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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

Merits of a subscription model

Recently, my sister-in-law picked up an iPad that she would be able to do her work when not in front of her iMac. A week later, my Brother called me bent out of shape because he could not edit a Word document from it. After I explained that Microsoft Office

I have arrived

This has been a long time coming. I divulged my interest in writing to a friend, Human Younessi, who urged me to just do it. He encouraged me to write about anything that was personal and even offered to read my writing. I recall the starting of a piece about

The excuses we tell ourselves

I don’t take tests well. I’m not good at math. I’ve never done it before. I don’t have that credential. I get distracted easily. We all have moments of doubt, when we know that thing we loath is inevitable. When push comes to shove, we make

To dos

A random list of things to do, items I have identified has worthy pursuits. Recommendations welcome. Lifelong Learning * Learn French and Chinese (Mandarin) * Understand the science of cooking and/or baking * Learn how to produce a successful podcast Books to Read or Finish * Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Thomas Piketty

Unanswered questions

Some things take time to answer, but it doesn’t stop them from being asked. This is a on-going list of these linger questions I want to explore further; no particular order.

Mexico Oaxaca La Cañada

This is what arrived in my mailbox on Friday from the folks at Blue Bottle — and what a treat. This has to be a fan-favorite for me. The description card reads: DELICIOUSNESS: Baked apple, bittersweet chocolate, toasted sesameThis year’s harvest from Oaxaca’s mountainous Cañada region is irresistible. The

Vulnerabilities and growing old

As a 30-something, it is sometimes hard to fathom what our parents go through — empathy be damned. My father always said old age is tough, but with shows and documentaries being done on dying with dignity and physician assisted suicide it is something I am only learning about now. I

Grammar pet-peeve

I am the last person who should be writing about the English language, but here it goes. The use of less when we really mean fewer. What do I mean? Here is a real-life example in the wild brought to you by Tide. Have you caught it yet? Yup. You’

Words matter

Take this scenarios: You’re at a restaurant, the waiter spills your soup, accidentally sloshing a bit of it over the side of the bowl. He asks if you want another one. (I just witnessed this while waiting in the Atlanta airport.) How inclined are you to say “yes”? Most

3 quick hacks to be more data-driven

People in fundraising are always asking us if there is a quick fix — a silver bullet. I’m afraid to report: there isn’t, contrary to what some say. Fear not though, with the availability of data and power of experimentation, there are a few things you might try. January