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Merger Article: Reflecting on the 2010-2011 School Year at Kellogg

To the second year Kellogg students from the class of 2011 that will graduate in two weeks, congratulations! What a wonderful achievement! To the class of 2012 about to head off to your summer internships, congrats on finishing your first year, and best of luck for the summer. As a current MBA student, I can’t say enough about how unique the MBA experience is. For many it’s the long-awaited gateway to a new career. For others, it’s a way to learn more about not only about the world but also about yourself. And for some, it’s considered to be the most transformative two years of their lives. But no matter which camp you fit into, it’s important to reflect on the year. And just a few weeks ago, the Merger selected me to write the “Year in Review” article where I talked about just that.

In just two short days, the last version of the 2010-2011 Merger will become available. For the past year, I’ve written articles in each of the newspapers, andI had the great fortune of being asked to write one of the “year in reflection” articles for this edition. Not only was it a great chance to reflect on the past year, but also a chance to challenge the students and myself to do great things after Kellogg.

See below for the article.

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Title: Reflecting on the 2010-2011 School Year

Author: Jeremy C. Wilson

2010 was an interesting year. Most of us left high-paying banking and consulting jobs and finally decided to return to business school. And what timing! The financial crisis was finally starting to fade and the prospects of recovery left the business world enormously hopeful. At the same time, the nomination of Sally Blount as the first female Dean of Kellogg had just made business news history.  Many of us were excited to be back in the classroom during such interesting times, especially as we knew the markets were recovering just in time to land our dream jobs at business school.

But one thing we didn’t know is that many of us would also be scrambling in business school. Many of us had to scramble to learn accounting and finance since it was our first time ever taking the classes.  Others of us scrambled to stay awake in DECS and MECN, after spending the night before prepping for upcoming job interviews. And some of us scrambled all year trying to figure out exactly what our dream job was, or if that job even existed.

And so that leads me to the million-dollar question today. The one question that’s been on everyone’s mind since last August. What is the best opportunity to pursue at Kellogg? And what can I do to ensure that I maximize my success?

Having heard from a lot of successful alum over the past year, there’s a variety of things go into it.  Getting started early, laying the groundwork, putting yourself in the right position at the right time, knowing how to seize opportunities, and most of all having passion.

Because making it all the way to the top is hard; and the competition can be stiff. We all saw it in our core classes at Kellogg and during recruiting. Someone always knew more, someone always worked harder, and someone always practiced more cases. Every time. It was inevitable.

But business school is a piece of cake if you compare it to becoming world class at the professional level. Coming up with the idea for the next big internet start-up, becoming a Fortune 500 CEO, winning a seat in congress, or being part of the deal team that takes Facebook public.  In fact, statistically speaking, you have a better shot of becoming a professional athlete.

In a recent talk few weeks ago, Jonathan Reckford, CEO for Habitat for Humanity emphasized that same point. That it’s not just about going to the best school or getting the good grades.  But that made it to his position because he figured out his “professional purpose” and did everything he could to pursue it.

Jim Hendry, the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs agreed when he spoke in my Sports Leadership class. That it takes 1,000 little things to go right to make it to the top, so passion for your industry more than anything else makes the difference.  Because if you’re not ready to go all out, then you’re not taking the big risks, and you’re not making the sacrifices. He noted that he turned down a job that paid nearly three times as much, just before landing his GM role in Chicago.

There are plenty of MBAs from all the top schools that face this same dilemma. They get good grades and work at “top” firms but don’t have passion. So they never become the Managing Partner, can’t land a coveted CEO role, and can’t garner the support to fund their political campaign.

Don’t get me wrong.  The majority of Kellogg alumni go on to lead highly successful lives by almost every possible measure. Good jobs. High incomes. Happy families. And I have no doubt that all of us will achieve the same upon graduation. But for just for one minute, I’m talking about something a little more. Like creating the social network that becomes Silicon Valley’s most admired company. Being the first female to Dean at two top business schools. Or best of all, figuring out a strategy to capture the world’s most wanted criminal after eight years.

So for just one moment, what’s more important than heading off top firms for the summer is that we all take a moment to reflect on all the lessons we’ve learned in our first year at Kellogg.  Furthermore, we should also understand that to achieve our utmost success, it’s imperative that we spend next year uncovering our deepest passions and doing everything we can to relentlessly pursue them. Only then will we be able to put all of our talents to their best use and unlock our greatest potential for change.

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Please let me know what you think. I welcome all comments and all feedback.

Apply to the 2012 Morgan Stanley Early Insights Program

Investment banking is one of the most difficult professions to break into. Not only is the work hard and the hours long but there are also thousands of other competitive applicants given the unusually high compensation levels. As a result, firms spend a lot of time making sure they hire people who are the right fit for the role.   Given this, anything you can do to prepare in advance of the recruiting season will be useful as you seek a career in the industry. And one way you can get started before coming to business school is by participating in the Morgan Stanley Early Insights Program.

Incoming first year Kellogg students (and top MBA students from all program), if you’re considering recruiting for the banking industry, then you should also consider applying to this program. Not only does it provide a unique opportunity to learn about the investment banking industry but it also gives you a short list of contacts before you even get to business school. And when recruiting for banking, the people you know can be enormously beneficial throughout the process.

In general, I love these diversity programs. They help provide information to those that don’t otherwise have it. They provide access to resources to those that on average have less. And they open up new careers that might feel unachievable.

More broadly, they ensure that we can continually live in a world of possibilities. They provide access to those that work the hardest no matter they start. And in the end, they recognize that there is limitless potential in every person, no matter what there background is.

See below for the blurb from Morgan Stanley.

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Get connected early with the Morgan Stanley MBA Early Insights Program. It provides outstanding Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT, and female rising first-year MBA students an up-close, first-hand opportunity to learn about Morgan Stanley’s businesses and culture. This two-day program showcases our global industry thought leaders, highlights key areas of our business, provides practical insights on professional development and the recruiting process, and encourages networking and social interaction with senior management and other professionals.

We welcome applications from those students who are beginning their MBA program in Fall 2011. Please click here to apply. This event will take place in New York City, beginning with a dinner and reception on July 19.

Questions? MBAEarlyInsights@morganstanley.com

Learn more at www.morganstanley.com/diversity

Application Deadline: June 13, 2011

Finding More Time in Business School

Because business school is demanding, getting caught up in all the hustle and bustle is easy to do. Most of  us not only spend the majority of our time in the same building but also in the same spots in Evanston. But the problem with spending too much time in a single place it is that over time you start to feel a bit one dimensional. But fortunately, students in business school take the notion of time pretty seriously, especially at top schools like Kellogg, where students are so busy.

I bring this topic up as a lot of people in the first year class are talking about it. How to get more free time before the summer. How to ensure they achieve balance during their internships. And how to maximize their experience, not only now but also next year.

This topic is also something the second years are thinking about as they graduate in just two weeks, and will eventually head back out into the workforce.  Below are a couple of things I’ve been thinking about recently, as I’ve been seeking to create a bit more balance and ensure that I enjoy my time.

1. Decrease the time I spend in the building. More recently, I’ve been thinking about how much time I spend at Jacobs (MBA building), and getting out a lot more than I used to. This isn’t to say I don’t put in long hours. After all, sometimes being busy calls for you to put in a lot of hours in some cases. But it does mean ensuring I’m not stuck in the building all day, especially on nice spring days. So I’ll find other places to do work.
2. Identify things that take up a lot of time. I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that take up a lot of my time. And in general, if something is taking up a lot of your time, I think about how valuable it is. Unnecessary meetings. Unnecessary talks on campus. Distracting websites online. Anything where I realize I’ve spent far too much time. The exceptions are things that you consider to be highly valuable.
3. Block out non-work time. One thing we’re told from day one, but don’t really understand until later in the year is to protect your free time. So nights, weekends, and times you want to do things for yourself, such as work out. In general, it’s important to block off time outside of school to maintain your sanity.
4. Be ruthless with your time. One of my best friends, Marquis Parker, told me this quote before business school began. Having heard it from an MBA alum before he began at Stanford GSB, he said the best advice he got was “to be ruthless with your time.” So this year, I’ve tried to do the same. Because if you don’t, you’ll see that your time just disappears and that you don’t have anything to show for it.

By thinking about some of these ideas, I’ve done a lot to find more time during the year. And I’m glad I did. Because upon reflection, if I couldn’t find more time now, in school, where our schedules are more flexible than every, chances are I wasn’t going to find it after graduation either.

Good luck!

Failure In Business School

Failure is the best teacher. That’s the lesson my parents always taught me.  It’s also the lesson many of us have heard from our professors and bosses as we’ve navigated our professional careers so far. But how accurate is this advice? And can you ever think back to a time where you didn’t necessarily agree with it? Well, after seeing lots of successes and failures over the past year in business school, I’ve come wonder about the same question. Is failure actually good for you?

As you might imagine, there are two competing sides to the argument.

On one hand, conventional wisdom says that the best way to learn is to learn from failure.  Because yoou’re more heavily invested. More emotionally connected. And think about things more intensely when everything goes wrong. Especially entrepreneurs, who have to learn because they can’t afford to make the same mistakes two times.  This concept is also reinforced in business school, where almost every activity is set to have a lot of competition. And since everyone can’t win, then a lot of people have to fail. This forces you reflect on the things you didn’t do well enough, and figure out how to do it better the second time.

On the other hand, most people know that failure is also hard to take. Especially when the stakes are high and you’ve put a lot of  time and effort in to pursue your the end goal. This happens every year in business school during the core classes, where only 40% can get As, meaning that 50% have to get Bs and 10% have to get Cs. And these 10% are usually very smart people. This also happens during the recruiting cycle, where people spend hours pouring over cases and studying industry trends but aren’t successful pursuing certain jobs. In some cases, failure can not only hurt emotionally, but also undermine your self-confidence. There’s been many stories about that at the top business schools, not to mention complaints from students who participate.

Upon reflection, in some cases, I wonder if people actually learn anything from failure.  Maybe instead, they are worse off. And even when things end up better the second time, it’s because those who failed are simply better at trying the second time around than the first time. And so no matter whether they succeeded or failed the first time, they are better than people who haven’t done it before, but not necessarily better specifically due to failure.  And even when they aren’t “actually” better the second time around, maybe other people think that they’re better so give them more support, helping them to do better the second time.  In this way, the act of failure hasn’t added value.

But don’t confuse my argument.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t learn when you fail.  After all, in some cases failure can offer you the most unique insights that you might not have gained otherwise. But in the end, I just wonder whether creating a culture of failure, and specifically constant failure as created in business school, is actually better than a culture of success. And are MBA programs doing the right thing by setting up these scenarios where students fail, on average, a lot more often than they succeed.

I don’t know the answer. Either way, it’s an interesting debate.

“What Would You Do if You Weren’t Afraid?” asks Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

We’ve all heard the saying before. That to be great, you have to pursue your biggest passions. Those seemingly impossible goals that come to mind in your bravest moments. Those game-changing ideas you want to pursue when you feel like you’re on top of the world. But also those ideas that fleet faster than the blink of an eye, when the notion of fear takes over. Well, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, discussed some of those same topics in a recent talk she gave.

In a recent graduation talk at Barnard, Sheryl Sandberg, addressed this very topic. That professionals, specifically women, need to think big when they are thinking about their careers. And although her talk was specifically directed at the graduating women, many of its principles can be applied more broadly.

Sandberg talked about her experience at Facebook, and some of the lessons she learned there. She noted that one thing she learned working with great entrepreneurs (Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google) “was that if you want to make a difference, you have to think big and dream big, right from day one.” And that at Facebook, they try to keep employees thinking this way all day. She noted the posters around the walls, used to motivate employees. One of them said, “Fortune favors the bold.” The other asked, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

Broadly speaking, the idea was this. If you don’t shoot for the stars, you’ll never know what you’re capable of.  You’ll never have the chance to write the screenplay. Or create a groundbreaking documentary. Start your own company. Or take part in changing the world. And she said that the message rings true for everyone, especially those with more to lose from failure.

This same question also echoes in the halls of Kellogg. Especially now, as graduation is lingering and students are thinking not only about their jobs after school, but also about their long term career goals. Will they risk it all to be great and to impact the world? Or will they take the route that provides more stability?

In an event with my former company, Bottlenotes, last night, CEO, and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Alyssa Rapp said it best. She said, “You have to be brave.”

Well, I agree with Alyssa and I agree with Sheryl that you have to be brave. Furthermore, I challenge all of my readers (and myself) not be afraid. And instead to go where no one has gone before. To try something you’ve never done before. And to risk it all to do something big.

In the words of Sheryl at the very end of her speech: “Ask yourself, what would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it.”

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For the best parts of the speech, I recommend you watch 16:00 until the end.

Also, for more information about Alyssa Rapp and my trip to the Bottlnotes event in 2010, CLICK HERE.

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The 24 Hour Rule

Have you ever received an offensive email from someone but didn’t quite know how to respond? I have. Well what about an offensive comment that was delivered in person? Yeah, that’s happened to me too. In fact, my hunch is just about every single one of us have been in that same situation. Well, just recently, Jim Hendry, the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs came to speak to my class class. And in addition to sharing his thoughts about the sports industry, he also gave us his theory on this dilemma, named the “24 Hour Rule.”

The 24 Hour Rule seemed to be one of his personal mantras. The rule says, if someone says something that irritates you, then you should sleep on it first, and then if it still bothers you by the next day, you should be sure to respond thoughtfully within 24 hours.

The idea is that you shouldn’t respond too quickly, because you more than likely run the risk of overreacting due to your emotion. On the other hand, you also shouldn’t wait too long to respond, because after 24 hours, it may feel too late to bring up the conversation again.

In reality, most of us lean one way or the other. We either spend far too long deliberating whether to bring it back up. Or we respond too quickly, failing to come up with a more thoughtful response.

On the other hand, great leaders have superb communication skills. Not only do they address critical issues quickly, but they also address them thoughtfully and with consideration for the other person.

So how are you going to respond to the next offensive comment you hear?

Unsure? Then maybe try the 24 hour rule to see if that helps.

SumZero: The Facebook of Wall Street? Bloomberg Interview with Divya Narendra

There is a new entrepreneurial movement taking place in the business world today. Professionals and students all over the world are working harder than ever before to come up with innovative ideas to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. To tackle some of the most difficult challenges both in business and in law. Well, one of those entrepreneurs is my classmate, Divya Narendra. Over the past 18 months in the JD-MBA program, I’ve watched Divya Narendra work tirelessly to build his financial services social network start-up, SumZero.

Divya is undoubtedly a different type of student. While most people in my class are headed to corporate America for the summer and after graduation, Divya never once considered it. Instead he’s been working non-stop on his company ever since stepping foot on campus. Even as a 1L at law school when everyone else was cramming for final exams, Divya was taking calls from investors and future members during exam period. Likewise, I remember sitting next to him in Constitutional Law. While everyone was ferociously outlining notes during class, he was responding to emails from users on his website in addition to taking notes.

One thing that has always inspired me is people who do things differently. Those who don’t go the conventional route. And people who give it their all to do something novel, even outlandish.

Fortunately, for Divya, all the risk and the work have paid off, as today he’s built one of the top start-ups on the planet. Recently dubbed “The Facebook of Wall Street” SumZero has been featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and FastMoney. And just this past week, Divya also did another interview on Bloomberg. On the interview he talks about his company SumZero, and what it means to build a social network for the buy side on Wall Street.  See below for information on Divya, SumZero, and the interview.

CLICK HERE to see that interview.
CLICK HERE to go to SumZero.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Divya

Top Employers of Kellogg MBAs Last Year

We’re finally in the midst of spring quarter here at Kellogg. For most that means recruiting is finally over, and we finally get a chance to have some fun for  a couple of weeks before starting our summer jobs.  But in spite of all of our free time, many of us have still been thinking a lot about what we’ll be doing for the summer and if we’ll end up liking it. Likewise, I too have been thinking a lot about the summer.  And because I’ve been looking at the careers report recently, I thought it’d be interesting to share some data I found on how things have shaped up over the past year.

Like many of you, I was under the impression that internship and summer employers had a fair amount of overlap. But before running the numbers, I didn’t quite realize how much overlap they had. Likewise, I also suspected that more full-time offers were given out than internship offers. But that too is much more clear now after organizing the data. And finally, I also knew that most people here went into the Big 3 industries – consulting, banking and marketing. But I didn’t quite realize how much consulting and marketing dominated until actually finishing up some of the numbers.

Here below I’ve listed the Top 10 recruiters of full-time jobs and internships last year at the Kellogg School of Management. And below that, I included a few notes about the data.

** Various @ 5 hires includes AT Kearny, Accenture, Barclays Capital, Baxter, Danaher, Deloitte, General Mills, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, PRTM Management Consultants

** Various @ 7 hires includes AT Kearny, Accenture, and Goldman Sachs

1. On average, the big three consulting firms hired 25% more full time consultants than interns.  When considering these numbers, also note that the pool of interviewees is also different, as it doesn’t include those who were happy with their summer internships at other companies and did not recruit in their second year.

2. Of the three consulting firms, Bain is the only one that hired less full time than for internships. This is more an interesting fact than anything else, as the others had a pretty significant increase in their full time hiring.

3. Deloitte and Booz did not make the Top 10 list for summer internship employers, but they place #4 and #5 respectively on the full time list. This suggests that both firms hire a lot more full time MBAs than they do for the summer. So aspiring consultants might be inclined to recruit their during their second year.

4. If you look at all the consulting firms in the top ten, there were 36 more jobs for those who recruited full time than for those who sought out internships. That represents a 41% increase.

5. Overall, the top ten employers hired 23 more students, an 18% increase, suggesting that the big employers enjoying coming back to Kellogg a second time in the fall to scoop up a few extra MBAs. However, this does not take into account that multiple employers tied for #10 for both summer and full time employers.

6. For full time employers, only one financial services firm (Goldman Sachs) made the top 10 employer list. For summer internships, three made the top 10 list (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital). This is inclusive of having multiple employers tied for #10 on each list.

7. And finally, one of my biggest observations was that there were not any nonprofits in the top ten. Not that this came as a surprise. I suspect that the same is true for all the top business schools. On the other hand, think about how things might look in society if one, even two, of the employers here were nonprofits or government agencies. Could be interesting.

Stay tuned for similar posts in the near future!

MBAs Learn About Business and Busy-ness

One thing I’ve recently noticed is that my classmates have been a lot busier than I expected this quarter. Some are still looking for jobs. Some are taking the maximum number of classes this term, even though they don’t have to. Others have gotten involved in even more clubs than they were last quarter. And others are challenging themselves in the classroom to learn as much as possible before heading into a new industry for the summer. The question that comes to mind is, how much of this busy-ness is actually worth it?

Over the past nine months, I’ve come to realize two things.

One, is that business school will keep you busy.  In fact, everyone becomes so busy that they start making to-do lists. Crossing things off and putting more things back on the list. Finding more activities to get involved in. Taking more classes. Going to more events. And doing more and more analysis to support the answers on problem sets, even when that analysis isn’t needed.

The second thing I’ve found is that doing this “busy-ness” is far easier than actually doing “business” even in business school.

That’s because busy-ness feels natural in our environment. From day one, the environment makes you used to the idea of not having enough time. You start learning the importance of firing off emails every few seconds. Talking to more people at the same time. And figuring out ways to get more things done.

But the problem is that often times, “busy-ness” is completely unrelated to “business” as business is about creating value not just producing.  It’s about creating new things for the market. And not just things the market wants but also things it doesn’t have enough supply of. And at its best, it’s about creating things the market doesn’t even have yet.

To that end, what if you spent all of tomorrow thinking about what those thing are?  And so you didn’t send any emails. You didn’t cross anything off your to-do list. And you didn’t do any analytical exercises for assignments.

But instead, you brainstormed a new idea for your class project. You thought about a way to launch that internet company you’ve been thinking about.  You wrote down ideas for a documentary. And you thought about how to create value in a massive way.

I challenge you (and me) to stop being busy for just one hour and instead do business. Only then will we be able to create new value and eventually change the world.

Running for Kellogg’s Wine Club Leadership Team

You’ve all heard the saying before. That a good team working together can accomplish a lot more than the sum of its individual capabilities. And that leadership is about facilitating teamwork to achieve common objectives. Well that saying is especially relevant for us now at Kellogg, as over the past few weeks, students have been lobbying for leadership positions for a number of different clubs on campus. And it’s especially relevant for one of my teams now, as we have recently decided to run for Kellogg’s Cork and Screw Club.

Over the past few weeks at Kellogg, many of the school’s organizations began running elections to be on the board of various student organizations. Emails are floating around saying – Be on the board of this club, become the president of that club, or join our new committee.  These are the slogans that clubs send out, hoping to find a few interested and over-ambitious students to take charge in the club next year.

Likewise, some students are also voraciously seeking out leadership positions – to get that one chance to meet someone at a conference and get that one line on their resume. But I’m not surprised by the fact. After all, student here have been leading organizations for years. And not only academic clubs but also professional clubs and associations that have major impact.

On the other hand, there are also those who are seeking clubs that are more social in nature than professional. These are clubs where being a “leader” is valued mostly because its a lot of fun. They are clubs that not only have a lot of fun together but also provides a fun environment for the general Kellogg community.

As you probably suspect, my slate fall into the second category, as the Cork & Screw Club is one of the more fun club environments at Kellogg.  Which makes sense, as it’s Kellogg’s singular club that is based on new wines coupled with great food and conversation. In my view, being part of the club is a no-brainer, and we’ve already got a great list of events that we’re considering for next year.

Having personally held positions on a number of professional clubs this year, I’m thrilled to spend more time with a social one like Cork and Screw. And fortunately, I’m running with a great slate of classmates and friends.

In the end, I hope that our slate wins. But either way, we look forward to sharing lots of wine together in the future, and to sharing wine with whoever the winning slate might be.

To my running mates – I look forward to sharing lots of wine with you in the future.

To the current leadership team – Good luck with the selection process!

And to my readers – Stay tuned to see how things turn out!

JD-MBA Speaker Series – Nicholas D. Chabraja Former CEO General Dynamics

There’s a movement taking place in the business and legal worlds. As a senior executive at a public company today, it’s just about impossible to escape complex legal issues. Similarly, if you’re a leading corporate lawyer, you consistently run into business issues, not only at your firm but also at the firms of your clients. The next question then, is obvious. Is it possible to have a career that combines both business and law. And if so, how can you do it? Well, the Northwestern JD-MBA program seeks to answer that exact question. As today the program sponsored a talk by Nichlas D. Chabraja to talk about the intersection of business and law.

Kudos to Northwestern’s JD-MBA program for once again taking the lead in facilitating conversations with both the business school and law school.  Over the past few years, there has been a lot more momentum with regards to the collaboration of the business and legal industries. And Kellogg has stayed well ahead of that trend.

Last year, Northwestern Announced the first JD-MBA Professorship, which not only came with $3MM funding made in honor of General Dynamics recently retired CEO, Nichlas D. Chabraja, who as Northwestern law alum. This year, Mr. Chabraja agreed to join us on campus as today he will give his ideas about the intersection of business and law in the future.

See below for the ad placed in the halls at Kellogg.

Northwestern JD-MBA Association
presents a discussion with
Nicholas D. Chabraja
Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
General Dynamics Corporation

Jacobs Center – G40

Spring Quarter Classes

It takes a lot of time and energy to do well at Kellogg, so most people expend a lot of effort to ensure they choose the right classes. They configure and reconfigure their schedules. They ask friends what classes they are taking. They look at professor ratings from prior years. And they pick classes that not only help them get certain majors, but ones the seem interesting and that might give you certain skills that could be useful professionally.

Typically during the first week, students think a lot about this whole process. More time than you might think actually. They attend more classes than they’re actually registered for. They add and drop a number of classes in the online system. And they strategize with classmates to pick the classes that will best set them up for success.

Personally, I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about the classes I am taking. The tricky part is that as a JD-MBA, I have slightly less time at Kellogg, so I want to get as many classes in this year as possible.  On the other hand, my classmates have all of next year to take courses they might be interested in, so they have a bit more room for error, and don’t necessarily have to max out their schedules.

Well, without further adue, below are the courses that I am taking this quarter with a brief reason about why I am taking them. In general, my goal was to take as broad a mix of classes across a number of different departments. Similarly, I also chose classes that were more on the end of “interesting” than on the skills end. And finally, I also picked classes that would help me finish up a couple of majors here at Kellogg.

Entrepreneurial Finance:Taught by the renowned Professor Rogers, this class is supposed to be one of the 1 or 2 best classes at Kellogg.

Leadership Coaching: Although this class doesn’t give you credit toward graduation, it gets very good reviews every year and topically is very interesting.

Strategy in Non Market Environments: I am taking this class to help me finish the Social Enterprise (SEEK) major. Fortunately, it seems like the class is going to be very interesting too.

Leading A Sports Entity: Co-taught by James Phillips, Northwestern’s Athletic Director and John McDonough, President of the Chicago Blackhawks, this is one of Kellogg’s most high profile classes this quarter.

Operations Management: This is my last core class ever at Kellogg./

Managing Interactive Media: This class is supposed to have a good list of speakers from top media and technology companies and will also help me to finish the Media Management major.

In the end, I have a full course load, but I also have pretty good reasons for taking all the classes. Stay tuned for more information on how the classes progress as the quarter goes on.

Working Smarter

One thing I learned in law school is that to be successful sometimes you have to outwork the competition. Start preparing sooner. Pull longer hours.  And study harder than everyone else in your class. However,if the only reason that you’re winning is because you’re winning more hours, are you actually winning in the end, given the tradeoff of time and other opportunity costs?  That’s one questions that’s been on my mind a lot these days, especially here in business school.

Personally I tend to pull longer hours than most people I know. On one hand, I don’t have a background in finance or quantitative subjects like many of my classmates at Kellogg do. Likewise, I also tend to take part in a pretty large number of activities, probably more than average, so I often have a pretty large number of things on my plate.

I’ve recently come to realize that one problem with relying on time is that it doesn’t scale very well. That means that working 20 hours a day at work will never be twice as good as working 14 a day. Similarly, at some point, you can’t actually work longer hours so there’s a cap to your ability.

On the other hand, one thing business school teaches you is to work smarter. Business school gives you less time, more options, more distractions, and more indecision than many of us have ever had before. And often you’re in a position where prohibited from working more hours on some projects but still have to get it done.

Over the past few years, Ive come to find that working smarter, and finding scale are the most critical things to learn because it teaches you a new and better way of competing.  And if you can improve the way you compete, and still work harder than the rest, you might just be unstoppable in your new ventures.

Write It Down

Have you ever had a good idea for a new business, but found it too complicated to get started. Well, what about a good idea for your current company, but weren’t quite sure what to do with it. Well, if that’s you, don’t worry. This is a common problem. But one way you can get started on your next big idea is simply to write it down.

Writing down your idea can be powerful. And even if it’s a rough sketch, write down your idea just to get started. Then once you’ve finished, write it again in more detail.  Next talk through your idea out loud to see if you’ve actually written everything down.

After you’ve written it in detail, then share it with friends.  Next, seek out colleagues to see what they think of your idea.  Then refine your idea based on their feedback.

If your idea is good, then something will stick. If it’s not, then tweak it. And then continually refine it until it does stick.  Soon your idea will not only stick but it will also take off.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. That it’s easier said than done. You’re probably right.  After all, people aren’t easily convinced. But if you’re passionate about the idea, then stay with it and convince them. Persuade the masses. Convince the skeptics of the value. And something great will transpire.

In sum, want to do something great. Then write it down.

That is why we’re carefully transcribing everything we do for our GIM Kenya trip.

Also, that’s precisely why I am blogging.

Engaging In My Trip to Kenya

It costs a lot of time and money to go on Kellogg’s Global Immersion in Management (GIM) trip.  You forego taking another class in the winter quarter. You pay a lot of money out of pocket. And you do classwork during spring break, while your friends are having a blast in various locations around the world. But other than having a blast with your fellow classmates in a new country, does it make sense to go on GIM?

Well, this was the question on a lot of people’s minds all throughout the winter quarter. Every year, second years talk about how great GIM is. Then, first years bid almost all their points into the class excited, but then recruiting and other substantive classes start to take up a lot of time, and so people question whether GIM is actually worth it.  Did I make the right decision? Could I have gotten a better deal financially on my own vacation (the answer is often yes)? Should I have done something different?

Fortunately, people in GIM Kenya (Kellogg’s Global Health Initiative) thought about this question a lot less than some of the other trips did. That’s because this is the single GIM trip that’s rooted in public interest and international development. Nonetheless, the question has even come up in at least a couple of cases.

As I ponder this question personally, I can’t help back to some of my favorite student experiences and ask myself, “Do you remember the presentations from the professor?”  “Do you remember the most salient parts of the lectures?” “Do you even remember the name of the textbook you read?” For a lot of the classes, the answer is no.

On the other hand, I know exactly what I do remember from my favorite experiences: the engaged conversations I had after classes. Helping a friend work on a problem that they found critically important.  The practical discussions about what people are working on, and the philosophical discussions about how people want to change the world.

Fortunately, I also get to engage in these topics for GIM, especially with GIM Kenya.  With GIM Kenya I get to:

Engage in a public interest topic (HIV/Aids project in Kenya)

Engage in a mission critical issue, not just related to the US but also to those abroad.

Engage in travel to somewhere I might not go on my own.

And engage with a diverse set of like-minded classmates who are also passionate about public service and about changing the world (stay tuned to hear more about my classmates on the trip)

In the end, engaging is the most critical issue.

When is the last time you engaged? It’s never too late to start.

Friends in Business School

I realized the other day that a fair number of my good friends at Kellogg come from very different circles. While some of them did come from my section, others I met in student clubs that I’m involved in, others while going throughout the recruiting process, some while transitioning in the JD-MBA program, and others study groups that I’ve been assigned to in class.  To my initial surprise, a smaller number of them actually come from the fun nights I’ve spent in Evanston or downtown Chicago.

This quarter, I’ve been working a lot with smaller groups that I did last quarter.  I’ve spent a lot of time with one group for a project in my media management class, and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in the process. Likewise, I’ve also spent a fair amount of time working on planning a KWEST trip for the incoming students in August, and I’ve also gotten to know these students really well, especially Josh.  I’ve also spent a lot of time working with a small group of people in the consulting recruiting process, especially my friend Vishal, and we’ve gotten to know each other quite well given the intensity of that process.

In addition to Kellogg, I also realized the other day that I have been working with a few people with regards to my blog.  Dino, Marquis, andEmanuel to name a few. My friend Marquis and I have been talking a lot about our websites and about potential start-up ideas we have for almost two years now.  My friend Emanuel and I have been talking a lot about new media and how to leverage that to have a large impact in the community.  And I’ve also stayed in touch with my classmate Dino since the application season, and we’ve discussed ways that we can improve our blogs and catapult Kellogg’s reputation in the internet atmosphere.

Over time I’ve come to realize that you don’t all-of-a-sudden make friends with people like these after one fun night in the city.  But instead you have to create friendships through a series of more personal interactions. You have to spend more time with them to understand their personal story and learn their career goals. You have to work with them on hard assignments to get a better sense for what they like to work on and how they perform under pressure. And you have to have longer, uninterrupted discussions with them to see who they really are and what they believe in at the core. In the business school environment with hundreds of people in each class and not enough time to make friends with most of them, establishing some of these deeper relationships is critical even though it feels impossible.

One of the simplest things to do in business school is making lots of friends. But one of the hardest things in business school is finding good friends that last well after business school is over.

Where Are Classmates Going After Kellogg?

For better or for worse, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have been wondering what their classmates will be doing for the summer. While some classmates jump at the chance to tell the entire world about their offers, others are a bit more tactful in their approach, and another group isn’t quite sure yet. But no matter which of these groups a students fits in, it’s likely that he or she has a sense of what industry they might end up in and further what geography they’ll be at for the summer.

To estimate where people might end up geographically, I thought I might try to do a few back end calculations to see where people have historically gone. I did that by calculating the percentage of students who have left Kellogg to go to various places around the US and internationally. And I did that not only for 2010 but also for the past 10 years to see if things have changed over time. Below is the 2010 graph and below that is the 10 year graph.

* Data from 2010 Kellogg report on Class of 2000 through Class of 2010

From the graph above, you can see the most people head to the big geographies in the US – Chicago, New York, and the Bay. It’s not surprise that more people stay in Chicago than anywhere else given close ties to local CPG firms and given the fact that Kellogg is conveniently located here in Chicago.

Likewise, it’s not surprise that New York and the Bay are in the top as well, given those geographies generally send a lot of people to business school. Further, it’s also no surprise that the Bay comes in below New York, not only because New York is significantly larger in size (ie more students) than the Bay but also because Chicago doesn’t have the same reputation for innovation that the Bay, Boston, or even New York has.

* Data from 2010 comes directly from the Kellogg website (Data from website)

Strangely the data from 2010 and from the past decade are nearly identical. The only exception is the international data, where the percentage of students that went “Abroad” and went to “Asia” were a little higher last year than usual. Perhaps it’s because the recession took away jobs locally in the smaller U.S. cities, so graduates decided to work internationally instead. (Click here to see MSNBC article that shows that MBAs are flocking to jobs in Asia). It might also be a result of the fact that the 1Y program at Kellogg is growing, so more students are opting to abroad now than before.

The idea that 2010 and the historical data are similar has some interesting implications, given that top business schools brings in new people with new interests and new career ideas every year. The first question that comes to mind is “Is business school just a factory?” Do the same people go to the same employers every year, not matter what you came in thinking you wanted to do? Which leads into the second question? Is geography-changing (or better yet career-changing) a lot harder than applicants think? And do people have less options than they hoped for, even at the top business schools?

But maybe I’ve got it all wrong, and it’s actually just the opposite. That people really want to go to these places and business schools provide the venues for them to do so because of access to so many alumni, networks, and employers. This idea makes a lot of sense too.

Either way, despite all the noise I hear in business school about changing yourself and changing the world, the statistics should make you wonder if things really do change, or if things really just stay the same year to year … and decade to decade?

Perhaps I should continue my analysis by calculating the numbers of jobs the same way I did geographies. I suspect it’d turn out to be exactly the same as this one.  What do you suspect?

Happiness During First Year of Business School

The first year of business school is filled with ups and downs. Everyone starts out very happy, as they’re excited they got into school and look forward to meeting their new classmates and friends. But the last few weeks I’ve noticed a disparity in the way that different people are feeling. Some students feel like they’re on top of the world because they’ve done well in classes or they’ve recently landed the job of their dreams. But there is another group of students that hasn’t had quite the same luck. At least not yet.

To quantify some of those ups and downs I decided to sketch out a graph the reflect an approximation of the average level of “happiness”. I did that by listing a few of the noteworthy events from Kellogg on the X-axis, and rating each event from 1-10 based on what the average student might be feeling at that point and time.

The graph starts at CIM week (ie orientation week) where students are still happy they’ve gotten into school and were able to quit their jobs early to revel abroad for the past few weeks. They arrived in Evanston from all over the country ready not only to make lots of new friends but also ready to take over the world and become tycoons in their respective industries. But then things like midterms, finals, recruiting, and winter snowstorms hit and things got a lot tougher. Fortunately, things like Ski Trip, TG, and job offers (for some) mitigated some of those downs. The goal was to have the graph capture some of those changes.

But more  important than the actual ratings, I think the graph highlights the trend of ups and downs that students tend to go through during the first year at business school. Not only will some students agree with the trends of the graph, but I suspect most will be able to relate pretty well with it. Hopefully most of my classmates and fellow MBAs are navigating the process and making their way back to the upper levels of the 10 point scale.

For the record, the graph is not meant be comprehensive. Likewise, it’s not meant to be a representation of my experience nor any of my specific classmates. Instead, it’s simply meant to highlight the trend of ups and downs, and reflect some of the sentiments of the average MBA student, not only at Kellogg but a majority of top business schools.

Have something to add? Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas.

Grades During Winter Quarter

“Yeah, I don’t really care how well I did. I don’t think anyone does. I can just make it up on the final exam.”  These were the words I overhead during a conversation the other day. They were in reference to a midterm exam I had just walked out of.   The midterm was pretty difficult, not only because the material for the class was hard but also because time to study was much more limited than normal, as right now, we’re right in the middle of recruiting season.

But don’t be fooled. This conversation is not as unique as it sounds. The trade-off between grades and other activities has long been an important discussion in business school. Both because grades have never been the sole focus of school and because in the winter quarter, priorities start to change, and recruiting becomes the main priority. But that must leave you wonder … so how important are grades at Kellogg?

On one hand, many people agree that grades don’t matter all that much. After all, most employers rarely ask you to submit grades and even if they do, it’s only one data point along with your resume, background, interview skills, and prior experiences, not only on campus but also before Kellogg.  On the other hand, most people here are used to doing well academically, so still want to do as well as possible. Similarly, you do get a sense of personal satisfaction from doing well in a class, especially if you enjoyed the subject matter or liked the professor.

From experience, I’ll say that figuring out the right balance can be tough. You have limited time to do everything and you have to start choosing. Choosing if you have to miss a class, and if so when. Choosing how many jobs to go after. And choosing how many classes you can handle, which is likely dependent on your recruiting needs.

This process will be especially difficult for those that end up having to go through with recruiting for longer than the average student.  They have less time for a longer period of time, have to make more tradeoff decisions, have to engage more overall energy in the search process, and miss out on the traditional parts of graduate school, and business school, that are supposed to be more fun.

Fortunately, the administration knows this takes place every year. Some professors allow you more flexible schedules and allow you to come in and out of class if you have an interview looming. Already, two of my professors have noted that alternative arrangements for class can be made if an interview conflicts with the class time. Likewise, alternative arrangements can at times be made to take midterms if there is a real conflict and you let the professor know in advance.

Despite this, professors still face the challenge of keeping students interested. For better or worse, we are incented with grades. We are also incented because we can enroll in electives which are more fun and interesting. And some classes make participation a larger part of the process of the process. For most though, this doesn’t necessarily change their mindset, because students won’t spend all their time studying at the expense of getting a job. In the end, everyone figures out the balance that works for them, and they do their best to make it all work.

It will be interesting to see how the pulse at Kellogg changes as the recruiting season moves on and more and more people start to accept summer jobs.  Good luck if you’re also going through the recruiting process.

Interview Season

If the freezing cold Chicago winter hasn’t got you down, the recruiting season probably has.  Like the winters are long and dark in Chicago, recruiting season is also long and hard.  You network with employers, you impatiently wait for interview invitations, you prepare for the case interview process, and you prepare answer to behavioral questions for hours upon hours so you can nail that coveted interview you’ve been waiting for. It really is a process full of ups and downs.

Unfortunately, despite the intense preparation, just about everyone here at Kellogg also has too face rejection. And a lot of it. In pursuit of the job you’ll have this summer, you have to compete against far too many people for a single spot, sometimes an employer doesn’t always take someone from a given school, often times you don’t know exactly what an employer is looking for from candidates, and quite often the process is pretty subjective. As a result, the recruiting season can be a hard process.

In general this year, the month of January has been very busy. There’s a lot more nervous energy in Jacobs, a lot fewer people at the Keg, a lot more people surfing the CMC webpage these days, and a lot more people requesting “acceptance” to the Kellogg LinkedIn group to update their profiles just in case employers are checking online – I know that because am the LinkedIn group owner.  Likewise, people all over the school are checking their phones incessantly, awaiting calls and voicemails from recruiters for that coveted offer for summer employment.

Some schools call this process “hell week” although at Kellogg, there’s no such name as hell week, though perhaps there should be.  And unfortunately, the hell isn’t just confined to one week in January.  Instead it takes place for a few weeks for some students, and it goes on much longer for students that may not have jobs yet.

The good news is now that it’s February, some of the worse of it has past, whether you have a job or not.  The grueling processes of as consulting, banking, and brand management are just about over, which comes as a relief to a lot of people.  To those who got the offers they wanted, things are definitely looking good for the rest of the year.  For those who did not, they have to figure out what the next steps are and what their contingency plans might be.

But no matter which camp you fall in to, most people on campus are exhausted. Congratulations to everyone for making it this far. And hopefully those who are finished will help their classmates reach the same status.