"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...but there's all this crap in the way..."

One of my group members said this last night, and I can't help but totally agree. We're SO CLOSE...but there's still SO MUCH TO DO?

How is it that the last three weeks of the semester have been busier that all of the others (perhaps combined)? We have so much stuff due, and so many groups to coordinate with, and things to research, and papers to write, and tests to study for, OH, and there's that work thing...ugh

We're at least having a good time with it all. We're all so ready to graduate that we're occasionally delirious, which just makes life entertaining.

Let's see, what do we have left?

• Retail Strategy: we JUST finished our last presentation (like an hour ago), so all that's left in there is the take home final.
• Retail Finance: we have part four of our semester long project left, two cases to analyze (which, honestly, are NOT getting much of my attention or precious time), a final case analysis and prep, and the final work up of our project (yes...all of that...and we only have four days of class left...)
• Strategic Management: we have an exam, a thousand articles/videos to still read, and (we think...) another discussion board to participate in (although we haven't heard anything about it...). We also have an optional final, but I REALLY REALLY don't want to take it...

So, Dead Day is Friday... I can't believe we're almost done! We've got exit interviews and parties coming up, all making it that much more real. Geez...

Okay, gotta go figure out what the IIRR for Kroger is...

One for One

Last Thursday morning I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Blake Mycoskie at John Brown University. If you aren't familiar with Blake, you're probably at least familiar with his company - Toms Shoes.

I love Toms - they make me super happy. And I love the business model - every time someone buys a pair of shoes, a pair is given to a child in need. It's brilliant. Who'd have thought that giving something away every time you sell something would make for a profitable business? Good job, Blake!

His talk focused on why he'd incorporated giving into his business model in the first place. As it turns out, the giving was the original concept. He'd been down in Argentina and seen how much the village kids there needed shoes. He decided he wanted to help, but rather than rely on charity work, he wanted to find a way to make it a business - and Toms was born.

He wrapped up by saying that giving back doesn't just feel good, but that it can be a great thing for your business and your own personal brand. He mentioned three ways in which incorporating giving into your life and business is a good thing.

First, when you give back, your customers become your marketers. They do all of the advertising for you - there's a passion there that customers want to share with everyone. They believe in the cause and they become involved.

Next, a company that gives back attracts dedicated, passionate employees. Everyone wants to be a part of something. People want to work at companies that are doing good things, giving back. People want purpose, something to be proud of. A company that gives back provides that.

Finally, when you incorporate giving into your model, other people want to help you, because helping you succeed means helping you give more. As such a tiny start-up, Toms would not have become who they are today without the help of some really big names - Vogue, Ralph Lauren, etc. Those names believed in what Blake was doing and they wanted to help him succeed.

He was a fantastic speaker, I'm really glad I got the chance to hear him talk about the company. He brought even more passion to an already enchanting company.

The rest of the week/weekend was spent in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My little brother turned twenty-one, so we all drove out to help celebrate. Our Christmas was a bit punctuated this year, what with work schedules and my India trip, so getting to spend several days as a family was nice.

Now it's March and time is speeding by much faster than I can process. We've picked up graduation regalia and midterms are already upon us! Eeek! Someone slow this down!

I did get a bit of a break tonight - the Vienna Boys Choir was at the Walton Arts Center, and so I treated myself to a night out. It was lovely. Now I must go organize my thoughts and to-do list so that I don't get even further behind. Happy March, everyone!

No, I'm not dead. There was snow.

I do apologize for the lack of updates. Life has been, how should I put it...jumbled.

There was snow. Then ice ('cause the snow melted and re-froze). Then more snow. Then a little more snow. Here's a draft I typed up in the middle of it, but never published:

We've been snowed in for the past two days, and tomorrow doesn't look promising. In fact, they've already cancelled school tomorrow (and upwards of 500 other places around town). It's ridiculous. Some of the phrases that have been used on Twitter lately to describe the past few days:Snowpocalypse - Snowmageddon - Snowverwhelming - Snowverreaction - Snowverdrive - Snowverboard - SnowMG - Oh, Snow you didn't!...it's getting ridiculous.

Mind you...that was during the FIRST round of snow...not the second round where we got two feet. We basically missed two full weeks of classes. THAT resulted in piles of "make-up" work (the quotations exist 'cause the teachers weren't supposed to give "make up" work, so instead we found ourselves blessed with surprise "extra" assigned readings/viewings/chapters/etc). Now that I've dug myself out of both the snow AND the work, I can breathe a little bit (and blog!)

Okay, first, before you get to bored with this likely long update, I'd like to let you know about two fairly interesting events that will be happening at Walton soon.

First, on Thursday (2/24), GWIB (Graduate Women in Business) and NWAYP (Northwest Arkansas Young Professionals) are partnering to bring a fantastic panel to campus. The event is called "Working the Career Ladder to your Advantage," and features female executives from the area discussing how to balance life and work successfully. It will be a wonderful networking opportunity. Contact info is listed on the flyer below. No reservations are required, but come early - there is a seating limit!

Next, the GSB will be hosting their annual Spring Social on March 10th from 6 to 8 pm at Powerhouse in Fayetteville. This event is always fun, and is a great opportunity to meet current, future, and prospective students and ask questions. I'll update with more info as the event gets closer, but go ahead and put it on your calendar!

Now, on to more of a life update.

Work
Dannon is still awesome. This past week our entire team has been in Vegas for the annual sales meeting, so the office was SUPER quiet (i.e. I got a lot done). We've turned in our first round of reports to Walmart (which is tricky at the beginning of a new year because there are always glitches), so the reports should be smooth from now on. Also, we are awaiting the arrival of a new intern soon (can you believe that tomorrow will mark a year that I have been with Dannon?!?). My job for the rest of the semester will be focused on prepping the new intern to do my job...weird, but exciting.

School
Classes are going well-ish. We're all feeling a bit swamped at this exact moment, but we're making it. I'm only taking three classes this semester (India counted for what would have been my fourth), so my workload is lighter than most people's (a rarity in my world). I really like our profs & classes this semester:

• Vikas Anand is teaching Strategic Management (required for everyone)
• Jim Webster is teaching Retail Finance (retail elective)
• Nicole Cox is teaching Retail Strategy (retail elective)

We'll be doing a good deal of field research and work in two of our classes - that could be interesting. I'll keep you updated.

Life
I REALLY NEED A JOB
that kind of sums it up right now...
I've talked to several maybes, but they've all remained just that...maybes. I'd really like to find a "yes" somewhere among all that. Fingers crossed that happens soon...graduation is in 82 days...

I've been throwing lots of parties lately, so that keeps me happy and occupied. Most recently we had a Valentine's Day gathering at which we celebrated all the classic Valentine's cliches - rose petals, candles, fancy dinners, chocolates. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Also, Gigi had a Valentine's date! Her beau Malbec came over for dinner. Aren't they sweet? (Just nod in agreement and humor me)

That's all for now. I'll do better with updates from now on. Promise. 'Til then!

Procrastination Post!

I'm posting this so that I'm no longer tempted to sit here and tell you about my week. I have my one and only final tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be studying...but blogging just sounds so much more appealing.

Latenight-studyoverloadinduced-crazyperson-logic: if I post something short, I won't feel tempted by the option of blogging anymore

...this makes perfect sense!

So, yeah, that's it. Must go study accounting...

GWIB Meet and Greet

I know it's been a little while, but a) life's been a bit routine (i.e. uneventful & boring) and b) I went to St. Louis last weekend to hang out with Mom & Dad and didn't do ANYTHING productive. It was wonderful! We went to the salon, and shopped, and had lunch at this cute little diner, and drove aimlessly around small towns...yeah, I don't feel bad at all for taking a weekend off.

Now, however, I'm back to reality. We have an accounting test tomorrow that I'm NOT ready for (and that I'm supposed to be studying for right now...) and a presentation due, and another paper next week, and a survey that has to go out, and then more tests/papers/projects/presentations in an endless loop until December 11th...sigh. We do get a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, so that'll be nice.

We do have a fun event coming up this week, though. I'm part of a brand new RSO on campus called Graduate Women in Business and we're hosting a meet and greet this Thursday at PF Chang's (in Rogers). It's a time for the girls to get together and talk about life and what not (with other girls that are going through the same types of things). If you're interested in the program (even a little) and would like to come hang out with us and hear a little more about it (in a fun, half-priced-super-tasty-appetizer-filled atmosphere), you should join us. The invite is attached below. Everyone is welcome (yes, you too, alumni, faculty, and staff!) and we'd love to have you stop by! I mean, think about it, girl time AND lettuce wraps...can you really say no? Didn't think so.

MBA Campus Visit Day - Come Hang Out!

Hello friends! So, you know how you've all been faithfully reading my blog and thinking "Gee, I wish I could go check out Walton. It sounds like such an neat place,"...well, guess what? Now you can!

We are hosting an MBA Campus Visit Day on Monday (November 1). It starts at 8:30 and there is a presentation, a tour, lunch, and a chance to meet with current students and alumni. The lunch I mentioned will be a "lunch and learn" opportunity with one of my favorite professors, Jeff Murray (the one teaching my favorite class this semester - consumer behavior). He's awesome - it'll be really fun.

A bunch of us will be at lunch, too ('cause, well, Dr. Murray is speaking and have I mentioned he's awesome?), so it'll be a great time to pick our brains about the application process, our daily schedules, challenges, etc.

We'd love to have you. I'm attaching the evite below (it has more info and RSVP information). Of course, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask (via email or a comment below). Hope to see y'all there!

Week 'o Networking

We started out this week with our first midterm – accounting. Surprisingly, I was not all that worried about the exam. Just as surprising, midterms didn’t sneak up on me this year like they always do. I wasn’t at all caught off guard, which may have attributed to how easy it was to prepare. I think I did really well, so yay! (UPDATE: I made a 99%!)

After the exam, the rest of the week was, in a word, fun. I had an “interview” on Tuesday, that I think went very well (fingers crossed!), and on Wednesday, we spent the entire day at the Center for Retailing Excellence Annual Conference. Before I continue, I should warn you, I’m a bit of a geek…okay, that’s out of the way. Now, you know how some people get excited about going to a concert or seeing their favorite sports team play? Well, I was that excited about this conference. Why? Well, Kevin Roberts was one of the speakers!

Are you staring at the screen thinking “who on earth is Kevin Roberts?” Yeah, not surprised (if, however, you do know who he is, we should be friends). For the rest of you, Kevin Roberts is the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and the author of Lovemarks – the book that made me fall in love with this crazy business we call marketing. If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s brilliant. As is he. Click the link on his name for more info.    

Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed by his presentation. It was hilarious and informative and interesting – I could be biased, but I was pretty impressed. He included some pretty funny videos, too (links below…but read the rest of the post first, please). The rest of the conference was good, too. Bill Simon & Bob McDonald spoke along with several others. Plus, there were a lot of “networking breaks” for us to meet some of the presenters (I got to shake Kevin Robert’s hand!...yes, I know I’m a geek…we already covered that, move on). I think we all really enjoyed the conference, and I’m glad we were able to go (especially for free since none of us could have afforded to attend without Walton’s help).

On Thursday, our week of networking continued with a visit to Saatchi & Saatchi X’s office here in Fayetteville. We met with several people (one from each of the divisions) and got a tour of the office. We got some useful information out of it as well as several business cards (which are always nice).

Today was fairly uneventful – I worked from home since my bosses are out of the country again. A friend is bringing her puppy over later to spend the weekend with us while she and her husband travel to Dallas for the game on Saturday. Gigi is pretty excited – she wiggles every time I say Bella’s name. A puppy sleepover should make this weekend fairly entertaining. I’m sure there will be pictures.

Oh, almost forgot, those links to the videos. Here you go. Enjoy!

Cadbury - Gorilla

Cadbury - Kiddos

Congrats, you won! Now...go do it again...but for more people

Okay, recap, post 2. The next thing I wanted to tell you about was our Internship Presentations. To get credit for doing our internship this summer (yes, you can get credit for making money), we had to make a presentation about our experience with our company - what our responsibilities were, what learning objectives we set, whether we'd accomplished them, and so on. In true Walton style, they made these presentations competitive. The class was split across six rooms, with about five people assigned to a room. Each room had two or three judges who evaluated each presentation, and the student with the highest score won the room and moved on to the second and final round to be held the next week (i.e. our reward for winning was MORE work and stress...oh well)

Now, I didn't take credit for my internship (something about trying to take too many hours...who me? Never!), but, since I'm a bit of an over-achiever (and a little too competitive for my own good), I did the competition anyway. I ended up winning my room (yay!)...which means I got to participate in the final round the next week. This round was a bigger deal considering the Career Center (who organized the whole thing) invited fifteen judges and had us present in this huge auditorium on a stage...see?

We found out that day who the top four was (I made that cut, too!), but we won't find out until tonight what rank we go (i.e. first, second, etc). The top four are guaranteed a trophy, though, so that'll be fun.

What's tonight, you ask? Well, it's the final portion of our internship review. We all (even those that didn't place in the presentation competition) have created posters detailing the highlights of our internship experience. We have a networking event tonight at the Alumni House, and there will be people from tons of different companies coming to check out our posters. We get to stand there, look pretty, and talk to everyone about what we did. It should be a fun evening. There will be pictures and such available soon, so check back!

I'm gonna keep this entry short ('cause I have to go prettify myself for the event tonight), but I'll talk about one more of the things I mentioned earlier, the networking lunch with the Arkansas Executive Forum. After our first round of presentations, we were all invited to have lunch with the AEF, a group of execs from around the area that meets twice a year on the U of A campus. We all gave our "elevator pitches" (speeches that define who you are and where you're going with your life but that are short enough to be given on an elevator ride), then spent lunch talking with those in attendance. Walton always has such great networking opportunities like this, which is one of the MANY reasons I love this school.

So, that's about it for today. I have to go get ready for tonight, but I'll take pictures and let you all know how it goes! (fingers crossed, right? Thanks). 'Til then, readers. Happy Monday!

More Back to School!

Okay, so, those "Tuesday/Thursday" classes I said I'd talk about:

Shopper, Buyer, and Consumer Behavior ("Behavior") - Jeff Murray
I am probably far more excited about this class than is socially acceptable, but it's what I love. I would love to eventually work in shopper insights/consumer behavior, so THIS is the class I've been looking forward to taking. It's an interesting format, too. Dr. Murray (who I've never had before but who everyone raves about) hasn't assigned us a textbook. Instead, we're reading more "pop culture" themed books - the Gladwell trio (Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers) and a book called Mind Wide Open (which I like as of the first chapter). The books are meant to complement the lectures and give us references to cite when we write our essays (basically the only graded component of the class). We have six essays, spaced throughout the semester, and one group project. No exams. Quite different from the classes I've taken in the past, but the emphasis is on creativity - so that's just plain exciting!

Consumer and Market Research ("Research") - Scot Burton
Although I may be less excited about this class than I am Behavior, I am still glad to have it on my schedule. With what I'd like to eventually do (focus on shopper marketing/insights and then *eventually* teach in a university setting), I need the skills this class will provide - the basics behind research design, implementation, and evaluation. I've had Dr. Burton before, and I liked the class I took with him as an undergrad, so I see this going well. We do have a HUGE group project that will take the entire semester, but once we get going, I'm thinking it may actually be fun...we'll see.

These are my two "career track" classes, the addition of which is new this semester. Up until now, we've ALL had class together. With the tracks, we split up into four sections (marketing [yay!], tlog, finance, and entrepreneurship). As a result, we are now taking classes with sub-sections of the class...which means my normal little study/social group is split up. It's kinda odd to not see them all everyday...

Anyway, we had normal lectures today, and I'm still just as excited about Behavior as I was on day one. Plus, I'm already getting into the reading (a good sign!). Research seems to be going well, too, with the only hiccup as of yet being the "group formation" time we had at the end of class.

Dr. Burton said we could team up in groups of, at minimum, five people. Well, conveniently enough, the little piece of our "group" that is enrolled in the class happened to be a five person version of the whole...so I assumed we'd work together. Yeah, I was wrong and that didn't work...at all. Team formation was actually a bit tense there for a sec (I'm honestly still a little confused as to how all of that happened, but, no matter). Turns out, this will probably be for the best. Those of us that ended up together are getting to work with some of the class that we don't normally get to hang out with, so, yay new friends!

As mentioned before, we don't have class on Fridays, so I'll spend all day tomorrow at the office. We're gearing up for a big meeting with Walmart on Thursday, so there's a lot to get done before then. After that, it's weekend time! Oh, and we have our first India class on Saturday - yay! That'll be a fun post, I hope.

And, did I mention that it felt like fall today? Oh, it was so nice. Almost football weather! Can't wait for that to start back up - Go Hogs!

Back to School!

We started class on Monday! (and yes, I'm actually very happy about it) I'm one of those 'weirdos' that actually LIKES school, especially the first few weeks - I love new school supplies, and meeting new teachers, and getting to write dates down in my calendar, and then checking those same things off that calendar - all of it.

Plus, as much as I love Dannon and the people I work with, the idea of only working 15 hours a week is quite refreshing. My schedule this semester has me in class every day except Friday (just like last semester). So, I'll work all day on Friday, but only go in on Monday and Thursday afternoons - leaving Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons open for fun...I mean homework...*sigh*

Monday was fun, to be honest. Other than that whole getting up really early thing (I hate 8am classes), I enjoyed my day. We haven't really gotten to see everyone this summer, so it was nice to get the class back together and hear how summer break had treated everyone.

I got there a bit early (first day of class compulsion of mine), and, though I could have picked basically any seat in the room, I went back to the same seat I sat in last semester. I am a creature of habit, so that's really not all that surprising. Then, as everyone else started to file in, the confusion began. We had some new non-MBA students in this class, and they, naturally, were unaware that we all had "seats." This caused some returning students to take OTHER seats which furthered the confusion. Nothing too crazy happened, but it was a bit hard to tell if everyone was there simply because I didn't know where to look for people.

The day was pretty standard - we went over the... syllabuses? ...syllabi? ...you know, those things with all the class info on them, and the course matrices (ha! got that one). We went around in both classes and introduced ourselves and then the professors lectured for a bit...nothing too exciting. Oooh, funny moment: the guys on my row (well, all but one) managed to wear the same outfit - blue shirts and khaki shorts...needless to say, people noticed. Made the day that much better. We ended up going to lunch afterwards and (semi-jokingly) decided to all wear yellow on Wednesday...but we apparently didn't tell Brock. We all showed up in yellow today, and poor Brock was the only one on the row in another color. I'm not sure what the class thinks of our row now...though we did provide a bit of a conversation topic.

Anyway, want to know a bit about the classes we're taking this semester? Of course you do...that's why you're here, right? Okay, since it's Wednesday, we'll start with Monday/Wednesday classes (the names are all quite long, so naturally we shorten them. I've included the shorter name for clarification of future posts. You're welcome):

Managing and Leading Organizations ("Management") - George Wibben
Our first class of the day/week. We'll be covering stuff like interpersonal skills, motivation, diversity in the workplace, recruitment, compensation, HR planning, etc. We'll also focus on team building and implementing organizational change - so, it's basically a people focused class - which is new. Up til now, we've mostly focused on numbers/warehouses/supply chain/ANYTHING IN EXCEL...I'm kinda excited to talk about people. As for our professor, "George" as he wants to be called, I like him. He's real. He's been out in the "real world" and can bring that experience into the classroom. Those are always my favorite kind of teachers. 

Accounting for Supply Chain and Retail ("Accounting") - Rien Bouwman
Well now, we couldn't get away from numbers completely, could we? Admittedly though, I don't mind accounting. It's like a big matching game - it's logical, cut and dry, black and white. Not like finance where your decision depends on about a thousand different "what if" scenarios. THIS I get. We'll focus mainly on managerial accounting (i.e. the stuff managers actually look at) instead of financial accounting (the stuff most people are familiar with - balance sheets, income statements, etc). I know enough about a balance sheet to read one (which is all that really matters), but I DON'T know much about managerial accounting, so I'm glad we're focusing on that portion. I've had Dr. Bouwman before, and I liked him, so this should be a good class.

Ethical Decision Making ("Ethics") - George Wibben
This class is set up a bit differently from the others. First, it only meets on Wednesday (so our Mondays are actually fairly short). Second, it's only an eight week class (meaning our final is in October...hmm). Our first class was today, and I'm not quite sure what to think yet. It was a lot of: here's a topic, discuss, but I'm not going to really weigh in on what's "correct." As I've mentioned before, I like black and white, cut and dry. This class will NOT be that way, I can tell already. He even said several times today "ethics is not always black and white." This class could either be really fun or really frustrating...I'll let you know.

And our Tuesday and Thursday classes? Check back tomorrow for info on those (hey, I have to have SOME ploy to get you back here, right?) Til then, readers. Happy Back to School!