If I could pick any one interview question for hiring a business person, I would ask them to talk about the conflict in the Middle East. What's their perspective? Do they take a stance? Do they try to argue something that they have no education on? What do they think of the supposed "enemy? And the most important part of this question: Do they even consider the other side's perspective?

You'd be surprised, because many people don't. Especially here at Berkeley. The debates between two sides of an issue aren't because our students are open-minded, but rather because there's diversity. With so many college-aged students on a single campus, it just so happens that there are multiple sides of the debate. But it doesn't make any of them open-minded, educated, or enlightened in any way. You're also probably thinking, "Isn't a political discussion a good way to end a friendship?" My answer is absolutely, and that's why I think it would make for an excellent interview question. Even if the candidate was a Zionist Jew, I would argue the Palestinian perspective just to put their pride in check.

I first thought about this when I was in a model United Nations session. I was watching my colleagues representing other nations debate among each other, argue about issues without a goal and without a premise. Had they never learned the tactics from "How to Win Friends and Influence People"? I saw from a first-hand perspective why the UN doesn't seem to get anything done. People leave just as ignorant or educated as they were coming into the assembly. People argue their stances, boost their egos, claim victory, and do very little to actually help the situation. And it's ironic too, because everyone coming into the model UN wonders why nothing useful ever gets done.

Which makes me think that it's not so much an issue about policies and actions... it's about the method by which we negotiate and resolve conflict with each other. The most important part of this being, "does the other side even attempt to listen to and understand my perspective?" Have you ever been in a situation where two people were in a political debate, and you could tell that the person who wasn't talking was only thinking about what they would say next in rebuttal? It's good entertainment, but no conflict resolution. This directly applies to the business world - if you're negotiating something, even as simple as an employee's salary, can you think about the other person's feelings, needs, and concerns?

I'm not saying that talking politics is the best way to see if a candidate is any good, but I do think that it's a great way to screen out people who aren't open to learning and listening. I've started to run this test on friends too, because it tells me how good of a listener they are, and how much they care to understand alternative perspectives. Business gets very personal very fast, so put your people to the test before you bring them on your ship.

Since childhood, I've associated computer science with geeky and socially inept little boys, and for rational reason: because all of the computer geeks I knew were in fact geeky and socially inept little boys! But as I mentioned in my previous post about computer camp, I've wanted to go into tech from an early age -- before the idea of entrepreneurship ever occurred to me. However, as I became less socially inept, I began associating myself with the non-geeks. The jocks! The cheerleaders!

People often ask me if I feel as if I'm being taken advantaged of, or if being a girl makes things more difficult. No and yes -- I don't feel as if guys are mean to girls in computer science. If anything, guys are more willing to help a cute girl debug her code for obvious reason. But is it more difficult? From a social standpoint, definitely. Most girls in tech are podcasters or videobloggers -- Veronica Belmont, Julia Allison, and Alana Taylor among them. They're all great people, amazing at what they do, but that leaves few girls who are hardcore geeks. There aren't many girls starting their own companies. It's almost expected that I go into community or marketing, but I've since decided to go against these societal expectations.

I'm now at a crossroads in my educational career because I need to decide my major. Do I major in computer science, economics, international relations, or what? As a friend of mine mentioned, what if I'm terrible at computer science or what if I'm terrible at economics? The educational path I choose will determine the people I associate with in my classes. The computer science program at Simon's Rock attracts the uber geeks, whereas the economics program attracts the more popular kids. Why does this matter so much? Because I see education as being more than what's learned in the classroom -- it's the independent projects that I would start with my classmates. It affects my social life, which matters more than you might think for girls. Regardless as to what major I choose, I'll plan on surrounding myself with both econ and comp sci people.

As time goes by, the negative image of computer science and geeks will fade away. With more "socially capable" individuals in computer science, people like myself will feel more inclined to choose a math or science related subject as a major. I met Leah Culver at a dinner in Amsterdam, and her story is inspiring. She went to school thinking that she'd go into art or graphic design, and left with a degree in computer science. She did what she felt passionate about, and others like myself will follow in a similar path. Just last week, I met a girl through my blog named Cassie Wallender, who also began college at age 16 and took up programming and business from an early age. In the coming few years, we'll hopefully see more and more girls flooding the halls of science departments!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early college, Bard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

Lately, I've been getting a lot of requests to be added on Linkedin or Facebook. From now on, I've decided to take my insider network a bit more seriously. Unless I know who you are, I do not feel comfortable adding you on either network. Matter of fact, if I have no more than a superficial relationship with the people on either of these networks, I'll begin to remove them.

Some may see this as cruel, but I see it as being practical because I care about who has access to my connections. I care about who I associate with, whether they be friends or business partners. My mentors have suggested that I never add anyone who only wants me in their linkedin network just for the sake of having me on their linkedin network -- there's no way for me to tell if the person is taking advantage of the superficial relationship or is just obsessed with numbers.

As for Facebook, I've begun to realize that adding people for the sake of just adding people creates noise. When I log into Facebook, I don't care if Joe and Jane broke up or if Jake changed his interests or status because I'm not actually friends with them. Why should I have to sort through their notifications when all I care about is what my friend Scoble is up to?

For those who don't personally know me but would like to follow me in some way, add me on Twitter. Enough said!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early collegeBard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

Boris from the Next Web Conference in Amsterdam asked me to speak only a few weeks ago -- I had plans to just be with my friends in San Francisco, but I couldn't resist the offer! I mean, all expenses paid for trip to Amsterdam over my college spring break? Why would I turn that down?

Not to mention, this conference is like no other I've ever been to. Firstly, it's in Amsterdam: beautiful city, amazing people, and even better after parties.

Next, the private events: As a speaker, I've made friendly with all of my fellow co-speakers (including but not limited to Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, Chris Saag from DataPortability, and Khris Loux from JS-KIT). When you're with the same people every day, you build closer relationships with them. This almost feels like summer camp!

After party at the Odeon, Amsterdam

Anyway, it's 6AM Amsterdam time and I've been up wayy too late doing nothing but watching Revision3 and pondering my future as a wanna-be-entrepreneur. The speaking engagement went quite well, but I felt like I was there more to entertain than I was to teach. (which was the intent) Expect a blog post from me about lessons learned from public speaking :)

Signing off for the evening.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early collegeBard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

Businesses often fail when it comes to doing something as simple as talking to their customers. I'm not sure if it's because they're lazy or if because they don't feel the need to, but it's probably the one big thing that can make or break a company Don't ignore your customers! Few thoughts:

1) Ignore the customers and they'll flock to the competitor. When I board an airplane, I expect the pilot to greet me. (thank you, Jetblue) When I buy my clothing from Barney's, I expect store assistants to help me with figuring out what I want to buy. When the help isn't there, I'll just cross the street and buy from the better company.

True story: I was looking for sun glasses in a shopping mall, and I was prepared to buy. I walked in, but the store assistant was too busy tooling around with his Facebook, so I left. I went to the store next door and spent $400 because the man at the door greeted me and gave me his honest feedback on which sunglasses looked good and which didn't. Lesson of the story, always talk to your customers.

2) Ignore your customers and miss out on what they're actually looking for. Company executives are apparently so busy working on their companies that they have little time to solicit the feedback of customers. Problem is, how are the execs to know what's working and what isn't? I think a great example would be Mattel: they sell Barbie dolls to preteen girls, but the execs are probably in their 40's. Unfortunately, girls don't aspire to elegantly dressed dolls anymore. How are the execs to know that the girls of today aspire to be anorexic sluts? Without the constant feedback, the execs would never have known this!

3) Talking to users = Making new friends. I love it when people talk to their users, whether it be about the product or about nothing at all. Hair stylists do this best: You're stuck in a chair and they're cutting your hair. What else is there to do besides talk to the hair stylist about the latest gossip on Valleywag? Encourage casual contact between you and your users and maybe you'll meet your most loyal word-of-mouth marketers.

All of this comes back to how I run this blog. I write a lot, but I want to hear from readers. Matter of fact, this blog post was inspired by a blog reader! Without the feedback, I wouldn't know what you guys wanted to hear. As always, please feel free to reach out and/or comment with your thoughts.

With much love to my passionate readers,

Jessica

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

I'm sitting in a panel moderated by Guy Kawasaki and he wanted the panel to be women only, which got me to think about the different type of women entrepreneurs there are.

Firstly, many women entrepreneurs I meet seem to run a business geared towards other women. Most of the women on this panel had businesses that target women. This isn't a problem at all. If anything, it can be a smart thing. My mom, for example, makes clothing for women not just because she knows that business best, but because it makes more money than men's clothing does.

Whenever I'm introduced to a female entrepreneur, it's almost as if I'm expected to make friends with them. I don't make friends with many women in business and tech for some reason, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with this. To the guys: just because you're a guy doesn't mean you'll automatically click with other guy entrepreneurs! Same thing applies to girls. When I meet a new girl, I see if they fit into the following categories. If they do, fine. If not, better. Personally, I dislike the idea of girls who fit into cookie cutter categories, but there are so few of us who can truly be considered unique. Here are the stereotypical categories that I commonly see:

1) The geeks: I meet many girls who are incredibly friendly, but they're geeks. They spend the majority of their time working, working, and working. I find it hard to click with the hardcore female geeks because they don't believe in fashion or partying. You may not see many of these girls because they're so incredibly sheltered.

2) The blogger chicks: These girls may or may not have a functional business, but they sure know how to write! They often attract overly obsessed and sketchy guys. I can safely say that these are the girls you're probably most exposed to. Such blogger chicks include the likes of ijustine.

3) The suits: For some reason, men in suits have an intimidating vibe behind them. They don't know jack about technology, but they sure know how to talk. Women in suits can be no different. Meg Whitman, for example, was CEO of eBay.com and is probably incapable of installing a simple PHP script. She's 100% the business type and she does a great job at this, but you don't see a sense of fun or girliness in this type of girl.

So you ask, where do I fit in? Where do my favorite women entrepreneurs fit in? From what people tell me, I can fit into one of these or all of these. Back in computer camp days (yes I used to be a total dork) I would definitely place myself as a geek. Last year when I had no company in the works, I was a blogger chick. Now, I'm seeing myself more and more as all of the above. The girls I generally click with fit into multiple categories. The hardcore geeks have no social life. The absolute hardcore blogger chicks have no aspiration to have a career. The suits come off as being too elitist.

Let's look at a real life example: Patricia Handschiegel. I have so much respect for her as a female entrepreneur because she's a hard worker, yet she's fun and enthusiastic about managing a good work/life balance. Cheers to her recent sale of StyleDiary.net! If only there were more entrepreneurs like her out in the world...

The absolute biggest problem for female entrepreneurs is perception. The above categories can apply to guys to some extent. The popular stereotypes are guy geeks, surfer dudes, and elitist men. In the media, you mainly see the stereotypes. For girls, you mainly hear only about blogger chicks. For guys, you see all of the above categories. If the fun and brilliant female entrepreneurs got some more exposure, we would definitely see more women entrepreneurs out there.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star. (and traveling to random cities and checking into hotels while being underage)