Saturday, November 22, 2014

Reputation


My personal reputation is perceived fairly consistently between my friends, family and peers at UIUC. I believe those who know me well would say I am hard working, energetic, innovative and goal orientated. As a result, my actions and choices I make on a day to day basis regarding school work, going out of my way to help others, creating new projects etc. resonate with my peers at school, who might not know me personally. I think my reputation has been built first by internalizing my goals and then, more importantly, voicing my objectives and using action to follow through with them. I believe actions are stronger than words in shaping perspective and those actions communicate the type of person you are to others.

More specifically, I have a strong reputation at school for being involved in with the Investment Banking Academy, Investment Management Academy and the Margolis Information Lab. People often seek my out by finding my contact information on the school’s website and ask for my advice in a variety of different segments. I help people put together career plans or provide contact advice to help them achieve their personal goals.  In addition, I am also involved in some of the newer organizations such as PRIME and The student managed investment fund, so I think I also have a reputation for knowing what is coming next and really wanting to grow UIUC’s finance program.

I personally have never “cashed in” on any situation by leaving my reputation behind. If anything, I have found that my reputation has been able to provide me more attractive opportunities. My track record often allows me to volunteer for really good opportunities that may not be available to the wider public. I’ve also had the opportunity to work on interesting projects and be creative on my own terms when possible.

2 comments:

  1. I'm curious to know whether what you report of your reputation was there before college, say even in middle school. If you re-read your second sentence, were those traits with you when you were younger as well? Or did you have to develop that over time?

    Also, given your interests in various aspect of Business and Finance, is that something you've gotten from others in your family? Or did you develop that interest on your own?

    The reason for asking these sort of questions is to look at the source of the reputation, and of your own motivation. The reputation and motivation are different. The first is how others regard you. The second is coming from inside you. But they are apt to be similar, though on occasion people hide things about themselves that they are not proud of and whether that shows through or not can impact the person's reputation.

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  2. Professor,

    Thanks for the comment. After self reflecting on your question in the firm paragraph, I believe I illustrated those traits in middle school in high school through sports. Although sports doesn't directly correlate with leadership and hard work in school/business a lot of traits are transferable including leadership, work ethic etc.

    No one is my family is interested in finance, I became interested in the field after a trip to the federal reserve. After which I decided to switch focus away from sports and apply my skill set to projects and competitions related to business and finance. You bring up and interesting point by saying motivation and reputation differ.

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