Archive for December, 2010

By Kelly Sheridan, MBA 2011

Kelly was nominated as a Thunderbird Exchange Student to study at HEC for the Fall Trimester.  Her favorite story is the Alchemist.

What makes a good story?  On Tuesday night I asked myself that question at my first Thunderbird Alumni event in Paris, “First Tuesday: Storytelling.”  It was an event coordinated by Thunderbird alumna, Bernadette Martin, who offered us a glimpse on how to tell “our story.”   Located in the American Library of Paris, Bernadette created a competition between three teams: Thunderbird, Toastmasters, and the American University Clubs of France.  After networking for about 30 minutes, the three teams had to tell a story about a particular American classic photograph.  We had approximately 20 minutes to tell our story and were then evaluated at the end.

I have to admit that initially I was not extraordinarily excited about attending the event.  Story time?  Really?  But, after watching the teams compete, I was reminded of how I use stories every day.  From joking about the “crazy French strikes” to reading a case study on Zara, stories bring us joy, sadness, ethics, knowledge, and more than anything, bridge connections.

In business school, we are told to create a 30-second elevator pitch to convey our personal brand.  This brand will effectively and efficiently communicate our career purpose to random people we encounter in our daily lives… you never know who you are going to meet, but you best make sure that your story is memorable, otherwise you have lost an opportunity.

We invest in degrees to fill our toolboxes with knowledge, skills, and networks.  We invest in our wardrobe to express who we aspire to be… much like businesses invest in their products, logos, and marketing.

But a real brand means something to people. And for that, you need to have a brand identity – you need to define who you are, what you stand for, and how you differentiate yourself. You need a pointed story.  You need an authentic story.

After I left this evening I started to reflect upon the myriad of stories I could tell about my time here in Paris and at HEC.  I started to think about what my brand, how it may have changed, and how I can integrate new stories into my brand.  But, currently “my story” is a bit more scattered than perhaps it should be.  I am somewhere between strikes, security warnings, classes, job interviews, new friendships, and the time I forgot my Camembert cheese in the refrigerator…an offense to the dear olfactory system.

So, to those of you who have your stories figured out – I offer you a sincere kudos.  In the meantime, I will be traveling around and hopefully find a few more tales to color in my brand.

By Kate Robertson ’10, full-time MBA student

During the January 2010 Brazil Winterim course, Sustainable Business in Practice, we visited Grupo Balbo, a company that, since its inception in 1903, has had a genuine respect for the environment and social responsibility. Despite being a household name in the ethanol industry, Grupo Balbo prides itself in continuous innovation and collaboration. This company visit was definitely a course highlight.

Over the past years, Grupo Balbo has worked to develop BiCycle, a biodegradable plastic made from sugar cane. In addition, they’ve launched Native, a brand that produces and markets organic and biodynamic foods including sugars, cookies, juices, coffees and granolas, to name a few. What is most refreshing, however is knowing that these very products are supplied by a company that produces in energetically self-sufficient facilities, takes responsibility for their greenhouse gas emissions, protects biodiversity, fosters reforestation and upholds high standards of social accountability.

Do you want to fill your kitchen with Native’s organic and biodynamic foods? I know I do! I’m still craving the fresh coffee and delicious cookies that we were served during our visit. I encourage you to browse the Native website. Unfortunately, one thing you won’t see on Native’s website is the super cool flow chart (it did say confidential on it) that the CEO shared with our Winterim group that outlined ALL of the uses of ethanol. Wow, I had no idea.

Grupo Balbo is definitely on to something, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.