All the work I have completed in the BIPS program has helped me in multiple areas of my life, including my work and home lives. The courses I have completed meant a lot from an educational growth perspective and a personal life perspective. I use the tools learned in design, systems, and integrative thinking on an everyday basis. I use the information learned in these classes to try and think through tasks and come up with better systems in my everyday life. These classes also have given me the tools to be a better person and employee. Global awareness helped me a lot since I managed a group from India. This class helped me understand their culture and try to respect it even if it’s different from mine. My thinking has definitely changed since I started the BIPS program. I tend to use these tools without even realizing that I am. I tend to rationalize the systems I have in place, whether through my personal or work life, and try to think through those systems and see how I could make them better. Before the BIPS program, I didn’t have that mentality. For example, we were currently using a manual process to manage our workflow with our team from India.  Through the classes in the BIPS program, I was able to identify a problem and suggest a better solution through an automated database like the K2 software, which was approved. We are currently in the process of putting the K2 system into production. I think that without the information I learned in the BIPS program, I would have had the tools to effectively identify the problem and come up with a solution that my bosses would have accepted. The BIPS program has been especially beneficial in my work life, and even my bosses have noticed a difference in my work mindset as an added benefit to my team. Also, in my personal life, I have developed a healthier lifestyle for my eight-year-old son using the same method. I identified the problem and was able to use the tools from the integrative and design thinking classes to develop a better system to start him on a better path by implementing a system that benefits him more.

 

In conclusion, the skills learned in the BIPS program have benefited me in various areas of my life. In the future, I will use the tools learned in the BIPS program to continue to grow personally and professionally. Also, since I have been in the finance field for over ten years, I have gained more value from the BIPS program than from a finance degree, which is a skill I use on a daily basis.