Last week I finished my Summer Associate Program at Johnson & Johnson Chile, in the context of my full-time MBA at Asia School of Business, one of the Global Programs of MIT Sloan. I cannot start writing this article before highlighting my deepest gratitude to the extraordinary people at Johnson & Johnson Chile, especially Tulio Oliveira (Regional VP), Asise Fernandez (Country Manger) and Marko Musiate (Commercial Manager) who sponsored the program and assigned 2 beautiful projects to me.
I am also thankful for all the kind attention and considerations of Alessia Garibaldi, Natalia Tellez and Claudia Hass from HR team who did a flawless job during the interviews, hiring process, and project closure. The satisfactory results of the outcomes would not be possible without the support received by Sales Managers Denisse Zarhi, Juan Luis Gellona, Ignacio Bielsa and Steven Sevilla Tapia and Operations Managers Álvaro Ponce de León, Germán Lamprea and Christian Acevedo, who have all guided and integrated me from the very beginning.
I was treated like an ‘old colleague’ as soon as got on board, marking a before and after in my heart as well as professional experience during this Summer Term. I would like to share three main points that enabled me to execute an 8-week project in such a complex industry in medical devices, allowing me to manage 2 projects at the same time:
1. Knowing When to Ask for Help
In such an ever-changing, interdependent, and interconnected world, ‘asking for help’ is not a feebleness, but a strength. Especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic, where environment conditions are constantly moving, we should collaborate as organizations, asking for internal and external support to achieve goals.
Having a humble attitude and active listening skills make a huge difference too. For this summer program, I am grateful to Alok Mishra (former VP at #JnJ Asia) and PhD Candidate Franco Novara (Founder of Impacto Soluciones de Gestion) who guided me through marketing and consulting frameworks.
2. Keep a Track Record
I decided to keep a complete record of all the activities, meetings, ideas, and conversations since the Day 1. I bought a journal and wrote down more than 100 pages of notes during my meetings. I used to do a daily review on my notebook and compliment with reflections after the workday was finished. During the last 2 weeks, wrapping up the project, I started connecting dots on my notes that I did not think they were connected at the beginning.
3. Followership
We currently hear much about Leadership, but there is no Leadership without Followership. We must learn to really follow before we are followed by others. During this summer I strived to identify what were the organization’s priorities and needs, and answer to them with diligence and integrity. Millennials are known as a generation that just looks for their own individual goals and easily get frustrated when they are not achieved, but I challenge the readers to understand the importance of Followership.
Conclusion
As a hard-core engineer, my MBA is challenging myself to learn and apply more about soft skills (or “Smart Skills” as we like to call them at ASB, because there is nothing of soft about communications, humility, active listening, creativity, networking, integrity, collaboration, continuous learning, respect, etc.). I discover and re-discover more about these ‘smart skills,’ and continuously confirm the importance of them in each project I do.
Before I close, I would like to express my gratitude to all ASB staff and especially the Career Development Office for all the support during the 1st year of MBA and the Action Learning Team, that does an incredible work in our university. I am sure there is more to come in my MBA Career Development Journey at ASB!
More About “Sharp Skills” and “Smart Skills”
- “Sharp and Smart Skills” video by our Dean Charles Fine
- Enough with ‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ Skills—Let’s Get Smart and Sharp Instead by our Associate Dean Loredana Padurean
For more information, reach out to Franco Bravard.
Read the full article here.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn.