and my takeaways are:

• perfect grammar and tenses do not equate to effective communications
• informative articles and presentations are destined for failure. every piece of communication has an agenda, hence persuasion is key. tell a story, do a pitch, call for action, and deliver your message. breathe inception (figuratively).
• one life is too short to live in mediocrity. if you want to do something, do it well. else, there’s really no point in doing it, is there?
• chance favours the connected mind, says steven johnson (and the back of my new namecard). a good solution can never be derived if ideas are not allowed to bounce off different people: networking drives innovation.
• consulting for business process optimisation is like dreaming: the best dreams win. how creative is yours?
• excel is fun. oh wait, i already knew that. it can be quirky but funky potential awaits the seasoned explorer.
• and finally, that grades don’t necessarily reflect one’s competence given the distinct discrepancy between the grading rubrics of academic and real-world projects. if the working environment is “real-world”, what does that make academia?

nonetheless, here are the quantitative results for the eyes of the privileged few: