OwenBloggers: Sharran Srivatsaa

Goodbye Owen

I walked out of my last class today. Numb. Shocked. Thankful.

When I close my eyes, somehow I can remember almost everything over the last two years. These past couple of years have been amazing... absolutely amazing.

I can confidently say that my Owen experience has been nothing short of stellar. I spent hundreds of hours in the library for which I got a pin and $152 off my car insurance. I scrambled for a semester before I found my professional calling... and I also found what I consider the best MBA job out there (for me). I know every single person in my class... more than just their names. I worked with the Dean's office to help define many parts of Owen's overall vision and strategy. I challenged my professors and also listened to them. I rocked the boat often and ticked people off. I met my lovely fiancee here. I made some dear friends... friends who will always take my calls, friends who will stand up for me at my wedding, friends who will stay with me for life. I learned to flirt with numbers, build models, dissect problems, smoke through regression analysis, and even attempt to solve world poverty.

Two years ago, on the first day of classes, OwenBloggers was born. Today, on the last day of classes I write my last blog entry. I have enjoyed sharing my life and experiences over these two years on this forum, and I thank all three of you (and Mom) for reading.

Goodbye Owen... I will miss you dearly. I will always look back upon my days here with fondness and remember it as some of the best in my life.

Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing

It was Monday morning. The colorful leaves on the trees around campus, the crisp air with traces of pollen sparked the occasional sneeze, and the relatively warmer sunlight streaming through the windows somehow put a calm smile on people. I love this time of the year, it is a time that reminds me, humbly, that I am not in charge. It is a time that something greater than me instantly makes me feel like a better person when I wake up and look outside the window.

It was Monday morning, and I walked into Leadership class, found a seat and put my stuff away. We had a guest speaker that day, so I pulled out my Moleskine and got ready. A gentleman, with an aura of confidence and humility, sat across the table from me talking to Professor Dick Daft. When he saw me, he got up, reached his hand out to me and introduced himself. "Mike Hyatt," he said... "I love the Moleskine too!" We talked for a minute about blogs and the moleskine notebooks before class started.

There were a few things that Mike talked about in his presentation on Culture and Leadership that really resonated with me. He talked about the importance of history: learning how the organization was built, understanding the inspiration of the founders, and feeling the culture of the organization. Then he talked about the importance of taking the history, culture, vision, and mission into perspective and building a core set of values. While I have heard many leaders talk about this, I liked how Mike took it a step further... he talked about how it was important to map those values to behavior. While talking about values, Mike said,

"Its not good enough to have a fancy plaque in your lobby, it should be embodied by every single person in every single thing they do... and good leadership is showing how an organization's core values translate into behavior and everyday action."

Another aspect of Mike's presentation that I enjoyed was the spirit of intentionality and its effect on personal development. People in Mike's position are constantly pressed for time... in fact, most of us feel like there is not enough time in the day and we are constantly spinning our wheels trying to get things done. Mike talked about how he intentionally takes a retreat during the month to gather his thoughts and think about his organization and his personal life. For someone who likes to have a packed calendar, I enjoyed the idea of an intentional retreat...even if it is for a couple of hours where I just sit down, observe the world, collect my thoughts, and dream big.

Thank you, Mike, for taking the time to share your story with us.

You can read Mike's blog at: www.michaelhyatt.com

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Owen Transitions, Part 2: Batman Bruce

I am living proof that business school makes you smarter... that is if you at least take it halfway seriously.

People often say that you go to business school to network and learn the buzzwords... I guess, but the networking and the buzzwords are absolutely useless if you have no idea what you are talking about when you network and use the buzzwords. That's why, as Isaac would say, we need to get our learn on.

Looking back, the core curriculum at Owen is fantastic. I admit...I whined and complained about the material, assignments, professors, and group members from time to time, but it was definitely worth it. Everyone struggles with the core... or at least some part of the core... and now they (we) are better for it.

Batman Bruce taught us core Statistics... this class was a good wake up call for Isaac and me. I remember we spent six hours in the library one Thursday evening over numerous plastic cups of our regular Thursday evening beverage trying to decipher every single component of a one page regression output. I can proudly say that it was the best six hours spent studying anything in Mod 1... and it was probably the reason that I was (personally) able to walk out of the final without any hurting body parts. I also served as Batman Bruce's Teaching Assistant (along with Asif and Isaac) and the Batman is one brilliant bird.

In Mod 3 of my second year, I used one of Batman's regression model lectures to build a pricing model in our New Product Development marketing class. Isaac saw it and said, "Whoa, that is awesome" and I even sent Batman a copy of my paper. I did not care who liked it and who didn't, but I was able to take something that I had learned in core and apply it, without any direction or syllabus-oriented-coercion, to a problem that I was faced with in a completely different scenario... and it worked like a charm.

If you come to Owen, you need to take a class with Batman... He knows all about the rhythm of the samba.

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Owen Transitions, Part 1: Changing of the Guard

With only a few weeks till graduation, this is a time filled with transitions.

I have officially relinquished my position as the President of the Owen Student Government. OwenBloggers' very own Ryan Dix is taking over the reins along with a new executive board comprised of members from the class of 2009. This is a great tradition at Owen because it allows for graduating second years on the Owen Student Government to transition their responsibilities to the new executive board while a whole academic module to spare before graduation. This gives the outgoing board a chance to enjoy their last seven weeks after having served the student body for a year, and at the same time it allows the new board members to get acclimated to their new roles while still having access to the members out the outgoing board for advice and guidance.

This is also the standard operating procedure for the other Owen student clubs and organizations. Isaac, Sam, and I, transitioned the leadership of OwenBloggers to Jared, Colleen, Matt, and Neeraj in early January. Everyone talks about the strong tie that founders have towards the organizations that they have built from the ground up, but my range of emotions were on the other end of the spectrum. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with good friends and take OwenBloggers from an idea to what it is is today... and I am excited for the new leadership team to infuse this community with their new energy, excitement, and ideas, while taking OwenBloggers to new heights.

We are in the process of transitioning Project Pyramid to the next year's leadership team. This upcoming year is going to be an important year for Project Pyramid as it goes into its third year as one of the only student-driven MBA organizations in the world that has a cross-campus mission of using interdisciplinary thought to explore the business responses to the alleviation of global poverty. You can read more about Project Pyramid here and read about the amazing things that they are doing on the Gold Pyramid Blog, right here on OwenBloggers.

The Owen Corporate Ambassador Program (OCAP) has had a very successful first year. The mission of OCAP is to be the student ambassadors to alumni and corporate executives while working with Alumni Relations, Corporate Relations and the Dean's Office. We already have recruited, chosen, and trained five new members of the class of 2009 to serve as Corporate Ambassadors for the next academic year. Through OCAP, I have had the opportunity to travel with Dean Jim Bradford to alumni receptions across the country. host corporate executives and recruiters, connect with alumni, and have coffee with Presidents and CEO's. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be an Owen Corporate Ambassador and to be able to work closely with Sylvia Boyd and Peter Veruki at Owen Corporate Relations. Sylvia and Peter together know almost every single Owen alum, and if they don't, they are actively working towards doing that. My hats off to Sylvia and Peter... being a Corporate Ambassador has been one of the highlights of my Owen experience.

The changing of the guard is a nice way of kicking us out in style. I am enjoying seeing the members of the Class of 2009 take charge of the many initiatives that we recently called "our babies." My extra-curricular and community activities at Owen have tremendously shaped and molded my Owen education... I have pitched ideas over coffee, attempted to save the world, interacted with wonderful people in the Owen administration, and most importantly made some great friends.

The guard might change, but the rhythm of the samba will live on.

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7 down, 1 to go

Mod 3 is over... it was a doozy.

It was definitely the most challenging Mod, hands down... but it also had some of the most interesting classes. I don't know why I was compelled to take so many tough classes, but Mod 4 is going to be a lot smoother of a ride. I learned a tremendous amount this past mod, but spending tons of time at school lends itself to eating out... so here is my Top 5 list for the day:

Top 5 Burgers near Owen:

 

1. Five Guys
2. Cheese Burger Charley's
3. Corner Pub (its a patty melt, but I guess that counts)
4. TGI Fridays
5. RAND Hall on the Vanderbilt campus

Now please, Wendy's and McDonalds might be vying for Spot #5 but they are going to have to start serving some jello shots along with their burgers if they want to move up the list.

I am going to sleep for a few days!

Timeout Samba

I am sorry, I am swamped... it looks like people who email me tend to read my blog... so for those who emailed or called me and have not heard back... I am sorry. I will get back to you after 2/27 when this mod gets over. It is kinda scary to be a second year MBA student, with a job and all the reasons in world to be checked out, but still be the last one to leave the building at 3am. I am sick and tired of this "personal excellence" standard... but there is nothing much I can do about it right now.

Back soon... More blogging in Mod 4!

2am Tornado Tuesday

The weather is almost perfect. Well, at least in between the storms. Many parts of Tennessee are under a tornado watch. The Vanderbilt tornado sirens have been blaring all night. A tornado supposedly came pretty close to the Vanderbilt campus a couple of hours ago, and one more is headed this way tonight. My phone has been buzzing with concerned calls, emails, and text messages from around the country. I am normally an optimist when it comes to natural disasters, but I must admit that I am a little uneasy right now. I have not watched "Live TV" (you stop doing that when you have TiVo) in almost two years. And while I surfed through the channels to get to a news station, I remembered why I stopped watching the idiot box. I browsed through about 35 channels until I gave up... there was not one show worth watching. Not one show that would drown out the sirens. Not one show that would calm my exhausted nerves. We have access so much content, yet I can't find one show to distract me. Great... Family Guy just ended too. At least I can blog to stay sane and force myself to believe that I am the farthest thing from exhausted.

This has been a particularly challenging Mod. I am fighting to stay afloat... I partly have my portfolio of classes to blame. I am quite sure that there are very few second year MBA students with jobs in hand taking a load like me. (Yes Colleen, I wish I would read my own blog entries sometimes!) Isaac and I are putting in 110% effort this mod and it always seems like we have more to do. All I want is one day... one day in the middle of the week, like tomorrow, to just rest and catch up. Yes I know there is no such thing, but I am not looking to do anything miraculous because it is just not possible with all things that need to get done... but it would be nice to be able to get back on the bus instead of holding on for dear life... Indian style.

These tornados have already done a lot of damage. They have no samba rhythm...

Technorati Tags: ogsm,owen,vanderbilt,sharran,srivatsaa,mba

BrainJam with Dean Jim Bradford

As a member of Project Pyramid's Leadership Team, I am building an Advisory Board for the organization comprised of C-Level officers and Foundations from around the world. This is an exciting process as I get to design and build the board from the ground up. This way, if it does not work, I can be assured that it was all my fault. I am working with Professor Bart Victor and Dean Jim Bradford on this process. I recently had a meeting with Dean Bradford to talk about the vision for Project Pyramid and to get  his advice on how I should go about building the board. 

First, it is important to understand that not many people get to even build a board in their professional careers and for that I consider myself very fortunate. Second, it is amazing to have a mentor like Jim, especially since he has built multiple advisory board's during his tenure as Dean. Jim started talking and I listened, taking notes... then he started getting excited about the possibilities and we started connecting a lot of dots. The conversation lasted about 15 minutes but at the end my hand was cramping and I had three pages of notes from our discussion. Jim walked to his shelf and pulled out a 3 inch binder, handed it to me and said, "Read this, and we'll talk again soon." The binder contained Jim's strategy and notes that guided him through building Owen's Board of Visitors.

While this module of classes makes me wonder if I will ever forget the intermittent torture that I am putting myself through in the classroom, I will always remember the opportunities for learning and development that I have been given outside the classroom here at Owen. While I am learning how to compute Section 1231 gains in the classroom, I get to learn how to build a Board of Directors outside the classroom.

But I sometimes wonder about the rhythm of the samba...

 

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What are you taking in Mod 3?

 
I saw this during the holidays...

A lot of prospective students (both the ones who visit and the ones who send us emails) have been asking questions about course loads, types of courses, and in general what we are doing in the classroom. Everyone's course load varies based on the other commitments outside the classroom. Most students take at least one lighter module in their first year when it is peak recruiting season for the careers that they are interested in, and the first part of the first year is filled with the core curriculum anyway. 

I have one of my heaviest academic loads this Mod. It just so happens that all the courses that I want to take before I graduate are somehow offered in Mod 3... and I know that I will not have the inspiration to take a very heavy load in Mod 4 when graduation is just around the corner ;-)

1. Equities Markets
   > Professor Nick Bollen
2. Game Theory
   > Professor Mike Shor
3. Developing and Marketing New Products
   > Professor Dawn Iacobucci
4. Derivatives
   > Professor Bob Whaley
5. Project Pyramid: Economic Development and Global Poverty Alleviation
   > Professor Bart Victor

Each class deserves a blog entry of its own but I want to write about the Taxation class that Isaac and I are taking...

Taxation of Business and Investment Transactions
> Professor Bill Henderson

Owen students talk about Corporate Valuation being the most challenging class they take at Owen, I am starting to think otherwise. Taxation is probably the most challenging yet intellectually rewarding course that I have taken in my educational career. Professor Henderson is "old school" and will cold call you until you are blue in the face... which means that you don't dare show up for class unless you are prepared (oh, and if you don't come to class, he will pick on you more the next time... so you are done for either way ;-). Isaac and I just go to class prepared, and it is awesome... Professor Henderson knows the tax laws inside out and does a phenomenal job of giving us real-life examples and bite-sized information so that we can understand the material. The take home final (which is a mini-binder) which he gives you in Week 2 is to prepare an entire tax return (yes, the complicated kind) which on average has taken students about 75 hours to complete in the past. This is a class that I will remember forever, and every Owen alum who has taken it raves about it. I am particularly enjoying this class because it brings a whole new dimension to what I learned last semester in the law school in my Trust and Estate Taxation class.

My favorite part of his syllabus for the class:

What is Expected of You as a Student:

You are expected to perform as a professional -- with dedication, integrity and a commitment to excellence. You are expected to attend all classes; to arrive on time and remain until dismissed; to arrive with all assigned reading and homework problems completed; to participate actively and effectively; and to demand of yourself and your fellow students complete fidelity to OGSM’s Honor System in all aspects of your course work.

Oh, and he means every word.

Bottom Line: This class is not for the faint-hearted and it jives to the rhythm of the samba.

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Public Speaking, learn to love it!

One of my best friends, Ai, went from being a hardcore engineer to a speaker-evangelist-cool-dude. While discussing recruiting for his team, he described to me how important it was to find someone who had the passion for technology (his line of work) and that the speaking/confidence would come, because the speaking and presenting starts to become the manifestation of that passion.

I could not agree with Ai more. I went from being an engineer to a tennis professional. I had to re-wire my brain, and find ways to communicate with my students, often groups of them. I learned the hard way, but I love tennis and love to see the light bulb go off for people, and that always helped me on the tennis court.

I was recently reading a Forbes article by Rich Karlgaard on "How to Give Great Speeches," and he points to some great speeches on YouTube:

Burt Rutan, "Houson, we have a problem!"

Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Ronald Reagan, "A time for choosing," 1964

Ronald Reagan, "Tear Down this Wall," 1987

JFK Inaugural Address

 

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