OwenBloggers | Vanderbilt-Owen Blogs

Home Stretch

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:34 GMT

I'm nervous. I'm nervous that I have done everything in my power to make a good impression at my internship. I'm nervous that people noticed I put a lot of work into my project. I'm far more nervous than when...

Almost there...

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:47 GMT

It's almost August and that means that most soon-to-be second years are finishing internships and planning for the move back to Nashville!I have three weeks left of my internship and about two until the big presentation! The funny thing is that instead of being too nervous to think about anything else, I am so excited to head back to school! Don't get me wrong, I am really enjoying my internship and am definitely thinking about how I can "wow" senior management and my manager but I am SO looking forward to seeing my friends and eating some BBQ!

For those of you that will be first years at Vanderbilt, get ready for some tough classwork, some amazing people and even better friendships! Also, look forward to some awesome live music and fabulous southern hospitality!

As for you, second years, I cannot wait to see all of you! I am definitely looking forward to "Floatilla II" and hearing about your summer and internships...most of all, I am just looking forward to spending a great second year together!

The Business War Over Beer

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:08 GMT

For those of you that like business and beer, then the potential hostile takeover of Anheuser Busch by Belgian beer giant InBev should be something of interest. My initial reaction to the deal as a beer drinker was very American - keep those foreigners away from our red, white and blue beer! But from a business perspective, if it makes money for the shareholders, who can blame them?

My sister and brother-in-law are currently living in Brussels, Belgium and likely have an InBev keg of beer as we speak. She constantly reminds me that no, the Budweiser Clydesdales are not unique, that Heineken in Amsterdam has them as well. And, Budweiser is not even an original name - there is also a Czech beer with the same name, and it was around well before the American version. She also tells me that InBev is a heavy sports marketer, and the Europeans get sports marketing even more than we do. Their teams are sponsored by major corporations (like InBev's Jupiler beer sponsors the Belgian soccer team) - can you imagine the Tennessee Titans being named after the Jack Daniel's distillery? The closest we've come to that is in racing.

InBev, while perhaps threatening a piece of America, is run by Belgians, who are probably, next to Switzerland, the least threatening country in the world. They rolled over during WWII without a fight, and not much has changed since then. So does selling to InBev make the Busch family any less American? No. Is Budweiser any less American just because it's run by a Belgian company? I don't think so. It's just the global business market in action.

Now, if we can just get them to send more Belgian beer to us, I'll be one happy global consumer.

Michael E. DeBakey: Pioneering Surgeon, Educator & Inventor

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:37 GMT

Health Blog : Michael E. DeBakey: Pioneering Surgeon, Educator & Inventor Perhaps no doctor is more linked to the rise of modern medicine –- and certainly to the rise of modern heart surgery–- than Michael E. DeBakey, the trailblazing Baylor...

Three 1st Year MBA Strategies For Use In Getting an iPhone

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:42 GMT

Yes, true to form I am in line early to get my iPhone 3G. But...I have a strategy.

With the incredible powers of intellect bestowed upon me by the likes of Luke Froeb and Gary Scudder, my strategy is wholey intended to minimize my stress and maximize my chances of getting one:

1) Game Theory - Everyone and their mother is going to be at the Apple Store so I went to an AT&T store...30 minutes away.

2) Be A First Mover - I got here at 5:30 AM...and yet there were still 12 other people in line.

3) It's All About People - Get friendly with the store manager and you'll find they react better than the uber-competative guys.

We're about an hour out from opening and our fearless AT&T crowd liason has informed us that there are just enough phones for all of us in line to get the one we want.

That's Strategy!

One More Month

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:44 GMT

As usual, time is absolutely flying by and it's hard to believe that in a few more weeks I'll be heading back to Nashville to start the second year of my MBA. The summer has been going well and I've...

Blog your advert

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:15 GMT

Want to make sure that your job post will reach the right audience? Nothing easier! All you have to do is put it on industry blog so specific, that only those interested are reading it and voila! – you just...

Check Out Bridget, Brad & Chaya: The New MBA and MSF OwenBloggers!

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:42 GMT

OwenBloggers, the leading student-run MBA blog on the internet, is pleased to welcome the first bloggers of the Owen MSF Class of 2009 and the MBA class of 2010!

Bridget (MBA 2010), Brad (MBA 2010) and Chaya (MSF 2009) will become the newest members of the OwenBloggers team as Accepted Owen Bloggers, chronicling their stories as they navigate their graduate business educations here at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

Each of them carries with them their own unique perspective on the world and, if their initial posts are any indication, will provide incredible insight and humor and commentary on the life of a business student. Please join OwenBloggers in welcoming them to the blogosphere by checking out their blogs and leaving comments on their posts!

Click On Their Photos, Below To Access Their Blogs!

Just in the Middle and I Feel Fine...

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:38 GMT

SO it is a about six weeks into my internship and it's great! I think about the last time I blogged and I remember saying that it is scary to get back out there and try to be the rock stars we all secretly hope we are. The truth is that is hard but not because we are not capable but because we forget. We forget that when starting any job it is hard to know how things will be - will the company be what we expect? Will we get along with everyone as much as we thought we would? Are we going to be as good in this position as we were in the last (the one from a whole year ago)?

No one tells you what to expect from your internship because most people don't know; every internship and company is different and more importantly, every person is different. That said, let me tell you what I know to be true: be confident that you will get through it

As business school students, we believe that we are prepared to be in the professional world and that we know the right things to say and the ways of business. After all, weren't most of us out there for at least a few years before we came to school? The answer to that question is, "Yes, we did." So why is that any of us would feel a bit anxious before the first dat

Independence Day

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:15 GMT

About 7 am my sister asked me what I was planning on doing today. She was halfway across the world at work, and she had more plans to celebrate American Independence Day then I did – she was planning on...

Kyle: What I learned along the way.

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:21 GMT

Now that I am De-ccelerating or maybe its celebrating the end of Accelerator it gives me pause, because this was one of the best experiences of my life for a variety of reasons. First, it reminded me of the fond memories I have of team building at West Point and the Army. The best job I ever had was Platoon Leader because I had a chance to work with courageous men and women. It was an honor for me to be given the sons and daughters of hard working Americans to build a team that would defend this country. In the absence of being a platoon leader, the last four years have been hard because I spent time on staff or in school and was not given an opportunity coach and mentor. Accelerator gave me the opportunity to reach out and make a difference again and it has reaffirmed my desire to develop and teach life skills and leadership. Second, I know I may sound institutionalized when I say this but I actually liked living in the dorms again. I feel some much more productive when I get to have everything set up in one room and don’t have to jump in my car to drive to school. I decided to stay in the dorms for the entire time because I knew it would simplify my life and give me a chance to connect. The sense of community you get from living in the dorms with the students and taking the time out of your day to meet with them—even at 11pm was memorable difference. Never miss the opportunity to reach out and touch someone’s life regardless of time or place. Third, working with incredibly bright people made the experience for me so valuable and rewarding. I had the privilege of working with Samantha Webb on the last project for Livescribe. We had some 10 minutes between team session s and she told me she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her career and asked for some advice. I told her to write down the common thread in her life of things that she likes to do since she was a child. She found that she might be interested in consulting because she loves problem solving, loves working on multiple projects and working in the team environment. On my way out of dorms she told that our 10 minute conversation was the most meaningful conversation she had at Accelerator because it gave her direction. I share this because for me those types of comments make it all worthwhile. I had about five moments like this during the past month and they are priceless.
In closing, this program has put my life into perspective because I realize now that if you are doing what you love it won’t be work. The money and prestige of the high salary jobs will come, but at the end of the day it’s the people who make the difference. The military has taught me to be a part of something greater than myself and Accelerator is that civilian opportunity for me. I don’t know what my plans are next year, but I can tell you where I will be one month out of the year and that is helping Accelerator students achieve their goals. Ask yourself. Have you made a difference? At the end of the day, I know I have and it’s a good place to be.

Jared: And then, it was done.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:46 GMT

Sitting in the Nashville airport, I realized the day wouldn’t be complete without filing a post about the end of Accelerator.

In many ways, I have to say that my feelings are mixed. On one hand, I am really really glad that I will finally be able to get back to that whole sleeping thing. On the other, it’s hard to part ways with the great coaching relationships we’ve formed with many of the students.

For instance, I rode here with Brett, Neil and Jesse; all of who have made serious strides forward as leaders in just four short weeks. Others, like Alex, Katlin, Jordan and Brittany – just to name a few - have been able to bring out parts of themselves that have made them ready to be true rock stars among their non-Accelerator peers.

On a personal note, its also amazing how much we, as coaches, have been able to learn from the students. As Pat points out, each of us has our own particular approach to coaching and being able to work with many different styles of smart students, it puts you through the paces no matter what kind of experience you think you have had in the past.

Honestly, the more I write about the experience, the more I realize just how much has been done here. After all the banners have been taken down and the tables have been taken away, the Owen lobby will never quite feel the same.

To all of the students: Good luck on your journey to great careers and always remember there will always be a home for you at Owen.

To all of my fellow coaches: {IN VOICE OF CAROL/YODA} – “Straw dog we will have again come fall.”

The Square Root of Evil

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:27 GMT

Ok.. .so its not really evil... but it is worthy of discussion... First, let me say that the professor is quite pleasant, the work isn't exceedingly difficult, and the schedule has been very adaptable. So why write about it in a blog? Aside form my narcissistic need to see my “name in lights”, I have taken an informal poll – keep in mind I know only a few Owen 2010s right now ... I'm no Zogby - but time management has been a common topic of discussion.

In the true spirit of mathematics, I'm going to go on a tangent – get it?! - bear with me for a moment, and I'll bring this back around...

One of my personal goals for being an Owenblogger is to quantify the amount of time I spend doing things as an Owen student. One aspect of student life that I was eager to understand about MBA school was “How much of my waking day is this investment going to consume?” The answer never really factored into the decision making process, but as a matter of being prepared, it remains an important question that is still left unanswered. The problem is that I don't think anyone really knows. Though I haven't started school yet, I can easily see how personal time, projects, fun, and networking can all blend together so that the answer becomes very simply “alot of time”. Of course “alot” can mean different things to different people... 50 hours a week for work can be taxing for one person, and a vacation for another.

So to bring this back around (see – I told you that I would)... I'm going to attempt to quantify the time I spend on Math camp. My hope is that others will chime in as well... don't be shy now... we're all in this together...

I spend about 1.5 to 2 hours each morning doing math camp. This is not stats camp... I'll add that in later. I generally do this 6 days a week, trying to leave one day as a break. This pace has been good, but I have had to spend 4 hours twice now to catch up with the class “schedule”. There is MORE than enough information to spend all day reading and practicing. Since it is mostly review, I don't find it imperative to read and study all of it. I read through the e-book, watch the video with breakfast, and then work on the e-solutions odd sets. This has been a good mix for me, and I'm scoring as I should be.

My math background is that I was a good math student is school (back in the day)... took advanced and AP courses, was a math tutor, and scored better on the math portions of the GMAT and SATs than written/verbal. (for those of you following along, you know I won't be winning any spelling bees.)

I don't want to give the impression that the work is hard. I probably spend as much time chiding myself over the knowledge I “used to know” as I do reading and practicing. Since you are obviously reading this, how about chiming in, too? How much time do you spend doing doing math camp? What's your math background? Do you have a formula for success? Talk amongst yourselves!

Patrick: Its all over but the crying...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:55 GMT

We are sitting in Averbuch for the last time as a group. I am sitting here looking at a lot of tired faces. I believe everyone had a great time at the dinner last night and I have even heard talk that the party may have moved to the downtown establishments along Broadway.... I went back to my dorm, started to pack and collapsed into a wonderful slumber. That is the most sleep I have had in over 30 days.
I think that your kids made much more of an impact on me than I possibly could have made on them. All 85 were extremely talented and will be future leaders in the business world, you should all be very proud of each of them. I never thought of myself as that camp counselor guy at summer camp but now I know what he must have felt like at the end of Camp Wigglesworth when I was younger. I have this feeling of relief mixed with sadness. I met a lot of great people who I hope to remain in contact with down the road and friends that I know I will have for a lifetime. Ok enough of the sappy stuff, I have a brand I must protect and it isn't the sensitive guy ( I will leave that for Jared).
We accomplished so much over the past 30 days. I believe I speak for all the coaches when I say that we were each pushed by our teams and the product we delivered to each client was MBA quality work. I will be recruiting many of these students for the Owen School of Management here at Vandy in the very near future.
I just want to tell each member of my two teams that I loved every minute we spent together. As Kimberly Pace would say "You guys are Rock Stars". Leo, Brown, Megan ( smile), Samantha (Please don't call me Sam), Patrick, Jason (What a great question, unfortunately it is completely irrelevant), Peter M.F. Mataragas, Mandy ( Who will never meet a challenge she can't overcome), Jordan, AJ, Tyler (Shakespeare) the fishbowl was a blast!!!!
Tina, Wyatt (RTR), James (Thats why the call them business socks), Chavez, Elliott ( I am not presenting!), Brittany, Billy, Alex, Lindsey (Your voice isn't high, its spunky!), Kathryn, and Mark.... Business Time Baby...
I am now laughing my ass off to the completely inappropriate comments of Mr. Leo Selya you will have to ask him about it later.... thanks for the pst 30 days I had a blast.
Patrick

Shan Foster's NBA Draft Song

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:16 GMT

Vanderbilt's favorite SEC Player of the Year SLASH newest member of the Dallas Mavericks SLASH Singer-Songwriter Shan Foster wrote a little ditty about the NBA draft. Check out the video on YouTube and check out our man Shan next season...

How Starbucks' Growth Destroyed Brand Value - John Quelch

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:44 GMT

How Starbucks' Growth Destroyed Brand Value - John Quelch But none of these moves addressed the fundamental problem: Starbucks is a mass brand attempting to command a premium price for an experience that is no longer special. Either you have...

Świat nauki bez granic?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:02 GMT

Stwierdzając, że nauka posuwa się do przodu w szybkim tempie nikogo nie zaskoczę. Pytanie rodzie się jednak gdzie leżą granice, pomiędzy co jest dopuszczalne, etyczne niezbędne dla rozwoju nauki i ludzkości. Niedawno oglądałam serial BBC, Visions of the Future, który...

EHR - theory and practice

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:11 GMT

Medical records are trying to go digital. Operative word here is trying, as the word “try” indicates the possibility of failure. The goal in the US is to have EHR for all Americans (or rather patients in the US) by...

My “Retirement” Begins Friday

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:13 GMT

Many of you in the class of 2010 have probably already “retired” from your jobs to prepare to move, travel, or slack off all summer. Fortunately for me, my retirement begins on Friday, and my excitement level is off the charts.

I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks packing (and moving) and then going to the beach. While I’m relaxing, I keep telling myself I’ll read up on Accounting for Dummies but I know I’ll probably end up reading Blood Brother about Scott Peterson. The math camp that I paid for (and still haven’t started) is looming over my head (I’ll get to that next week, Rita, if you’re reading this). There is so much to do before August 11.

Moving on is a weird feeling. My roommates just moved out (and moved to California and New York, respectively). My house already looks bare, and I keep thinking I’m not the only one living there. I stare at the front door and think about how in just a few weeks, I won’t ever open it again. I find that even kitchen appliances are suddenly interesting. Pretty soon I’ll never use this refrigerator again. Sad! I have been set on Vanderbilt since February, so it’s not like I didn’t see this coming. I guess I never really figured any emotion into this move, but it’s definitely there.

Fast forward two years from now and I’m sure I’ll have the same emotions about Owen. I’ll never take another exam again. OK, so that won’t be sad, but I’ll surely miss the good times, the friends, the Owen community and yeah, maybe even the studying (but just for a minute). August 11 can't get here soon enough!

In Praise of Idleness

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:54 GMT

Yesterday a friend told me where to find live internet broadcast of Polish Public Radio, so ever since I’ve been listening to Trójka. This morning (well, my morning, but in Poland mid afternoon) I listened to a long discussion about...

Day 21. June 26, 2008

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:43 GMT

Day 21. June 26, 2008

The day began with breakfast and an AM Studio with Professor Clark. The content was focused on reading the customer and understanding both spoken and unspoken messages. Cues from the past 2 days in Louisville were used as examples of “understanding the client”.

Following the AM session, the Accelerator teams worked on their Gresham Smith deliverables for tomorrow – we’ll be presenting those at 8:15 AM.

Over lunch, our participants had the opportunity to hear from professionals within the accounting profession – and how the business of professional accounting consulting works. While the students were in Averbuch, our team set up the Law School auditorium for presentations to American Airlines.

Three individuals from the American Airlines team were here to do the final judging of the project: Rob Brittan, Advisor to the Chairman; Jim Butler, Director, SME Strategy for American Airlines, and Chris Koller, Manager within the SME segment.

Our teams had been challenged by this team about 10 days ago to determine how American Airlines can position itself as the leading carrier for travelers from small- to medium-sized enterprises (defined as companies with annual revenue of $1 million - $100 million). Many companies, including American, understand the potential of this segment, often abbreviated SME.

At 1:30 PM, the team competition began. Each team had 10 minutes to present their recommendations to American Airlines for consideration. After their final voting, American Airlines selected Team 7 as the overall winner. Team 1 ranked second and Team 4 ranked third.

Members of the winning team include: Adam Albright, John Del Piero, Lindsey Drake, Chris Harris, Alison Morris, Paige Parkey, Anna Rogers, Jeff Rosage, Chris Skene, Neal Watterson, and Jennifer Wu.

The best “story board” part of the competition was won by Team 4. Team 3 ranked second and Team 7 ranked third. For the research phase of the competition, Team 3 ranked first, Team 1 ranked second, and Team 7 ranked third.

Teams also voted on their MVP (most valuable player) for this round of competition. MVPs were: Yizhen Dong, Miles Maddox, Liz Palma, Tim Johnson, Nicholas Chavez, Amy Brown, Jessica Decker, Jordan Sanderson, Alison Crawford, Lindsey Drake, Austin Reid and Ann Parker Hammond.

Following the American Airlines feedback, our Accelerator teams attended a teaching studio with Professor Froeb who shared insights into risk transfer. The evening was spent on polishing up the last details of presentations to Gresham Smith & Partners. It was another very long evening. The last group left the building well after midnight. Tomorrow is our single busiest day: Business Breakfast, Client Presentation and Career Day all rolled in one. It will be incredible.

Day 20. June 25, 2008

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:19 GMT

Day 20. June 25, 2008

The day began with breakfast and an AM Studio with Professor Furse. The content was focused on the strategies to deliver solutions on behalf of American Airlines to the SME segment.

Following the AM session, the Accelerator teams worked on their American Airlines deliverables for tomorrow – we’ll be presenting those at 1:30 PM.

Over a working lunch, our participants had the opportunity to refine their elevator pitches and review the postings for the Career Day that will be held on Friday.

At 1:00 PM, the teams shifted their focus to their Gresham Smith projects. Teams are working on a “big idea” for the Nashville thermal plant site (these will be presented on Friday).

At 3:00 PM, Professor Pace held a teaching studio on word of mouth and guerilla marketing.
After dinner, we began dress rehearsals for the American Airlines presentations that will be held tomorrow.

Teams completed their 3 deliverables for the project: PowerPoint slides, Bibliography and Story Board. It was a late night. The last team turned in their final materials about midnight. The presentations look great. I know American Airlines will be impressed with this group of young men and women.

Day 19. June 24, 2008

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:28 GMT

Day 19. June 24, 2008

Another early AM wake up – when the alarm rang at 5:00 AM, I felt sure there must be some mistake. There was no mistake….

The staff and coaches met in the lobby and 6:00 AM to prep for the day. By 6:30 AM, we had begun to board the buses and load luggage. At 7:00 AM, we left the Seelbach Hilton in downtown Louisville to head to Yum! Headquarters. We arrived at the YUM! around 7:30 for a breakfast and to launch Project 8.

The overview of the firm was provided by the VP of marketing, Tom Marchese, Sr. Director of Marketing, Laurie Schalow, and Sr. Director of Advertising, Matthew McCartin, just to name a few.

YUM! has presented the challenge of creating a fully integrated marketing campaign for KFC, focusing primarily on the millennial generation. The components of this plan should address implications for KFC in marketing communications, customer service, menu components/structure, in-store/drive-thru customer experiences, and look and feel of the restaurants. The plan should also provide a budget and timeline associated with bringing your plan to fruition.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 35,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. Four of our restaurant brands - KFC, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of their categories – chicken, quick-service seafood, pizza, and Mexican-style. A&W Restaurants is the longest running quick-service franchise chain in America. In 2007, Yum! Brands generated more than $10 billion in total 2007 revenues, including company sales and franchise fees.

Accelerator teams were provided an excellent morning briefing outlining the history of KFC and the current marketing plans. This presentation was followed by a lunch consisting of new dining options KFC is working to release in 2009 from the tasting kitchen. We dined on “new items” and provided testing feedback to those at Yum! working on these new concepts.

From 1:45 - 3:00 PM, the students were given the opportunity to ask questions to each of the speakers. Following Q&A we were provided a guided tour through the Whitehouse – the original building of Colonel Sanders’ enterprise. At the end of the tour a fully interactive, lifelike, statue of Colonel Sanders greeted the students in the museum.

We boarded the buses about 4:00 PM for the drive back to Nashville. The drive provided some welcome “down time” for most of our participants and many were able to catch up on some rest.

The day ended around 7:30-8:00 PM – we’ll “hit the ground running” in the AM with full prep for two big upcoming presentations – American Airlines and Gresham Smith & Partners.

Global Obesity Boom

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:08 GMT

It came to me as a bit of a shock coming back from Poland. Even though Poland might not have the thinnest people in the world, on average we are not overly obese. When I was in NYC for three...

Day 18. June 23, 2008 - Louisville Slugger

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:25 GMT

Day 18. June 23, 2008 – Louisville Slugger Museum with Yum!

At 6:00 PM we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum for an opening dinner with YUM! This dinner was great for networking with other YUM! employees and executives, as well as tour a famous attraction of the Louisville area. Keeping the baseball theme of the museum alive, a hotdog and nacho dinner was served.

Around 8:30 PM everyone made their way back to the hotel for an early night off. Having the evening off, the students were available to see a little bit of the downtown Louisville area. The weather was so nice some students went for evening walks, while others went to a local bowling alley. These little breaks are great opportunities for the students to share more personal connections and create lasting friendships.

Day 18. June 23, 2008 - Humana

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:54 GMT

Day 18. June 23, 2008 - Humana

Day 18 began for most of the staff at 4:30 AM. Long before the first Accelerator participant’s alarm went off, we were busy getting breakfast ready, supplies loaded, buses parked, and all the details organized for our two day trip to Louisville. Wake up calls began at 5:30 AM for the teams. At 6:15 AM, we began the process of loading the buses for Louisville. Lots of sleepy eyes….

As you can imagine many took advantage of this four-hour road trip to catch up on lost sleep. While some slept, others watched movies, chatted, and some groups took advantage of this time to work on their upcoming projects.

After our arrival we made our way to the Frazier International History Museum for the Humana launch. Humana, a healthcare provider, provided us with a lunch and an informative presentation on their company and the goals they plan to reach after the project. Their wish is to increase insurance sales of the Hispanic market in the south Texas area. With many students having a Spanish majors and minors, this project is creating a great deal of excitement.

Finishing up the Humana open around 4:30, we all headed to the hotel to get settled in for a bit.

Day 18. June 23, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:19 GMT

Day 18. June 23, 2008

The morning arrives much too soon. The teams are up and dressed with luggage at the curb by 6:15. With a lot of coordination, we load 2 charter buses with all the supplies, students and luggage and head to Louisville. With the time change, we should arrive there by 11:30 AM Eastern Time (with about 20 minutes to spare before we launch Project 7 with Humana).

Within minutes of getting on the highway, the hum of the bus and the days of limited sleep take their toll...

Parent Letter from Accelerator 2007 Participant

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:54 GMT

Parent Letter from Accelerator 2007 Participant. 06.23.08

Today I recieved this letter from the parent of one of our Accelerator participants from last summer. He had been following this year's blog and shared the following. With Mr. Puchon's permission, I have posted his comments below. For folks who wonder why we as the staff and faculty of Accelerator keep the hours we do, this letter pretty well sums it up...

Dr. Burcham:

I was so pleased with what the 2007 Accelerator Program did for my son last year. I kept your web site bookmarked and now check in often to observe what all the fine young men and women are doing this 2008 program year. I can see it is every bit as intense as last year. It has brought back great memories of following my son's time from last year. What a wonderful experience and great way to learn real life business practices. I have told a countless number people about this program.

My son was debating with himself on two options for summer studies last year. I am glad, as is he, that he chose the Vanderbilt program. He never imagined going in what an experience it would turn out to be. He was a changed person by the conclusion, you could see the confidence in himself and a proud sense of achievement at the closing dinner.

Remind the participants to enjoy this wonderful and rewarding time, as it will pass quickly. As you know, the time and effort they are asked to put forth now will be invaluable to them for their future. Keep up the great work with these fine young minds. I wish you and the Accelerator staff many more years of future success.

Sincerely,
Charles J Puchon Sr. Proud Parent of Michael Puchon 2007 Accelerator Participant

Day 17. June 22, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:52 GMT

Day 17. June 22, 2008

Sunday began at 11 AM with sign-ups for our Career Day (set for Friday, June 27th). There are dozens of firms planning to interview Accelerator participants for both full-time and part-time jobs.

Thus far we have more than sixty-five positions available and counting. This will be a great opportunity, not only for career and internship possibilities, but just as important, valuable interviewing skills.

A spaghetti lunch was served at noon, and without delay the teams set off to their rooms to begin working on the William Morris project from 12:30 – 2:00 PM. Carol and Sarah (shown in the photo) reviewed and completed menus for the next week. We’ve already served over 4,950 individual meals!

At 2:00 PM, the Accelerator teams meet with Thom Meek, an architect known for such works at the Delta at Opryland, the Wildhorse Saloon, and the renovation of Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
Thom answered many questions and gave the teams insight for their Gresham-Smith project.

At 6:00 PM, the teams finished up working on the Gresham-Smith project and enjoyed a typical Sunday dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, classic macaroni and cheese. While they ate Kyle Clay and I briefed the teams on our trip to Louisville, KY. Tomorrow AM we depart to visit the world headquarters of 2 of our partner firms: Humana and Yum! Brands.

We also announced the update for Week 2 of our “Leader Board” – these are the 10 Accelerator participants who have earned the most “points” by winning competitive rounds, being voted MVP by their team mates, etc. They are: Tyler Weaks, Peter Mataragas, A.J. Axelrod, Sarah Leggett, Megan Gilbert, Amy Brown, Jason Levine, Ami Gosalia, Jordan Headlee and Brittany Gowers.

With one more team session left, the groups headed out to work on their William Morris projects before ending the night by singing Happy Birthday to Linda Huber – one of our Accelerator participants. By 9:30 PM, our teams headed out to get some rest before tomorrow’s 5:30 wake-up call.

Day 16. June 21, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:44 GMT

Day 16. June 21, 2008

It’s Saturday – our first casual day in a while - with everyone well rested from the previous night’s early closure along with the relaxed dress code, Day 16 started off with chipper attitudes and smiling faces. The students had the opportunity to sleep in, or exercise this morning and were not required to arrive until 8:00 AM.

After breakfast, Professor Cherrie Clark shared feedback from the Bridgestone and Caterpillar Financial executives with the Accelerator teams. Using the new Livescribe pen, she had done complete audio recordings of the company’s discussions as they ranked the teams. She also shared video of the company’s feedback.

Following this session, the teams met to complete their data analysis of the Nashville real estate market and outline their top 3 recommendations for the Gresham Smith executives. This project provides a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn about real estate development and the process to create new buildings and city infrastructure.

Abby Smith, one of our Owen MBA students, is helping the Accelerator program this summer by providing assistance with research and proofing the team’s bibliographies. For the past 2 rounds of competition, the teams with the best bibliography / research presented are as follows: For Bridgestone: 1st Place is Team 2, 2nd Pace is Team 1, and 3rd Place is Team 8
For Caterpillar: 1st Place is Team 1, 2nd Place is Team 7, 3rd Place is Team 6

Each team also creates a visual – a 4’ x 4’ storyboard that describes the process the team used to address the issue and determine their recommendation. For the past 2 rounds of competition, the teams with the best storyboards are as follows: For Bridgestone: 1st Place is Team 8, 2nd Place is Team 6, 3rd Place is Team 1. For Caterpillar: 1st Place is Team 2, 2nd Place is Team 6, 3rd Place is Team 8.

Following lunch, we then had a pretty amazing surprise – Accelerator teams were treated to a working studio with the founder of Arista Records - Tim Dubois. He worked with many artists such as Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson, and Diamond Rio. As an “industry insider”, Tim’s information aided the students with their William Morris Agency project immeasurably. Tim spoke for about 90 minutes – then the teams had an opportunity to meet to apply some of the tools he shared. While the teams were meeting, Tim visited with each team – spending about 20 minutes with each to coverer Q&A. The Accelerator teams then met again with Tim as a group for a final round of Q&A.

Sometimes, even coaches have a hard time staying awake – right Scott?

At 5:00 PM, the teams then changed the pace to work on the American Airlines project. Today was a really good day for the teams because they were able to tie up loose ends on several projects, finish research, and any other logistical needs. We ended the day around 8:30 for an off-campus dinner – an opportunity for many of these students to enjoy visiting a Nashville restaurant on a Saturday night. Teams will get to sleep in a bit in the AM – and will arrive about 11:00 AM.

Day 15. June 20, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:45 GMT

Day 15. June 20, 2008

It’s Friday – and time for another Business Networking Breakfast. Accelerator teams arrived at 6:45 AM and our 35 business guest began arriving promptly at 7:00 AM. These networking sessions have been a huge success, with companies such as: The Country Music Hall of Fame, Paradigm Health, Manheim, and Universal Robotics – and the Accelerator students have gained valuable networking skills through this experience.

Finishing off breakfast, the teams rushed over to the Caterpillar Financial Corporate office on West End Avenue to present their ideas for making this company one hundred percent landfill free by the year 2020. As unimaginable as this goal may seem, the executives were blown away with the innovative and creative ideas the teams had to offer in making this dream become a reality. When the presentations were finished, and the deliberation was complete, Caterpillar chose Team 2 as the winning team – Caterpillar felt this team best captured the spirit of Caterpillar. Team 4 came in second.

Members of Team 2 include: Alex Alfonso, Emily Butler, CoCo Chalfant, Brittany Gowers, Miles Maddox, Ashley Morgan, Liz Palma, Brett Rudis, Michael Skoumal, Isaiah Toback, and Kaitlin Wooddell. The team coach is Jared Degnan.

Teams also voted and recognized their MVPs. These included: Team 1: Porsche Brooks, Team 2: CoCo Chalfant, Team 3: Nicholas Chavez, Team 4: Megan Gilbert & Tyler Weaks, Team 5: Ami Gosalia, Team 6: Emily Schaefer, Team 7: Neal Watterson & Alison Morris, and Team 8: Kelly Thompson.

After receiving their presentation feedback from Kimberly Pace, the students walked back to Owen and were greeted with a crew of photographers from Gomez Photography to take headshots. Meanwhile everyone enjoyed a working lunch with a group from the Deloitte Team. Deloitte provided a 2 hour studio on a consulting career.

Following the Deloitte studio, the Accelerator teams worked on their American Airlines projects. At 3:00 PM, Professor Willis completed his accounting series for the group. His quick and witty comments make the accounting studio entertaining and informative.

The night was concluded with dinner and two team sessions for work to be done on the Gresham project. With the past two days being jammed packed with events, tonight we closed the day at 8:00 PM to ensure everyone has enough rest for the upcoming week.

Day 14. June 19, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:40 GMT

Day 14. June 19, 2008

Day 14 was one of our busiest days yet. We began with a 7:00 breakfast with flexible arrival times in order to provide students with a little extra time to exercise. Our day then promptly started at 8:00 to run through their Bridgestone presentations one last time before the big event.
As 9:00 came, the nervous tension dissipated and the students headed to the Vanderbilt Law School Conference room to greet the team from Bridgestone. 8 representatives of the Bridgestone marketing and environmental teams were on hand to evaluate the work of our Accelerator teams. Each team had 10 minutes to make their “pitch” to Bridgestone. After much deliberation and a close race between Team 4 and Team 5 – Bridgestone declared Team 5 the winner. James Fuqua Ami Gosalia, Aubrey Hammond, and Michael Shatto presented Team 5’s highly polished marketing campaign with ease, immensely impressing the Bridgestone team. Other members of the team include: Andrew Brady, David Dar, Jessica Decker, Sarah Leggett, Sarah Russell and Jeffrey Taylor. The team coach is Ryan Igleheart.

The teams ended the session by voting for their MVPs: Team 1: Marc Levit, Team 2: Brittany Gowers, Team 3: Zach Barrett, Team 4: Tyler Weaks, Team 5: Sarah Leggett, Team 6: Tori Richard & Elliot Steinbaum, Team 7: Chris Harris, and Team 8: Ivan Au. Congratulations to each of these individuals for being recognized by their teams.

With the presentations coming to an end around 11:30, everyone grabbed a quick box lunch before heading to the Gresham Smith & Partners launch. The students were delighted for another off-campus launch, this element adds to the excitement of the program. As our buses arrived in downtown Nashville, we were guided to the Civic Design Center to meet the Gresham team: James Bearden (President), Patrick Gilbert (Senior Associate Architect leading our project) and John Houghton (Senior Planner leading our project). They were joined by David Koellein, Development Associate from Giarratana Development.

Our Mission: Gresham, Smith and Partners (GS&P) has been retained to prepare a master redevelopment plan for a property located at the site of the old Thermal Plant. The 12-acre site was originally slated to be the new baseball stadium site, but that plan was unable to get funding. Given it’s proximity to the new pedestrian bridge and the downtown area, the site has significant potential and has prompted area developers to re-evaluate the site.

Accelerator teams are to assist GS&P with the decision, evaluate the market characteristics of the property and recommend a course of action for highest and best use of the property. Teams will have 20 working hours to complete the task.

At the end of the briefing, everyone walked to the pedestrian bridge, which overviews the plot of land the students have been asked to develop.

Then arriving back at Owen, our Accelerator teams were directed back to the law school for an briefing by Tony Giarrantana, one of Nashville’s leading developers. Tony shared his view on real estate in today’s market and potential uses of the 12-acre site.

For dinner, our teams devoured a delicious Jerusalem chicken dish and then began dress rehearsals for the Caterpillar presentations that will be tomorrow morning. Each team practiced their pitch in front of a panel of faculty (Kimberly Pace, Cherrie Clark, John English, Carol Barry and David Furse) for last minute critique and review.

As the night came to an end, the students, coaches, and staff headed to their respective rooms for some much-needed rest. We closed the day around 10:00 PM – tomorrow is another big day…

Day 13. June 18, 2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:21 GMT

Day 13. June 18, 2008

As day 13 arrived, the lobby of the Owen graduate school of Management was filled with the muttered sounds of urgency and excitement from the students. We started the morning off early with a 7:00am rehearsal breakfast in order to prepare for tomorrow’s Bridgestone presentations. This will be the second presentation for the Accelerator teams, and as you can imagine, tension is high.

Immediately following breakfast the students were guided through a targeted marketing studio led by Professor Steve Hoeffler. Professor Hoeffler does an excellent job of conveying “real world” marketing examples to which the students can more easily relate -- allowing them to not only gain but retain applicable knowledge for their future careers.

After the session, Accelerator teams then met to work on their William Morris initiative. The focus of today was industry and market research. Teams evaluated date related to the artist – manager – agent relationship in order to better understand the music industry. Managing two groups and focusing on four projects has really kicked everyone into high gear, and forced students to learn time-management skills that will continue to resonate with them throughout the program.

With a short break for lunch and an uplifting assembly on personal branding from Professor Kimberly Pace, spirits were high when the students began their 2:30 final team meeting for Caterpillar. This was a true test of “multi-tasking” -- to see whether or not the students could finish this project while still considering preparation for tonight’s Bridgestone dress rehearsals.

Customer loyalty cuts both ways

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:50 GMT

Like many people out there, I have a credit card or two. And while I use my bank's check card for most transactions, there are times that, for whatever reason, I pull out a credit card, whether it be for...

Rodzina dysfunkcjonalna

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:09 GMT

Pytanie, kto się zajmuje dzieckiem bardziej bazuje na stereotypie, że rodzina składa się z ojca, matki i potomstwa. Nie wiem, nie miałam takiej przyjemności. Moja rodzina składała się z ojca, którego najpierw prawie nie było, potem w ogóle nie było,...

Day 12. June 17, 2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:47 GMT

Day 12. June 17, 2008

Breakfast began at 7:00 AM and an opening Studio session on Project Management led by Professor Clark. At 9:30 AM, our Accelerator teams went back to work on their Bridgestone projects – we’re now less than 48 hours away from presentation time.

At 11:30 AM, we transitioned through a working lunch (basically “Grab it and Go) and went back to work on the American Airlines projects. Teams are evaluating the SME (Small & Medium Employer) space to determine the right marketing approach for American to use for this market segment.

At 1:30 Professor Hoeffler ran a teaching Studio on Marketing – the 2nd in a 4-Part series he will provide for our Accelerator teams over this 4 week period.

At 3:00 PM, Professor Michael Lapre orchestrated his now famous “Beer Game” an operations / process flow simulation with the remaining 50% the participants throughout the afternoon. During that same time, Professor Pace instructed another 25% of the group on resume development with the remaining 25% worked in an intimate setting with Professor English on interviewing skills.

At 6:00 PM, dinner was served in the lobby – providing a forum for the Accelerator teams to talk about their experiences today with their projects. This PM, our teams held their final project session for Bridgestone. Dress rehearsals are tomorrow and Bridgestone arrives Thursday to see the work of the teams and evaluate the recommendations each group. This evening as the Bridgestone project final PowerPoint and Story Boards were turned in for each group, I was reminded of how far they’ve come --- and how fast they have advanced.

We signed off and ended the day at 10:30 PM.

Day 11. June 16, 2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:25 GMT

Day 11. June 16, 2008

Breakfast began at 7:00 AM with a Coach’s Breakfast to “meet and greet” the 2nd round of Teams. Our 85 participants have been reorganized into 8 new teams for the second half of the program. These new teams will be doing the projects for William Morris Agency, Gresham Smith & Partners, Humana and Yum Brands.

Team 1: Zach Barrett, John Del Piero, Sarah Leggett, Sarah Lunenburg, Miriam Martz, Peter Mataragas, Mandy May, Kelly McCaffrey, Emily Schaefer, Michael Shatto, and Michael Skoumal. The coach is Chase Pattison.

Team 2: Lindsey Bodenstab, Amy Brown, Yizhen Dong, Ann Parker Hammock, Jordan Headless, Jesse Hecht, Lauren Law, Tori Richard, Chris Skene, and Jennifer Wu. The coach is Jared Degnan.

Team 3: Ivan Au, A.J. Axelrod, Eric Bromberg, Porsche Brooks, Emily Butler, Ami Gosalia, Austin Reid, Isaiah Toback, Ben Washburn, and Tyler Weaks. The coach is Kyle Clay.

Team 4: Alex Alfonso, Nicholas Chavez, Lindsey Drake, James Fuqua, Brittany Gowers, Marc Rigsby, Billy Ripley, Wyatt Smith, Elliot Steinbaum, Kathryn Trappey, and Tina Wu. The coach is Patrick Long.

Team 5: Meredith Casey, Patrick Dienes, Andrew Esakov, Tiffany Fisher, Chris Harris, Linda Huber, Tim Johnson, Ashley Morgan, Jordan Sanderson, Kelly Thompson, and Kaitlin Wooddell. The coach is Ryan Igleheart.

Team 6: Adam Albright, Andrew Brady, Kerri Glennon, Eric Jones, Marc Levit, Anna Rogers, Jeff Rosage, Sarah Russell, Brittany Thompson, Neal Watterson, and Samantha Webb. The coach is Ryan McGrath.

Team 7: Catie Burleson, CoCo Chalfant, Alison Crawford, David Dar, Megan Gilbert, Aubrey Hammond, Rob Hunziker, Alison Morris, Brett Rudis, Leo Selya, and Katie Titus. The coach is Sara Gable.

Team 8: Jessica Decker, Kenneth Jackson, Jessica Kwon, Jason Levine, Miles Maddox, Liz Palma, Paige Parkey, Jeffrey Taylor, Matt Walsh, and Tyler Whitmore. The coach is Scott Williams.

Following breakfast, Professor Furse ran a studio session on Strategy – prepping the teams for the new project they will begin today with William Morris. At 9:30, our teams boarded the buses and half the team went to the Country Music Hall of Fame to begin a project with singer / songwriter Eric Church. The other half departed for Ocean Way Studio to meet singer / songwriter Danielle Peck. As they boarded the buses, all our participants were given WMA hats and a CD of the artist for whom they will be working. The rush of energy was just amazing.

Teams spent the entire morning getting to know the artists, their managers, the record labels, and the William Morris Agency team. The teams assigned their member roles over a working lunch and then were able to see the artist in a live performance before returning to the Owen Graduate School of Management at 2:30 PM.

At 3:00 PM, Professor Michael Lapre orchestrated his now famous “Beer Game” an operations / process flow simulation with 50% the participants throughout the afternoon. During that same time, Professor Pace instructed another 25% of the group on resume development with the remaining 25% worked in an intimate setting with Professor English on interviewing skills. Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll flip the schedule so that all participants are able to participate in all 3 of these important attributes of the Accelerator program.

At 6:00 PM, dinner was served in the lobby – providing a forum for the Accelerator teams to talk about their experiences today with the record labels, William Morris Agency, the artists, and the afternoon studios. This PM, our teams worked on their projects for Bridgestone. The pressure is beginning to mount – Bridgestone arrives Thursday to see their work of the teams and evaluate the recommendations each group. The evening was a flurry of research, storyboards, PowerPoints, presentation writing, sodas, water, chips, and more work. We signed off and ended the day at 11:00 PM. I’m tired just writing this blog.

Day 10. Talent Night

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:56 GMT

Accelerator’s First-Ever Talent Night:

On Saturday evening we kicked off the talent night with our own version of Ryan Seacrest – Jared Degnan and the coordinator of the evening – Chase Pattison welcoming the group to Accelerator Talent Night. The evening’s talent began with two country cuties: Coco Chalfant sang “Gotta Be Something More” by Sugarland, and Kerri Glennon dazzled with Carrie Underwood’s, “Before He Cheats.”

Jason Levine played a medley on the viola which included DMB’s “Ants Marching” and the Godfather theme.

Two of Vanderbilt’s Dodecs, Isaiah Toback and Zach Barrett, joined Accelerator staff member Kristin Keiper, to revamp Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin.”

Brittany Thompson looked ready for the red carpet as she sang Whitney Houston’s “On My Own”
and Chris Skene wooed the ladies with his guitar n’ vocals rendition of The Verve Pipe’s “Freshman.”

The crowd clapped their hands and tapped their toes to Ann Parker Hammock’s fiddling. Jeff Taylor entertained the crowd with witty comments in between movements of his clarinet piece—and wound up in second place! (Props to roadie extraordinare Sara Gable who held Jeff’s music with a steady hand.)

Chase Pattison accompanied Alabama boys Wyatt Smith & Pat Long for “Sweet Home Alabama.” Then Chase took the spotlight and shared one of his own songs. Kenneth Jackson took third place for his comedy routine. Coach Ryan Igleheart’s entire team looked dapper in bow ties and black gowns for their rendition of The Five Satin’s “In the Still of the Night.” Kathryn Trappey wowed the crowd with her version of Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

Austin Reid sang the Sesame Street favorite, “Rubber Duckey.” And Tori Richard proved you don’t have to play an instrument to be in a talent show- her limbo was amazing! (How low can you go?)

Kristin took stage again with MBA student (and Talent Night techie) Dan Eckman, and encouraged the crowd to sing the harmonies on “Leave the Pieces” by The Wreckers. Finally, Christon Harris took down the house with a cover by Whitney Houston.

The overall winner was James Fuqua on guitar and vocals with a tune by Flight of the Concords.

We knew we had a very bright group of young men and women here at Accelerator. We underestimated the amazing musical and entertainment talent within the group. It was an incredibly fun evening and a great way for everyone to become better acquainted. Thanks to Chase for all the hard work in coordinating the evening’s event.

Sara: Heading to the Home of the Derby!

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:07 GMT

After back to back presentations this week the teams (and the coaches) seemed pretty tired. Even with two finished off, the students are currently balancing three projects: American Airlines, Gresham, and William Morris Agency. Tomorrow we board a motor coach to launch two more in Louisville! (Yes, that's five big projects to remember!)

We are all really excited to pack our bags and take over a new town. there was a stressful moment when I rezalized I almost forgot about what to do with my dog. Thankfully I was able to speed him to the kennel during one of the class times for the students. With all things checked off the to do list, we are making plans to rise at 5:15 to hit the road for Kentucky.

Jared - A Week In The Life: Accelerator Coaches

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:55 GMT

Monday: William Morris project launch
Tuesday: Up late coaching deliverables for Bridgestone
Wednesday: Up late coaching deliverables for Caterpillar Financial; up even later w/dress rehearsals
Thursday: Bridgestone presentations; Gresham Smith project launch; up late w/dress rehearsals
Friday: Marathon networking session; Caterpillar Financial presentations
Saturday: Still working...well, at least most of us are....

This message is brought to you by the dedicated coaches of Vanderbilt's Accelerator Summer Business Institute.

Day 10. June 15, 2008

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:51 GMT

Day 10. June 15, 2008

We began the day with feedback from our Participants on what’s going well with Accelerator, and where are the opportunities for improvement. In order to lead by example, it’s important to set a proper example in knowing how to accept and appreciate candid feedback (an important hallmark of our program).

Things That Are Going Well: Professor availability, Networking, Coach availability (my coach), Variation in projects, Speakers, Classes, Sweet prizes, Professionalism of staff, Team experience, Focus on each individual, Well-run curriculum, Prepared & organized, Support for everyone is evident, Feedback process, Learning from mistakes, Team continuity, Surprises – schedule, Classes assume everyone equal, Rotating team roles, Food, Fun thrown in, Coaching guiding us – not trying to do our project for us, Staff is “First in and Last out” – that impresses me, You all “Lead by Example”.

Areas for Improvement: More “free time,” Exercise time, teach me more time management skills, the rooms are too cold.

At 1:00 PM, Professor Franklin ran a studio on Innovation – focusing the teams on our deliverables for Caterpillar Financial. After his session, the teams began working on their Caterpillar projects at 2:30 PM – moving through the FOCUS model for data analysis and client recommendations.

At 4:30 PM, Professor Kevin Clark ran a studio on Personal Finance – managing money, building personal budgets and investment concepts.

At 6:00 PM, our teams took their dinner into the Averbuch Auditorium to meet with the leadership team of the Nashville office of the William Morris Agency for our project: Paul Moore, Sue Ann Cordell, Kristy Reeves, Jonathan Insogna, and Nathan Towne. The WMA team provided us a great overview of the William Morris Agency and how the firm interacts with the various record labels and artists. Tomorrow, our teams will meet the two artists and launch their projects.

We signed off and ended the day at 9:00 PM.

Day 9. June 14, 2008

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:53 GMT

Day 9. June 14, 2008

It’s Saturday. While the rest of the world was sleeping in, we began the day with a studio on Innovation with Professor Franklin. Our teams worked on creating innovative ideas for Bridgestone and Caterpillar Financial projects. Following a quick break, Professor Johnsen led a studio on New Media Marketing – the role of the internet, blogs and social networks in business marketing.

Then it was time for a fun surprise. Our charter buses arrived about 10:30 and, while the studio was finishing up, our staff stocked the buses with water and materials for our annual “Urban Adventure.” We loaded the buses and headed out to LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.
There were lots of “where are we going” kinds of expressions as we arrived at the stadium.

We unloaded the buses and gave a quick debrief to the teams – each team member received a list of clues (written as mind benders) to interesting landmarks in downtown Nashville, a bottle of water, and $10. The objective: each team is to determine the answer to the clue, find that landmark and make a team photo at the landmark. Each landmark is worth varying points (the more complex riddles are worth more than the simple ones). Teams have till 3:00 PM to return to Vanderbilt with their photos for check in. The team that is able to obtain the most points by solving the riddles and getting the corresponding photos wins the competition. The tradition of Urban Adventure is “rain.” This year was no exception. We arrived at LP Field to light rain – but the day cleared within an hour and the teams successfully completed the competition.

The Adventure Race is an opportunity for participants to accept a challenge a bit out of the ordinary and participate in a team process. It’s always an interesting view of the human dynamic to see how young men and women embrace this challenge.

By 3:00 PM, all the teams had “checked in” to the dorms to shower and freshen up. For dinner, we grilled steaks and chicken on the Owen patio and then had our first annual “Talent Night” – a mixture of amazing music, comedy, dance, “limbo” and song. I can’t possibly do Talent Night justice without a posting all its own…. So I’ll do that later.

To end the day, we reviewed the results of the Urban Adventure. After the scores were tabulated, Team 2 was declared the winners of the Urban Adventure. Members of the winning team are: Lindsey Bodenstab, Andrew Esakov, James Fuqua, Rob Hunziker, Sarah Leggett, Ashley Morgan, Marc Rigsby, Anna Rogers, Michael Shatto and Tina Wu. Coach for the team was Jared Degnan. The winning team will join me for a fantastic dinner at Flemings Steakhouse later in the program.

Tomorrow is Sunday. We give the teams a bit of a rest…. We’ll begin our day at 11:30 AM…

Warsaw, 4 am

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:39 GMT

Nothing is impossible

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:30 GMT

Dream a little, live a little, even if it kills you in the end.

Day 8. June 13, 2008

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:46 GMT

Day 8. June 13, 2008

We begin week 2 with a 7:00 AM where Accelerator teams get a briefing from their coaches about today’s launch of Project 4: Bridgestone. Teams select their team leader for this round of projects. Kerri Glennon will lead Team 1, Brittany Gowers will lead Team 2, Lindsey Bodenstab will lead Team 3, Samantha Webb will lead Team 4, Aubrey Hammond will lead Team 5, Tori Richard will lead Team 6, Chris Harris will lead Team 7, and Eric Jones will lead Team 8.

Professor Cherrie Clark then ran a 1-hour studio beginning at 8:00 AM on various tools consultants use to assist clients in understand data and making recommendations. The Bridgestone team arrived about 8:30 AM to set up the launch of their Project.

At 9:00 AM, the Accelerator teams moved to the Vanderbilt Law School auditorium to meet the Bridgestone / Firestone executive team and to learn about Bridgestone’s challenge to Accelerator. The firm has invested significantly in environmentally friendly initiatives and processes – yet consumer knowledge of their work in this area is very limited. The team has asked the Accelerator teams to evaluate their target demographic market in the following way:
As "going green" becomes more and more prevalent and mainstream, questions emerge for Bridgestone based on the firm’s unique position and past environmental accomplishments. The company has made significant investments in an effort to establish an identity as an environmentally friendly firm, but these efforts have not resonated with the consumer to the degree that the company had hoped. Bridgestone has asked the Accelerator teams to complete an analysis and determination of Bridgestone Firestone’s position within this strategic landscape. Who is the target “green” audience (general public, first-time buyers, "true blue" green consumers)? What green aspects of the Bridgestone business would resonate with the target audience? Each team will be expected to develop specific recommendations for furthering employee and customer awareness of environmental aspects of the company that will positively impact its reputation and respect. What existing and/or new programs will be most effective going forward and how should the company implement or grow the right efforts that have real impact?

The Bridgestone team stayed for lunch with the Accelerator participants and then visited each of the teams in their “war rooms” for Q&A.
At 3:30 PM, we switched gears and teams focused for the rest of the afternoon on their deliverables for American Airlines – a product for the SME market.

Dinner arrived at 6:00 PM. Following dinner, the Accelerator teams spent the rest of the evening working on their initiatives for Caterpillar Financial. We cleared the building about 10 PM. Our teams clocked 14 hours today in their quest for total Acceleration….

Bo my...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:00 GMT

…mamy aspiracje. Wielkie. Czasem słuszne, czasem zupełnie bezpodstawne. Ale nie jest to nienormalne, bo każdy naród tak ma. Tyle, że my mamy tak dużą dozę polityki wmieszaną w te aspiracje, że czasami zastanawiam się, o co tak naprawdę tutaj chodzi....

Change of Plans... Germany and Africa

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:03 GMT

Congratulations to the outgoing class of 2008! I am glad to see that OwenBloggers will continue to operate. Thanks to the original founders for your hard work over the last two years. I thought it was about time that I...

Day 7. June 12, 2008

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:41 GMT

Day 7. June 12, 2008

At 7:00 AM our Accelerator teams joined executives from 42 businesses for a Business Breakfast Social. Participating companies included Aegis Health Group, Blakeford, ConduIT Corp, Dollar General, Gallery One, HealthStream, HCA, Jefferies, Magazines.com, Marsh USA, S3 Consulting, Target, Tiffany & Co, UBS, Worth Properties, Sprout, Regions Bank, TotalPrint, Schneider Electric and many others.

At 8:00 AM, we proceeded to the Averbuch auditorium for an economics session with Professor Luke Froeb. This session was followed by a studio on reading and understanding financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statements, Cash Flow Statements) by Professor Germain Boer.

After lunch, the Accelerator teams spent the afternoon working on their consulting projects for Caterpillar Financial. These presentations will be presented to the Caterpillar team next Friday AM.

At 3:00 PM, Jim Bradford, Dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management spoke to the group on leadership. He shared his experiences on Boards of Directors and the challenges of being a CEO in a public firm.

We ended the day with an intensive working session for American Airlines that included a working dinner. Teams are gathering data on the travel needs of small businesses (known as the SME market). They will use this data to create a package of American Airlines services for this specific market.

Today ends our first full week of Accelerator - the teams clocked 13.5 work hours today, bringing our first week to 73.5 total work hours. Tomorrow we will begin Week 2 and the true Acceleration begins…

Let's Go Redwings!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:25 GMT

There's nothing like arriving in a town the week that one of their favorite sports teams wins the year's championship game. I found myself in this particular situation in a sports bar outside of Detroit last week when the Red Wings (a hockey team, I quickly discovered) won the Stanley Cup. Now, I'm not the biggest sports fan, but there's something about the energy in a stadium that I could definitely get used to. Three days later I watched the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians with an eighth inning grand slam by shortstop, Edgar Renteria. My new friend, Brittany, an engineer in bumper design, invited me along with some of her former high school classmates, which brings me back to the reason I'm in Michigan at all, and what this may have to do with a Social Impact blog.

Brittany and I met during orientation at Nissan last Monday when I started my summer MBA internship as the project manager for the "Green Team," an initiative that is part of Nissan's current Green Program (NGP 2010). I have been here for exactly 10 days now and my experience at Nissan has been fantastic. Highlights include touring the testing and the design centers and driving the brand new Altima Hybrid, conveniently equipped with an iKey, birds eye GPS, and one of those rear-view video cameras that keep you from backing into small children.

When I'm not exploring the facility and driving cool cars, I have been doing the groundwork on the project. The team I am working with is huge and I'm learning a ton about logistics, the importance of planning ahead, team member buy-in and the like. In the next two weeks I will be putting together research reports and cost benefit analysis of things like expanding the recycling program and reducing CO2 emissions. As I get deeper into this project, I'm going to try and share some articles and advancements I find in environmental sustainability so stay tuned and wish me luck!

Kyle: Extracurricular Activities

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:12 GMT

Wow! We are a third of the way through this program. Time flies when you are having fun! Getting up at 5am to workout followed by developing the best and brightest 14-16 hours a day reminds of my time at West Point. Then it's off to bed by 11pm...better make that 3am depending on the coaches duties as chaperone. I think just about every student decided to make the cab ride down to Nashville's iconic Printer's Alley karaoke bar, Lonnies. The students used their free time to blow off some steam, sing karaoke, and get to know their classmates. A well-deserved rest after Griffin Technology, Caterpillar, Bridgestone, and American Airlines launches. This program is intense and competitive, but the students have bonded incredibly well.

I am so proud of my team. My team’s name is Velocity and we have adopted Nancy Lee Hyer's checkmark as our symbol of approval. You will probably see many pictures posted on Facebook with the checkmark..you have been warned. Ha. Well it’s off to finish Caterpillar. My team is a well-oiled machine. The goal is to be complete the project one session early. I hope my team is up for the challenge.

Patrick: William Morris Launch

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:58 GMT

Sunday night and we just finished off pizza from Mellow Mushroom We are moving straight into our fifth project launch. Today is the William Morris agency headquartered here in Nashville. William Morris manages entertainers in all genres. We will be focusing on two acts but we are keeping their identities confidential until tomorrow night. The participants are moving into one of the most stressful periods in their time here. They currently have four different projects they are juggling and one of those is with a completely different project team. This is real world experience at real world speed.
We had our talent show last night. Great great night. Chase Pattisson did a wonderful job preparing and executing that entire program. We found out we have quite a few guitar pickers and the top spot went to Mr. James Fuqua with his rendition of the cockroach symphony. James was quite the crowd pleaser. My favorite line was "i was in only my socks, thats why they call them business socks" business equals..... well you know night time activities. I personally laughed my butt off! Well back to the presentation. I will let you know what entertainer we will be assisting tomorrow...
Patrick

Jared: They just keep on going, and going, and going...

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:11 GMT

In business, its said that you should be open 15 minutes before your first customer walks in the door and 15 minutes after your posted close time. Like most things in business however, Accelerator takes that commonly accepted standard and modifies it exponentially.

The reason I mention this is because the Accelerator participants are working overtime these days and that makes for gladly-taken late nights. With three projects in motion and one more on the way, its not unusual to see Accelerator coaches and staff in as early as 5:00 AM and staying as late as 2:00 AM. In total, most of us are putting in, on average, 15 hours a day ensuring that participants have access to our resources.

In talking to other Owen MBAs across the country, they wonder how we do it. I tell them its simple; 1) we drink lots and lots of coffee 2) the time we appear to be putting into this program is only a drop in the bucket compared to what the participants seem to be getting out of it.

Plus, when measured by what the coaches are now starting to refer as "Burcham Time," its all relative.

Day 6. June 11, 2008

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:05 GMT

Day 6, June 11, 2008

Day 6 is here – and another 7:00 AM working breakfast. Our students have been in suits for the past three days. Our first studio of the day was Professor David Franklin – who led the teams in understanding the “consultative selling” process.

Following a short break, Professor Andy Van Schaack spoke to our group. He shared his experience in using research to design products and services. At 11:00 AM, I the teams met to continue working on their Caterpillar strategy.

Dr. Rob Britton and Mr. Chris Koller of American Airlines joined us for lunch prior to kicking off their Accelerator project this afternoon.

At 1:00 PM, we made our way to the Vanderbilt Law School auditorium to launch the American Airlines project. Rob and Chris provided a strategic update on the airline industry and challenged our Accelerator teams to help the company create a package of services to assist American Airlines in gaining additional market share of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). Our teams will have approximately 25 hours to evaluate the SME market, select 4-5 industries within the space to pilot and create a plan to attract and retain the SME customer.

At 4:30 PM, Dr. Steve Hoeffler addressed the group and hosted our first session on Marketing. Steve shared a number of tools oriented to help our Accelerator teams with marketing concepts. He also provided a framework for understanding methods to study consumer behavior.

About 6:00 PM, we reviewed the list of firms attending tomorrow’s Business Breakfast. We are expecting about 45 firms to join our Accelerator participants over breakfast for a networking session.

After a quick dinner, teams gathered to select team roles and begin the process of evaluating the data available about American Airlines and begin a situation analysis. The last team cleared the building just before midnight.

Bridgestone Launch

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:02 GMT

We are being briefed on our fourth project and we have yet to hit day 7 of the program. It is really fun to watch my team of 11 highly motivated individuals come together and develop great ideas that will truly benefit each of our corporate partners. Today my team will have 3 team sessions covering three different projects, with three completely different team organization structures. I don't know that my team really thought they would be pushed this hard! The good thing for me is that they are answering the call and have performed amazingly as a team to this point. It is very exciting to know that these students will leave Accelerator with a new found confidence that cannot be gained through a traditional college undergraduate experience. Samantha will be taking on the lead for this project and I believe she will rise to the occasion. Well back to Bridgestone, American, and Caterpillar, it is going to be a busy day!
Patrick

Thankfully, There is more to life than Kickball...

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:38 GMT

Not that I don't like kickball, but my 20 year hiatus doesn't seem to have perfected my skills. Just as wine gets better with age, it would appear my kickball skills did not. For Owen students (past present and future) lucky enough to be in the Nashville area during the summer, there is an opportunity to join the Owen kickball team. Our first game was tonight (6/11/08), and we played valiantly.

Many of us have never met before, but we organized on the fly, cheered, and came together better than any improptu team I've seen yet. To our dismay, none of the other teams are as impromptu. I've seen small foreign militarys with less organization. They even appear to have read (and understood) the rules for “adult kickball” prior to arriving. What's that about?

Winning (or losing) aside, we are certainly a friendly bunch. It just seems to be something universal about the Owen community. On a grassy field, basking in the Nashville sun, the Owen team took to the kickball diamond of glory. Our opponents were organized, calculating, and entirely too serious. Thankfully we didn't let their desire (and apparent ability) to be victorious ruin our efforts to have fun. I am usually pretty competitive, but in this case, with this group of people, I don't mind being the Washington Generals. (The comic foils for the Harlem Globe Trotters, for those of you in the back row) This is fun! I can't wait until NEXT WEEK... maybe we'll score TWO runs.

Customer Service

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:45 GMT

Yesterday over on The Twitter, NotAnMBA quipped: finance is *not* the language of business.. customer *needs* are the language of business..! As a guy that just got done with his MBA, where NPV’s, DCF’s, and other large Excel documents are...

Sara: An MBA Matters (and thank goodness!)

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:39 GMT

As we move past Griffin where the coaches were hands off, we enter new territory where we participate with the teams in meaningful, strategic manners. The teams have been asked to multi-task a variety of projects balanced with a full class load. Tuesday the began Caterpillar, Wednesday American was launched, and tomorrow another project is added to the list. That's a lot of responsibility!

While addressing these projects, my team has begun to discuss their specific roles (how they affect the team and project outcomes), strategy (mechanisms to frame and address problems), and organization (how to balance three consulting projects at once). Time and whiteboard space have become a precious commodities within our group meetings, but they are making the most of their time and resources through their own styles. It is fantastic to see each student's leadership style emerge as the teams take on more and more responsibility.

As previously mentioned, our coaching roles are much more interactive at this stage. Personal coaching and strategy are pillars of our learning at this time. My friend PJ justified the role of a coach after I had recapped what I was doing. He exclaimed, "Wow, I guess that justifies the two years we spent in the business school!" Yes, I guess it does. The MBA allows the coaches to step back and apply the principles of management to each team to help them improve. I'm so grateful for all of the learning my team has provided me. This has been a wonderful extension of my MBA and I'm having a great time!

Day 5. June 10, 2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:29 GMT

Day 5, June 10, 2008.

The day began at 7:00 AM with a working breakfast. Our first studio of the day was Dr. Luke Froeb, Professor of Economics. Dr. Froeb led the teams in understanding the “rational actor model,” sharing many of his experiences from the field.

Following a short break, our Associate Dean, Bill Christie, spoke to our group. He shared his experience in the ground-breaking research that exposed issues in the stock market. At 11:00 AM, I briefed the teams on the various aspects of the presentation model, storyboarding, and clarity of team roles.

After a working lunch, Professor David Furse led the teams in a Strategy Studio. Dr. Furse introduced a variety of strategic tools (Porter’s 5-Forces Model, SWOT, etc) for the teams to use in solving our clients’ business issues.

At 1:45 PM, we made our way to the corporate offices of Caterpillar Financial. After gathering in the corporate auditorium, Kent Adams – President of Caterpillar Financial – addressed the group and engaged the Accelerator teams in assisting his organization in designing a sustainability program to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle the waste (paper, plastic, aluminum, etc) out of the corporate offices. Additional members of the Caterpillar team (Alex Martin, Josef Robinson,
Jeff martin, Erin Bishop and Steve Zanolini) also addressed the group. We were provided an excellent tour of the corporate facilities and completed an hour long Q&A session. We left Caterpillar’s offices about 6:00 PM.

After a quick dinner, teams gathered to select team roles and begin the process of evaluating the data available about Caterpillar and completing a situation analysis. The last team cleared the building just after 11 PM. As I was packing up my laptop computer, I noticed the following email in my Outlook mailbox:

Dr. Burcham:

I just wanted to thank you again for this fabulous opportunity and allowing me to join the Accelerator program. The past few days have been such an adrenaline rush for me. I have enjoyed every minute of my stay here. The first project (Griffin) has definitely helped me gain some valuable experience I would never have gotten from a normal internship. I’m already thinking differently than when I arrived.

Occasionally, my colleagues look at our Accelerator schedule and asked me why I would subject myself to this schedule. This note pretty well sums it up.

Day 4. June 9, 2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:47 GMT

Day 4. June 9, 2008

At 7:00 AM, we kicked off the day with a working breakfast – many teams doing the final portion of dress rehearsals for Griffin. The Morning (8:00 AM to Noon) was our first Operations simulation led by Professor Nancy Lea Hyer. Accelerator teams worked on understanding process efficiency and improvement.

During lunch, 1 representative of each team had the opportunity to visit the presentation room and determine how they wanted to be positioned for their presentations to Griffin.

After a working lunch, Professor Cherrie Clark led the teams in a discussion of preparation for the Griffin presentations and additional training in strategic consulting.

At 2:30 PM, we made our way to the Vanderbilt Law School auditorium where the Griffin executive team had already gathered – we had 8 representatives from Griffin to judge this first competition. Teams presented in an order they selected based upon the time the team completed their “deliverables” for Griffin. Each team had 10 minutes to make their presentation and then 2 minutes for Q&A with the client. Following the presentations of each team, all Accelerator students left the room to vote on their MVP team member (most valuable player) and to rank the presentations based upon how they believe the client (Griffin Technology) will rank their product ideas.

The Griffin team studied the teams’ Storyboards & Handouts as they reviewed the presentations and then ranked the teams from “best to worst” in their product designs and presentations. After the ranking, all Accelerator participants returned to the auditorium to hear Griffin announce the results of their judging. Beginning with the 8th place and moving to 1st place, Griffin shared information regarding what attributes of the designs appealed to the company and which portions of the presentations were not appealing to the company.

The winning team for this 1st round of competition (hosted by Griffin Technology) was Team 4 with 4 of the 8 Griffin votes. Team members include: Amy Brown, Patrick Dienes, Jordan Headlee, Tyler Weaks, Mandy May, Leo Selya, Samantha Webb, Megan Gilbert, A.J. Axelrod, Peter Mataragas, and Jason Levine. Team Coach: Patrick Long. Team 6 was awarded second place with 3 of the 8 Griffin votes. Griffin provided prizes to each member of the winning team (i-Pod peripherals and a speaker docking system.

Following the presentations, the Owen faculty did a full evaluation of the presentation skills of each team. Teams then completed a full peer and team process evaluation. We ended the day about 8:00 PM – a 13 hour day.