Project Reflection
This quarter, it was a pleasure working for ModSock in Bellingham, Washington. Their working environment, which was fun-loving, quirky, and supportive, was just the kind of place I was looking for to have a project. They also challenged me beyond my own limits this quarter, and the results, both personally and for their business, were spectacular. Through Amazon, I was able to increase the page position of their products, and contribute to the doubling/tripling of their sales. The changes I made through learning and implementing had a significant effect on product visibility and product performance, which translated to great benefits. It was also nice to help a business whose message I can get behind. One of the values that stuck out to me when choosing ModSock was their commitment to donating part of their proceeds to organizations that empower women. My passion in social justice, diversity, and inclusion, matched very well with ModSock’s values.
​
One of the many things I learned through working with ModSock this quarter, was how to challenge the process. Challenging the Process was one of the five practices of Kouzes’ and Posner’s “The Leadership Challenge”. At the beginning of the quarter, we took a Student Leadership Practice Inventory that measured how others saw us perform in regards to the 5 practices. I scored lowest in Challenging the Process. In reflection, I indicated that I was averse to taking risks, and this resulted in my lack of challenging processes. When given a project to update Amazon product listings with ModSock, I decided that it would be a great opportunity to challenge myself and take risks. I knew nothing about listing products through Amazon, but I was determined to overcome this challenge, and reap the rewards associated with the risk. I saw this as an opportunity for growth, and the results were amazing. Though, my success didn’t come without small failures along the way. For example, Amazon’s system for implementing and editing products proved difficult to master. There were times where I tried editing a product 10 or more times, before my supervisor and I finally got the update to work. Regardless of the various small failures along the way, I kept an optimistic attitude and looked for opportunities to learn from failure, rather than letting failure get in my way. As a result of my perseverance, I was successful in mastering the Amazon Seller Central system, and improved ModSock’s product listings.
​
The Amazon platform also gave me a chance to practice innovation, which is also a part of Challenging the Process. I could experiment with methods to differentiate ModSock’s product listings from the competition, which would result in a larger market share. By experimenting with different methods, I could take small steps to improving ModSock’s products and generate small wins that would result in a competitive advantage. I did this by tweaking different components in the Product Title, Information, Description, and Keywords, updating the product and analyzing which changes resulted in an advantage. With every small win and creative idea, I pushed innovation within the product listings and, in turn, this gave ModSock a competitive advantage.
​
Aside from Challenging the Process, I learned more about transformational leadership from my supervisor, Ben Shaklee. Throughout my project process, Ben exhibited the aspect of transformational leadership known as Intellectual Stimulation. Intellectual Stimulation involves challenging your followers and pushing them to learn and grow through complex tasks. One way Ben achieved this was by offering me the project itself. To anyone, even those familiar with Amazon Seller Central, the project would’ve presented a challenge and result in a fruitful learning experience. Project tasks like analyzing the market, researching best practices, and implementing these practices, provided an intellectual challenge that could only be solved with creativity and a drive to learn. Ben would also periodically ask me questions regarding strategic management that he knew the answer to, in order to present me with the intellectual challenge of formulating an answer. I found this particularly useful because it helped me to understand ModSock’s business strategy, and it also helped me practice my critical thinking abilities. As I go into management positions post-graduation, I may utilize this method in order to achieve Intellectual Stimulation as a transformational leader.
​
Another topic I learned about during my time with ModSock, was Situational Leadership. During my time at ModSock, I was tasked with training their staff on the new Amazon Seller Central standards guide and style sheet. This involved taking into account where the staff was in terms of commitment and competence. While I was working with Ben in the store, I gained a good understanding of how competent the staff was in Amazon, as well as how committed the staff were. I gauged that the staff was highly committed to ModSock, through observing their behaviors, and that most of the staff had a pretty low competency in regards to Amazon Seller Central. As such, I decided to choose a Directive Leadership style, which is effective when the staff is highly committed and has a low competence in regards to the topic. Because of this, I structured my Amazon training presentation in a way that walked the staff through the process step-by-step and gave clear direction to their actions. Post-training, I adapted my leadership style to a more delegating style because by then the staff had achieved a high level of competence and maintained their high level of commitment. From here, Ben and I tasked the staff with creating new listings for their new holiday line, and updating old listings to fit the new standards. Our effective use of Situational Leadership allowed us to provide an appropriate training session, and gauge employee preparedness in executing the product changes through Amazon Seller Central.
​
Perhaps the most important accomplishment of this project, was my commitment to practicing my leadership philosophy, and aligning myself in a way that others saw as authentic. ModSock’s environment helped me stay true to my humorous and energetic self, and this made working for them super fun! In the past, I’ve had trouble practicing the side of my leadership philosophy that involved humor and energy in business settings. However, this changed this quarter because of ModSock’s culture. Because of their fun-loving and quirky nature, I was able to really be myself and practice my leadership philosophy in a holistic sense. This made me realize just how important company culture will be for me in the future, as I consider potential organizations to start my management career within. This practice in self-awareness itself, was well worth my time this quarter and has given me direction in my post-graduate life.
​
With ModSock, I’ve learned and accomplished so much this quarter. I loved working with them, and they helped me further refine my leadership and learn about different kinds of leadership. I hope that they have similar feelings regarding my growth and my achievements this quarter. And, though my success with them was a blessing, it is also a curse because they are now pretty busy with fulfilling an increase in orders. Even though the quarter is over, I’ll be extending an offer of assistance to them during this busy holiday season, in case they need additional help with Amazon’s changes. I’m super thankful for all the learning opportunities this quarter, and I’m even more thankful that I got to pursue a project this quarter with such an amazing group of folks.