You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2008.
Took the train north to Marina Tower last night for the Marketing Group Stress Buster event (at a new place called A Mano), which was fun in the way nervous talk about recruiting facilitated by free wine (a “barely oaky Chard with mineral notes” as was described to me by the server) is fun.
But the walk to and from the stations was the real adventure. On Roosevelt Road, though it was snowing pretty hard, none was sticking to the ground, probably because it was all blowing down the street (and into my face) at 30 mph. I also crossed the Chicago River on foot from the Loop to Marina Tower. It was only a couple of blocks, but WOW was that exciting. I knew I felt cold (it took me a while to mentally adjust to being inside once I arrived at the restaurant… my poor Florida bones were literally shaking in my skin for at least a few minutes after I sat down). But I didn’t realize that was because the wind chill outside was minus twenty. Next time I am totally taking a cab.
But why such shock, you ask? The temps when I left for school yesterday were closer to 50 (light jacket weather). That’s a pretty significant drop in the span of a few hours.
Even stranger, last night’s wind has swept the sky clean leaving the morning brilliant blue and brightest sun. How often we’ve met of late, Mr. Sun and I, who, like our dear Mr. Darcy, keeps showing up in the most unexpected places.
The voters have spoken. Hexagon of Trust has been elected to lead the GBC through the calendar year. It’s a great choice for the GSB (I know they will serve the student body well)… but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed. What in the world will we do with all those leftover buttons? My dear friend (and classmate) M posted a link to this video to my Facebook wall. Helps put things in perspective. On to the next challenge! (Perhaps one with a little less competition?)
The silver lining in all this is the prospect of studying abroad next winter (an option I could not have pursued as GBC president). Where to? I’m taking suggestions!
In other good news, I am finally taking a class in which I feel I have something to contribute. Last Friday’s marketing strategy session helped me realize how much I know intuitively about the subject, which made my enjoyment of the case discussion that much richer. And today in study group I was actually able to apply some of the concepts we’ve been studying in Competitive Strategy (ex: pros/cons to focusing on core competencies). Working on my write-up for tomorrow’s lecture and case discussion tonight. Time to dive into those sales figures!
Also good news. Though I am at a considerable disadvantage to the majority of my classmates in Managerial Accounting and find that I still have little to add to our class discussion (except “whuh?”), I am still excited and engaged. I even volunteered to perform the break-even and cost analysis for our Business Solutions Group project and had fun(!) applying these newly grasped concepts to a real business problem. What’s more? I think I was successful in identifying ways to use the numbers to support our strategic recommendations. Rock on! My Managerial Accounting prof was even kind enough to offer his insights. I’m sure he’ll see ways to use the available data that I couldn’t even imagine. Bottom line? School is fun so far this term.
Trying to get all my ducks in a row before I leave for the Rollins Alumni Board meeting Thursday morning. So, this time for real. I’m off.
Didn’t make the interview invitation list for one of the firms I applied to. Bummer. Guess I’ll be bidding for one of the five (!) open slots when the system opens this morning at ten. /sigh/ And I thought that one was a lock! (“Now every defenses say, I, I, I, didn’t want it anyway. But you know sometimes I’m a liar.”) I seriously need to send out some more resumes. The good news? I’ve received a verbal confirm from one of my top choice firms that I made their closed list. So that’s something… And mock interviews have been going well. I guess it helps having relevant experience!
Campaign season is officially over. And online voting opened yesterday and will remain open through tomorrow morning. Results announced tomorrow night. We’re getting very positive feedback from lots of people on campus, including some public praise from the current GBC President. People seem to be mainly picking up on our enthusiasm (and passion), which is interesting because I think we have run one of the more tactical platforms of the bunch.
Trying to wrap up my homework assignments for tomorrow and Monday today so that I can spend a stress-free weekend with my lovely friend, who is flying in from Florida tomorrow night in order to enjoy one of the coldest weekends I’ve yet to experience here in Chicago. I’m actually wondering if I can make it to the North Face store before that happens. Still haven’t found the puffy, fluffy coat of my dreams. Perhaps S will indulge me in a State Street shopping trip on Saturday… If not, I can always bust out the heavy ski jacket my sister loaned me. It ain’t chic, but it’s awful warm.
Well, it’s time to wrap this post up and ship off to school so that I can prepare my case analysis for Marketing and get started on my reading/write-up for Comp Strat Monday. Still really enjoying all of my classes (including, surprise(!), Managerial Accounting… my reaction to this week’s assignment, evaluation of the break-even point for a small ski resort, was “ooh boy [rubbing hands together in glee], this will be fun.” And, for someone who likes tossing a bunch of numbers into a spreadsheet and then pulling different levers to change the outcomes, it actually was. Time consuming. But fun.).
I’ve spent the better part of the week by the mailfolders campaigning for GBC ROCKS!! It’s been so much fun hanging out with my slate and the others, talking to the voters (er, I mean classmates), and (the best part) rocking out to some awesome tunes! To support the GBC ROCKS!!! theme, S put together a righteous playlist, which has made this the week of rock and roll, GSB style.
Funny how much of a difference this introduction of music has made to the general vibe at school. We’re having a party, no? Sure feels like it. One surprising ancillary benefit has been the camaraderie our tunes have promoted between the competing slates. In some ways it’s not unexpected. Some of my best friends at the GSB are standing on the other side of the campaign table this week, so you’d expect to find a friendly vibe in the campaign corridor. But there is something about music that seems to ameliorate even the most competitive of environments. I’m going to pin it on the music. Have you ever frowned when you were dancing to this?
Even the folks just passing through seem to be catching our vibe. Which is a good thing. Because this is recruiting season baby. Stock an extra stick of antiperspirant in your locker dear, because the pressure is officially on. Just look at all the glum faces around the Winter Garden. It’s not that you didn’t get on the closed list for your top five all-time favorite slave ships, um, I mean investment banks. It’s just that you have to interview for all on the same day. And what’s that sound? Case study practice in the student lounge? Who’s got all Five Forces now, son? And what about the rest of us? Blindly shuttling off cover letters to this week’s flavor du jour? (What was the deadline on that resume drop again?) Stop. Collaborate. And listen. Have you perfected your corporate finance/strategy/marketing story? Why am I here? Why are you here? Yo, V.I.P. Let’s kick it.
So, needless to say, it’s the music that’s getting me through this week. Let’s put aside the two (surprise!) ITP mock interviews on the same day (can you give a cogent, on-the-spot answer to the question, “How do you define responsible drinking?” Thanks Diageo! Now I can!), and even put aside the campaign madness that has us all wondering what the true point of differentiation is between our slates (hint: ours rhymes with Vamp Us Cleaning, but sounds more like Campus Greening), and focus on the real issue at stake. Which is what? (cue Stevie Wonder) Being there for each other. Sharing a Coke and a smile. Introducing a bit of levity to this madness (because it is a bit mad, no?).
So, keep smiling. Keep shining. Knowing you can always count on me, er, I mean us. For sure.
One of Life’s Little Victories #289 Knowing you are going to be 20 minutes late to an important recruiting event and then finding out when you check the actual evite that you recorded the event on your calendar a half an hour ahead of schedule. (I tricked myself! Into being on time! Victory!) Attended all three classes this week (Marketing, Competitive Strategy, Managerial Accounting). Love them (even Managerial Accounting… Mike was right when he predicted this!). Each prof will be looking at the subject of competition, but from three unique (and sometimes overlapping) perspectives. I’m doing the reading for marketing next week and thinking, “wow, we talked about the concept of variable costs and fixed costs Monday in Comp Strat and Tuesday in Managerial Accounting.” Conceptually, everything I’m learning is building on what I’ve learned already or am learning concurrently in another class. It seems like I couldn’t have built a more complementary slate of courses if I’d tried. This is going to be a great quarter. First mock-terview yesterday. Check. All resume deadlines for the week have been met. Still prepping for wInterview tomorrow, but so far I feel good. Ready to dive into that “feedback loop.” Off to spend the morning at the Unilever Chicago office. Looking forward to learning more about their business. After that, I’m headed to campus for the big GBC Slate Forum. Looking forward to hearing from my classmates. I hope they bring some good questions to the discussion. Per my lovely little sister’s suggestion, if I could work out the A/V component, this would be my blanket response to all. Check us out on Facebook. GBC Rocks!!!!
