Intro
Term 1 of the IBIS program mainly consists of getting a grasp of the business world and figuring out who you as a person are, what your strengths are and how you can implement them in your professional career. Students are pushed to confront themselves, step out of their comfort zone and take an active interest in personal development all whilst developing a keen sense of awareness for the complexity of the world on a social, political and economic scale. For the first term students were tasked with analyzing business models and philosophical principles such as thinking, reasoning and self-reflection.
All this is orchestrated around the five meta-skills which form the foundation of the IBIS program.
| Design | Define | Execute | Learn | Lead |
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Curious how students implement these meta-skills? Click Here
Pitch
This elevator pitch was designed during the ‘What’s in My Backpack’ course with the purpose of convincing others in 30 seconds of your potential and your talents. The elevator pitch is modeled to the situation where you step in to an elevator and run into somebody important, a once in a lifetime opportunity to convince them of your ideas or qualities with just the time it takes to reach his or her floor to persuade the person you are trying to impress.
Hi pleased to meet you! My name is Yuan, I’m an aspiring Business Innovator and electronic music producer from Amsterdam. I eat, sleep and dream music and one day when I was programming my drums I had an epiphany. The music industry is dependent on innovation. Genres like techno and house wouldn’t have existed if Roland hadn’t created a drum machine to allow bands to rehearse without a drummer. It’s the use and misuse of these innovative technologies which gives birth to some of the most beautiful feelings in the world and this applies to a lot of things in life. As somebody who loves music and the electronic genres specifically it is my intention to create innovations which will help the industry grow, helping businesses create a larger community which in turn will help develop new ways musicians and DJ’s approach the creation and distribution of music.
I want to be on the forefront of what is considered to be cutting edge, I want to strive towards the unknown and set the first steps towards the music of tomorrow.
Masterplan
This is a masterplan I wrote during one of the first classes of the 'What's in My Backpack?' module for the first term of professional skills development term 1. It explains my personal strengths and connects them to my goals for the future.
Passion
I find it hard to define my ‘passion’ as up to quite recently I’ve been searching far and wide for that exact thing and came up empty handed. When I look at my personal life I guess my passion would be music as it’s the thing I spend most of my day thinking about/working on. I love the entire process of having a blank slate, a couple of samples as building blocks and a few hours to kill. Then after a few hours, days or even weeks ending up with something I completely orchestrated from start to finish, from arrangement to automation to mix and mastering. This process has the power to make you feel like you’re either wasting a lot of time or as if you’ve been super productive. Something I haven’t found in any other form of pastime.
Talent
Even though my passion is music I wouldn’t say that is my talent. Mainly because I’m my biggest critic and about 90% of the music I make I would consider to be shitty. I think my talent is my creativity. I’ve been told I’m good at writing, that I have a way with words which seems to be true as I’ve never had any difficulty writing papers and such for schoolwork. I think it is my greatest asset, being able to take a step back from a problem and or situation, looking at its entirety and finding a solution or a different way to get certain results.
Business Dream
As much as I’d like to have a business dream I can’t really say I have one to be honest. I realize that this is probably a key factor in achieving success and happiness but we live in a crazy world in which there is no such thing as certainty. I know I would love to be active in the music industry as I feel like I wouldn’t reluctantly make the commute to work every morning, which I would consider living a successful life.
Definition of Succes
One’s definition of success differs from person to person since different personalities have different moral values. If you would have asked me what my definition of success was when I was 14 years old, I would have answered to get rich, to become a millionaire. However, as I grew older my perception on life started to differ and now I would say being successful to me means to live a comfortable and fulfilling life. To have a balance between personal life and my career where I have enough money to buy what I need and occasionally what I want while being able to provide for a family of my own.
Long Term Goals
My long term goal as of now is to become successful, to be happy about the lifestyle I live, the things I achieve by doing my job and have enough spare time to express my creativity through side projects. I do know I’d like to have the influence to make decisions, to make a difference.
Short Term Goals
In the coming months I’d like to start taking my first steps towards my long term goal. Right now I work in a restaurants kitchen which is fun since I’ve become a better cook since then but I’d like to start doing some part time work at a ‘real’ company. Even if the payment sucks, even if the company isn’t that big or well-known and even if it’s just the office equivalent of being a dishwasher. I feel like it would be beneficial for my professional skills to get a feel of the dynamics of a ‘real’ and ‘serious’ company.
Actions
I’ll try to build a strong network over the coming years, I’ve got quite a few in the music in the local music scene but I’ll be extending that by connecting with real professionals during the Amsterdam Dance Event and such. I’ll compile a list of innovative companies where I’d like to apply for an internship.
Commitment
Over the coming days I will compile a checklist for the coming months, set a deadline of things I’d like to get done, contact an x amount of companies. Then every unit of time I will assess my progress and create new goals to achieve. At the end of the year I will evaluate my development and set new long term goals for the coming year.
Meta-skills
Define
The define meta-skill’s purpose is to identify problems which can be solved through innovation. It is the first step in implementing a professional and effective solution to any problematic situation. What is the cause of the problem at hand? To answer this question one must look beyond the obvious and leave no stone unturned in his quest towards comprehension of the situation and find the culprit(s). In our first term we used this skill in numerous situations. During the introduction week when discussing social phenomenon’s the students submitted statements which they found either intriguing or appalling. During the Fundamentals of Business classes we applied this meta-skill to numerous business cases when building a business model canvas and for the International World of Business we applied this meta-skill to events like ‘The Great Depression’.
Design
The design meta-skill is applied when the problem is identified. This is the stage where you start thinking about a solution and how you will implement this to resolve the problem. We applied this meta-skill mainly when constructing a business model canvas. Once you’ve constructed a visual representation of the business and defined its weak points you need to design a new and improved version. Compensating its shortcomings with a carefully constructed solution.
Execute
The meta-skill execute signifies the active attitude IBIS students have. They don’t just think in solutions but they execute them as well. The IBIS program is one of the most demanding bachelor courses which leaves students with no choice than to have a proactive and positive attitude when presented with a challenge.
Learn
A business innovator doesn’t leave a task behind him once it is finished. One might think that no further action can be undertaken until the results of the test are in but as a business innovator the key to improving your skillset is to evaluate and reflect on the actions you took. We did this extensively during the ‘Thinking and Reasoning’ and ‘What’s in My Backpack’ modules writing a reflection of classes’ subjects every week in either an essay or blogpost. A critical mindset is essential for business and personal growth.
Lead
This meta-skill doesn’t imply that every IBIS student is a future leader, although they do acquire the skillset to do so during the course. The IBIS consists of many different cultures and personalities and because of this IBIS students quickly learn how to coexist with and motivate different personalities. In all IBIS classes students get paired up for assignments which ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of how to structure and organize a team which effectively tackles complex tasks.
Negotiated Learning Units
One of the unique things which makes the IBIS program so appealing is the ability to partially create your own curriculum, IBIS provides its students 18 Negotiated Learning Units which students can select according to their own interests. A Negotiated Learning Unit is in essence a short course which can range from subjects as psychology and anthropology to graphic design courses like Photoshop and Animation Fundamentals. I won’t discuss the content of all NLU’s but I will highlight the subject which I chose.
NLP: Key to be More Effective in Communication
This course provides you with useful insights in how external factors influence our believes and the way we interact with one another. How minor changes in our own behavior can influence the reactions we evoke when interacting with others. Initially I was hoping to enroll in Psychology 101 but due to a string of bad luck on of all days my birthday that class was already full. This NLU was my backup plan and I was fortunate enough to acquire one of the last spots available. I hope to become more aware of how subconscious actions influence my day to day life and recognize those minute signs which I could then use to my advantage in both my personal and professional life.
Magazine Making and Innovation
This NLU takes the ancient media format of magazines and brings it into the 21st century and beyond. The course covers the creation of the traditional format as well as the more out of the box ways this medium has been constructed. The final assessment is in the form of an assignment for a ‘real’ client meaning you get to choose which magazine you would like to analyze and dissect. I chose this NLU because of the graphical design aspect and the fact that Photoshop Fundamentals was full. The flexibility in the final assessment combined with the graphical design aspect was the deciding factor for me.
Gamification for Social and Business Purposes
In the last few decades the game-industry has soared to unimagined heights creating an ever growing billion dollar industry, a new form of entertainment and even a new form of addiction. This NLU sheds light upon the thought process behind the popular games and how they are constructed. I chose this NLU after I had an interesting conversation with Gabriel McIntyre after he gave a guest lecture to all first year IBIS students. I had an interest in gamification before that lecture due to an article I had read on the implementation of gamification in the educational system. Out of all the three NLU’s this is the only one I had on my ‘wish list’ and I am very excited to start this course.