As a graduate business program, we want our students, faculty and staff to Ask More of Business(TM). Why is this important? We believe, as our founder Father Edward Sorin did, that it is important for business to be a force for good in the world. We follow three tenets to achieve this goal:
INDIVIDUAL INTEGRITY: Ask that integrity be at the heart of every business decision.
EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS: Ask tough questions to solve tough problems. Of all the skills recruiters seek in MBA graduates, critical thinking is highly prized. We teach you to be a problem-solver.
GREATER GOOD:Ask that we consider a greater good. Social responsibility is in our DNA as a learning community. ( 2 page limit w/o essay title)
Your responsibility as a lifelong member of the Mendoza community is to Ask More of Business - to exemplify individual integrity, organizational excellence, and a concern for the greater good. How do you plan to do this in your professional career?
"Had I not received the job offer in Qatar, I would have worked at Union Carbide India (UCI) and could have been among the 3500 people who died on that fateful night when Bhopal Gas tragedy occurred". He then went on the explain the unethical decisions made by the UCI, subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) , where UCI ignored the directives from the parent co. to fix the flaws in safety equipment and procedures. My father concluded "UCI lied to UCC to save money and according to their moral values and reasoning; the weight of saving money and not fixing the flaws was higher than the safety of the workers and people". Hearing this candid conversation as a 13 year-old shocked me into realizing that I could have lost my father hadn't the twist of fate occurred in his life. I understood that day how business decisions , whether good or bad, have far- reaching consequences going beyond the business sphere .
Growing up in a Syrian Christian family I was brought up with values that are rooted in social responsibility. In Qatar, whether it was my involvement in spreading water conservation or in beach cleanup, my family supported my interest in working for a social cause. My parents also taught me to not compromise the integrity of my character to earn financial benefits or brownie points. Thus being socially responsible towards loved ones, team and society became an important part of the set of principles that defines my character.
Because of this upbringing, I learned to make sure the every decision I make both in personal and professional life is based on motives that are selfless. I follow a simple one step process that always helped me solve any situation that challenges my ethics. What I do is that I ask myself this question: 'Is the main reason behind the solution to the problem, selfish in nature?'. If it is yes, then I will scrap that particular solution and go with the solution that doesn't benefit me selfishly and that integrity of my team and organization is not affected.
For example, at work I once caused a major error that impacted adversely the testing system of supply chain management application. I was faced with a situation where I was not sure whether I should report the error to my managers. I could have fixed the issue by covering it up ,making sure that HP or client notices the problem. Doing that would have made sure that this mistake wouldn't reflect on my performance rating. Also if client did notice the issue while they do the testing , I would never get caught even though the team's reputation and integrity would have been tarnished,. Contractually HP wouldn't have suffered losses , but the choice of hiding this mistake was nonetheless based on a selfish motive. Therefore I went with the option where the integrity of the team wasn't affected. I went ahead and informed my supervisors, owning up to the mistake I did, and burned the midnight oil to fix the issue on my own. I made sure that the team was aware of the situation and was prepared to pacify the customers, if any complaints arose (it never did ). My action made sure that this mistake was not repeated by anyone in the team, allowing for my team to maintain the excellent track record in client satisfaction.
Therefore I always make sure that the solution in the end doesn't harm the ethics of the individual, team and company. Like the highlights of my work displayed in my resume, I worked to develop the management of process, project, change, knowledge and resource, keeping in mind that the integrity is not breached in any way.
My fascination for products that paved way for the post-PC era and interest to know how a market grows around such products have motivated me to seek out a business position in the tech industry. The emergence of smartphones with the arrival of iPhone, led to an explosion in utilization of such products, having immense power and opportunity to make tremendous positive social impact. We are able to spread social awareness of issues, like ALS, across different regions using apps like Facebook and Twitter. Through apps like 'Himmat' and 'Guardly', which are mainly targeted at women's safety , people can immediately inform certain contacts that they are under threat along with informing the police . Such impact can replicated with the advent of wearable and Internet of Thing (IoT) products.
Right after the MBA I will become an associate product manager in a company, such as Microsoft, that is involved in making IoT products . Since I am not planning to work in Non-profit organization, which directly works for good of society, the social contribution that I can make as a product manager is more indirect in nature. As a product manager, I want to involve in a wearable project where I can make a smartwatch that can be controlled by voice. By working on the development and marketing of the product I can combine my engineering experience and acquired business skills to create a product that will define the industry. Along with many consumer oriented functionalities, the smartwatch can also be configured thru apps to send out a homing distress signal and to record the audio and video of the surroundings, thus informing the authorities immediately. Such applications of the products made by IoT are limitless. In the long term, I plan to become the corporate SVP of Product Marketing in a major IoT company, where I can establish the company's marketing strategy and direction for the product portfolio, which will have a range of uses from managing smart cities in India to conserving energy through smart grids in USA. I want to manage the portfolio and try to market the product such that the customers will also take cognizance of the social benefits of having such IoT products, enabling them to incorporate these products into their various business and CSR initiatives.
Through various courses and initiatives such as 'Greater Good Series' I can learn about Mendoza's approach to ethics and integrity ,going beyond legal problems affecting a company. I can understand a collaborative environment that lets people work to make each other better rather than make themselves better. I therefore believe that my experiences till now and aspirations for the future, coupled with a Mendoza MBA degree, will enable me to 'Ask More of Business' .
INDIVIDUAL INTEGRITY: Ask that integrity be at the heart of every business decision.
EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS: Ask tough questions to solve tough problems. Of all the skills recruiters seek in MBA graduates, critical thinking is highly prized. We teach you to be a problem-solver.
GREATER GOOD:Ask that we consider a greater good. Social responsibility is in our DNA as a learning community. ( 2 page limit w/o essay title)
Your responsibility as a lifelong member of the Mendoza community is to Ask More of Business - to exemplify individual integrity, organizational excellence, and a concern for the greater good. How do you plan to do this in your professional career?
"Had I not received the job offer in Qatar, I would have worked at Union Carbide India (UCI) and could have been among the 3500 people who died on that fateful night when Bhopal Gas tragedy occurred". He then went on the explain the unethical decisions made by the UCI, subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) , where UCI ignored the directives from the parent co. to fix the flaws in safety equipment and procedures. My father concluded "UCI lied to UCC to save money and according to their moral values and reasoning; the weight of saving money and not fixing the flaws was higher than the safety of the workers and people". Hearing this candid conversation as a 13 year-old shocked me into realizing that I could have lost my father hadn't the twist of fate occurred in his life. I understood that day how business decisions , whether good or bad, have far- reaching consequences going beyond the business sphere .
Growing up in a Syrian Christian family I was brought up with values that are rooted in social responsibility. In Qatar, whether it was my involvement in spreading water conservation or in beach cleanup, my family supported my interest in working for a social cause. My parents also taught me to not compromise the integrity of my character to earn financial benefits or brownie points. Thus being socially responsible towards loved ones, team and society became an important part of the set of principles that defines my character.
Because of this upbringing, I learned to make sure the every decision I make both in personal and professional life is based on motives that are selfless. I follow a simple one step process that always helped me solve any situation that challenges my ethics. What I do is that I ask myself this question: 'Is the main reason behind the solution to the problem, selfish in nature?'. If it is yes, then I will scrap that particular solution and go with the solution that doesn't benefit me selfishly and that integrity of my team and organization is not affected.
For example, at work I once caused a major error that impacted adversely the testing system of supply chain management application. I was faced with a situation where I was not sure whether I should report the error to my managers. I could have fixed the issue by covering it up ,making sure that HP or client notices the problem. Doing that would have made sure that this mistake wouldn't reflect on my performance rating. Also if client did notice the issue while they do the testing , I would never get caught even though the team's reputation and integrity would have been tarnished,. Contractually HP wouldn't have suffered losses , but the choice of hiding this mistake was nonetheless based on a selfish motive. Therefore I went with the option where the integrity of the team wasn't affected. I went ahead and informed my supervisors, owning up to the mistake I did, and burned the midnight oil to fix the issue on my own. I made sure that the team was aware of the situation and was prepared to pacify the customers, if any complaints arose (it never did ). My action made sure that this mistake was not repeated by anyone in the team, allowing for my team to maintain the excellent track record in client satisfaction.
Therefore I always make sure that the solution in the end doesn't harm the ethics of the individual, team and company. Like the highlights of my work displayed in my resume, I worked to develop the management of process, project, change, knowledge and resource, keeping in mind that the integrity is not breached in any way.
My fascination for products that paved way for the post-PC era and interest to know how a market grows around such products have motivated me to seek out a business position in the tech industry. The emergence of smartphones with the arrival of iPhone, led to an explosion in utilization of such products, having immense power and opportunity to make tremendous positive social impact. We are able to spread social awareness of issues, like ALS, across different regions using apps like Facebook and Twitter. Through apps like 'Himmat' and 'Guardly', which are mainly targeted at women's safety , people can immediately inform certain contacts that they are under threat along with informing the police . Such impact can replicated with the advent of wearable and Internet of Thing (IoT) products.
Right after the MBA I will become an associate product manager in a company, such as Microsoft, that is involved in making IoT products . Since I am not planning to work in Non-profit organization, which directly works for good of society, the social contribution that I can make as a product manager is more indirect in nature. As a product manager, I want to involve in a wearable project where I can make a smartwatch that can be controlled by voice. By working on the development and marketing of the product I can combine my engineering experience and acquired business skills to create a product that will define the industry. Along with many consumer oriented functionalities, the smartwatch can also be configured thru apps to send out a homing distress signal and to record the audio and video of the surroundings, thus informing the authorities immediately. Such applications of the products made by IoT are limitless. In the long term, I plan to become the corporate SVP of Product Marketing in a major IoT company, where I can establish the company's marketing strategy and direction for the product portfolio, which will have a range of uses from managing smart cities in India to conserving energy through smart grids in USA. I want to manage the portfolio and try to market the product such that the customers will also take cognizance of the social benefits of having such IoT products, enabling them to incorporate these products into their various business and CSR initiatives.
Through various courses and initiatives such as 'Greater Good Series' I can learn about Mendoza's approach to ethics and integrity ,going beyond legal problems affecting a company. I can understand a collaborative environment that lets people work to make each other better rather than make themselves better. I therefore believe that my experiences till now and aspirations for the future, coupled with a Mendoza MBA degree, will enable me to 'Ask More of Business' .