{"id":2178,"date":"2020-02-05T07:03:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2020-01-16T14:03:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:03:57","slug":"embracing-plasticity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/2020\/02\/05\/embracing-plasticity\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Plastic(ity)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post was written by Cody Semmelrock ’20. Connect with him on LinkedIn.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plastic. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understandably, this word has been vilified as it becomes more and more apparent how its mismanagement may define our generation. It is painfully clear how damaging this resource can be in the natural ecosystem. As such, I won\u2019t spend much time on that discussion. Instead, I would like to offer up a different take \u2013 one that embraces the word. These synthetic materials boast a tremendously impressive and valuable quality; they all are plastic<\/em> in nature because they are easily shaped or molded. From a manufacturing standpoint, they are highly adaptive and can be purposed and repurposed to serve different needs under different conditions. Although some promising programs are beginning to emerge, on the whole, the industry\u2019s management of recapturing the value of their product has not looked for inspiration in the product\u2019s defining adaptable nature, and has instead practiced the status quo for far too long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by\u00a0Jonathan Chng<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As I reflect on the first few months in The Sustainable Innovation MBA program, it is hard for me to shake the word. Initially, I felt like I shouldn\u2019t acknowledge my work history that I shouldn\u2019t talk about plastic production in a sustainability program unless I had to. I quickly realized this was the wrong approach. My work background includes project development, management and sales of plastic packaging. My job was to develop and create products that don\u2019t have adequate or appropriate disposal methods. Many single-use medical device packages inevitably would end up thrown away and\/or incinerated. The \u201cTake, Make, Waste\u201d model was, and still is, being practiced. Movement away from this model is on the rise and conversations centered on a circular economy are materializing. When I think of the greatest take away of this program so far, I can\u2019t help but think to the adaptability I have been forced to hone, how essential it is for my own career and how this level of adaptability will need to be utilized for a successful transition within the plastics industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These past few months have been truly transformative. Like\nmany, I decided to pursue an MBA for a variety of reasons. I was looking to\noutfit myself with a \u201ctoolkit\u201d comprised of a variety of skills that would help\nbolster my career while simultaneously setting a foundation for using business\nas a vehicle for substantive social change. Ultimately, I was seeking to better\nunderstand financial statements, canvass business strategy and evaluate the\nfeasibility of my own crazy business ideas. For the purpose of strengthening my\nresume and making myself more marketable, I understood these skills to be most\ncritical. It has become apparent, however that my ability to adapt, to be\nreshaped according to new conditions and embrace plasticity in my career\napproach and personal development has been my greatest take away of the program\nthus far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My education in adaptation started the first day of orientation. Transitioning back to life as a full-time student after a five-year academic reprieve did not occur overnight. It was difficult and it was exhausting, but innate in the program\u2019s structure were lessons I can reflect on as defining moments which have made me a more adaptable student, employee and citizen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to starting in the program, I would have incorrectly identified myself as being adaptable. I would have cited some lesson learned on the mini-tour golf circuit about how important it is to approach novel problems (like sitting 40 yards off the fairway with the pin nowhere in sight) with calm, optimism and creativity. The primary distinction between this example and the adaptability required in SI-MBA and moving forward toward a more sustainable future is the notion of playing with<\/em> others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within an intimately sized cohort of 30, we are assigned to module\nlearning teams. Groups of 3-4 students are hand selected to build diverse\ngroups in an effort to reflect real world working environments and prove that\nhighly diverse groups are more likely to solve increasingly complex problems\nthan their more uniform counterparts. We then tackle assignments in every class\ntogether. This team experience inevitably differs for everyone but illustrated\nto me areas where I should improve, be more flexible and help encourage others\ndevelopment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a thorough understanding and appreciation of this\nsoft skill, hope for a more sustainable future seems bleak. Across every\nindustry and profession, a need for highly adaptable individuals will exist and\nSI-MBA has uniquely outfitted myself and my fellow cohort members with a\ndistinct ability to roll up our sleeves and roll with the punches. I am\nconfident this lesson in adaptability will serve us well as we venture beyond\nthe classroom and face many of the same problems that drew us to the program a\nfew short months ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Cody Semmelrock ’20. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Plastic. Understandably, this word has been vilified as it becomes more and more apparent how its mismanagement may define our generation. It is painfully clear how damaging this resource can be in the natural ecosystem. As such, I won\u2019t spend much time … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Embracing Plastic(ity)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4489,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46457,26210,221,26,425622,427012],"tags":[41478,4433],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jobs","category-class","category-environment","category-learning","category-renewables","category-student-life","tag-innovation","tag-sustainability"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8b9n0-z8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2180,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178\/revisions\/2180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}