The Power of Team

Team and network is what got me here today. The Irish Education System put many barriers in my way and I relied on other tools.

To study Commerce in University College Dublin, takes 480 points in the Leaving Certificate – I got 312 and but still did Commerce in UCD.  I never went to lectures – bad at listening! – but worked in a team that consisted of a person who went to lectures and had nice handwriting, a person who had access to a photocopier, a person who lived near me, had endless quantities of tinned soup, was happy to study with me and liked a lift home and to college on my motorbike.  The Power of Team

To do a Masters Degree in the world acclaimed Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business takes a 2.1 Honours Bachelor Degree – I got a 2.2 but still did a Masters in the Smurfit Graduate School.  Through my network I knew a man who knew a man – a man who only had to lift the phone and make a call.  I jest not.  Only five people got into the masters that year with a 2.2 – myself and my study partner were two of them.  The Power of Network.

I completed my formative. Formal education journey with an honours degree simply because the masters programme focussed on project team work.  Hallelujah!  The Power of Team.

In 1993 there were no jobs in Ireland for graduates – I got a job.  To me, merely because I got talking to this dashing young woman who was walking by as I was waiting for the interview.  The brief interaction resulted in me being well briefed going in and being offered a job.  The Power of Network.

The formal education system’s restrictive entry standards did everything it could to prevent me from progressing in my chosen field of education.   Interesting how the two things they don’t teach in school or college are the same two things that can foil their entry standards and demonstrates how unnecessary formal classes and lectures are to learning  – All learning can be achieved through teams and networks.