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Donald Pendagast

A full-time MBA student at UConn concentrating in Business Analytics working on research in organizational design, self-management, workplace autonomy, and innovation.

📍 Hartford, CT

On organizational behavior and values-based management

This is an exploration in the areas of organizational behavior, marketing, sociology, decision science, group identity, values and attitudes, especially where it may pertain to business, process management, and public policy. Research Question Proposals * How do values influence social structures? How do values connect people and form/join organizations? * How

Tools to be more deliberate

After thinking yesterday about being more deliberate [https://needinputorg.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/deliberateness-is-the-antidote-to-our-technology-habits] in how I interact with the digital world, I find myself looking for ways to practice it. The instances that come to mind are centered around content: what content is delivered when and how. (Are

Deliberateness is the antidote to our technology habits

It was February 2004. The Student Union was quite empty, and one of us had discovered a site, thefacebook.com. It seemed like a nifty place, like MySpace or Friendster, but it was only for those universities that were invited — we were school 34, I think. Since then a lot

Abstinence is our default solution

Abstinence, this idea that we can and should simply go without, is too often our default response to any problem — personal or otherwise. It is typically more difficult than that.

On engagement

Engagement is perhaps the industry term of the last decade. To me, engagement has always been about keeping the conversation going, about understanding needs, and above all else relationship building. Lately, it is clearer than ever that I have misunderstood. Engagement equals addiction. Measured in so-called impressions, repeat clicks, total

Why "ask questions"?

The slogan or subtitle of this site is “Ask questions. Observe more”. I suppose I could have included “challenge assumptions”. It’s all in a similar vein. While in engineering school, a big overarching theme was understanding our assumptions and to accounting for them. If that seems like a simple

Avoid asking "what do you do"

I cannot recall where I first saw this, but be it known that this is not my idea, but something I’ve taken up as a challenge. The author essentially avoids asking people what they do, as a conversation starter. He pointed to the emphasis it places on our careers

Methodology vs ideology

I was reviewing my “about me” page and my professional profiles (e.g. LinkedIn) and I noticed a word I frequently use: methodology. It’s something I focus on, in contrast to focusing on so-called “best practices”. Something in the news caught my attention though. In politics, we often hear

Connecticut is awesome

Donald and Steve discuss — in broad terms — some of the realities and the appeals of living in Connecticut. This is not a digression-free episode, but everything eventually relates back to the Nutmeg State. A UConn advertisement prominently displayed near airport security at Bradley International Airport. Donald Pendagast. A UConn advertisement

Controlling demand demands a big shift

In the last three weeks, Ben Thompson has been hammering away his point about the past advantages of controlling supply and the future advantages of those who control demand, e.g. Facebook, Google. Not since reading Stratechery [http://www.stratechery.com/] or listening to Exponent [http://exponent.fm/] on a