procurement

So last week I took what will hopefully be my last class of undergrad. It was a week long seminar on procurement. Somethings I learned:

- people working in procurement are often under qualified and are only put there because
- it's not the most well respected department of a company
- however, it is the most expensive part (this is where all your money gets spent)
- girls succeed as well as boys
- most consultants look to lower indirect spending
- I still hate walmart

I'm sure once I read my notes it will continue, but you probably don't really care about this. What I really liked about this class contrary to the rest of my mannheim experience was that it was more well rounded. Instead of some boring person standing at the front rambling about who gives a crap for an hour and a half I was actually able to listen most of the time. This was also highly influenced by the fact that course participation is a large component of our grade. I also really enjoyed that there was life lessons to be learned about business and it was all solely course material driven. We did also get lectures from 2 people that worked in the industry and another consultant. It was super hard for me to listen because the days were so long but it really demonstrated how good of a school mannheim is. I wish that it had a larger worldwide presence so that when I do go back to canada people will be able to recognize my 'prestige'.

We also got to do exercises in negociating, which I feel like I'm going to be to much of an empathetic person to have real success with. I don't want to be the person that always feels like I have to compromise so that a solution can be found. I think I'm usually to scared to fail that I'm not brave enough to win, which of course is not a winning strategy! In real life the stakes were so much higher than what we had in class and it is going to be so much more difficult because there is so much more to lose

Damn my woman hormones and need for everyone to 'get along'

But the prof was just so excellent and well informed - sometimes it's difficult to have a prof that seems to know a lot, because it is challenging, but that's just where the most information comes in...

I found this when I googled Dr. Thorsten Makowski - that's what my life was like. I'm not smart enough for grad school...