Archive for February, 2010

By Melanie McKinney ‘10, MBA Global Management

Greetings from San Francisco! We just finished Day 2 of the 2010 CSR/Cleantech TREK. This year 18 Thunderbirds participated in this 3-day school-sponsored trip focused on visiting companies active in CSR and/or cleantech. If there’s any place in the the U.S. where such companies are found, it’s San Francisco–land of innovation, entrepreneurship and ambitious energy! Here’s an overview of what we’ve been up to so far:

Day 1

7:45 a.m. – Depart PHX and begin a very long day!
12:00 p.m. – Visit BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), the world leader in corporate social responsibility (CSR) research and consulting. Here we learned more about their various initiatives across the globe, including projects focused on energy, sustainable supply chains, and improving womens’ health. This presentation was given by a ‘07 Tbird alumn, and especially enjoyed by the CSR junkees in the group.
3:00 p.m. – Visit New Resource Bank, an innovative bank that provides unique services tailored to non-profit organizations, foundations, and entrepreneurial businesses, as well as the personal banking client. One such unique service they offer is Solar Home Equity Financing, which they explained to us in detail, which was particularly enjoyed by the cleantech junkies in the group. Also, the office is located in a LEED Gold certified building, and their CEO greeted us at the door.

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By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

After a long weekend of intermittent downpours, our campus has returned to trademark gorgeous sunshine.  The trees are blooming and the existing grass is verdant and comfortable, just in time to welcome this weekend’s 360 Preview Weekend and Regional Night!

For any prospective students arriving on campus early, stop by the commons to meet some friendly Thunderbird students and to find out about interesting events on campus.  Founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz will be speaking on Thursday 25 February on “Patient Capital for an Impatient World,” and Regional Night kicks off Saturday 27 February in the Thunderbird Activity Center.  Between the intellectual conversations, the delicious food, and the fantastic performances to celebrate The Americas, this weekend will be a fantastic event for current and future Thunderbird alike!

By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Every trimester, Thunderbird Student Government organizes a campus-wide day during which Thunderbirds give back to the community in various ways.  Students clean zoos, build playgrounds, plant gardens, make meals, play with kids, work on crafts, save animals, and various other inspiring activities in the greater Phoenix area.  This trimester was no different.  Thanks to the efforts of Kate Denney, TSG Outreach chair, over 150 students gathered in the early morning sunshine to don our red ThunderCares t-shirts and go off in search of good deeds!

The group in which I participated had the opportunity to visit a domestic violence shelter for the day: we broke into crews quickly, preparing lunch, planning children’s activities, and organizing donations.  We were greeted by cheerful signs posted announcing our visit.

Fortunately, there was a whole library of books from which to choose for morning storytime.  While some of us read to an avid audience, others got into the kitchen and right to work.

The ThunderCares crew had a happy day of work, and our Saturday was a success!

By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Well wishes and encouragement to our Thunderbird Soccer Team!  Photos to be added later, but the team has triumphed in the final battle with MIT!  Thunderbird student Piers Causton scored a goal.

Thunderbird Soccer Team tied with Columbia and lost to Duke alumni.

Details on our athlete’s successes to continue!

By Melanie McKinney ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Since my time here at Thunderbird my interests in energy have grown, as have the opportunities to learn about and professionally develop in industry here on campus. Last trimester (Fall 2009), the Thunderbird Energy Club debuted as an official student club. Now, in its second semester, there are seven divisions (biomass, buildings, geothermal, hydro, oil & gas, solar, wind) serving over 100 members! Dedicated to helping students learn more about energy, and to prepare those committed to careers in the industry, the club has organized a Lecture Series. Each week at club meetings two lectures are given by division chairs (or sometimes invited guests) on various energy topics. This week we heard lectures on the following topics: “Solar Power: Job Outlooks” and “Hydropower: How it Works.” The Energy Club has also recently joined the Collegiate Energy Association (CEA), a consortium of energy clubs from universities around the globe that foster a community for undergraduate and graduate student exchange in research, networking, and combined impact in the energy space. Not bad for its second semester.

In addition to the Energy Club, other opportunities to learn more about energy at Thunderbird include:

• “Energy Sector” class. This has become a standard offered class at Thunderbird, and focuses primarily on the oil & gas industry.

• Cleantech TREK. A school-sponsored 3-day trip that takes a select group of students to San Francisco (locations may vary) for company visits and alumni/networking events. The 2010 Cleantech TREK includes company visits to: Solar City, Better Place, and Tesla Motors.

• Renewable Energy Summerim. Debuting summer 2010 at the Glendale, Arizona campus, this 3.0 credit 2-week intensive course introduces students to the basic renewable energy (RE) technologies, and the policies that shape its development. The program also includes company and site visits in the area.

• Winterims. Select 3-week 3.0 credit courses in varying locations focus in part on energy. In 2010, two Winterims incorporated energy into their program: Japan (renewable energy) and Brazil (ethanol, hydro, wind).

• Tower Restoration Project. Built in 1961, this historical air tower was used for training WWII pilots. Forty-nine years later, a 100% student-led initiative is leading a project to restore the tower to its original glory. Slated for completion in 2011, it will become one of the few business schools in the world to house a historic building restored to LEED certification.

• Global Forum Speakers and invited guests. Each semester a handful of professionals representing a variety of industries are invited to speak at Thunderbird. Spring 2010 Semester’s opening speaker was Michael Ahearn, former CEO and current Chair of First Solar.

Thunderbird’s niche is global business. Still, as a global issue, there’s a growing interest in energy at Thunderbird, and increasing opportunities to learn and develop in energy here. It’s exciting to see so much transpire and evolve in the short time I’ve been a T-bird. Stay tuned for more energy updates…

by Luc Wagner ‘11, MBA in Global Management

Vic Cherubini of epic software, inc. recently wrote a flattering piece about hiring me as an intern when I was 16 years old. Vic had graduated from the University of Houston with his MBA and, having written the business plan while in school, set out to redesign the way people used catalogs — he felt they should be interactive and not simply one-sided. With the advent of the web, it turns out he was right, and epic moved into web design — a natural progression from interactive catalogs. From the beginning, Vic foresaw that interns were going to become a necessary requirement to success in a rapidly-changing technology environment. Therefore, he built it into his business model from the ground up.

Any small business counselor will tell you that one of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs do when creating a business plan is to downplay the idea of hiring people. The mental rationale goes something like this: “With limited resources, limited time, and plenty of adrenaline, who needs people cluttering up the business?” It neglects to consider a time when a battle-weary entrepreneur, long having lost his adrenaline buzz, comes to work each day even more behind than the last. He will work harder and harder, sometimes all seven days, until it seems to be impossible to continue. He simply burns out.

I would like to encourage anyone who might be traveling down that same path while constructing his or her own business plan to consider hiring an intern.

There are so many things that interns can do much better than entrepreneurs can, like maintenance tasks. How many entrepreneurs enjoy logging QuickBooks entries or counting inventory? In the example of Vic, his business model required cutting-edge technology and cutting-edge creativity. He realized, early on, that he could not personally be on the edge of tech, production, strategy, compliance, and accounting all at once. Vic tells me his interns put passion into the projects they are assigned, they help him stay current with the latest trends, and they give the company an overall creative edge when it comes to handling skeptical execs who want to be “wowed” by the results coming from his modest North Houston studio.

The stumbling block for entrepreneurs hiring interns is typically because they either don’t want to manage people or that they don’t want to manage people — especially younger people. Even in Vic’s report of me at 16 years old, he coyly jokes that I was so brilliant that I “reprogrammed the computer” in a way that he “didn’t appreciate”. While I am a little hazy on the details of that, it certainly makes a good story — at least, it impressed my wife.

When I have done consulting for small businesses about their operations, when appropriate, I have suggested bringing interns into the mix. The way I explain it is like this: interns are a way to leverage talent that is in the process of becoming great. It is a gloriously inefficient market and you will strike out a few times — sure, you will have some bad interns. I have certainly had my share of terrible interns. However, you will also find some amazing talent. One of my interns I hired straight from college and taught how to run operations is now Vice President of Operations at a Fortune 500 company. How great was it to be able to utilize his talents at a such a reasonable rate? For my company at the time, it was the difference between being in the red and being in the black. I was able to bring the start-up company to profitability within mere months.

My late grandfather used to say that the young were “full of beans”, connoting that they are filled with life, vigor, and energy, but that they also use that energy toward foolish things. I wasn’t exempt from it, nor was Vic, nor have been the interns we both have hired in our seventeen years since we worked together, however, hiring an intern is generally win-win. You’re giving your enterprise new skills, you’re giving your intern new skills, and you might even learn a thing or two, as well.

Brainstorming session at Beach Cafe

Over the last couple of days we have been interacting with Ms. Hang Thi Huynh CEO and co-founder, and Selene Alcock of K-biz Consulting based out of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa province located in South East Vietnam.  We have had couple meetings with them at beach café’s (Yes! According to Ms. Hang they are better place for brainstorming! We agree) to understand their current situation, finalization of the work plan, and making sure we are meeting each others expectations for this consulting engagement.

Today was different though.  We had the first business meeting in my life involving a translator.  Mr Minh Quang Le, one of the co-founders and chief financial consultant for K-biz consulting, spent some time talking about the current situation at K-biz.  The meeting involved Ms. Hang who acted as a translator for the team.  Trying to gain knowledge from colleagues about business meetings with translators helped me make the most out of the meeting without crossing any cultural or business boundaries.

Meetings involving a translator can be quite a frustrating experience for a lot of people.  My observations about preparing for a meeting involving a translator:

1. Always maintain eye contact with the person speaking to you.  It is difficult as you do not understand what they are trying to say, but looking at them helps the speaker subconsciously feel that you are paying attention and are 100% committed to the conversation.

2. Smiling, nodding and copying the facial expression of the speaker also makes him/her think that you are keeping up with the conversation and would enable a smoother flow of information.

3. While listening to the translation from the translator, try to swap looks between the translator and the speaker and do not hesitate to nod or smile at the speaker in between if you agree with something he/she said.  This ensures sustained interest of both the speaker and the translator.

4. Try to look at the speaker even though you are talking to the translator while addressing a question.  This along with a little bit of hand motions or animation helps the speaker to get some clues about the question, sustains his interest, and also signals to him that you are giving your 100%.

5. On occasion, the translator will start answering the question themselves, forgetting to translate the question to the speaker.  The easiest, and most polite way to deal with this is to take the name of the speaker in the next question, and frame the question as “ We want to know what Mr. XYZ thinks about this ?”

6. Using common words in languages, such as English, that the speaker understand and saying those words while looking directly at the audience helps to make a connection. Also using the audience’s name on multiple occasions strengthens that connection.

7. Overall, keeping a positive outlook towards the meeting, patience, a smiling face, and courteous mannerism goes a long way.

We dive into more interviews tomorrow with K-biz clients and prospective clients which include both English and non-English speakers.  Hopefully we can make the best out these meetings to enable our discovery process.

More soon.

By Luc Wagner ‘11, MBA in Global Management

You know you’re ready for graduate school when you’ve hit that certain point in your life. The people at work don’t seem as intriguing as they once did. You’re bumping up against an invisible ceiling even though nobody else sees it. Your performance reviews might even reflect a lack of enthusiasm. And finally, after many hours of thinking, you decide to visit a graduate school’s website — perhaps as you are doing now.

We were all there with you. I certainly was.

So, why Thunderbird?

Simply put, perhaps unlike the current environment you are in now, the world needs Thunderbirds.

The world needs you.

Yes, you.

Sounds daunting, no?

Thunderbird’s mission coincides with the challenges of the modern world in which we live. The school, as you might know, was established after the Second World War by United States Lt. Gen. Kyle Yount. His heartfelt opinion was that, if leaders were created to help countries learn to trade, countries killing each other would be pointless.

Years later, as we careen toward the future at speeds unheard of a generation ago, the world now overwhelmingly (and loudly) agrees with General Yount’s once-progressive ideal. Thunderbird has always maintained this focus, even when the idea of truly global business had a fantastic, almost unbelievable sound to it. That’s why, unlike other programs out there where global business is a quaint afterthought, Thunderbird was designed from the ground up to be focused on making you into an international leader.

Where will the world find the people it needs to staff this global revolution? Look around you. Do you see your coworkers going out and leading any revolutions anytime soon? Of course not. The vast majority of people will remain as they are, comfortable associating with a small bubble of fairly predictable people who think just as they do, live just as they do, and hold similar beliefs as they do. They are experts on communicating with citizens of a single country — their own — and, frankly, that’s fine with them. The majority of people are not interested in knowing more about each other. It’s just the way human nature is.

Thunderbirds are people who are different. They are driven, focused, and talented individuals. Thunderbirds thrive on talking to, learning about, and doing business with people, organizations, and institutions that are different than they, themselves, are. They are looking to get out of their “comfort zone” and become a part of new experiences that most people only dream about. They are driven to be the absolute best — not just a good MBA student in their own country, but a great MBA student worldwide.

Thunderbird was built from the ground up for these people.

Thunderbird was built for you.

My blog entries are for those people out there who have (and will always have) a long list of Other Things To Do, yet still have unfinished dreams they hold dear to themselves… and they are looking to Thunderbird to make those dreams a reality.