My Secret Sauce

Human capital = your experiences, skills, and emotions -- in short, everything about you that makes you you!

A) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? Write this up in a detailed list.

1. I'm a total dork. I think this affects my experiences, since I seek out experiences that center around my favorite hobbies, which are fiction and sci-fi books and movies and classic video games, and everything that pays tribute to these awesome parts of our imaginative, creative and fun pop culture; even conventions and our home's decor (the welcome mat and the wi-fi network are "Speak Friend And Enter.")

2. I'm a total extrovert. This affects my emotions. I prefer to go on adventures with friends and especially to process learning and emotions by talking with friends. Relationships with people mean a lot to me, I get a lot done by treating coworkers like people and my friends are part of my family.

3. I'm a logic-approach preferred problem solver. That's a skill developed from years and years of schooling. Everything - especially decisions - needs to have a sound logical argument to support it.

4. I need to be busy. I make lists. I make "To Do" lists, I make "dinner ideas" lists, I make "movies to see" lists, etc.  It's a weird mix of my organization skills keeping track of everything because I know my brain is not capable of remembering everything without reference material, and of my need to be at 100% work capacity. I'm capable of a tremendous amount of workload and multitasking, so even in my personal life I have several projects going on at once. I don't "chill" or "relax" very well at all. I reference the lists when there's down time and assign myself a project from them, so there's no more down time.

5. I like to learn. I think my classmates have picked up on this because "Christie's always asking questions." But learning is probably the meaning of life to me. I'm also a good learner, no probably a great learner. In the school setting I'm a typical straight A student and in the work setting I devour new skills faster than small or large corporates can provide training, so I bore easily.

B) Interview the five people who know you the best. Ask them what they think makes you different -- remember, focus on your knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions -- in other words, your human capital. Post each interview, as well as a two-three sentence summary of each interview, explaining what your key takeaways are.

1. Bill, the boyfriend - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhbXZld3p6WVJWRDA

• You're a very caring person; you know what people need and how to help them out
• You're a very organized person; can keep everything straight

2. Maria, childhood friend - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhNGlROGRJclNWMWM

• Enthusiastic, energetic
• Comfortable talking to new people
• Not self-conscious, can have fun being yourself
• Smart, can talk about almost anything

3. Chris, college friend - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhclFDNnA1VnR3cHM

• Friendly; can make friends with a lot of people; can interact with all different kinds of people

4. Kara, post-college friend - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhRWhXVE41ZldoVGs

• logical
• can explain or teach things well to others

5. Lauren, childhood friend - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhVmpCeVN4SHFIRGs and https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6o8JktGC3lhckdLenpCUXJ3Ym8

• Positive, outgoing (positive especially when around other people, but can sulk when alone) 
• Decisive, I act once I make a decision and can help others make decisions or get things done; active and getting things done 
• Good sense of humor 
• Humble, don't have an ego about my education, like to keep learning and ask questions 
• Up for anything 
• *and she called back after to say I'm also very responsible because I can throw a great party but also make sure that I don't let people drive drunk 

Note: I do have family, they're just on vacation in London right now so I didn't want to interrupt vacation with a school assignment.

C) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How?

I listed out the keywords from my self-reflection in Part 1, my friends' interviews in Part 2, and results I've gotten from standardized tests in the past (Myers-Briggs, Big Five, Strength Fingers, etc.). I then color-coded the recurring themes.

As the chart shows, my self-reflection shows up again, and you can see how strong Extroversion, my busy personality and my love of learning show through.  It was interesting to see that logic wasn't as strong but it is going on behind the scenes, and "being yourself" isn't measured by standardized tests.

However, several other factors appeared that I hadn't initially named, especially "Dutiful" which I agree describes me even though I hadn't thought of it until now. I also hadn't considered "funny" or "sense of humor" before this exercise, but I think it's an important part of what sets people apart, and I do love to laugh.

	PART 1: MY LIST	v.	PART 2: FRIENDS' LIST	v.	STANDARDIZED TESTS
Genuine	Dorky Interests		Being Myself
			Enthusiasm
Extrovert	Extrovert		People		Harmony
	Friends		Talk to new people		Woo
	People		Talk about anything		Communication
			Friendly		Good interpersonal skills
			Outgoing		Extravert
			Bad introvert		High Extroversion
Logic	Logic		Logical		Thinking(Logic)
Activator	Decisions		Organized		High quality work
	Busy		Energy		Rise to challenges
	"Doing"		Decisive		Problem solving
	Projects		Action-oriented		Reaching objective goals
	Capable				Efficiency
	Don't Relax				Results, take-charge
	Organization				Highly Neurotic
Learning	Learning		Smart		Input
	Questions		Good teacher/explainer		Continue to learn
			Humble
			Keep learning
			Up for anything
Other			Positive		Consistency
			Funny		Bad time management
			Caring		Sensing (Concrete)
			Responsible		Judgment(Systems)
					Dutiful
					Low Emotional Intelligence
					Low Risk