Today we heard from five fellow SOMers, each of whom served in the armed forces.  A member of an elite special forces unit, a Ranger school graduate and platoon leader, a research scientist, an intelligence specialist, and a logistics specialist each shared their perspectives on life in the service as well as lessons they learned while enlisted.

From capturing high-value targets during special reconnaissance missions to supplying trucks and managing logistics in South Central Baghdad, from battling the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan on multiple tours of duty to developing cutting-edge satellite technology, even jumping from planes at 25k feet and tracking the movement of Kim Jong Il, the stories from our classmates were remarkable.  These incredible stories of valor and service were shared with equally memorable humility.  It was inspiring to say the least.

Some lessons learned, both in business and in life more generally:

• Trust and empower your subordinates, decisions are sometimes best made ‘on the ground’
• Flexibility is hugely important
• Moral dilemmas surface in unexpected ways, answers are rarely black-and-white
• Teamwork is fundamental in accomplishing goals large and small
• Establishing relationships, showing you care is crucial when building trust and team cohesion
• Effective leadership requires both proficiency and hard work
• Attention to detail can be the difference between life and death
• Accomplish the mission.

It is with these stories and lessons that we mark a day to salute the brave men and women who give selflessly to serve their country and the world.

Thank you K.C., Vu, Harry, Christine and Alexandra.

Alexandra Minor, ’11, US Army
Christine Knorring, ’11, US Air Force
Harry Park, ’11, US Army
Vu Ho, ’11, US Marine Corps
K.C. Bennett, ’10, US Army

The Have has surpassed my expectations in just about every way.  No, we’re not in Boston or New York, but we have delicious restaurants, amazing pizza, a nice mix of places for a vibrant nightlife, a great theater scene, and really nice neighborhoods to call home.

And if you need a bit more for the weekend, New York is a short train ride, Boston an easy drive, and Vermont (for a different type of more) an I-91 drive away.  At the end of the day though, a place is only as strong as the people around you and I couldn’t have asked for a better group.  So, The Have has been a surprise – a very pleasant surprise.

It was our charge to respond to the questionnaire auditing the entire SOM curriculum. For two months, we met and vigorously debated the extent to which each course was addressing environmental, social and ethical issues that will clearly be applicable in modern day business. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/22/BUFO1A8VO0.DTL)

SOM students are always much harder on our program than anyone else would be: Is 25% of that course truly dedicated to social impact issues? And in order for a course to satisfy 100% dedication to social, ethical or environmental issues it went through the wringer many many times. Each student had a different perspective, but ultimately the same value system.

While of course, rankings are important for the school’s reputation, we value what is behind them most of all. With that in mind, the administration left us students to determine the grades on our own.

Well, the results of our work have come in:

Yale SOM is ranked #3 overall in this year’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes biennial ranking. SOM is ranked #2 among U.S. schools; and ranked #1 in relevant coursework.  Please check out http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/ for more details.

As if that wasn’t enough, two surveys for the Managing Groups and Teams workshop had to be done midweek, in addition to writing up a paper for Careers envisioning my entire career path including possible future transitions and decisions by the end of the last week.

Wait, there’s more! Being a part of the SOM Human Capital Case Competition (sponsored by Deloitte) team, we (two of my first year teammates, three second years and I) had to also spend several hours during exam week prepping for the event in Nashville over the weekend. Although we did not win, we were recognized for our work on the “twist” portion of the case. We were asked to present this piece for the benefit of other participants prior to the finals – a great “kick” in itself!

Meeting with and exchanging notes with competitors from others business schools around the country and Deloitte personnel was a rewarding experience as well. Working with our second years and my classmates on this case was a tremendous learning experience. The trip also involved sleepless work packed nights, foosball, an evening of line dancing and listening to several live bands as we walked around downtown Nashville. I believe one of our teammates ordered, and ate, a humungous double burger at 2 am. As his second dinner.

Back to New Haven at 1 am on Sunday morning, exhausted, depleted, needing just some time on my comfortable bed, I lazed around most of the next day, getting my fill of “blazin’” hot wings of the “Buffalo Wild” type.

I anticipated light coursework for the following week, so I asked a friend driving down from Boston to Harrisburg to stop by New Haven and hang out with me. 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm last Sunday evening was spent relaxing at home, eating pizza, and yakking away. It was 10.30 pm when I realized I had a significant bit of reading to do for the next day, and spent the rest of the night reading through how effective teams should be built and managed. Phew, long nights seemed to have come back!

With fall 2 around the corner and loads more prep due for the coming term, I lie in anticipation and caution, trying to catch my breath before the onslaught of the next quarter consumes me. I haven’t spoken of summer recruiting for consulting internships yet, have I? That story is worth another post…

While “Retreat to Move Forward,” as this episode is called, finds the humor in team building retreats, it also oddly parallels the last week at SOM. Since Monday, the first years have engaged in a week-long mini-course called “Managing Groups and Teams”.  With our first round of finals behind us (insert sigh of relief here!) and Fall 2 still 9 days away, these 8 workshops are a respite from problem-sets and Excel and opportunities to discuss and reflect on all things team-related (building teams, leading teams, persuading teams, you get the idea.) We’ve formally analyzed our leadership and communication styles and have likewise explored the leadership personalities of our seven fellow Cohort Group teammates. By taking the time to deliberately weigh our strengths and preferences, we hope to maximize our personal growth and the experience and results of our team over the next year.  

A diverse array of hands-on activities has structured all of this introspection. On Monday, we learned how to interpret our “Insights Discovery Profile,” which placed us in one of eight leadership style categories based on a survey of questions that we answered. The profiles highlighted our strengths and our potential “blind spots” as leaders and even indicated our “opposite style type” and how best to manage that type.

Tuesday was seemingly spent in explicit homage to 30 Rock: creating trusting relationships with members of our cohort groups in the morning and team-constructing a “LegoMan” from a model that we could study and draw from memory but not physically handle. The exercise tested our abilities to coordinate, specialize and strategize so as to produce a final product as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Today, we watched and discussed persuasive and leadership tactices in the 1957 Sidney Lumet classic, Twelve Angry Men. As we consumed copious amounts of butter and cheddar popcorn, we contemplated the dynamic management style of Henry Fonda (famous and compelling juror #8), applying the lessons of game theory and problem-framing to his subtle manipulation of his fellow jury members. Interdisciplinary learning certainly comes in unlikely packages around here!

Although many consider “Managing Groups and Teams” week the cakewalk of the first-year curriculum, I’m finding myself just as stretched and just as tired as in the days of Spreadsheet Modeling. Until now, I’ve never spent much time or energy dissecting the kind of manager I am or how and why I interact with groups the way that I do. The games, the films and the role-playing of this week have been fun, but even more importantly, they’ve initiated this critical process of self-discovery for me.  Learning how I “manage groups and teams” and how I can improve these skills is pivotal to my becoming the kind of leader I hope to become. Organized workshops on teamwork are entertaining and enlightening. The creative minds behind 30 Rock saw and capitalized on the potential for the former. Kudos to the creative minds behind SOM for seeing and capitalizing on the potential for the latter.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been activity here at SOM.  The Admissions Office has been full steam ahead since our first round deadline on October 8.  We’ve been extremely impressed by the quality of the applications — seemingly our best crop yet from initial indications — and are working hard to move forward with the review process as expeditiously as possible.  In fact, we sent out our first batch of interview invitations yesterday.  These invitations are just the first wave that we will send out; I estimate that they constitute somewhere shy of half the invitations we will ultimately send out this round.  So for those applicants who received an invitation yesterday — congratulations!  We look forward to seeing you on campus soon.  For applicants who did not receive an interview invitation yet — don’t fret.  We know waiting can be very difficult, but there are more invitations on the way.  We will continue to send out invitations in the coming weeks as we move through the review process.  So stay tuned and keep an eye out for our email.

I’ll share more updates as I have them.

Bruce

Now, a year later, it’s all smooth sailing.  We read Econ cases while undergrads fan us with palm leaves.  Accounting is held outside in the courtyard, the class in a “Kumbaya” circle, as waiters proffer Bloody Marys.  Employers chase us from class to the gym to the bars waving offer letters for the summer.  And like characters in the Matrix, we stare a screen of moving Blue Stock simulations and see an alternate reality that makes sense.

Yea, I don’t buy it either.  Rather than a daydream, Fall 1 has been more like fraternity Hell Week.  Sleep deprivation?  Check.  Task overload?  Check.  Mandated team work?  Check.  Second-years using scare tactics?  Check.  An inordinate amount of time spent in a suit?  CHECK.  OK, so no milk challenge, but then again I guess we don’t know yet what the Stats take-home is going to ask of us.

But, as anyone who has gone through an initiation process—Greek or otherwise—will attest, hell weeks exist for a clear organizational purpose: to build character and fortitude; teach customs and etiquette; and bond a group of people over a shared struggle.  And bond we have, in classes, group assignments, impromptu study sessions, weekend getaways, company presentations, and school happy hours.  We’ve paid our dues by making it through the “Fundamentals” portion of the curriculum; with this behind us we can start, as one second-year put it to me the other day, “what you really came here to do.”

Already it’s apparent that FYSS (First-Year Shell Shock) is wearing off.  We’re learning the ropes: keeping suits and ties in our lockers, remembering our nametags, and managing our Outlook calendars down to the color-coded minute.  We’re initiated.  And once next week’s finals are behind us, we’ll feel like our full memberships have at long last kicked in.

You could broadly categorize the clubs into two groups. The first set are the professional clubs – these are the clubs that work very closely with the CDO and students on professional endeavors. They are a great way to network with your classmates who are into the same professional tracks as you – and probably most importantly (from my perspective!), the second years. I am part of the Marketing and Media & Entertainment clubs. We’ve had a few sessions to walk through recruiting trends, interview prep and general download of second year wisdom. I just sent an email to one of the second years in the Marketing club to ask for help with resume writing. Since SOM is such a tightly knit community, in addition to our classmates, we’ve gotten to know the second years pretty well. They are valuable resources on topics as varied as their summer internship experiences to the best sushi in New Haven. The clubs have some amazing events lined up and I can see how they will be a great resource for all of us.In addition to the professional clubs sorted by industry, there are also the regional clubs which are pretty great. They focus on business issues in specific regions, and are also a great way to learn more about the culture of those regions.

The second set are the social clubs. These are geared towards- well, everything else. Food and Wine’s been having wine tasting class. Arts and Culture took a trip to the Yale Cabaret (to see a fantastic production of Orestes by one of our joint degree classmates). And then of course, there’s Food For Thought. FFT is a student run cafe/commissary hybrid that is completely volunteer run and proceeds go to the Internship Fund. For students who choose to work in non-profit/social sector for their internships, the Internship Fund provides a stipend of sorts. Its a convenient way to occupy yourself when you have an hour between classes and just be more involved. To receive funding from the Internship Fund, first years must work a certain number of shifts – but a lot of folks also do it just for the fun of it. Dean Oster was a volunteer last week!

Clubs are an integral part of SOM life and a great way to seek out folks with the same interests – whether its squash or entrepreneurship. And if you are visiting SOM this fall, stop by Food For Thought!

As we transition from Fall 1 to the networking-researching-informational interviewing-corporate presentation-attending-resume-revising-maelstrom of Fall2, it’s a question it’s safe to say we’re all mulling over, in structured and unstructured ways. We spent the last six weeks of Wednesday afternoons formally discussing career-related topics (in course aptly named “Careers”); we dedicated last Friday to a CDO workshop on formatting our resumes and honing our interviewing skills; and next week, we’re to turn in 1000 words outlining our career trajectory.

Amidst this structured career introspection are countless less-formal but no-less-useful moments spent strategizing, comparing and reflecting with our classmates. (I long ago lost count of the number of times someone’s asked me, “So what are you going to do after school?” or how many times I’ve volleyed the same question back, ever eager to hear how someone else is thinking about and breaking down the big decision that awaits.) One of my peers even devised a plan to help organize and schedule these casual conversations in the form of Career Development Study Groups, small industry-themed sets committed to meeting weekly to discuss and assist each other with  their next career moves. To date (only 2 weeks after said proposal) some 13 “unofficial” career development groups have formed, subscribed to by more than 40 members of the first-year class.

I’ve come to business school to answer Mary Oliver’s question. Six weeks into my first year, my career path remains strewn with more question marks than periods (which will make the  final Careers paper quite the creative exercise!). Nevertheless, like the seasons in New Haven, my self-awareness and career perspective are changing. Armed with new resources, new advisors (both formal and informal), and new forums in which to reflect on my options, I feel I will find my answer. And what’s even better are the endless possibilities to explore at SOM for “my one wild and precious life”.

Business schools tend to be defined in the market – rightly or wrongly – for certain specialisms or for their strength in faculty, teaching or research in particular facets of business and management. By this definition, Yale would not be seen as a “media & entertainment school” and, let’s face it, New Haven is never going to be the be all and end all for the industry. So why choose Yale with this goal in mind? Well, the fact is that this institution opens doors and if it doesn’t open the door for you, it at least ensures that the door is built and ready to be opened with a little focused effort on your part.

Less than two months into my time here, the alumni network and speaker series has already blown me away. In the past 6 weeks, the school has given me the opportunity to spend 90 minutes with the CEO of Time Warner and MBA leaders in each of the company’s divisions, have lunch with a Senior VP from Vivendi, meet and have lunch with a Director from NBC Universal, hear from Playboy Enterprises’ former President of Media, hear from NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw discussing the future of journalism and to attend a panel and networking reception in New York this Wednesday surrounding “The Future of Media”. In addition, the media & entertainment club has facilitated opportunities at the Cannes film festival and is also concocting a plan for Sundance, almost every other classmate I talk to knows someone in the industry who they can introduce me to, and an hour spent with the alumni database revealed alumni at practically each and every one of the big players in the media & entertainment sector.

So, is Yale SOM a “media & entertainment school”? The answer – based on my experience so far – is that, with the strength of the school’s brand, its diverse student body and the University’s alumni network, it can be whatever you want it to be.