OwenBloggers: Nat

Turkey, luv and deals

The Owen Culinary Society hosted their second dinner a few weeks ago but this time they focused on a Thanksgiving theme. It was probably one of the best meals I have had in TN. Several of the international students asked me during the meal to explain “Thanksgiving.” After making up some stories about the pilgrims, puritans, American Indians, turkeys and giving thanks I realized that I was not too clear about the real story myself. I felt better when I later asked my friends and family about the true history and they stumbled around it as well.  Can you tell the full history?

 

I joined the 38 million Americans traveling last week for Thanksgiving by jumping on a quick flight to Orlando FL. It took me 25 minutes to get from the entrance of the Owen school to the gate. One of the many perks to Nashville. Southwest flies to nearly every major city in America from Nashville in less than 2 hours for around $200. I sat next to a girl from D.C who flies twice a month to the Music City because of the last minute deals and to visit her boyfriend.

 

For any of you prospective students and first years out there I would highly recommend the Negotiations class with Tim Vogus. Talk about a practical skill to use everyday. In the last few weeks I have successfully negotiated some fantastic deals on everything from extending a happy hour to securing a discounted hotel rate for an M.B.A class trip to India in the spring. We learn how to change the rules of the game and include other parties and options to create more value for both negotiating parties. Vogus actually cares about how the students learn and instills a tremendous amount of effort into his course design. I have never seen a faculty member back up an assignment with quantitative research about the effectiveness of a certain teaching style.

Weekly Roundup

 

This may sound obvious but I wish I would have paid more attention to what specific companies come to campus to recruit. I was a career changer and had little knowledge about who I wanted to work for after school. My application and interview might have sounded stronger if I had matched my story to companies that recruit at the school.

The interview also makes a world of difference. To be honest... Owen was not even on my list of schools to apply. I just happened to be in Nashville for the day with work and signed up for a class visit and an interview. The tremendously positive interaction with admissions, students and faculty on campus inspired me to apply. Not only do the interviews prove a student is interested but they allow each party to better determine a fit.

ONE Vanderbilt

What is ONE Vanderbilt? Why should I care?

The Owen school sits not 30 yards from the Divinity school and Law school yet I would bet less than half of the business students have set foot in either building (save eating at the Divinity cafeteria or the overpriced Law school café). A major reason I chose Owen over a school like Thunderbird was the presence of multiple graduate programs in one campus. But what is the point if all the professional schools enclose themselves in their social silos and academic worlds? We have over 4,000 graduate and professional students on campus and they rarely see each other.

I work with a group called ONE that tirelessly attempts to integrate all the professional schools at Vanderbilt. We co-host tailgate parties with Owen and the multiple groups do not interact even if they are on the same patch of tailgate space. Not sure what side the segregation comes from but probably all parties are guilty. At times I feel like I am the only one who sees value in crossing academic pursuits. You never know when you will need a good lawyer, audiologist or priest. All the programs are probably a little jealous that the MBAs only go to class four days a week, have free beer on Thursdays and graduate in only two yeas with jobs that pay on average $90,000 a year. Guess you can’t blame them.

 

Glowenization

Glowenization

In the last two weeks the Global Business Association helped bring two key speakers to present at Owen.  Last week we were joined by Dr. Catherine Mann from the

Institute of International Economics and Brandeis University.  Dr. Mann (a former EMBA professor at Owen) presented her research on the flow of “unofficial and official” investments in the US.  She pointed out that global investors have had enough and are slowing the amount they invest in the US.  On the other hand, the “official” marginal rate of investment from countries like China

continues to increase.  What does that mean? Chinais sending us money to buy their cheap goods and to support their wild growth rates.  At the end of the day the USwill end up with all the nice imports and Chinais left with a bunch of cheap

US debt.  Mann suggests that the US and China are now in a destructive co-dependent relationship (similar to a dealer and a crack addict). www.iie.com/publications/author_bio.cfm?author_id=47

The Owen students were also graced by author Barry Lynn who once was the executive editor of Global Business Magazine.  Many think he is the next alternative to Thomas Friedman.  Barry brought the perspective of a global business journalist and explained how our integrated international industries and conglomerates are exposing themselves to greater uncontrollable risks such as SARS, earthquakes, terrorism, meteors etc… Barry also cited proprietary owners and “CEOs as shareholders” mentality as a root cause in this short-term expansion and the endless drive for returns.  He does not like Wal-Mart very much for some reason either.     www.newamerica.net/people/barry_c_lynn

Each speaker has a bio on Wikipedia so that must mean something?   

Unfortunately the Owen students do not care much for global business as we had poor showings for each event.  I guess I see why we continue to be criticized by the WSJ and Business Week for having a lack of international awareness.  It is the middle of Mod II and the first years will not see the light of day until January so I can’t be too critical.  The second years have no excuse for flaking out on our speakers.  Better luck next time.   

Net Impact Conference 2006

Thank you Sharran and the rest of Owen Bloggers for this opportunity. My name is Nat Robinson and I am a second year MBA student from Colorado. I look forward to posting more random information about our lives in the public domain. Apologies if my first post is a little lame…

Net Impact Chicago 2006

Vanderbilt was proud to send 10% of its student body to Kellogg and Chicago last weekend for the 2006 Net Impact conferences. We were largest group represented behind Michigan and Yale. Net Impact is a movement of MBA students and professionals that seek to use business for the social good. This organization is not just a social gathering for nonprofits and environmentalist but a significant force in business around the world. Net Impact will play center stage for Owen next year because we were selected to host the 2007 conference www.netimpact.org.

Our students were fortunate to have a large part of our trip subsidized by Owen (thanks Kelly Christie and the Dean’s office) to encourage more participation. We all had a great time experiencing Chicago and I know this was good for the first year students to witness Net Impact first hand. Unfortunately the conference itself failed to inspire and in many opinions was not nearly as well organized as last year at Stanford’s GSB. I spoke with a dozen other students from several other programs who cited the poor quality of speakers and the complicated logistics as some key problems to this year. I expected a little more from a school like Kellogg but I am confident our small program can deliver something to remember in 2007. Not sure if the Music City is ready for 1,800 MBAs to descend on the country honky tonks for a weekend...