Who knew Connecticut had so many trails? Surely not myself, a California transplant who only bought a road bike for the first time 10 months prior. Had you asked me two years ago I would have made a twelfth grader blush with my knowledge of New England geography, oblivious to the forested countryside that lay within minutes of the post-industrial potholes of New Haven. Sleeping Giant? Tyler Mill Run? Regicide Trail?

Which brings me to the Farmington Canal trail which, construction work notwithstanding, provided an entertaining afternoon venture for three MBA students and Professor Amy Wrzesniewski, resident specialist in the realm of Organizational Behavior.

A bike ride with Amy W was the winning reward of a lottery for most carbon-emissions reduced during the 1st year International Experience. More accurately, I was invited by those who actually won the lottery to accompany the trip for one slow-moving Thursday afternoon. I consoled myself that my carbon-emitting habits were partially mitigated by this self-propelled exercise.

Fast paced courses? Too many assignments? Thankfully, this was one of the opportunities at SOM that lets one to relax, take a fresh breath, and on the side find out what it means to teach at Yale SOM.

Truthfully, there wasn’t so much the dish on academic life, but a chance to ask some of the questions I had never got to in class. I also realized that organizational behavior is not so different from most things in life. You place your bets that alignment of incentives and goals will lead to meaningful work, but compromise moves the organization behind the scenes, day in and day out. And it is compromise, whether between labor and management, citizens and governments, partner and partner, that drives a successful relationship.

Business school is transition.

No sooner have you unpacked your bags in your East Rock apartment and dived into orientation, then you are repacking for your summer sublettor (with a wish and a prayer that they won’t flambe the coffee table), unpacking in a tiny summer sublet, repacking, unpacking for Fall Yr 2, finding a full time job, coasting and peddling in a haze through second year, then finding yourself gazing around your East Rock apartment with the daunting task of moving, storing, moving for graduation, summer, new job in fall.  (p.s. I wasn’t so lucky on the coffee table–lovely scorches).

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There have been a lot of memorable moments in the first year of business school here at SOM.  It’s really incredible to stop and think about how much we’ve experienced since arriving in New Haven in August (the International Experience, the Internship Fund, Harvard-Yale, Cohort Olympics, Econ with Oster).  Last night, however, was one of the more memorable and humorous moments of all.

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I don’t really play video games. Not out of any lack of desire to play them. In fact, quite to the contrary, I feel a persistent desire to play. In playing games, I appreciate the value of problem solving, of having the opportunity to attempt to solve the same problem multiple times, to push at the boundaries of the program and learn the rules by which the game must be played. Gaming is, in many ways, the act of learning. Moving forward in a game is a signal of learning; the player has mastered a particular element, and is rewarded with the next puzzle. The more the player plays, the better that player is at learning new rules. As a result, while I may love video games, I am not that great at learning the rules.

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The weather is supposed to be gorgeous for Welcome Weekend.

(See the forecast here)

We are all so excited to welcome the Class of 2011 to campus!

The Internship Fund has got to be one of the hardest working collection of students you can imagine.  One of the few completely first year-run organizations (FFT is another one),  the Internship Fund, as I have mentioned before, is responsible for raising all of the money to subsidize non-profit and public sector internships. The Auction, which is charged with raising a large percentage of these funds, is happening this Thursday, April 16. This year’s theme, SOMonopoly, is providing some pretty amazing decoration opportunities throughout the school. Students, alumni, professors, community members, staff and more have donated incredible objects and experiences to be auctioned off. A pub crawl with all of the Organizational Behavior professors? DREAM. COME. TRUE. We have already started pooling together for this one. Click here to see some of the other amazing auction items.

Oh yeah, and did I mention the creative team behind the Internship Fund marketing have made a VERY important Public Service Announcement? Click the link below to learn more.

Internship Fund Auction Public Service Announcement

Here’s a pretty fun video for your enjoyment:

Internship Fund Auction: BE THERE

With the rise of wordpress and similar blogging software, SOM is enabling student clubs to run and manage interactive Web 2.0 domains. One of the first to appear is the portal to the School of Management’s volunteer, student-run café, better known as Food For Thought – or FFT in the acronym-loving world of business short-cuts (ALWBSC).The new site offers students an easy way to sign up for volunteer shifts, comment and upload photos of musical events and other activities. And critically, the weekly newsletter (The Weekly Brew) containing announcements and commentary, will now be archived online. Next improvement potential: On-line ordering? Study-lounge delivery service?

Visit FFT at http://fft.internshipfund.org!

Coming from the comfortable anonymity offered by some thirty thousand students during my undergrad, I knew the tight community of SOM would present a radically different class bonding experience. And one of the most rewarding features of a small school is not only do you get to meet the dean personally, but the dean knows you. I say this in all seriousness, because Sharon Oster is renowned for her near perfect memory of names and faces, never lacking a lively personal story about any student, faculty member or alumni.

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From March 16th through the 20th, ten of my classmates and I had the opportunity to participate in the Washington, DC Spring Break Leadership Forum. This annual trip allows students to meet with top politicians, policy makers, and opinion leaders from both the public and non-profit sectors. The trip was truly inspirational not simply because of the unparalleled access to high-level decision makers; but more importantly, because of the ability we had to engage in candid discussions about the major social, economic, and political challenges facing our country.

Spring Break Leadership Forum Group Picture

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