adminToday, my cousin José was at our Thais Tafelen headquarters for a meeting. She’s studying multimedia design and will do her graduation assignment with us. A win-win situation.
One part is that José can help us with designing and creating a tool that helps us to reach new customers, or help us to turn one-time customers into VIP customers. From a business point of view: finally some work gets done that we didn’t have time for, and cheap labour. I think many companies will think that way.
On the other hand, José must graduate. Personally, I think that’s far more important than the results of her work with us. I’m not only saying this because she’s family. I’m saying this because it’s a great opportunity for her (and any student, for that matter). The whole graduation process can be life-altering, if experienced correctly.
When I did my graduation thesis at Uni, I had some conflicts. Mostly because of my own stupidity, but that’s a different story. Because of my actions, my graduation took me almost two years instead of one. As a result, the sparse time and attention my mentors had became even scarcer. I felt like a sardine who lost his way out of the pack, swimming around in an endless ocean.
I finally graduated with a grade I wasn’t proud of. Despite my achievement of becoming an Engineer, or earning the official name and title Master of Science Master Weeraphon Iamnak, I was empty inside. No joy, no anger, no relief. I was done and couldn’t wait to move on to different things in life.
Now that I have the opportunity to be on the other side of the table and guide someone through the graduation process, I feel like I have a big responsibility. For José, who also had some bumps in her career as a student, the last moments in school are an opportunity to learn a lot. Not only the way school wants things, but also in a real case study. I want her to understand what research, development, and execution mean and how it feels.
I like my mentor role, and I think humans are naturally wired to help and guide people who are less experienced. Just like our ancestors did in every culture around the world. I think the role suits me, but so do the countless millennial young urban professionals turned life coaches. The fine line lies between true intrinsic motivation to help others and a selfish need for belonging.
I think that if we place helping someone else to become a more complete person over our own needs, you will always get a positive return on investment, like karma. So, if I focus on guiding José as best as I can, her work will automatically have a positive impact on our business. Around February 2027, we will know for sure.