Campus and the Life Changing Eye Opener - Essay Example

This was through a campus club known as AIESEC. This experience changed my life profoundly and sparked a level of awareness that I previously did not have. A good number of the movies I had watched while growing up presented campus as a place to have mad fun. Caution was thrown to the wind as the students explored and experimented with their lives. Whereas I am not claiming conclusively otherwise, I feel that there is a side of campus movies the movies totally ignore; the constructive side.

 Oblivious of this view of campus, I had joined the place when ready to experience the thrills I had seen in the movies. Out of chance, I had joined this student’s business club, AIESEC. The club concerns itself with offering a platform to develop agents of positive change and leaders, with strong interests in business, entrepreneurship and project management. The club also offers its members opportunities to visit business establishments to witness the best practices at work.

It was during one of such activities in AIESEC that my life changing experience occurred. . The level of efficiency arising from such proper organization was clearly discernible. Besides, the factory seemed to have an unspoken culture as there was no one barking orders and reprimanding junior staff. The second thing I came across was the commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness. I do not claim to be the most environmentally unaware individual at that time, but I had not seen such levels of active pursuit of sustainable practices and eco-friendliness, epitomized by production of the Prius and massive cuts on energy expenses.

Massive research had been done into the most efficient technologies and building designs, while ordinary practices were adopted during everyday roles. While the capital costs would appear restrictive, the benefits in cost saving, motivation and customer admiration are invaluable. The third and last impact of the trip to TEMA was sparking my global awareness. The company is clearly a global leader; identifying global trends and how they affect Toyota; training staff to be global business leaders among other global perspectives.

An experience is not life changing if one fails to act on it. I built upon the impact of the trip to TEMA first through undertaking research on the concepts learnt from the visit. Thus, I gained an understanding of the Toyota Way Culture and Lean management systems that brought about the efficiency, hard work and motivation I had observed (Toyota-Global). In fact, most other firms use a Toyota Way variant referred to as Six Sigma to optimize performance (Liker and Hoseus 37). I also gained much interest and understanding on sustainability and eco-friendliness, and how to build a