Month 1 - May 2008
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 5:20PM Introduction
May 5, 2008, was the first day of my Master’s degree and the second time attending Full Sail. This time I was attending online and embarking on being a full-time student along with working a full-time position at THX Ltd. I remember my original intention for starting the degree was the pure fact that I could get a Masters while gaining experience in my chosen career’s industry. I was certainly not ready for the amount of work and long weekends the degree was going to demand of me but I knew I had the determination to see this through. Learning, interacting with teachers and students, and submitting course work online was a new experience for me and although it isn’t for everyone, I felt it was still adequate to my learning style. I have learned a great deal since this first month and looking back, it is amazing how little I knew just a year ago. I am looking forward to completing this Leadership Portfolio project and taking an interactive look at my journey, experiences, and history of my Master degree.
This Leadership Portfolio project, a part of my Thesis, is an interactive resume to document and showcase what I have accomplished to receive my Masters degree. When given the choice of format in which to present my LP project, I decided to revamp my personal website and include a specific blog dedicated to my degree. Each post will review and showcase a Reflection of that class/month of the degree process, including my community involvement, and the original document submission (if available) I had for that month. For this program, we developed monthly projects in various formats as an outgrowth of the assigned tasks, in a group or community of our choosing according to our industry. I am herein separating the monthly reflection from the monthly community involvement segments. Join with me in this journey and I look forward to hearing any feedback or comments you may have.
Reflection
My first month’s class, titled Executive Leadership, served as an introduction, a primer, to the degree process and proved to be an early mindset changer for becoming a strong business leader. I remember gaining inspiration from the story of Walt Disney and how his leadership skills and business intuition helped build the long lasting empire known around the world today. The skills and drive he displayed definitely influenced me in knowing that no matter where I am in life, greatness can be achieved through dedication, determination, and drive. This month also featured the beginning of elements needed for my thesis projects.
Looking back to this month makes me realize where I actually was in my personal career. I was prepared to successfully fulfill the requirements of my chosen position, but I knew I wanted to become a Producer eventually and I lacked some skills for that position. I entered this program without fully comprehending the magnitude of the experience. As I learned about Walt Disney, I began to see the importance of management procedures when leading a project or business. My eyes were opened to the many possibilities that this Full Sail education could prepare me for. My thirst for information was increased, so I found more meaning in my other experiences, especially my Internet interactions. I began to recognize characteristics of company leaders which helped them achieve CEO status. I was truly invigorated and excited to read, learn, complete assigned tasks, and was eager to discover what the next activity would involve.
Community Involvement
I originally stated I would record podcasts each month showcasing my involvement but after delving into the degree program, this turned out to not be the case. Instead, I did document, in an email to myself, what community elements I took part in each month and will be retelling those items in this section of the post. During the first month I actively renewed my participation in the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). There were significant changes since the last time I visited the website as new supports, sponsors, and website designs had been created and it was obvious that this group was evolving constantly. My involvement consisted of personal growth activities, reviving my knowledge of available resources, buying equipment and sound/music packages at a discount, visiting support groups, focus areas, and discovering trends. I was able to establish networks of contacts, including Tommy Tallarico, and notably Paul Lipson, whom I would later interact with at industry conferences. I was able to bring my current insider view of what the audio game industry wants and needs.
Original LP Submission
Mark Gugler
A Reflective Analogy
As an inspirational addition to the Leadership Portfolio project, I felt each month could have the analogy of composing a piece of music. The first month is centered on having a goal in mind, in this case a musical composition, and starting in the most logical position. For business this is leadership and for music it is the melody. Leadership and the main melody are what hold a business and a composition together, respectively. Leaders must first figure out their strengths, their weaknesses, and learn how to conduct themselves in many situations. They set the boundaries, manage production, and provide motivation. A melody must likewise lead the entire composition. It must have direction, interesting flow, and correct structure as it establishes the foundations of tonal key, tempo, meter, and mood. Below is the melody representing the foundation created this month, and moving forward, I will add the unique backgrounds, harmonies, and other aspects to fully develop the composition. These additions correlate with the development of each of us as we learned through the program and began to exhibit characteristics that will make any business person impactful.
Visual Click Thumbnail for Larger View
;)
Audio Click Play to Listen
Reader Comments (2)
I dig the blog. You should style this comment box to be white with black text to match the site better. ;o)
What did you get your masters in? I was imagining something technical but these articles seem to be more biz-dev or management stuff.
Also your URL regexer is too picky. "jubishop.com" should be considered a valid url. ;o) peace.
Hey Justin, Thanks for the suggestions. Hadn't looked at the comments yet so seeing them and updating was a definite need.
As for the degree, it is an Entertainment Business Master of Science degree and it was very much geared towards starting and maintaining an entertainment business. I got the degree in hops of furthering my career to lead programming and producer positions as I get more experience in the games industry.
And as for the URL thing, it is just a feature of the website development environment I'm using. I will definitely look at it to make it more user friendly though. :)
Thanks for being the first commenter and hope all is well.
Mark G.