Peter Diamond Econ 490: Conflict

One of the most recent conflicts I got into that meant a lot was at my internship this summer.  During one of the projects I worked on we had to work in a group of six total.  Once I was assigned my group, I knew we would have a strong team because everybody was very impressive, but I also knew that everybody thought they were the best and there might be some tension regarding making final decisions.

Everybody was working well, and the project was coming along well, right until the end.  When the project was finished, we had to decide who was doing the conclusion.  Myself, along with one other kid wanted to do the conclusion.  I wanted to do it because I knew I was the best speaker of the group, and I wanted to leave a good impression with the audience.  The other guy wanted to do the conclusion to make sure he was the last person in the minds of the executives watching.  At this particular company interns don't get full time offers unless you absolutely blow away the execs.  So my partner thought that if he had the last say, he might have a chance at getting an offer.

I didn't really care about his intentions, but I cared because if he did a bad job, it would look bad on all of us.  And I knew this guy was not a good speaker.  So that's when the conflict arose.  This kid and I got into it a little during a meeting leading up to the presentation.  We both said why we wanted to do the conclusion, and left it all out on the table.  While I felt bad saying I was the best speaker, I had to do what was best for team.  Just like I accepted I wasn't the best at other things, I thought they would understand when I hinted that they weren't the best presenters.  Then the other guy pretty much put it out there that this is his presentation, he wanted to be the guy coming back for a full time job, and he wanted to have final say.

The other members kind of kept quiet during the meeting, but after would talk about it with me and the others.  Three out of the four others came up to me and said they wanted me to do it, so what we decided was to have a vote.  Myself and the other guy would present in front of the four other group members, and we'd bring in one other employee so that the vote wouldn't be even.  After presenting, the vote came in and I won.

The guy seemed a little mad, but after he saw the final presentation and all the execs praising the whole group, he lightened up and told me good job.

Looking back on it, the situation could've been avoided if we both sat back and didn't say what we wanted to, but I'm glad we did, because you have to communicate and talk about things in order to lead to the best product.  We had a great presentation, and the conflict wasn't a big deal after seeing the results.

Peter Diamond Econ 490: Gift Exchange

This example might be completely wrong, and have nothing to do with what the article was about, but I think the two are related so here it goes.

My example of gift exchange would be Secret Santa.  For the longest time now, I've been a part of Secret Santa at Christmas time.  What Secret Santa is, is that everybody gets assigned a random person, and they have to buy that person a gift.  This is a great idea, and everybody enjoys seeing what other people think they would like.  There is one problem though.  The creators of the game, at least in my situation, is that they didn't put a limit on how much you can spend.  In theory, you might get better gifts, but the problem is that every player is in a different financial situation.

This leads to people buying different levels of gifts, making the people who bought cheaper gifts look bad.  It ends up being a competition of some sorts, because you want to spend the most and look like the best friend compared to the other players.  The problem, is not that other people make more money and can therefore buy better gifts, the problem is that the rules should have never been made that you can spend however much you want.

If the rule was, for example, that there is a limit of $60 on a gift, then everybody can spend the same amount, buy great gifts, and still lead to healthy competition.  Instead of trying to see who can spend the most money, players would see who can do the most with the same amount of money.

This relates to the piece because like the author said, it's not a big deal that some kids have more marbles than others, it's a big deal that they got to create the rules before others had a say in it.  Having a lot money is totally fine, but creating an unfair system is not.  Let everybody have a say in the rules, and then make an executive decision.

Trust me, I want to have just as much money as the next person.  But I also want to do the right thing.

Peter Diamond Econ 490: Managing Future Risk

Ever since I was very young I would say I've been planning for the future.  I used to get paid three dollars for every A on my report card when I was in grade school.  And while I could have bought video games or toys, I saved up every dollar I got.  I saved all my birthday money and good grade money that by eighth grade I was able to invest $1000 in the stock market.  Now, I didn't know much about the stock market at the time, but I knew how to save money because at a very young age I knew that the future is never promised, so you need to have a good plan for it.

Skip ten years to now, and I would say more than ever I worry about the future, and that's why most of my decisions are based on 10,20,30 years from now, and not based on the present.

I am an Economics and Psychology major because I thought it could bring me more money in the future.  Most big money jobs like Investment Banking and Private Equity hire Finance/Econ/Accounting majors.  So if they look at me compared to other applicants, I have all the knowledge regarding numbers, but I also understand the people side of things, so I could excel when closing deals and forming relationships.  That unique characteristic that I brought made me more valuable, which lead to more money then, and will in the future.

My summer jobs I also chose based on the future.  After freshman year I worked at a law school because I was interested in law and knew I could make a ton of money if I was an attorney.  After sophomore year I worked at a private equity firm because if I excelled in that I would be making a million dollars a year by the time I was 28-30.  After I graduate I also plan on living at home for a year or two to save money.  Hopefully my job is in a big city so I don't need to buy a car either.  In my opinion there's no point in living a fancy life when you're young.  That's why I plan to save as much as possible when I'm young so I can enjoy the final 40 years of my life.

When kids are starting out, they should build a financial cushion, because you don't want to worry about paying bills in the future.  If you're worrying all the time then you can't focus on more important things like your work.  I don't live cheaply because I want a lot of money in the future, I live cheaply and make financial decisions because I don't want to worry in the future.  Simple as that.