Most Unforgettable Class for my 1st year at MIT Sloan — ID Lab

15.S74 ID Lab: Individual Development and Interpersonal Dynamics

ID Labbers, Spring 20

Time flies! I can’t believe half of my MBA experience has passed. One of my new personal experiments during the COVID crisis is to reflect back on what brought me here and stay positive for the future. So, here’s my first reflection on my most unforgettable class at MIT Sloan.

My searching of self-awareness journey began

I feel like it was just yesterday when I submitted my ID Lab application. At that time, I was super excited yet not sure what was ahead of me or how I should prepare myself. Now, I am satisfied to have moved a few steps forward in my search for self-awareness and personal development journey. Approaching the end of this class, there’s one thing I know for sure: it is just the beginning of my journey, and I will keep moving forward in this journey.

So, what is ID Lab all about?

For me, it is an incredible journey that you work together with a group of amazing peers who are willing to be open, vulnerable, and support your leadership development. You will be inspired by class materials, discussions, deep conversations and great faculty.

Here’s the introduction from our syllabus:

ID Lab: Individual Development and Interpersonal Dynamics
The central thesis of ID Lab is that being an effective leader requires a deep understanding of what it means to be a human in a complex world. ID Lab enables the pursuit of self and other-awareness in the service of improved individual, team, and organizational performance. The semester-long course requires both a commitment to personal transformation and a willingness to engage with others on a similar journey. The experience integrates an introductory retreat, weekly class sessions, regular introspective reflections, and professional executive coaching to enable students to develop as a principled, innovative leader capable of changing the world.

The ID Lab seeks to enable students to:

1. Understand their leadership journey, reflecting upon and framing life stories and experiences to date.
2. Gain clarity on their leadership principles, values, and how they will respond under pressure when challenged.
3. Sharpen communication skills to optimize their leadership effectiveness.
4. Explore the pros and cons of different leadership styles in action and assess the best approach for different situations.
5. Create Personal Leadership Development Plan to guide them through MIT Sloan and beyond.

I’d like to summarize the outcome for this class first by answering:

How did ID Lab 2020 influence how you consider your own leadership style and goals?

“Empower people: I want to build a driven and positive environment, encouraging people to interact in a loving and compassionate way. To help people find their goals and achieve. I hope I can not only be responsible or be caring to the people around me, but to more people around the world.”

I think this paragraph in my journal best captured my leadership style and goals. I believe team members are more likely to produce great work when they feel personally and professionally fulfilled. I am passionate about spending time on people and recognizing their strengths, weaknesses, and motivations to help each individual improve. I like to assist team members in setting smart goals and then provide regular feedback. It’s my goal to set clear expectations and create a positive, motivating environment. Finally, I hope to sit at the intersection between a company’s main operations and its growth opportunities.

Reflecting back

I’ve got to say, looking at these goals while writing this my reflection right now, I’m very amazed that all goals are achieved in some way.

My key takeaways

• Learning to know yourself is a life-long journey: Initially, I struggled to find the answer to who I am, what I care about, and what I want to do in the future. To this date, I still can’t answer those questions in a few words. But now I feel confident and calm when being asked these questions. I view it as a series of experiments. It is important to spend enough time with myself, encourage myself, and celebrate little achievements along the way. It is more about the process of finding the answer and constantly staying connected to yourself and being brave to be who you are.
• Be patient and keep practicing: Building self-awareness takes time and practice. I tend to rush to my goals. For most of my life, I had numerous goals to achieve and I always tried to achieve them as soon as possible. Then, I burned out sometimes. Taking this course during the COVID19 crisis was a unique experience for me. It forced me to slow down, think introspectively, and view things from different perspectives. For life questions such as “what matters to you the most” or “what is your authentic leadership style” that was brought up in this class, I used to get impatient at not knowing the answer. Soon I realized that the more complicated the questions, the more time I need to figure out my answers or perspectives.

My proud moments and achievements.

• Improved self-awareness: Now, I am more conscious of my feelings and my personality. I observed my own behaviors and knew my default state in teamwork or facing changes. I became honest with myself about my weaknesses and my strengths.
• Have big pictures for what matters to me: It started with a question: two years from now, what will I be proud of doing during the uncertain time of the COVID19 virus. I was surprised to learn it was quite simple for me: be a disciplined person, have a deep focus professionally, and live a healthy life with my loved ones.
• Started some experiments: I started to meditate before sleep, avoid staying up late, eat healthy food, and work out more. More importantly, I journal at least once a week!

Advice for myself if I could start it again

• Talk to everyone in ID Lab 2020 in person: This self-selected group is amazing and unique. It is the most bonding class cohort in my Sloan experience to date. I can see we all share similar motivations and everyone is open. It would be great if I had spent more time talking to everyone in person.
• Speak up more in class: ID Lab 2020 created a safe environment for people to share their thoughts. I hope I could have contributed more to class discussions or off-class discussions such as moderating small group discussions.
• Spend more time up-front and plan practically for the coaching sessions: Spending more time up-front and thinking through learning objectives would be helpful to achieve more. Reflecting back, I think it would have been helpful if I had set up a plan and action items and then leveraged coaching sessions to check-in about my progress. If it’s too hard to make a plan up-front, asking yourself how you want to be helped before every coaching session is also helpful.

Looking forward

Journaling, Mentorship, and Exploration are three things I want to carry forward, and here’s why:

• Journaling: I found peace and identified my core values while journaling. I also got to spend quality time with myself.
• Mentorship: In the ID Lab, I was able to get feedback from faculty, peers, the TA, and my coach. Getting feedback and having conversations are great ways to improve my self-awareness, identify priorities, and reflect. I had so many “aha” moments during these conversations. I would like to build and maintain my mentorship network, not only including people who are senior to me but also people who are junior to me. I believe by both receiving and giving, I can make the best of my mentorship network. I want to keep in touch with ID Lab 2020 classmates. This is a really unique community at Sloan: people are self-selected, and they are so open and supportive. I see Sloan spirit well represented.
• Exploration: I will look for other opportunities from leadership centers or MIT Sloan classes to continue my pursuit of leadership development. I participated in the Leadership Center’s Leading in Uncertain Times series on Zoom and found it to be mind-refreshing. I believe that personal development is like training your muscles and keeping the muscle memory. By dedicating a few hours a week, I was able to see how I am different from the Cynthia in February 2020. I will join the Core Fellow Program this Fall, and I’m excited to continue the journey.

Closing Thoughts

In February 2020, I started my search of self-awareness with ID Labbers 2020 in Endicott House. Looking back, I want to give thanks to myself for spending the time to apply for this class, not giving up during the process, and being open enough to make authentic conversations possible. I am thankful for my classmates, faculties, TA, and my coach for creating such an amazing experience together.

Without the engagement from classmates, I would not have had an inspiring class discussion. Without the huge efforts from faculty and the TA, I would not have felt so fulfilled by the enlightening materials discussed in classes. Without my coach, I would not have been able to stay calm and be brave to pursue my goals. Three months have passed and I feel fortunate to have launched my leadership development journey with ID Lab 2020. I am so grateful that I was awarded the MVP of this class because I took this class at 4:00 am in Taiwan!