Individual Reflection Statement
Jerell Little
This semester Cornerstone has exposed my weaknesses and magnified my
strengths. I was warned by my advisor that this class was time consuming however I
was not aware that it would be as fulfilling spiritually and provide valuable
professional business enrichment through leadership, civic engagement/service
learning, and diverse teamwork.
All my life it has been said of me that I am a natural born leader. I possessed
all of the necessary traits people look for in a leader; dependable, trustworthy,
action oriented, goal driven, and many more of those other textbook words.
However this semester taught me that although I may be a good leader and follower,
I might not be the most effective manager. Hindsight has shown me that I do have
areas of opportunity to work on when it comes to managing projects. I did fall victim
to scope creep and did not utilize my active listening skills. Scope creep being an
applicable theorem in which I can now see has been a cohort in a lot of projects I
have managed both personally and professionally. I always want to make things
bigger and better despite how much extra work it adds on to a relatively simple
task. Since Cornerstone has exposed this flaw in my management ability, I believe
that I will now be able to recognize the pattern and adjust or stop it from happening.
Along with managing scope creep comes being more attentive to listening to what is
being said to me from team members as well as asking team members what they
need of me, listening to ensure that their needs are being met along with the
objective. It is great for me to be deemed a leader however what good is the skill if
you cannot manage the process that fills the water basin for the horse to drink? Yes I
can lead the horse there through persuasion and great vision, however I must use
what I have learned in Cornerstone this semester to be able to manage the process
to provide the horse water.
Being in the UCF College of Business, I never expected to be spiritually
impacted by the work I would be doing. This semester changed that perception.
Through civic engagement and service learning I was able to see a side of business
that I really didn’t expect. I have heard of 501(3)© non-profit organizations before
however I never really understood the social impact these businesses had on the
people they serve. Civic engagement took me out of my corporate element and
thrust me into a world of true service while learning. Working with Boys Town
allowed me to really connect with their mission and with the kids they work with,
ultimately inspiring me to do and be at my best to assist them. The value of a dollar
changed for me as it became the representation of a child or family in need and not
that of a means for me to get more trivial stuff to keep up with the Jones’. Listening
to some of these young kids stories really touched me and created a drive in me to
want to give them a better opportunity based on the business acumen I had. This
portion of Cornerstone helped my moral compass stay true to the reasons why I
want to be in business. Spiritually impacting me to ensure that I give back not only
with money but with my time as well.
All of this enlightenment could not have happened this semester if I did not
have such a uniquely diverse team. With my team being both young and old as well
as male and female with various ethnic backgrounds, it lead to a collaboration that
yielded the 3rd best team in all of the summer Cornerstone teams. Our team was not
without its faults however we did find ways to manage to come together to get
objectives and task complete. I have learned from this Cornerstone team that I need
to listen more to become a better project manager. This team also taught me
perseverance as we were often up texting and conversing over projects late at night.
Although Cornerstone did expose my weaknesses I am completely satisfied with the
body of work my diverse team put forth this semester.