Personal SWOT Analysis

Principles of Management

Table of contents

I. Living Motto 2
II. Vision statement 3
III. Mission statement 4
IV. SWOT Analysis 4
● Strengths 5
● Weaknesses 6
● Opportunities 7
● Threats 8

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 I. Living Motto

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner”

—Lao Tzu

Lao-Tzu was a Chinese scholar who is attributed with establishing the Taoist

philosophical theory. He is primarily recognized for writing the Laozi. Now, it was not

because I was big fan or a close follower of his that I came across this quotes. This is simply

a quote i’ve read in a Youtube comment section of video a few years back. And yet, for me, it

was one of the most impactful piece of literature I’ve ever read. I’ve always acknowledge

myself as having a rather introverted character, and of course, anxiety itself is also part of the

package. Everyday, in almost every waking hours, I’ve never stopped being anxious about the

image of myself in the mind of others without a single care for the image of “myself” in

“me”. Since the moment I’ve discovered this quote, it suddenly hits me that how foolish it is,

that even though I love myself more than others, yet their opinion of me means more than

mine.

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This is Landscape with the fall of Icarus, an artwork Pieter Bruegel the Elder. If you look

close enough, an image of Icarus drowning after flying too close to the sun can be seen.

Despite that, the farmer is still ploughing, the shepherd is busy tending his sheeps and the

ship is still sailing. What this means is that it does not matter to others that you messed up

since they’ve got a world of their own to worry about, so why be anxious about it ? With that

said, thanks to the realization this quote brought to me, my thoughts and actions have never

been more liberated. I know that the world does not revolves around me, so why even bother.

II. Vision statement

Over the course of 7 years, at the age of 25, I would like too see myself as a young yet

somewhat experienced manager in a global organizations, putting all my knowledge and time

spent in University to good use to be able to thrive and success in that chapter of my life.

More importantly, I would like to be recognized as a proud man of my own will, unwavered

by others opinion, especially those whom I dont care about. Additionally, being self-sufficient

and being able to provide for my own families is also a small dream of mine for as long as i

can remember.

III. Mission statement

To make sure that my vision is just empty words, I will commit myself to be the best

student I could be during my time in ISB. Moreover, to achieve my dreams, I will work hard

to be a competent students in the University environment and try my best to overcome the

emotional barriers that has been stopping from expressing myself as well as my abilities. It

also my personal goals to learn another language, specifically Korean.

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IV. SWOT Analysis

● Strengths

Ever since I was little, English has always been a proud subject of my own. Since

middle school, it was always at the top of the class in this paticular subject. As for my

achievements, I was fortunate enough to receive the third place for the Province English

Competition, get a B2 certificate in middle school, land a spot in a gifted school and most

recently, I was able to score a 7.5 overall in the IELTS test. According to a research

conducted in 2020, because English is the defector language of the United States and the

official language of the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and South America, it is regarded as

one of the most essential business languages (Ilyosovna, 2020). With that in mind, I can still

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further improve my language ability as well as trying to learn other languages in order to

become flexible in the era of rapid globalization.

Apart from my English proficiency, I am very confident in my ability to be punctual

in both social and professional situations. Everyone knows that time is gold, we’ve only been

given a set of days that is our lifetime so why even waste a single day. In the workplace, a

person's punctuality not only affects how they are perceived by coworkers, but it also has an

impact on their output. Being late for a meeting can be inconvenient for the entire team,

costing everyone time and causing the person to lose important information (Costa et al.,

2013).

One skill that I’ve grasped during my time in high school working in a club is the

ability to design presentations slides, infographics and advertisements so that is conceptually

appropriate and eyes-catching at the same time. Even in my short time as a college student,

my ability got further improved thanks to the numerous group project that I have to tend to.

According to Lyallya (2016), graphics designing is very crucial in modern society because it

affects business life, marketing, culture of creating web pages, posters and even people

everyday life. Having said that, I plan to develop this skills even further with the help of

online courses and friends and hope that it will come in handy in my professional life.

● Weaknesses

One of the biggest walls that always limits me from trying my utter best is my

introvertedness. During my time in ISB, I’ve realized that the wall is only getting bigger and

bigger, stopping me from interacting with my teammates, expressing my idea or even

presenting it in front of faces that I’ve never seen before. A research conducted on this matter

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reveal that introverts are less likely to be acknowledged as useful in the workplace, according

to professional literature and practice, because they lack the ability (and desire) to affirm

others (Crăciun et al., 2015). Nevertheless, this is nothing but a emotional barriers that I will

eventually have to work my way through with the aim of succeeding in the business

environment.

For all 13 years of my academic life, I’ve never been appointed to be a leader of a

group or even a small project. The biggest reason for this was because I did not have the

ability to lead others nor the confidence to do so. Which is why I’ve always volunteer to do

most of the hard work in order to show that although I can not lead, I can always be a

valuable assets to the team. Iordanoglou (2018), states that in todays rapidly changing and

unstable business environment, leadership skills is of utmost important. It is now one of my

top priorities to improve my critical thinking skills while also gaining the confidence and

courage to rise up and boldly lead others.

Finally, another shortcoming of mines is the fact that my own opinion are easily

swayed by others. Because of this, I can never express my original idea in fear that it would

never get accepted by the mass majority, or in other word, I’ve alway expressed opinion that

is based on the opinion of others but never ones that is entirely my own thoughts. One study

in particular, have shown that throughout history, communities have shown a specific interest

in unique and highly inventive works of art and expression (Parchomovsky et al., 2009).

Which is why I must work hard to over come this irrational fear of mind with hopes that I

will be able to confidently present my original work and ideas to other people.

● Opportunities

Being a students of ISB program alone provides me greats opportunities for me to

succeed in the future. One of which is to work at a multinational company. I am currently in

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the Global Pathways program of ISB which aid their students in the process of studying

overseas in many different country. Just by graduating and holding a degree from prestigious

university from America, Australia, Canada, Singapore and so on, can make you a competent

target in the eyes of employer not only in Vietnam, but also on a international setting (Access

American Education, n.d.). Currently, I am aiming to study and graduate at Macquarie

University which if succeeded, can bring tremendous benefit and competitive advantage for

me in the future.

It is no doubt that having English in your language arsenal is becoming more and

more crucial in this era, in fact, it might have even become the new standard. Which is why

in order to stand out in the eyes of others and even better, employers, being proficient in a

few more language is an absolute must. One language that is prominent to me is Korean.

Korean popular culture has spread like wildfire around the globe in the last decade,erupted in

the media, causing a ripple impact around the globe (Lee, 2011). By having a grasp in the

language Korean can help me take advantage of all the opportunity that is yet to come thanks

to the increasing popularity of Korea’s culture.

One of the biggest opportunity that this digital age has given us is the technological

development like the internet, smartphones, tablets and many modern equipment. Having said

that, my generation, Gen Z, is the that grew up with all of these technologies. That is why it

would only make sense that we are able to utilize it to the very best especially in our study

and in our professional life in the near future. IT does not provide businesses with a

competitive edge but understanding the best method to use IT strategically is what creates a

competitive edge (Borges et al., 2009).

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 ● Threats

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is a thing of the past, it’s aftermaths is still

influencing the world around of us. One of which the shifting of the tradition on-class style of

attending school to the online class style. While there may be some advantages to online

learning in terms of involvement, it appears that there are some trade-offs that online learners

make when it comes to a compelling educational experience (Dumford & Miller, 2018).

Although online class can be a great way to keep student safe and well-educated at the same

time, it have some considerable disadvantages. Axmedova (2021) saids that one of the most

difficult aspects of online learning for many students is the inability to concentrate on a

screen for extended amounts of time.

Being an international students on its own can also bring some challenges. To work

in a multinational corporations as an overseas graduates mean that I will have alot to prove in

order to be able to secure a stable position. Most multination companies, corporations only

look for highly educated young employees with open-mindset (Mỹ Trinh & Uyên Vũ, 2022).

One inevitable threats that I would have to faced is the competitive environment in

my future career. There is no doubt that management comes with incredibly fierce

competions. This is even more accurate in a multinational settings. Which is all the more

reason why I have to push myself everyday to become a competent candidate that can stands

out in the common crowd. High-performance work systems offer employees more freedom,

which increases effort efficiency but also shirking opportunities (Bartling et al., 2010)

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ship

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