Trading One Prison for Another (HBO.2)

Spending late nights studying and having no control in my schedule week after week here at AIM made me realize that I am now in a somewhat similar situation that I was in when I was in China working for OISHI.

Its amazing that even though how hard I try to change things, life seems to have a funny way of putting it back again in the guise of a different packaging. In the latter part of my China work experience, I wanted to break free from my job because it consumed too much of myself and that there was no room for personal growth since the job became monotonous. I was a Plant Manager of a snack food manufacturing company and even though the company treats its employees fairly well, I felt that I was in a prison. I lived inside the factory and that meant that I had to be the Plant Manager 100% of the time. I was assigned there to watch over the people and the operations but ironically there are more eyes watching me. The grapevine/rumor mill runs strongly in the company culture that sometimes decisions were made based on those stories. I learned how to deal with those kind of situation and I also realized that I should always protect myself and sometimes fight back.

Here at AIM, we have a different scenario but the situation is the same. It has only been a little more than 2 months into the course but it doesn't feel that way. The only thing I find different in AIM is that I learn a lot of things from the cases. I know it might not be the favorite mode of learning for other students but I find it really refreshing and engaging experience compared to the lecture type sessions in other schools. At AIM competition is high(supposedly) and strategic advantages play a key role in getting ahead.

Will have to see how this new "prison" suites me in the coming months.