It has been 4 months and 7 days since I arrived in Minnesota. It sure has been quite the journey. I must say, that today I am grateful for being a doer and a person of personal integrity. Let me give you back a quick overview about Sweetbasil has done in the past two days....
As I mentioned before, I am in a rotational program for the first year; they call it, an "Executive in Training" and we do projects for different departments within the different pyramids of the company. I completed all of my four projects, but gave the presentation of my home-based project to the Asia team on Thursday. I was asked to optimize a Macro Model that is use every year for the Lunar New Year celebrations - get the Purchase Orders before the holidays, yet, pick the best vessels and slow some of them in the process so that they don't arrive too early, but just in time. Our team overseas use this model, and they believe it didn't worked. Yes, there were some errors that were pointed out to me in the first meeting.
I learned their processes and familiarized myself with the different data components that are used to run this model. I collaborated with the transportation team who specialize in such models, dissected the model in every shape and form, documented the findings, and made recommendations. After hours of research, the issues were due to human error. The model works well as it was built; however, my team members in Asia did not believe that it did when I presented the recommendations. I received tons of recommendations early (4AM) on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, telling me to go back and ensure that it does this and that... Fine, I knew the model well, so I wasn't going to go back and do any changes the last minute. I carried out a good meeting, but knew right of way that they weren't convinced of what I was telling them - the model works well-
My week was very busy, and had several meetings on Friday as I am starting my second rotation and getting familiar with the processes to do this new set of projects. I received another email with the same hesitation and the overall message was that they don't believe that it works....
I put a lot of effort in what I do and I don't like for someone to question my work... So, I knew it was my responsibility to show them that it works well indeed. I tailor my research specifically to that person's concerns and for every concern, I run the model again and took screen shots to prove that it was meeting the constraint and show that it does work... I got to work at 7 and left the office at 7:45 PM the minute I completed this work and sent it off... I know I don't work doing physical work, but mentally I work quite hard... My brain feels like a tripled fried pickle, and I had a few things to do with some friends, but turn them down. I haven't felt so tired mentally for a long time. Sometimes I wondered if I am meant to be here, and I feel that I do.
I asked God for pointers to let me know that I am meant to be here, and he sends me little clues every so often. We had the welcoming meeting for this rotation, and I introduced myself to some managers and directors. I know two of the directors for the transportation rotation as I am station there, but one. I didn't get to talked to some people as it was rather a quick get to know type of thing. I ended connecting with the VP of Transportation, he lived in the same city in CA during the same period of time that we did! We were sharing similar stories to the other people who were with us- there is truly only 6 degrees of separation. I saw this man in the elevators two weeks ago, never did I introduced myself, but we exchanged a few words - I always wish people a good day, and that day he was just another team member that I reach out. It hit me that he is the VP of transportation after we finished the conversation and he got up and gave a little introduction about himself. We are four people in the program, and we were asked to introduce ourselves. I don't know how to sell myself and won't start now, so I shared a few things with the group. One of them, he is very ambitious so he gave the big selling speech- So, I am grateful today that I am able to relate to other people, and glad that I know someone in this company who is humble, started at the bottom and has made his way to the top, but that I know someone from the "hood." I am also grateful for my personal integrity and accountability that I have for my work. I must say, it has been quite the week, and as much as I wished I didn't needed to have to write my research differently to convince her that my recommendations are on target, I was glad to that I did it, now I can get some rest before going back on Monday.
