology like this... This would be great for a lot of people who have to rely heavily on travel and would create more time for them to be more productive in other things they want. However, the article states that building a Hyperloop would be way too expensive. A mile would cost them around $5-$20 million dollars! This is something I would love to keep a tab on, due to the fact that I believe we live in a global world where travel is vital. Although expensive, I would like to see this get done in the near future.

Very Short Interview No. 1

For this assignment, I decided to interview a person who I had the privilege to meet through a close friend of mine. She is the founder of  Sparks Magazine which was founded in 2010. Sparks is a Asian American publication with purpose of bringing a greater representation of the Asian American community to modern-day media. I know this assignment asked to interview someone who has had 10+ years of  experience but her story and her determination really captivated my attention.

I sent over three questions that I really thought were important questions for me to ask as a student.

1.) What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Kevina L.: To be an entrepreneur means to have a strong vision. Simon Sinek's TED Talk describes leadership as "starting with why." An entrepreneur can't become an entrepreneur by him or herself because he or she needs to be able to inspire a group of people to accomplish a specific goal. When you have a purpose and a strong vision in front of you, you're not only motivating yourself to persist through a startup journey -- you're also inspiring a team to bring you to the next level and even add more creativity to the mix.

2.) Time management and scheduling has to be a big part of your daily life. How do you cope with the stress and burden that comes with being an entrepreneur?

Kevina L.: It's definitely hard, and I've fallen into many "slump" periods. But I think what helps me the most, just like being able to inspire a team, is that they're able to inspire me equally. When I know that my organization has been able to help someone accomplish a personal goal, I know that it serves a purpose. I take tremendous pride in what my teammates accomplish, and when I see their passion in helping develop this organization, it motivates me to take a deep breath and just keep going.

3.) What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your path as an entrepreneur?

Kevina L.: Because I didn't go to school for business, I wish some of my journalism classes had been a little more business-focused. While I learned a lot about editorial processes and general industry knowledge, I believe any journalism student could have benefited from learning about financial sustainability of a publication and the business realm of running such an organization. Student journalists may one day aspire to be editors, so why not equip them with the business knowledge they need to become leaders?

Through this interview, I learned that entrepreneurship is not always about one person but it can consist of a group of people working toward a specific goal. I always had the mistaken belief that entrepreneurship is something done by one person. I failed to realize that to achieve YOUR goals, sometimes you will have to have a group of same minded people around you that contribute in someway. I also noticed how eloquent she was in her answers and she was very passionate about everything that she said. If someone was to interview me in the future about entrepreneurship, I would want to be able to talk about it as passionately as she did.

World's Biggest Problems (and Solutions!)

1.)    Arguing, Blaming, not enough cooperation and respect.

 Have you watched the Democratic debate or the GOP debate? It’s full of back and forth point of views on who can do it better or what they could have prevented. It doesn’t just happen with politicians, we can see it all over the place with people just like you and me. This whole blame game needs to stop and we really need to realize we are all the same. Take a step back and listen to each other with respect. Collaboration is key in my opinion.

2.)    Mass Shootings

This is a very touchy subject since there has been so many in the last couple years and a lot of innocent people have lost loved ones through mass shootings. I won’t touch too much into this but this is something I wished we can oversee a bit more. Tighter gun control and background checks could be a solution to limiting some but not all of them. But I believe it’s the only viable solution at hand.

3.)    Unemployment

One of the things I worry about most is my future job security. I hear it time and time again on the news about how employment is trending up but I also hear a lot of stories of layoffs and underemployment. I also read that the younger people are more vulnerable to underemployment. I think the best solution for this is to bring some jobs back to the states so that we can get the people in our country back to work.

4.)    South Korea vs. North Korea

I am South Korean and this is something I look at closely every day. I keep up with updates from a South Korean media every day and try to see what happening. North Korea has been getting bolder and has been flexing their muscles more in the past couple months and this is very disconcerting. I think the best thing to do in this problematical situation is to just watch over it and see what transpires. After all we are the same people at war with each other. Last thing I would want to see is an all-out confrontation.

5.)    Poverty

I know this is a global issue but I want to focus just here in the States alone. When I first heard the numbers of Americans in poverty, I was stunned. According povertyusa.org, 46.2 million Americans currently live in poverty and a whopping 1.6 million children lived in shelters or an emergency housing in 2015 alone. Imagine living day to day not knowing if you are going to have something to eat for your next meal. For this problem, things I can do to help are outreach programs, donations and maybe even service work. I believe a lot of people don’t know how severe it is here in our back yard. We need to inform and that way more people are willing to support.

6.)    Terrorism

The act of violence to frighten people in a way to accomplish what they want. Internationally and here in the states, we have all seen or heard of these horrifying terrorist attacks that has caused many deaths. Extremist values and ideology mixed with people who are willing to die for the cause is frightening and something that is hard to stop. However, I believe if all the nations work together to fight back and try to prevent as many as possible, we can try to limit these dangerous ideology from spreading and in turn prevent additional attacks.

7.)    Clean water crisis

With a growing population around the globe, the amount of clean water to sustain our life is decreasing. Since we all need water to survive, this is a major cause for concern. We need to carefully conserve, manage, and allocate whatever we have left accordingly.

8.)    Income inequality

You will probably hear about this a lot from presidential candidates and how they will try to tackle this issue. Statistics show that in the US, the disproportion of wealth is becoming greater and mainly is due to region, gender, and social status. There are a lot of ways economists think we can try to limit this disparity but this will take a long time. Changing rules/laws such as raising the minimum wage, removing tax loopholes, penalizing companies for outsourcing overseas and many others are ways economists think we can fix it.

9.)    Global Warming

There is no way that the way humans live has no effect on the environment. While the government does look over corporations and limit them on what they can and not do, I believe this issue is something that everyone has to buy into. Everyone has to help one way or another or else it won’t make a big dent.

10.)  Racism

Racism - Belief that one race is inferior or superior and the hatred and discrimination towards a group of people... I think we all need to realize we are all the same and that everyone deserves to be treated the same way. Education and open communication between everyone might be a solution to all of this. Trying to understand where everyone is coming from is also important as well.

Bug List

                                                                   Bug List 

1.) When upper management shows favoritism to a certain employee.

I believe, sometimes a certain person can look better physically and might be more inclined to help the person more. Also, if they went to the same university and they have more things that they can relate with each other.

2.) Long lines at a Walmart that is located in a prime tourist spot.

In Orlando, in the heart of international drive, there is a Walmart that is packed with tourists. However, for some reason, they do not open all the register and forces customers to wait in line for 15+ minutes.
I think its mainly due to being underpaid and not caring much about their jobs, they don't really care about how customers feel about the lines.

3.) Going very slow on the very left lane

Due to Orlando being a major tourist spot, I believe most of the visitors here don't know the rules of the road.

4.) Not turning on signals before switching lanes.

Again, I think tourists have the tendency to not turn on their blinkers when switching lanes. Maybe cause its a rental and they don't know the car very well?


5.) Grunting and making loud noises while lifting at the gym

I've read grunting and making loud noises do not help you lift more. I believe most of the people that do are trying to show off that they can push big weight or they might think it helps them when lifting.

6. Not putting back the weights after lifting

I really don't think they know what proper gym etiquette is... Surprisingly, A LOT of people do this at the gym and bothers me a lot! Maybe they grew up not cleaning up after themselves!!

7.) Rude waiters and waitresses.

Everyone has bad days. I know sometimes situations arise that are totally out of your control and you might not feel too hot some days but I believe work is work and being there, you should not let you outside forces bother you.

8.) Looking down on others without really getting to know them

Maybe its the car that he drives. The clothes a person is wearing. A race. No matter what the reason is, everyone deserves to be heard.


9.) People who do not know how to prioritize

This is a skill-set. Some people do not know how to set things up and be responsible on what they need to do. Myself included. I believe this is a skill set that you can learn.

10.) Roommates who pile up dishes. 


I've had many roommates who would eat and never do their dishes. I noticed one common trait in most of these guys. LAZINESS

11.) People who do not clean up after their dogs.

This is a must for dog owners. Is it because you don't have any baggies to pick up the waste? or are you just lazy?? Please. Go and get yourself some poop bags.

12.) Friends that talk too much during movies.

Questions after questions.. We are watching the same damn movie dude. Maybe he really doesn't get it?
Or he might have been texting throughout the movie. This one, I really do not know why..

13.) Cockiness

Why? I believe this might be the way they were raised. Parents give them everything they want, feeling of entitlement, they just feel like they are better than everyone else.

14.) People who eat very loudly

I know sometimes the shape of their mouth causes them to eat louder but I think this a habit as well. Something that they have been doing for a long time and its a hard thing to fix. Most people don't even know they do it.

15.) Not washing hands after restroom.

Girls, you'll be surprised how many guys do not wash their hands after a restroom break. I think most of the time either the guy does not car about health and or he is in a big rush.

16.) Old people thinking they know more than the younger people just cause they are older.

I think because they lived for a longer time they think they are experts at everything. Not true. You can still be learning at that age too.

17.) Sagging pants

I guess this is a cool thing to do.

18.) Sweaty palms when shaking hands

When I go to conventions, i think 1 out of every 10 has very sweaty palms. I know they probably cant help it though. Probably a natural reaction. Shyness? nervousness?

19.) One word replies through text

Okay. LOL. yeah. They are pretty annoying. I think maybe if they were driving and or really busy they can be texting one word answers to a two sentence text I sent them. If they were busy, I'd rather want them to text me after. I can wait.

20.) Racism
We are all the same. Everyone is equal.


Challenges:

This assignment took a pretty long time to complete. I think I have a lot of things that bug me and annoy me, however, the why part of this assignment is what is really challenging. Asking myself why a person might act that way was pretty tough. I tried to put bugs that are mainly related to businesses but I was not able to think of that much. I think I only had about 4 or 5 that relates to business. This was definitely a fun assignment though!!