How to Prepare for MBA Orientation

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U.S. News & World Report has a helpful article for those of you who will soon start graduate school. Written by Don Martin (a former dean at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business), the article has useful tips for getting ready for orientation:

• Take care of business before arriving on campus
• Hit the ground running once you get there
• Actively engage during orientation

These tips are nice add-ons to the blog I posted earlier this week offering advice on getting acclimated to business school.

The article goes into greater depth on its advice. Go here to read the complete piece.

Top Quotes from 2013 Commencements

"With meaning ... any job can become a calling."

Ann Moore, former Time Inc. CEO, Harvard Business School, May 29

"Dive into the challenges of your community. Invest deeply in relationships," he said. "Find your calling with your values and your vision for society."

Robert F. Bruner, Dean, University of Virginia
Darden School of Business, May 19

"Work hard, follow your passion, live your values, give back and remember that integrity matters."

Janet Murquia, CEO/president, National Council of La Raza,

Wake Forest University Schools of Business, May 20

"Just because you don't qualify for sainthood doesn't mean you can't form deep human connections, or that your connections can't make a difference in the world."

Melinda Gates, co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Duke University Fuqua School of Business, May 12

"Don't settle. Follow your dreams. Be a risk taker. ... And don't back down when dealing with bullies"

Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Wharton, May 12

Lessons for New MBA Students

By Paul Davis

A few years ago, I was reflecting on my MBA experience. I thought about the sacrifices and trade-offs I had made to make it through the program. I jotted them down, realizing that some of the items might be second nature. Other lessons I learned the hard way.

I am sharing these six tips for success in hopes that others can benefit from my experience and use them to have a smooth transition back into academic life:

1.   Time management is critical to success. Full-time students have multiple classes to juggle, while evening MBA students have to balances assignment with those pesky jobs. There are also plenty of social and club activities that will complicate scheduling. I advise students to knock out individual tasks as early as possible and use early team meetings to map out the semester ahead using each course's syllabus as a blueprint for planning.

2.   Get to know the professors. I found from my experience that most professors are approachable – even likable – despite courses that are often difficult. I was able to develop relationships with several professors that continued after I left their classes, and many of them will prove instrumental to your development as you progress through the program and reenter to the work place.

3.   Get to know your classmates, particularly those on your team. Those individuals will be your lifeline as you adjust to business school. In many courses, the collaborative work your team performs will make up a hefty percentage of your overall grade. Early on, develop policies and procedures for conflict resolution. Even the most congenial group will have moments when the pressures of classes, assignments and personal stress converge to create friction. Find the appropriate valves to help get your team past those inevitable rough patches.

4.   Get involved! There are a multitude of clubs in business school. Consider registering for competitions – there are plenty of those. Don’t hesitate to step outside your comfort zone.

5.   Go outside from time to time. You will need time to escape from the books and get out and network with your fellow students. Have a beer at local brewery or go for a hike. Play trivia. Take in a movie. These are necessary to provide distractions and relieve stress.

6.   Take advantage of speaker events. When I was in business school, the program brought in people such as Reynolds American CEO Susan Ivey, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke and author JohnGrisham. Speaker events are excellent for networking and past executives who have visited have proven to be amazingly approachable. Learn from them.

Looking at the Pepsi, Lil Wayne Split

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Corporations are continuously trying to push the envelope when it comes to marketing campaigns.

This is especially true when companies pursue celebrity endorsements. Still, I was shocked the first time that I heard Lil Wayne on a radio advertisement for Mountain Dew. For starters, the award-winning rapper always seems to attract controversy. And the endorsement deal came just a few years after he served time in jail for a weapons-related offense.

So it didn’t surprise me earlier this month when Pepsi dropped Lil Wayne after one of his raps included offensive lyrics about Emmett Till. Pepsi attributed the split to “creative differences.”

In reality, Pepsi overlooked a key factor in signed celebrity endorsements: reputational risk.

Potential risk is an area highlighted in an article by the World Intellectual Property Organization. “The positive attention generated by affiliating a celebrity with a campaign may turn sour if the celebrity becomes involved in a scandal,” the report notes.

WIPO has some solid recommendations. First, companies should diversify by having multiple people endorse a product. Pepsi has certainly followed this mantra over the years. Another option would involve using “spokescharacters.”

It isn't fair to single out Lil Wayne; he is just an example of a troubling habit that Pepsi, and others, can't seem to shake. Many highly coveted celebrity endorsers have a fair share of scandal. Nowadays, notoriety is almost a direct function of controversy.

Pepsi has a history of making bad decisions when it comes to celebrity endorsements. Remember Madonna, circa 1989?

The Lil Wayne scandal could also have negative implications for rapper endorsements at a time when Corporate America had just started to warm up to the genre as a way to market beyond the traditional urban market. The strategy can still work, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see Pepsi (and other companies) play a waiting game before pushing the envelope like this again.

Anatomy of a Business Plan: Tough Mudder

The Boston Globe has an insightful article about the Tough Mudder challenge, which began as a business plan for Will Dean while he was at Harvard Business School. The business, projected by the publication to produce more than $115 million in revenue this year, didn't even get Dean to the finals of Harvard's business paper competition.

The article discusses the grueling dynamics of the challenge, but we'll highlight some of the noteworthy items in the story that distinguish the event from a business perspective:

• Tough Mudder brands itself as a "challenge" rather than a "race." That narrows the range of competitors tremendously, distinguishing it from the plethora of 5k races out there
• The 10- to 12-mile course includes obstacles designed by British Special Forces and participants must sign a four-page "waiver of death." This is partially to protect the event sponsor from liability, but also could be considered marketing
• Those who finish the event receive an orange Tough Mudder headband; roughly two-thirds of participants make it to the end
• Tough Mudder initially spent just $8,000 advertising on Facebook. It now has more than 3.3 million likes on the social media site
• People pay $180 to participate. Revenues were $2 million in 2010 and projected to top $115 million. Either attendance has skyrocketed or Tough Mudder has made tremendous strides with merchandising
• There is a sidebar detailing a legal battle between Dean and another firm that claims he stole their idea. 

The Boston Globe article can be found here. We also found a video detailing some of the event's challenges:

High Stakes Recruiting on Wall Street

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Anyone interested in working for a private equity firm should read this New York Times article. It looks at Wall Street's top young analysts, and their quest to secure a high-paying job at buyout firms after finishing business school.


The article gives a nice peak behind the curtain at how recruiters go about their business.

You can read the article here.

Bringing Drama to the MBA

Many of you who are in business school know that there is ample drama just in dealing with the various personalities on your teams or the broader class. Apparently some programs believe that students should go beyond witnessing drama - and should instead master it.

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MIT, for instance, offers a course called "EnActing Leadership: Shakespeare and Performance," where students form a theater company to put on a performance of Hamlet.

The objective is to train students to project well, even under high-pressure circumstances.

The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth offers a drama-related class, "Communicating with Presence," that teaches breathing techniques, among other things.

A great article on these courses can be found here.