My internship in Boston: American election, leadership and festive season on the way ~ week 19

Dear readers,

It is on this mild Sunday morning that I am writing my first entry of November. In the past few weeks, I have been living through interesting times, as the 45th President of the United States was elected.

The coming weeks are at the same time going to be busy and enjoyable, as I am getting ready to host my godmother and be her guide to this city, which I am still new to.

Over the last two weeks, I believe that I have been growing more professionally as I have been given the opportunity to attend a director interview. This interview wasn't the typical European interview where employers ask you questions; instead the candidate did a presentation entitled "High Impact Global Education: Moving Students Beyond the Borders". This interview/presentation gave me the opportunity to realise that I am a Global Citizen. I am getting the exposure to a global world by experiencing different cultures; I am inspired by my co-workers; I am informed about the opportunities that global exposure can give you; I am convinced that global opportunities will give me the chance to develop professionally and personally; I am always motivated to achieve my best potential through international exposure but keeping my values at heart. A global experience brings me support, connection and empowerment by making me stronger and more confident, especially in controlling my life and claiming my rights.

I believe that this experience will help me in the future as if I want to have a successful career I need to have goals, experiences, strong interests, values that I will never let get affected by my work, have a strong education, and have a wide range of skills.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have also been working on country/ employer research and outreach in various regions around the world. Therefore I am strengthening my communication and research skills, as well as developing my knowledge and understanding of the different countries. Being aware of the cultural differences enables me to make decisions in a timely and effective manner, makes it easier to find relevant information; I believe that it also give me the opportunity to stimulate my growth and innovation techniques.

Since my last entry I have also been exposed to a leadership theory entitled "Leading from the Middle". The theory is associated with the truth as leaders in the middle face series of challenges, most of which will generally focus on self- management issues. This theory identifies challenges that everyone can relate to depending on the organisation they are working in. Those challenges can be reduced by focusing your energy on the right projects. This can be done using a focus matrix that will divide the projects you are working on (1)Urgent/Important, (2) Not urgent/Important, (3) Not important/urgent and (4)Not important/not urgent. This matrix is also known as (1) Manage, (2) Focus, (3) Avoid, (4) Limit. This is also known as effective leadership, as the focus will be through the lens of importance rather than urgency, as well as protecting against the ever demanding urgent. The understanding of this theory will help me to prioritise my work even more as I will be able to decide whether it's urgent or not. This will make my work more effective and efficient on a daily basis.

As always, the first entry of the month includes my thoughts on my professional development. Well this month, our professional development training topic was "Building Business Relationships”. This training gave me the opportunity to understand and analyse the key elements to business relationships. To have those relationships you need to listen to people when you meet them, people need to be willing to learn about others, inspire others by being able to say something positive, seek opportunities, tell them what you are thinking, educate yourself on the best practices in this specific business environment, but also be able to notice when things are changing. Building business relationships also includes the one you are building with your manager, finding out their expectations, goals, needs will help you build a strong relationship with them. This training might at a first glance seem obvious but it was a great way to enhance my knowledge and understanding of standard practices in the US. This was also a good way to approach the topic of conflicts in teams that I have been able to observe. The leverage to success is trust, honesty, and reflection. I believe that over the last four months I have been able to understand and apply those practices and that over the last couple of weeks especially I have been able to put them in action even more. As you all know by now I have been working at the front desk of Career Development, and on November 1st, our new full-time staff member started work. I shared the duties of training him during the first week of November - it was a great and enriching experience! I have learned a lot about myself and my ability to transfer knowledge to someone else.

Here is how my training was described:

"The training you gave me was fabulous! You knew exactly where to direct me if you did not know the answer to my question... and I didn't stump you with a question so you knew it all. You didn't treat any of my millions of questions that I asked you as a stupid question. You were extremely welcoming and helpful. You helped me through my culture shock of leaving my sales job. You were organized and let me adopt my own style to the front desk while you watched over me. I really appreciated that!"

As I said before, despite being an unexpected responsibility and assignment, working at the front desk gave me the experience and exposure of a fast-paced work environment and was a really rewarding experience!

My latest vlogs are up