Today I am ready to walk away from a team, a team that has been incubated and now strong enough to take off themselves. This is 6AM Health kitchen crew. I joined 6AM Health at the begining of summer just because I got inspired by the products, the mission of helping people eat healthier and so many problems in terms of operations that I am interested in solving. Although it started with those beautiful intentions, it is easier thought than done. First playing a role of connecting the office and the kitchen, I was ignored in the first place. Why? simply because Who do I think I am, just jump in expecting to disturb others' work, also I had no kitchen experience before. Second, I was new to kitchen folks who have completely different background from mine and at different ages, who care about what you can do more than what you say. And third, I want to change the way they worked for the better but have no trust from them at all. And there were tough moments of leadership when I questioned "how is this kitchen manager adding value to the kitchen?", when I struggled because I was not heard, when I cried since a new staff quited, when I was demotivated by how people don't believe in what I can do. Now those questions and doubts are all addressed over time and by these rewarding moments when I saw the kitchen manager empowering a staff, when I saw they in the crew came together to find a better way to solve problems: "hey, you know what, I think we should do this...why don't we..."

Everyone has their own potential, they just need to be put in the right places.

So how I have dealt with them: first step, I chose to be there, in the kitchen, observe what they do in a way that keeps them comfortably working. This was my initial challenge since I was helpful in the way they don't expect that is helpful. Every body was working so hard while I was observing and collecting data. Therefore, I had to be more helpful by helping them at the same time and by doing that, I got to obserbe in more details.

Next, from insights I got, I made some plans for changes, however, no matter how great my plans were, I could not influence the kitchen manager to implement them, just because I had not gained trust from him and he just wanted to keep the way he does. How tough, right? Yes, it even brought me to the point of considering: "Between striving for influencing someone to implement rather than striving for having great plans, which one worths more of my effort?" And it came along with the question: "This kitchen manager, how is he adding value to the kitchen, should we keep him?". At that moment, I did not have any idea that the ultimate goal of my whole internship is to answer that question. I just know that I have not wanted to let him go, I wanted to see something, and so I chose to learn to work with him. That was when I started learning of building rapport. Yeah, but how, I started talking with him by being curious why he wanted to be a chef, a kitchen manager, we talked very straight forward but honest, not awkward I believe. Fortunately, it happened that I needed some drive from her mom who is one of the staffs back and forth since I don't have a car, so I talked a lot with her on the car, I really like her, learnt a lot about her family including his background. Those conversations shape my belief that he and his mom are good people, and good people do good things. Obviously, he would not collaborate with me if I did not prove to him that I am there to help, so whatever the plan I communicated with him, I needed to make sure I am addressing a kitchen's need or bottleneck and that it will lift his job by implementing that. Not to mention, I did not just sell him what to do but listen to his complains and his sharing. Those are valuable input for me to have better initiatives. More importantly, I never stop being there for them and make sure that my plan makes sense to implement. Subsequently, I became a person whom everyone can share their complains about work process, about ingredients, about anything that does not satisfy them in the kitchen, and I made sure their voice is heard by the office.

My second big challenge is to have a balance between convince them what I want them to do and give them spaces to do what they want to do, a balance between focusing on the big picture and managing details. My first leadership principle is always empowering. I believe that everyone has their own potential, they just need to be in the right places to thrive.
Right on the day I and the kitchen manager had to decide whether to let a staff go, we reconsidered about her role in the team: although her contribution to the team is very small, she is playing a small gun so that other members can play bigger guns. And that was the moment we realize her added value, that was the moment we almost left away someone's potential.

Me and Javier.

Me and Avril.

Me and Vilma.

Me and Linda.

Thanks Brad - CEO of 6AM Health & my boss and Javier - 6AM Health kitchen & my partner who had given me a great learning experience. I left this place with a confidence of being a better leader and a lesson of always being human otherwise you are not capable of working with human.

Dear mom and dad, I am so grateful for all of your hard work and sacrifices for me to do what I want. I wish you were here to share with me this thrilling moment when I graduate from my Master degree in Science in Management, Concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership in which students are trained everything to start a venture.
Dear friends and family, thank you so much for always supporting me (even from far away) to make this journey accomplished.
Time flies so fast, it’s almost 1 year since I left to move to the U.S. At this time last year, I was in a tough consideration whether I should go and whether it’s worth it. It was one of my toughest decisions I have ever made and one of the biggest risks I have ever taken. However, today, I am confident to confirm that it’s a good risk to take, that this decision brought me to meet so many great people, that this led me to amazing experiences, that this got me to learn more about myself and what I really want to do. Whenever I introduce to others that I am studying Entrepreneurship, they usually react: “Interesting! Can you really study it?” and Yes, it’s very interesting and there’s a lot to learn to be a good entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship has been a humbling yet exciting and meaningful experience. It’s humbling since we need to get out there and listen to people and we get to try, to fail, to learn and try again. It’s exciting and meaningful because we always get to do what we want or at least what we really care and more importantly, to create or add more economical and social values. Every entrepreneur is so unique in his passion, his characteristics and his view to the world. Thank you, Babson, for bringing me opportunities, for always letting me be myself (although most of the time, I am a bit weird^^), and for getting me to do lots of experiments and learn from them. My experiences this year have proven these following lessons:
1. You can only plan 10% of everything in your life, so don’t plan too much.
2. Understand what you really want to do is hard, but keep looking for it because it’s really important.
3. Fall in love with problems, always observe people and things around you because opportunities are there to make things better.
4. Be human, otherwise, you are not capable to work with another human.
5. Whatever you do, choose to be happy and lead your life!
6. Passion, it’s something you cannot lie about or fake.
7. The biggest barrier to do something is to START. So just start, just do it! You never know until you do it.
8. People, people, people! Working with people is hard but you can never be successful without knowing how to work with people. And yet there are perfect people to work with, you get to motivate with a good WHY (and sometimes HOW) for them to do the work.
9. If entrepreneurship were a drug, I would be an addict.
10. Failure is not bad, it should be your ‘companion’ that teaches you many valuable lessons, don’t be afraid to fail.
11. Rejection is good, take it and crunch it.
12. If you enjoy doing something, most likely you will do it very well.
13. It takes practice to be better and reach greatness.
14. When you are most angry about something, it’s when your value is speaking.
15. The more risks you take, the more opportunities you get, so don’t hesitate to take risks (with some calculation^^)
16. It matters what you do but sometimes it matters more how you present or communicate it to other people, basically how to let the world know what you are doing in the easiest way!
17. You = average of 5 people usually around you (this is popular but very true)
18. Always bring value to the table, that’s how people value to be with you.
19. Relationships, they may start naturally but take effort to build.
20. Always appreciate and find joy in everything you do, that’s how you enjoy moments.
21. Confidence is the most beautiful dress and the best vitamin to get you to do something.
22. Live healthy, sleep well, be mindful otherwise do not even bother being successful.
23. “Don’t be boring. Have fun. Understand what makes you happy and what speaks to your heat. Do the right thing. Try new things even if you are old. Don’t worry about being cool, be warm. Care about what is going on in different parts of the world and what you can do to make the world a little better.” – Akio Toyota, speaking at Babson Graduation Commencement 2019.

This year I have been a TAKER who receives tons of support and from now on it is time for me to be more a DOER and GIVER. I am ready and excited to go to the world. No more projects, pitches, and assignments at school; no more Olin with a very inclusive and diverse community, no more; not many friends around (in person), only real-life challenges, here I go, ready to start!

Thank you for everything. Thank you MSEL for a great journey (and thank you for the first time in my life to make so many friends with people from different parts of the world.

Me and my best friends.