By Luis Tenorio ‘10, MBA/M-GM (Exchange program with Universidad de Chile)

Another Friday night spent among case analysis, papers and Google Translate, in preparation for mid-term exams. It was enough to make you want to cry.

A window pops up in my laptop screen. A Skype message. I thought: “I forgot to go offline again. Why do these programs have to be so noisy and invasive?” while I opened the window. A friend wrote:

-“Earthquake in Chile. Check out www.news.bbc.com/a…”

Yeah, right. Ok, I’ll check it out. I could use a break, and a get away from the papers, anyways. It’s probably one of his sick jokes once again, but still…

“Massive earthquake strikes Chile. The 8.8 earthquake caused widespread…”

Wow, 8.8… Well, they’re probably exaggerating. Chile usually has a lot of earth tremors, and a single source is not enough to rely on… I’ll check out some local news websites. Let’s find out how bad it really was. It was nothing, I am sure.

“Server temporarily unavailable”… C’mon guys, reset the servers and tell me what’s going on there!

Whatever. Maybe through Skype I’ll get some more information, somebody should know something there.

-“what’s going on?”
-“I can’t get any local news website!”
-“an earthquake!!! really?”

The messages kept scrolling down… please, somebody say something meaningful!!!

-“I was able to talk to my family in Santiago, they’re OK”

Finally some news! Some good news! If his family is OK, mine should be too… wait a minute… my family…

… Why haven’t they got online? It doesn’t matter, I’ll call them. If this guy could talk to his family… I’ve never called them from my cellphone. Ok, Google for international codes. Ok. Wait a minute, I have no money left in the phone… ok, a couple of more clicks and we’ll be ready to go…
Ok…
Right. Dialing tone. C’mon, answer the phone. That’s actually funny. My folks usually sleep so deep that they probably slept through the quake. Anyways, the phone should wake them up. Answer the phone…

Nothing.

I’ll keep trying. No problem.

-“check out www.ustream.tv/…”
-“Hey, some guys are tweeting from…”

Great! Finally some real-time information! Let’s see what’s going on. It can’t be that terrible. I have a plan: I’ll finally know how bad it was, then I’ll talk to my folks, to joke about how frightened they get with earth tremors, and then I’ll pay a visit to my other compatriots on campus, we’ll reassure each other, have some laughs and forget about this thing. The case analysis? The mid term exams? Who cares, the weekend is just beginning.

-“First casualty confirmed”.
-“The city of Concepcion is unreachable…”
-“8.5 Richter…”
-“8.5 Mercalli…”
-“8.5…”
-“Tsunami alert…”
-“earthquake lasted for 2 minutes…”

Oh no, please no… Is this for real? It can’t be!

I suddenly remembered the ’85 earthquake, when I was a little kid. Well, I don’t remember that much; all I remember is a dense cloud of dust, my parents terrified like I’ve never seen them again, a crack in the front wall that looked like a river in a map, the men in the neighborhood getting together around a bonfire during the night, some thirst the next days and then the bulldozers in the streets, carrying debris for months and months.

Yes, earth tremors are frequent there, and we have a handful of earthquakes every century, it’s something everybody knows in Chile, it’s part of our collective memory, but it doesn’t mean anything until the tragedy actually happens.

This time it happened in the middle of the night… I could vividly see in my mind the people trying to get out of the debris in complete darkness, with dust filling their lungs, some moving fast as squirrels, some struggling to breathe, some trying to locate and help their families first, some being left behind.

Many of them are then completely dominated and possessed by their emotions, crying, tearing apart the darkness with their screams. Others are probably feeling nothing. The shock numbs you, you don’t notice your wounds, and your emotions are shut down. You just start to assimilate the change, the fracture, the things that aren’t going to be as they used to. Your possessions, your people, your health, your life. Some of them you keep, some of them you lose; some of them can be fixed, others can be replaced, others cannot.

And slowly, something starts to pervade your mind. Similar to the deep background noise of the earthquake itself, the idea of the reconstruction process, of the months to come, of the tasks to be done resounds in your head. You embrace it with hope or reject it with despair. Anyways, those thoughts stay, and reappear every time you close your eyes

My family. I need to talk to them right now.

-“Massive blackout…”

No phone. That damn wireless phone… I forgot about that. So, even if the phone lines are working, the cradle will be powerless, and the phone won’t work. I’ll try their cell phones.

-“Cellular phone networks are down…”

It doesn’t matter. I’ll insist. At some point, they have to answer!

Why am I here? Why am I not in my country, with my people? They will need me at home, they will need me at work. Yes, sure I could lend a hand there, with my coworkers. They could use my help right now. I miss them. I remember the day we got together for my farewell party.

-Congratulations, man. I just hope you don’t make us all look like fools in that business school you’re going to.

-Hmmmm… don’t worry about it, buddy. I’m actually going to conquer the world –I answered, with a prebuilt grin in my face. I guess my friend noticed how terrified I felt about this new experience, though. I was just telling him what he wanted to hear.

Why am I here? I am here to learn, right? To become a great manager, and to lead people to success. After all, I think that is the reason why we all got into this. I think we all here want to do a good job, to fix an unnamed flaw, to repair some unnamed damage. For me now, the flaw and the damage emerged with names and faces engraved in them.

Why am I here? Why am I not with my people, with my foot crushed by a stone, sharing their pain?

Come on! Answer the phone! Answer the cell! Answer the tweets, the Skype, the e-mails, something!

I turn on the TV. The news channel is showing scenes from the earthquake. The sun is already rising. Then, a scientist, a professor, appears on the set; he is showing some computer generated graphics and explaining with his deep and soft voice why earthquakes happen. The graphics are nice and colorful. Cut to commercials, with my country’s flag as background, and the words “Earthquake in Chile” in some generic sans serif font in the foreground. Watching my country’s flag in that context, at that minute, caused me a strange, indescribable feeling.

Back from commercials. They started showing scenes from the catastrophe. The debris, the brand new buildings shamefully destroyed, as if they were made of wet paper. Churches, hospitals, supermarkets, apartment buildings, liquor stores… everything sent back to the Stone Age.

And they showed those scenes over and over again. Why do they do that every time a catastrophe, an attack, or a war happens? They are brainwashing me, feeding my nightmares, making me feel helpless, and so miserably safe and comfortable here.

Then, in one of those images, I saw a collapsed building, and a tree next to it. Wait a minute. I remember that place. Oh man, I spent my vacation there, years ago. I was just a boy. Oh, it can’t be. I remember now. I was just a boy, and I dared to take her hand under that tree.

That tree stood tall, just like my memories. The building didn’t.

My eyes itched. I wanted to cry. I desperately wanted to, but I couldn’t. I don’t know why.
…
Dedicated to the victims of the recent earthquake in Chile.
Thanks to Carolina Matta for proofreading this text, and for her notes.
Thanks to all the people that have been supporting us, asking us about our families, and offering help.

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.
5:45 p.m. – Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) event with Peter Darbee, CEO of PG&E. Five of us on the TREK attended this event and had the privilege of listening to Mr. Darbee speak on issues facing the utility today, including energy conservation and state incentives, nuclear energy, and the smart grid. The lecture, food, and networking opportunities were all fantastic!

Day 2
Not to be outdone by Day 1, Day 2 was as packed as it could get with events!
6:45 a.m. – Depart hotel.
8:00 a.m. – Visit Cisco. Here we met with a sustainability manager and learned about the numerous and impressive CSR initiatives Cisco is involved with, including their Network Academy, GetIdeas.org, and other global education initiatives. We were hosted by two Tbird alumns (’08).
11:00 a.m. – Visit Tesla Motors, the world’s first manufacturer of a 100% electric sports car. Not only did we learn about the specs of the Tesla Roadster, but we also got to see it being assembled and driven. (For just $107,000 it could be yours.) We learned a lot about Tesla’s business model and the development of the S-series 7-passengar car to be released in 2 years. We were wishing we were employed so we could put the $5,000 down payment down to secure the car, which isn’t slated to be released for 2 years!
2:00 p.m. – Visit Better Place, a company that creates electric car infrastructure: battery leasing and recharge services (electric car charging and battery exchange stations) and computer software services. This was a very inspiring company to visit because the whole reason the company was founded was literally, to make the world a better place by accelerating the global transition to sustainable transportation. A Tbird alum (’88) helped us secure this company visit.
4:00 p.m. – Visit Solar City, the nation’s leading full-service solar provider for homeowners, businesses and government organizations. This was a short and sweet visit (about an hour) because, as the executive who spoke to us said, “It was the busiest day ever a Solar City.” The day before they just launched into Texas. We learned more about their projects and the financing of their projects. The table in the conference we were in was made of solar panels!
7:00 p.m. – An alumni networking dinner topped off the busy day.

Day 3 is just beginning here on the West Coast. Activities slated for today:
Free morning
1:00 p.m. – Visit Wells Fargo Bank.
3:00 p.m. – Visit to the Net Impact Headquarters.
6:00 p.m. – Closing Reception and networking event.

This year’s CSR/Cleantech TREK to San Francisco has been great. We’ve been able to, largely due to the strong alumni network, visit some pretty amazing companies and learn more about their leading iniatives and business plans in the CSR and/or cleantech space.

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!

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!

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…

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.

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.

The Thunderbird Emerging Market lab (TEM-Lab) is a unique opportunity for Thunderbird students to work as consultants to host organizations based in different emerging economies around the world as a part of the MBA program for 6 weeks (half a trimester).

Dr. Michael Finney is the faculty heading this capstone class under which students, while adding value to the host organization, also get to experience different culture and business environment.  During the first edition of this program to be held in the Spring of 2010, student teams will be involved with organizations based in Nha Trang (Vietnam), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kigali (Rwanda + surrounding countries) and Lima (Peru).

I am a part of the student team which is going to be working with a small consulting firm, K-biK-Biz Consulting Co., Ltd, geared to serve SMEs in the areas of business, marketing and legal primarily in the fisheries and tourism business based out of the paradisaical, coastal city of Nha Trang in Vietnam.  Our team consists of four guys Ben Balde, Nithin Vinyak, Phillip Broyles and me (Nikhil Agarwal).

We just arrived this afternoon and got settled in our hotel after our hosts picked up us at the airport.  Phil and Nithin are pretty jet-lagged after their long flight from rainy Arizona (usually its “Sunny Arizona”), whereas Ben and I flew in from Amman, Jordan and Ahmedabad, India respectively.  We go the host organizations office tomorrow afternoon to meet the team and are invited out to dinner with them.

We all are pretty excited and so are our hosts.  More updates soon.