Personal Creativity

Reflection
An Educational Pilgrimage



Introduction i

Personal Creativity Reflection

Table of Contents
Introduction

Course Activities

Class Sessions

Restoring the American Dream

Masters of Innovation

Psychology of innovation

11

The Start-Up of You

12

What Makes Organizations Innovative?

12

Internal Firm Culture

13

Welcome to the Third Industrial Revolution

15

Design Thinking

18

Creative Confidence

23

Necessity of Strangers

26

The Innovators DNA

29

The Start-Up of You

30

Career Planning

30

Networking

33
36

Iliad Assessment
Reactions

36

Feedback

37

Development Plan

38
41

Individual Development Plan

Steve Jobs Biography

43

Outside Events

48

Alec Sharp

48

Mark Ciardi

50
51

Barry Salzberg of Deloitte

54

Conclusion

Appendix

Appendix I: LinkedIn Profile

vi

Appendix II: Iliad Assessment Score Results

Introduction 2

Personal Creativity Reflection

PCR Design

Personal Creativity

My PCR is designed as
an online blog. First and
foremost, I wanted my

Reflection

PCR to be interactive.
As an undergraduate-
learning assistant for an
introductory biology

An Educational Pilgrimage

course at University of

We are all works in progress. Great people, like great

companies are always evolving. Theyre never finished
and never fully developed. Each day presents an
opportunity to learn more, do more, grow more.
Permanent beta is a lifelong commitment to
continuous personal growth. It is the mindset of every
entrepreneur of life.
- Reid Hoffman, Author of The Start-Up of You, Founder of LinkedIn1

Maryland, one of the

first things we study is
that active learning
helps students absorb
and understand content
much more than simply
reading the information,
or hearing it from a
lecturer. My PCR will
be filled with quotes,
pictures, and even
videos so that

Introduction

whomever wants to
read it will be able to

The commitment to be an ever-evolving, lifelong

learner is a philosophy I have held for my entire life. This

interact with the

material. Please check
out the online version at

inquisitive nature has stemmed from an insatiable desire to

ter.ps/honr289p or at

learn everything and anything I can about the world around

rdpress.com and

me. As a child I was always told that asking the question

why five times would get you to the root of the concept,

explore all of the

additional information
that the Internet and
technology have to

howinnovatorsthink.wo

offer!

Asher Abraham, The Sales Lifestyle

Introduction 3

Personal Creativity Reflection

and therefore a full understanding. Armed with that conviction, I headed off to college; ready
to fill my brain with all of the knowledge that University of Maryland had to offer. When I
arrived, I was very quickly disappointed with the academic side of the school. In high school, I
was enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program: a program that fostered students
who embodied the IB philosophy to be knowledgeable, open-minded, reflective, and more.
Though the course material was definitely challenging, I was greeted with the same apathy
towards class and completing assignments as I was when I was in my standard classes at high
school. I did not find the same inquisitive and pensive students that I had so enjoyed working
with at Annapolis Senior High School, my alma mater.
I expected even more tenacity to engage in the students in the Honors College at the
University of Maryland, and I was greeted with open arms. I took my first honors seminar
during the fall semester of my freshman year. The course was called Languages of Europe, and it
was the first class I had ever taken purely because I wanted to not because I needed to fill a
space in my schedule or because it fulfilled a requirement. I had read the course description
during my orientation and immediately fell in love. The class was both informative and
engaging, and I was always excited to go the next day of class. What would we be learning
today? I asked myself, for each day brought new information about the history of language
and the diversity of languages and dialects in both Western and Eastern Europe. Languages of
Europe was a welcome distraction from the hard science and mathematics courses I was taking
to complete my major, Neurobiology and Physiology. Learning about different cultures for the
sake of learning with a professor that was so passionate about the subject was something that
completely surpassed the experience I had had in the International Baccalaureate program.
The following two semesters were crammed with grueling science classes and general
education requirements that were full of students that did not want to be there. Finally, I was
able to fit in another honors seminar into my schedule to complete my Honors College citation.
I was elated to finally be taking a class for fun. I am currently enrolled in two honors
Introduction 4

Personal Creativity Reflection

seminars The Philosophy and Practice of Yoga and How Innovators Think. Over the last winter
break, I made a commitment to better myself as a whole; not just as a candidate for medical
school or as a University of Maryland student trying to improve their GPA, but also as a well-
rounded person. I went to yoga everyday over winter break, spent almost the whole month of
January sleeping and eating correctly for a healthy lifestyle, and read my assigned books for
How Innovators Think. I also began to work on my final capstone project for my honors college,
Digital Cultures and Creativity. Over the course of the semester, I have taught myself how to
3D model and code Arduino to finish this project, which will eventually be an interactive
model of the electron transport chain during cellular respiration. Though I did not accomplish
very much by the standards of the pre-med committee, I felt rested, renewed, and energized
for the new semester.
I had learned a lot about myself from reading and reflecting on the books that I read
over winter break, especially Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley. I began
approaching problems from a different point of view, and not immediately shooting myself
down; instead finding alternate solutions to solve my problems. This was especially applicable
when I was working on my capstone project it is easy to quickly become overwhelmed with
the amount of learning that I was expecting myself to do to complete my project in addition to
all of my classes, but the Kelley brothers helped me see that I was in fact able to do it myself
instead of giving up and picking an easier project. Additionally, I felt confident in my abilities
to improve myself with the diverse classes I was taking this semester after reading The Start-
Up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha and The Necessity of Strangers by Alan
Gregerman. Both books encouraged me to put more value and diversity into myself and into
my education.
I believe I have changed a lot over this semester due to the amount of information that I
was exposed to in other disciplines through my honors seminars. I had never before been
exposed to Indian philosophy or business classes, but learning about them has definitely
Introduction 5

Personal Creativity Reflection

impacted my life in a significant way. My behavior has changed drastically in the way that I
think and act, and I have even joined the QUEST honors program to continue to pursue my
interest in the business world. My Personal Creativity Reflection is an exploration of the
pilgrimage I have taken over the course of this semester to become a more well-rounded and
diverse person through the resources I have been afforded in my education in the Honors
College at University of Maryland.

Introduction 6