DISCS is setting up a Junior Term Abroad program. Essentially, CS and MIS students can apply to spend part of their junior year in a partner school abroad. This was an innovation of the JG School of Management.  It was such an impressive idea that we decided we wanted to do the same.  The JTA will be available to our current sophomores. 

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I braved Megamall yesterday to do some Christmas shopping.  It was my first visit to Megamall in literally years.  I can't even remember the last time I was there.  I went out of desperation.  I needed a couple more items and I happened to be in the area.

The crowd was thick, but I was expecting worse.  The majority of stores were on sale, something that I didn't anticipate but worked in my favor.  It was a good time to go.  Some of the stuff I got was heavily discounted--up to 70%. 

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Every day, we make a decision to go to work, to answer email, to submit reports, to attend meetings. We do these despite aversions to certain people or tasks.  We do these out of a sense of commitment or camaraderie, as sense of duty, and maybe a belief that what we do is good.  In deciding to do our jobs to the best of our ability, we establish a belongingness with our organizations.

But belongingness has an involutary aspect to it--are we happy to go to work each day? Do we like our colleagues? Do they like us? Do we share the values of the organization? Does the organization--it's physical structures, it's atmosphere, it's people--appeal to us, touch us on some visceral level? This fit either propells us or else holds us back.  It is something that either works in our favor or else it is something we have to transcend.

While there will always be incompatibilities between us and our organizations, it's important that we both like and love each other if we expect to be maximally productive.