Generative Research

Close To Me:

Things I can't live without.

1. Family- It's been a tough year for my family. And now more than ever, I realize how important it is to value and treasure what family is, wherever they are, and despite the mistakes they make. I come from a really close family: grandparents, cousins, siblings, the whole deal and as the kids have grown up a lot has changed and it's hard to deal with. But I know that without them I could not function the same way.

2. Friends- I've always been good at making friends, I'm a good listener and I like sharing my life and being around people. The relationships I have back home in Mexico City and here in Austin are my most proud accomplishment. I plan to keep and take care of these relationships for as long as I can.

3. Impact- I care about the legacy I leave in this world. Both through everyday actions and, in this particular moment in my life, through my leadership. I am very involved in two areas of campus were I hope I've left an impact on younger students, peers, faculty, and issues that matter in this community. I find purpose in my life through this passions.

4. Internet- It's they way I communicate with friends, my thoughts, and explore my passions. It's also the way the outside world communicates with me. I rely on the internet for my shopping, my news, my studying, and in many ways, my social life too.

5. Food- In a very literal sense, I couldn't live without food and water. But I love food, eating out is one of my favorite things to do. 

Things I care about

1. Education: I value my education and enjoy my classes. I like learning new things and pushing the boundaries of my mind. I seek education here at UT, but also outside of it. 

2. Self-Actualization: there are many things encompassed in this concept. But what I mean is that I want to pursue my dreams and goals, and challenge myself everyday. Make sure that I am never settling.

3. Social issues: women issues, LGBT issues, immigration issues are three example of social justice causes I am deeply concerned with and care about. I've gotten involved formally and informally to try to contribute to their resolution.

4. Music: I listen to music 24/7 I love discovering it and I love watching it live. It really is an integral part of my life, helps with my mood and memories. 

5. TV & Movies- I am a huge entertainment junky. I love film and knowing about pop culture. I keep up with too many shows.

6. Technology- This is a new found passion, but I love learning about new technology and how it's changing the world. On a personal level, I love exploring new apps that make my life simpler. 

Among others...

Digital Ecosystem

The sources I most commonly use are:

1. Web Search- pretty much my first go-to when I'm looking for an answer. it's also what I use to follow-up on any more information that came from other sources I encountered.

2. Email- I subscribe to a few Google alerts that keep me informed and Newsletters with fashion and technology information for example.

3. National Magazines online- the ones I like the most are Fast Company and Ad Age as they relate to my professional field and keep me current.

4. Blogs and forums- Pinterest and Buzzfeed are websites I visit daily to get my fashion and gossip dose of the day.

5. Twitter and Facebook- Through twitter I follow many news publishers such as the Walls Street Journal and New York Times that keep me updated in real-time. On Facebook the content comes to me in a more organic way through what my friends decide to share on their profile.

Typical Weekday

The two periods with the heaviest intake of information happen during work and my night prep. It's where I have more uninterrupted time in front of the computer and the time to look for information. There are also the times of day were I routinely look for information. For example, there are news websites that I check every day during work, and blog I check every day during night prep. The rest happens usually through my smartphone and in a more spontaneous way.

Journey Mapping

For this blog post I interviewed Mallory Jones about her journey to pick a major. For her, the process has been full of ups and downs and she thinks she had more trouble with it than most people she knows, who really didn’t switch majors half-way through college.

Mallory is a current Marketing senior from the Woodlands. She is the oldest of three siblings and her parents are both attorneys. She is 21 years old and is very involved in school through different organizations. She is high achieving, type-A, and smart (not just book smart, but street smart too). She is well liked, and she used to care a lot about what people thought of her. In my opinion, that has changed a lot since freshman year when I first met her.

Below are the results from the interview. I have taken my notes, analyzed them, and grouped her experiences into four stages. I will explain these stages and how they fit into her overall journey.

Young Dreams

This stage includes everything before beginning the process of applying to college. From dreams of becoming a veterinarian to play with puppies all day, to some more serious thoughts of becoming a doctor to save lives.

For Mallory the first serious consideration she gave to a major was when she decided she wanted to do pre-law. It was only natural- lawyers on TV were incredibly successful and so were her parents. She felt fairly confident in her decision, which makes sense since the decision is far away. It really is just a dream and the reality of what it entails had not sunk in yet.

College Decision

As things started to get more real and time to apply for college came, Mallory started to change her mind. Law school seemed like a great goal, but a liberal arts undergrad just didn’t seem like the smartest decision. She didn’t know how committed she was to grad school, and if that was the case, her bachelor’s would not be very valuable in the current economy.

So she threw herself into research. Once she decided to come to UT, she looked at rankings, and salary statistics, and lots of numbers that led her to the decision to major in business at McCombs. At the time she was feeling very confident in her decision- she had spent a lot of time researching and had the data to back up her decision. And as a plus, she could still apply to law school later on if that’s what she wanted. At this time she wasn't thinking of a specific major within McCombs. Majoring in "business" seemed to satisfy her and everyone around her. 

Go with the Flow

This is an overwhelming time for Mallory and it spans from her first to her third semester at McCombs. She is getting used to college life and feeling a lot of pressure from her peers and McCombs (whatever that means) do declare certain majors. She applied to BHP, because she realized how big of a deal it was. When she was not accepted into the program she thought that the only way to remain competitive was to major in Finance.

Influencers during this time period are varied. One one side peers who major in BHP/Finance (they tend to be the majority and/or the most vocal), then there's Career Services highlighting great Finance jobs, there’s the structure of the honors program that made her feel like a second-class citizen when she did not make it, and you have her own insecurities and worries. All of these make her forget about what she really enjoys doing, or what she will enjoy doing after graduation. This is a stage where Mallory is not in touch with what she really wants, but is more concerned with what she SHOULD be doing.

Re-evaluation

This stage is full of anxiety and big decisions. The main influencers here change. Peers are still important but she starts listening to other peers, who may be fewer, but talk to her about things that interest her and start open her eyes to new possibilities. Professors are also a huge influencers during this stage ,as are the classes she’s taking- both for positive and negative effects on her journey. Her first Finance, Marketing, and MIS class happen during this period. For Mallory this stage happened between her third and fourth semester.

Her confidence level here is at its lowest point during the journey, she is re-evaluating her entire four-year plan.

The Switch

Mallory takes the brave decision to switch majors, and it’s a stressful process. She has to answer questions from everyone about why she changed. Professors and the course curriculum (taking her first Marketing class) are again, big influencers in her decision. She goes through recruiting successfully, but now without a fair share of frustrations. Her confidence level increases but is still not at a 100% and it’s still an adaptation process and an acceptance one as well.

Developing a Passion

Through her upper-division classes, having an internship and throwing herself completely into the study of Marketing, Mallory reaches complete acceptance and confidence in her major decision. She has a clearer idea of why she picked it, why she loves it, and what she wants to do with it. Furthermore, she’s an advocate for it.

Influences shift from being mainly internal to her world to completely external- that is media outlets, online publications, blogs, news, internships etc. She proactively looks for influences in her life that inspire and help her learn more about the subject she's passionate about.

Empathy Map

Empathy Map

This blog post is about empathy. Excuse the cliché but, as someone who is ESL, I like to look up definitions, just to make sure nothing gets lost in translation. Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Ok then, let’s get personal.

For this exercise I’ve chosen a boss I once had- maybe a long time ago, maybe not too long ago. Although we did become close during the time I worked for him, I wouldn’t say I know his deepest darkest secrets, so it will be challenging to think about him beyond the surface level. Let’s call him Michael, that name really does suit him.

I’ll try to tell you about Michael as we navigate thought the six dimensions of this empathy map, but let’s first set a very basic picture: Michael is 42 years old, he is a group manager at a Fortune 500 company, tall and very thin (which makes him look boyish sometimes), he is gay, and comes from a conservative white catholic family.

1. What does he think and feel?

For Michael his career is the most important thing in his life. He is not in a committed relationship and does not live near any family. There is no doubt work is the number one priority in his life. He has been successful in this area of his life, he has a great reputation in the workplace as someone who drives for results and gets the job done. When it comes down to it- his record is clean. He is a demanding manager, and is known for expecting a lot from his employees both in positive and slightly negative ways.

He is smart, and knows it. People often say that to him. He graduated from an ivy-league university and he loves to bring that up in conversation. He was just promoted and is looking 2-3 promotions ahead. He is very ambitious, very dedicated, and yes, very smart.

Fitness is also important, he regularly goes to private training appointments after work, and eats at fancy organic places for lunch. His lifestyle in general is pretty high-end; nice car, nice restaurants, and nice suits. Definitely values his social life, although he mainly hangs out with younger people. Michael has lots of friends, and still parties like he is 20.

He is also a highly private person- no photos in his cube, no real details of his weekend, no mention of his boyfriend. What people know, they know from gossip. In fact, not that many people know that he is gay.

He worries about his work performance, and weather or not he is producing work that is timely and relevant. He is thorough and detail-oriented. He aspires to become a VP at his company and maybe someday raise a family, although he isn’t too concerned or too hopeful in that area of his life.

2. What does he see?

He lives in a young professional environment both on and off the clock. He works downtown around a lot of office-life oriented businesses and his day-to-day interactions are with people 22-40 years old. He lives in a very hip part of town in a nice expensive apartment  I would imagine few people his age are his neighbors. Like I said, he frequents really trendy young places with his trendy young friends.

As far as what the Market offers- he utilizes great solutions for his lifestyle. For example, he hates to shop, so he orders everything he owns from GILT, Fab, or Amazon. He is also an Uber fan (peer cab app), which allows him to party like a rock star and not have to deal with driving, or getting a cab at 2:00 am. There are many good services that align with his single urban man life and he lives in a city that meets his requirements of entertainment options.

3. What does he say and do?

Michael is a funny guy. He is serious and high achieving, but he is witty and has a great sense of humor. He is friendly and confident in public; his attitude does not change in a professional or social environment. Like I mentioned before he is a very private person.

He is kind to others and generally well liked, but he has strong opinion. Like I said, he knows he is smart and that can sometimes come out as condescending, but I wouldn’t say it’s an overwhelming flaw either. He does like to be right and in control.

4. What does he hear?

Many of the things I mention he hears from friends and bosses- he is smart, funny and driven. His friends have similar goals, priorities, and interests and since he does not have a spouse or children to share his life with, his friends are a huge and influential part of his life.

He listens to a great multitude of influencers- he likes to be up to date on current events. That means, news, world events, fashion, trends, fads, and city life. Some examples of influences he seeks are the New York Times, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and city blogs.

Politically he is liberal and has strong opinions on topics such as gay rights, immigration, and sometimes religion. So he follows and hears from sources that reinforce his lifestyle and values.

5. What are his pain points?

The next two questions are the hardest because we will be making a ton of assumptions about Michael, and I almost hesitate to fill in these gaps, but here we go.

Michael fears professional failure. He also fears commitment on a personal level. He fears getting older, and feeling irrelevant. He fears been judged for his personal life and not his professional performance.

Michael is frustrated with the constraints of his environment. For example, the fact that the people he works with don’t always have work as their number one priority (sometimes it’s kids, or a wife, or a boyfriend, or even a dog.). In many ways he feels the same about people outside the workplace, many of his friends are getting married, settling down, and are slowly not so on board with his world.

6. What does he hope to gain?

Michael wants change and for things to stay the same at the same time.

He is frustrated because he knows he is smart and capable but still needs to be patient and “play the game”. He has played it and played it well for a long time, but it’s getting to a point where he feels stuck and patience is running out and he has earned a promotion- he wants/needs a way to feel valued by the company and for them to realize his contributions and potential.

He also wants to feel young and constantly reassured that he is still living the exact lifestyle he wants and not settling because the world around him says he has to.

He will measure success by feedback from his boss- promotion, more responsibility, more exposure etc. And by how relevant he and those around him think he is, an example would be someone asking him where the coolest new bar is, or what hot indie band is coming into town this weekend.

So there it is, a very presumptuous look at the persona version of my boss. I think if Michael were to read this post he would probably think the good things said were absolutely true, and think the negative things had no truth to them at all. But he would also have excellently crafted counter arguments that would probably make me retract half of this post.