Personal Renaissance

During my fall semester at Salt Lake Community College in 2017, I had signed up for

Business 1050 and dropped the class after going about two times. It was intimidating to me and

in all honesty, it did not seem very interesting to me. It was quite different from all of the other

business classes I had taken before. It required so much reading that I did not understand and that

I felt I did not have the time or patience for, along with a lot of critical thinking. I remember

thinking to myself, “What does all of this even have to do with business? This is more like a

philosophy class.” Knowing that it was a required class for me, I was aware that I eventually had

to take it but I thought I would put it off until I no longer could. Here we are now almost at the

end of the spring semester of 2019, and although I was not very excited to take this class, I can

say that it makes so much more sense now. I have learned so much from this class. I have

learned that it’s okay to call out nonsense, business is a science, critical thinking is beautiful, and

many other things.

One of the very first things that Engh talked about was nonsense. I thought it was silly

that there was almost a whole entire reading about this, but at the end of it I found it to be very

interesting and I can say it was probably one of the most memorable readings for me. I feel that

often in class or a workplace, we feel that we have to agree with everything that our teacher or

boss has to say. We don’t tend to disagree or argue with them or challenge their thoughts because

at a very young age we have been taught to just do what we are told. Engh talked about the

importance of calling out nonsense when we see it. Why should we do something or agree with
something that is pure nonsense? Often times we are afraid to speak our minds or call out the

nonsense, but it’s so important that we do it.

Another interesting thing that Engh talked about was how business is a science. This is

something that I had never really thought about but after the reading, it made a lot of sense. We

use mathematical formulas in business all the time without realizing it. In business it is so

important for us to separate perception and reality. What we think, may not be what it really is.

So how do we know what is real and what is not in business? We have theories and hypothesis

just like we do in science. We are always finding new evidence or new ways to improve the

business world.

Critical thinking goes hand in hand with what I just talked about. Nonsense and science

in business. It’s one of the most important things in business. In fact, I believe it’s something that

we must apply to our day to day life, even outside of business. Critical thinking involves putting

your own thoughts, beliefs and feelings aside to really analyze and understand a situation. This

helps us make better decisions. It is important for us to listen to others. It is so hard for us to

better ourselves if we are not open to listening to others ideas or thoughts simply because of our

pride. We must ask ourselves questions and challenge ourselves in business. We must stop and

think to ourselves, “Is what I just said nonsense?” We need to understand that we are human and

we will make mistakes, but we must take responsibility for those mistakes and learn from them

because it is the only way to better ourselves and our business. Before we make decisions, even

anything as small as hiring a new employee, we need to put aside our emotions and beliefs so

that we are able to make better decisions.

 I really have taken a lot from this course. I have not only learned a lot about the history of

business, but I have become a better critical thinker. I am going to be honest, I really disliked the

first few discussions. I felt that I was doing a good job but I was not getting full credit. I put

aside my own thoughts about my own work and challenged myself. I tried really hard to really

engage in my posts and comments to my classmates and to follow the rubric guidelines as best as

I could until I found that I was finally doing that effortlessly. Not only did I feel that I had

improved, but I could see that I had improved because I started to get full credit on all of the

discussions. Some of the discussion topics challenged me to put aside my personal emotions and

thoughts. I also found that sometimes I disagreed with classmates but I would be understanding

of their thoughts and also responded to them in a respectful manner. The discussions became a

lot more interesting to me because I felt that I was engaging more.

I can admit that I did not start off the semester with the most positive attitude towards this

class. I took it simply because I knew that I had to and that I could no longer keep putting it off. I

can say that my thoughts towards it has changed. I understand that there is more to business than

what we think there is and I think that this class does a great job at proving that. The history of

business is important because it gives us a better understanding of why we do the things that we

do in the business world. Future business people will learn from our mistakes and

accomplishments just like we have learned from people from the past. This is one of those

courses that I was afraid of taking because I thought that it was going to be challenging and

although I do believe that it was challenging, I also have enjoyed it a lot and I definitely feel that

I have taken so much from it. Not only things that I can apply in the business world, but in my

day to day life as well.