The Summer Update

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday I sat down to write a blog post about being offered a summer internship. That was over 2 months ago, and here I sit almost half way done, and no blog to show for it. (Well, I did write one for a MBS blogging competition. I didn't like it, as I felt like I was writing a report, not telling the story of what I am experiencing. None the less, I won a gift card as a result (That was just a humblebrag...). That was due more to the fact I was the only one that entered on time. Even still, I'll take it.)

I assuming the only reason you are reading is because you are interested in hearing how things are going that, or you are just really bored and are trying to pass the time. Either way, I thank you.

After a great trip home to see the fiance and the family, I was ready to get started on my internship. It had been 10 months since I worked in an office. 10 months since I had to regularly dress in work clothes, and 10 months since I had to wake up early in the morning 5 days a week (I am proud to say I have not been late for work a single day this summer. Not starting work at 6:30 really helps.) So I showed up the 1st day, rang the bell to get buzzed in, and I sat down and waited for my boss to show me my desk. 30 minutes later, I decided to e-mail her to make sure she got the message from the stranger on the other side of the buzzer. She hadn't. Interesting way to get started. From there I got my desk, got set up on my computer, learned how to call IT to get my password unlocked, and waited. Thankfully, I had a bunch of meetings scheduled to learn about things based on my project. Up first was with the boss, going over the 12 week project plan of what I would be doing. They are looking for a very specific outcome, so the structure was put into place. The good thing is since I didn't know what I was doing, I had an outline to follow. The bad thing you may ask? Since I had no idea what I was doing I had no idea on how to follow!

In retrospect, I see a huge disconnect in this plan. By being so involved in the planning, everything made perfect sense. Of course, I was eager to get to work and impress, so I tried to be smart and understand it all. And I did, well, at least what was on paper. But I forgot my experiences back in my sales days - it isn't what they tell you, it is what they don't tell you. What are the hidden needs, either known or unknown.

As I got into the project, I thought I knew was going on, but I didn't. Thankfully, I have been having weekly meetings with my boss, and at each of those meetings, my understand has changed (and increased.) Instead of trying to figure out what to do, I actually feel like I am progressing. I guess that is natural though, any time you start a new job, there is a learning process.

Besides the lack of training, I have been dealing with one other major challenge. Back at Jackson, I was paid to talk to people. I was on the phone averaging 4 hours a day. I was working in a small team, and with a larger team. I was training people, answering questions, and just talking to my neighbors. It was an energetic work environment. At Hilti? Well, I sit next to other people....

The project itself is massively different than anything I have ever done before. The structure of the company as well. I love working in teams, with other people. The human element drives me, getting energy off other people (trying only to absorb the positive!) At Hilti (or at least, as I should preface, in the area of Marketing i am working in), the jobs are very defined. One product manager has one defined area and task. They might be grouped in a team, but they don't work in a team. They put together PowerPoints, training schedules, marketing material, etc. And I am doing the same thing. I have my defined project. I am the one working on it. Sometimes I ask for help, but try not to disturb to many people for to long. It is not a bad work situation, just not the one for me.

At the end of the day, I am enjoying my internship. These challenges are new ones that I haven't had to face in the past. I had people to train me at Jackson, rather than training myself. I had a group of people to work with, team discussions and meetings (as much as we bitched about the team meetings, turns out I like them a bit more than I led on to!) The new environment, the new working conditions are helping me learn. They say you learn more when you are faced with challenges, outside your comfort zone. It took me the first 3 weeks of my internship to realize this (those were a long three weeks!) but I have now. I am getting an amazing experience to prepare me for my next stage of my career. There is a lot of carry over skills to consulting - jumping on a project with no knowledge of what is behind it and juggling several different stake holders. Would I stay at Hilti long term? Maybe not. But am I wasting my time and regretting working for them? Absolutely not. Let's just hope I can say the same thing in 7 more weeks.

Note: I have talked about a lot of the challenges and things I don't like at Hitli, mainly as a part of the understanding process I need to go through to make the most out of my internship. This is not meant to be a blog bitching about it, but just talking about how I feel about these challenges.

As always, for anyone that has made it this far, thanks for the read, and feel free to share thoughts, comments, etc.

The Resilience of MBAs

I wanted to title this blog "How MBA's are like a Cat." Because, as rumor has it, cats always land on their feet (a fact I believe to be true, but as I am not an expert on cats, I say with a certain reservation." But since the analogies stop there, I figured it might be a confusing title, so you get what you got.

It seemed like just last week (I think, it was in fact 2 weeks ago) I let you in on the struggles of the MBA Internship search. The processed dragged out. I had sent out 40 applications. I didn't hear back from firms. Connections who offered to help turned out to either try really hard with little success or to just completely disappear/drop the ball/decide they actually hate me and don't want to help any more/or something less self centered where they just were no longer able to. But then, I finally got my first breakthrough in the process. A call back for an interview.

Hilti is a brand I had not heard of before, well, I applied to them and did a little research. They are in the construction tool business. Apparently, their brand is well known, but then again, what do I know about construction tools? But the internship, well one of two, was centered around 1-2-1 sales, which I knew a lot about. So I researched Hilti a bit more, and went all in (well, at least it felt like that at the time.)

About half way through the interview, things seemed to be going well. I had mentioned something and why that would help me with the 1-2-1 sales internship, and got a curious response from the two sitting across the table. "Oh, we thought you were interested in the other one. Well, are you?" Of course I am! But the problem was I did not know what the other project was, so I didn't want to get caught. "Well, I was more interested in the 1-2-1, so I haven't read the other brief, but I guess I would be interested..." Shit, that was a terrible answer. So we got the interview back on track and I continued to hammer my sales experience for the original position.

To prevent a long story from going any longer, I got a call back for round two, had what seemed like another good interview, with no fumbling about what position I was interested in (although, I had actually prepared and understood the other brief, and even was interested in that one too!) The following Monday, I shockingly received an offer. Not shocking that I received an offer (MBAs - always got to keep faith) but shocking in the fact that it was for the 'other' position.

In retrospect, I am actually happy I got the project outside of my comfort zone. Working on a 1-2-1 sales project, while fun, would be a chance to take what I know and apply it in a new way. Working on this project is going to be a chance to learn something new while applying it in a new way. While I am nervous, I just can't forget my lessons from my MBA - That we are like cats. I mean resilient.

BONUS SECTION:

This really has nothing to do with anything except a quick catch up of what is going on in my life. If you have no interest, thanks for reading this far and see you next time.

Marathoning: I was once again, easily talked into signing up for a marathon. This one was the Greater Manchester Marathon. Note, it was the Greater Manchester - not the Manchester. We did not in fact step foot in the city of Manchester. But we did run 26.2 miles just west of the city. On a rainy day. in 40 degree temp. In 25 mile an hour wind. Blowing in our face (for at least the majority of the exposed 2nd half of the race.) Lovely British running conditions. I am proud to say I finished in 4:15:15 (knocking off over 30 min from my previous time.) Up next is a goal of 4 hours in Amsterdam on Oct 21st. In the words for fellow marathoner Rafael - Keep Running.

Traveling (or at least trying to): In addition to Amsterdam, I am off to the US in June before my internship, Dubai in Sept. for some classes, and hopefully a couple more trips beyond that. Goals for the summer. York, Oxford, Cambridge (yes, you friend of shorter stature that will be studying there), Stonehenge and places in Scotland. Goals for the fall: US (DC and Denver - gots to get me a job) Bali to eat some of Chef Nicks great food, another European city on the back end of Amsterdam, and as many day and weekend trips as I can afford around the UK. That is lofty goals, and it won't all happen. But I will be stoked if even some of it does.

MBAT: Next week I am off to Paris for an international sports competition involving MBAs from all around Europe. 3 days of sports, drinking and fun. Should be an amazing time and lots of pictures to come.

Wedding: Kathryn and I are looking at May 2014 time frame, although nothing is set in stone yet. But we at least have an idea. And we plan to stay in a bungalow over the water in French Polynesia for our honeymoon. Google them and tell me that they don't look amazing. So excited for that (and the whole rest of my life with her thing too!)

Other than that, life remains busy as hell, but it is good. Less than a year left, and we will have a new batch of nervous MBAs starting in just 3 months. To just think where I was last year compared to this. Man, life is good.

As always, drop me a line, let me know your thoughts or just to say hi. Love you all!

In Search on an internship...

I had mentioned earlier this year that I was going to write more. As you can clearly see, that turned out to be a typical new year’s resolution - it never happened. I have wanted to write. I have sat down several times, and started typing, only to delete what I put down. Let's see if I make it through this time.

The second term of the MBA, in a lot of ways, is easier than the first. I only had 3 classes, instead of 4. The group project was based around Mergers and Acquisitions (desktop research), instead of working with an outside client. As a result, it was easier to manage – (and get a distinction!) There were less intro classes and more free time. Most importantly, I knew how to manage my schedule. I knew what to expect. And I understood that you can't do EVERYTHING possible, so I didn't sign up for as many things that didn't interest me because I felt I should.

So why the silence? If it was easier, shouldn't I have had more time to write?

You see, the thing is, in a lot of ways, the second term is a lot harder than the first. And that is for one main reason. The internship search struggle. Coming into my MBA, I looked forward to the internship with big dreams of what the future holds. I was going to lock down an internship with a consulting firm, the job of my dreams, then kick so much ass that they were forced to hire me back for full time. And because I am so awesome, I expected to have this all wrapped up by Feb, so I didn’t have to worry about it much from that point on.

So I set out applying to any consulting internship I could find. From McKinsey to Accenture, Deloitte to Simon Kutcher (Simon who?) Big or small, it didn’t matter. But the same thing happened. “Dear Mr Newell, we regret to inform you….we were fortunate enough to have many qualified candidates….but we were impressed by you….but good luck ELSEWHERE.” And that letter was better than what many firms gave me – silence.

I’ll admit, while I am use to rejection, I don’t think anyone is use to it at that level. I lost count of how many places told me no. I watched my friends get interviews, and helped them prepare. But I couldn’t understand why I didn’t get an opportunity. What am I missing? Why not me?

Every time I sat down to write about it, to talk about my frustration, I was coming across angry, hurt, and any other emotion constant rejection brings upon you. I didn’t want to write like that. I didn’t want to remember my MBA experiences like that. My stubbornness, if you will, prevented me from putting together coherent thoughts. So I focused on putting my head down and applying to the next one.

I truly think getting an MBA internship is one of the hardest things I have done, for many reasons (or at least reasons I use to justify my challenges.) Not all firms want to take the time to bring in and pay and MBA for just 12 weeks’ worth of work. They don’t see a long term value out of it. Combine this with the fact that most MBA programs are only a year, there is less internships than there are students fighting over them. Additionally, most internships are in London. Manchester is a great business school, but it isn’t London Business School, or isn’t as close to London as Oxford or Cambridge. We have a huge hurdle as students in the north, trying to battle with the best of the best on their home court. Thankfully, there are tremendous amounts of internships in the US, or so I thought. But I can’t help but worry that as soon as they see my application, all that runs through the US recruiters head one of the following questions - “What’s a Manchester Business School?”, “Some kid from England? He would be hard to interview – next!” or “How much is that going to cost me to relocate him?”

Even with these struggles, I have never questioned my ability to do a job. I know who I am and what I have to offer. I know I am meant for big things in the future. I have confidence in myself and my interview abilities. I seem to be a likeable guy (that, or everyone is just really good at bullshitting with me!) But I felt like I was running into a brick wall with a steal door keeping me from having any fair chance at fulfilling my lofty dreams. All I was asking for was that one opportunity. I was like the Little Giants – I just needed that one time (Yes, that is a mid-90s movie reference, and no, I do not regret making it.)

I am lucky. I have had a couple opportunities come up. I had my first interview, which has led to a final interview later this week. I have a back-up plan back in Colorado. But, at first, it was been hard for me to get excited about them. Not because they aren’t great opportunities, they really are. But because they aren’t the lofty expectations I let myself have coming into this. They aren’t the international consulting firm I wanted. It took me a while to accept that, to stop being angry about it, to stop feeling hurt. I have to remind myself about how competitive the internship search is, and how when I search for my full time job next year it will be easier. I will end up all right, and get through everything. But if you don’t hear from me for 3 months next year, you might now know why.

As always, I hope this gives you some insight into what the life on an international MBA is like. Hopefully, this kicks that writers block I have had this term, as there are a lot of exciting things going on over the next couple of months. But in the mean-time, any feedback is welcome and appreciated – unless it is simply to correct my grammar. I know is sucks so don’t be that guy. Till next time (hopefully not another 3 months.)

What's your Impact?

I want to start off with a quick exercise. Think of someone in your life, past or present. Someone that you don't particularly like to be around. It could be a coworker, ex, friend of a friend, etc. Got someone in mind? Good, hold that thought.

Over break I crashed Jackson's National Sales meeting. I did this because Jeff and Jessica, the to partners I use to work with were in town. I wanted to see them. I also went to the office a couple of days to see some of my old coworkers (I didn't see everyone I wanted to, so of course, I went back.) And it got me thinking about why I wanted to see some of these people, and frankly, why there were plenty of people that I use to work with I didn't. There were so many people at Jackson that made and impact in my life, from the manager who hired me all those years ago, to the recruiters, coworkers and bosses. Some of them set out to make an impact. Some of them did not. Some of the impacts were positive, and some, well, let's just say I wasn't excited to see everyone back at the office.

It felt so good to hear the excitement from some of my old coworkers, seeing some of the external sales guys, a manager in a completely different department. Apparently, based on what they said to me, I made an impact on them. I will never know the breadth of the impact I made, but even more so will never know any negative impact I made.

So let's jump back to that person you are thinking about. The one that you won't be buying the next round for. I have a few in mind. Now I don't think they woke up each morning thinking about how they could be mean, rude, obnoxious etc towards you. There might be a few extreme examples, but other than that, I highly doubt they thought of you. Or more importantly, thought of their impact.

Everything you do is going to effect others. That is just the nature of the beast. You might be in a rush, and bump into a stranger on the streets, who might be having a bad day, who now (ir)rationally hates you. Or maybe someone doesn't appreciate your cutting in line. But on the other side, holding the door open might make someones bad day a little better. A simple thank you for a job well done. The point is, everything you do has the potential to impact others.

But how many people think about their impact on others? How many people try to make as many interactions they have positive ones? To me, it doesn't seem that hard to do. Start with the smaller things. Build from there. But most importantly, simply be aware of the impact you are making on everyone around you.

I am trying to continue making a positive impact through not only my life, but my blog. From some feedback I have received, I have been doing a good job at that so far. But i do ask one favor in addition to feedback (as always, good or bad is appreciated!), if you believe in what I write, and feel that it will help someone else who reads it, please feel free to share it. And as always, let me know what you think.

2011 - The Reflective

It has been a while since I have sat down to write, so I figure what better time than now to look back on the last year, and just as importantly, look forward to the next year. So here goes.

From 2011: Things I have done/am proud of.

- Moved to a new country: This is obvious. Having been accepted to Manchester Business School, I wrapped up my 4.5 years at Jackson, packed my bags, and jumped the pond. This is the first time since I lived in Australia I have been so far from home. It has been the adventure of a lifetime. And there is still 15 months left, it will be amazing to see where it goes.

- Ran 26.2 Miles. That is a marathon. And more importantly, I trained for the marathon. That was the challenge of the marathon, not the race, but the training. The dedication of running 2-3 times a week (ideally, more!) But it taught me a lot, the perseverance of it all. And I am like many marathoners, excited for the next one.

- Acted Academic. That is right mom and dad, I have been a student. And a good one, or at least I think so! I have studied for tests, I have attended classes (over 90%), and busted my ass on projects. And I have enjoyed it. Who know, being a student isn't all that hard. Working hard for classes doesn't kill you. I just need to keep that momentum into 2012

- Watched Every episode of Glee. And Merlin, and countless other shows. Hey, we all need an escape, and as a result, I have become a gleek.

- Made new friends from every corner of the globe. That is the nice thing about MBS. We are from everywhere. And everyone there is amazing in their own right, and it has been amazing to learn from them.

- I got engaged. Yep, this is the most important thing I have done in all of 2011, and can't be happier. I have found the woman that supports me and completes me. I would not survive in school, overseas, running marathons or anything else without Kathryn's support. And I hope (and she says I do) that I am half as strong for her as she is for me.

That is just the highlights for last year, and what a great year it was. From the move, to the MBA, to Kathryn, I couldn't have planned out a better year. But here is my attempt, my plans for 2012.

- Blog More. It is easier to find excuses than to sit down to write. I sometimes think more about the people reading than myself writting. But blogging for me is helpful, and even a bit therapeutic. It helps me process thoughts. It helps me learn from what I am doing. MBS talks about self reflection as a part of the learning process, and I believe that. I have done that to an extent, but I want to use this avenue to further it. I hope you find it interesting, but if you don't, I hope that I continue to find it helpful. Until the latter changes, I will keep at it.

- Study my ass off. I have 15 more months to go. It won't be an easy journey. But it will be an enriching year though. It will be a fun challenge, but a challenge none the less.

- Do what I need to do. This relates to Kathryn. I need to bust my ass in school, so I can get the job I want so we can start our life together. And after spending the last 2 weeks with her over break, I couldn't be more excited. Talk about strong motivation.

- Run more. And track my running better. I have marathon number 2 set up for April 29th, in Manchester. I have a full 4 months to train (better than 2!) I want to keep up the running more after the race too. I love running, but once again, it is easier to find excuses than to lace up the shoes. I have new shoes, cold weather gear, and new excitement for it this year. And lots of runner friends. Now it is just a matter of keeping it up.

- Live healthier. This goes hand and hand with the running. Go to the gym more, eat better, and balance the lifestyle. Now that I am not interested in drinking every night of the week, it is time to take the next step to a healthier living. I took out a lot of the bad, but never have added all the good, so that is my goal for this year,.

- Find an internship. My goal is to work for a consulting firm, and I have an application out there already. But I need to bust my ass, balance everything else, and commit to researching a whole lot of internships. I will, going back to blogging more, talk about the trials, tribulations and experience of finding one.

- Read another 5 books. Ideally, I would like it to be 10. I read about 15 last year, between fiction and non fiction. Jumping around books for fun and books on business and human behavior. I would raise the number, but I know that will be a challenge with studying. After school, the number will be at least 1 a month. But for now, 5 is a good goal.

- Work on goal setting. I have never been good at it. I have never put anything down, all though I have thought about it in the past. I have laid out maps in my mind, but nothing more than that. I am never going to make a specific goal based on a potential, yet volatile outcome. But doing something like this, will help me on this step.

- Continue my pledge and challenge I laid out to other people. Learn something new every day, and continue to go out of my way to do something nice for other people. This, in my opinion, is what is wrong with our world. People get complacent and don't treat other people with respect. If we can change that, just imagine what will happen in the world.

- Stay in contact with people better. I have to make a better effort to keep in touch with people. I have to make the effort, I am the one over seas (out of sight, out of mind, if you will.) And this is more than just my close friends. This is the old coworkers at Jackson, old business relationships, and people that helped me and touched me in my life.

Well, there it is. There was 2011, and a set of goals for 2012. This is not all I will be working on, but gives me some ideas, some points of reference for the next year. It will be added to, and subtracted from. But over all, I know it will be an amazing year.