OwenBloggers: Susan - MBA 2007

Another 9 o'clock

One of the things that is so great about returning to the corporate world from B-School is that you get your nights and weekends back.  Or at least you are supposed to.  I've just gotten home after another 9 o'clock night at the office.  I'm not complaining--I know that the corporate world requires these nights and it isn't anything I haven't done before.  But it's harder when there isn't the energy of 100 other students rallying around you (or willing to take a Starbucks break!)

All of that said, I also think it has something to do with where your company is and how it is performing.  We're high-growth and short on resources right now which is part of the problem.  We're also considerably lower-tech than I am used to--the systems I am used to having I don't have any more.  Case in point--I am headed to Denver next week and it took me 30 minutes to book my ticket on our slow travel system!  The lesson here is that these things do matter when you're thinking about your career...

But such is life.  I'm still happy with the choice I made and still getting little sleep, but I know that 2008 things will slow down, even if only a little. 

Book Signing Now In the Owen Lobby!

Hey Net Impacters!

If you came to the conference to grow, develop or expand your career, come on by the Owen lobby at lunch time to say hello and learn more about The Right Job, Right Now: The Complete Tool-kit For Finding Your Perfect Career.

Corporate Volunteerism

I love blogging real time and this is it; blogging while I am facilitating a panel.  In this case, the audience is small enough, about 20 people, so we had everyone introduce themselves and share what they want to get out of the panel.

The main theme: engagement.  Engagement of the community, the management team, the employees.  And that's enough on its own to make the case for volunteering.  But what else can we learn from companies who have done this successfully?

• Think about who you hire: if more people have the innate willingness to serve, your efforts will be stronger.
• Leadership buy-in: this goes without saying, but is always important to repeat.
• Community impact: if you're having trouble making the case, focus on the community impact volunteerism has--that will really hit home (pun intended).
• Recognition: thank employees for their efforts--this goes a long way
• Ability to measure and track efforts: numbers matter--do you have a way to track metrics or a dashboard?
• Business needs versus employee wants: tying volunteer opportunities to business is good PR, but you may engage more employees by letting them have access to funds and tools to use in the way they want.
• Meaningful opportunities: if you want to make an experience meaningful, think about choosing the right partner, and what meaningful means--different to every employee.
• Menu of options: employees like to volunteer in different ways, so offer individual and team options.
• Budgets: necessary if you can plan for a budget, good to have a savings to respond to community and world needs and disasters.
• Employee Councils: these can be an honor!

Lessons learned?

1) Make sure work doesn't get in the way--focus is important--treat the volunteer activity the same way you would treat work

2) Cultural impact--if yours is a global company, know that volunteerism is received differently in different places

3) Be a leader but be responsible--you have to be prepared for turns in business performance

4) Tie metrics to recognition. This will ensure volunteers want to log their hours

Touche...

"You have to know where Togo is on a map."  Good point from a panelist.  If you want to work for the greater good in developing countries, you better know where they are on the map.

Friday Session 1: Non-Profit Consulting Careers

Of course the sessions I gravitate towards focus on careers.  That's what I do!  And to take it even more granular, this session focused on consulting.  Panelists Joyce Poll, Andrew Belton, Steve Klass and Raj Kumar talked about how to merge consulting interests with common good consulting. 

Here are a few gems I pulled that I think are applicable to all non-profit careers:

1) Speak their Language: don't come in with all MBA-speak.  Make sure you use your strategy expertise, your tools and your background in context of their language

2) Network, shadow and mentor: This industry is one where networks are tight because resources are tight.  So find someone who you can shadow or mentor and get in there! Soak up all you can.

3) It Ain't a Cakewalk: If you think working in the non-profit world is easy, think again.  You won't be laid-back working short hours all the time.  Better to know that now.

Up next?  I think everyone should attend the Corporate Volunteerism panel in Owen 218.  (Disclaimer: oh yeah, I am moderating that one...)

The Morning Starts Off With a Pessimistic Bang!

I mean that with all due respect.  This morning, the Net Impact conference officially kicked off with Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, being interviewed by Andy Savitz, Author of The Triple Bottom Line.   The session was a success for a number of reasons:

1) Yvon is refreshingly pessimistic. And that's good.  We need to realize how dire the situation is.

2) The session was a Q&A, simply put.  It was a dialogue and that's what this whole CSR thing needs to be--a conversation

3) Frankness.  We won't get anywhere with spin.  You have to

Andy started out by setting the stage for how to mix business and responsibility.  If you think of them as overlapping circles, how large is that overlap?  How big is your sustainability sweet spot?

Then he moved into the Q&A with Yvon who started out by saying he never respected the profession and never wanted to be a business man.  He just wanted to make the best products.  Which leads to size--you can't make the absolute best and grow limitlessly at the same time.  You just can't.  He has made the decision to focus on best first and growth second.

So how can you make a dent in the for-profit world?  Turn responsibility into opportunity.  Yvon talked about Volvo.  American automakers rebelled against safety fearing it would hurt profits (seatbelts, airbags, etc.) But Volvo turned it into a brand, and into loyalty and profits.  Now there's a sweet spot!

Musical Serenade

It isn't a party without some sort of musical celebration and tonight's Net Impact opening student happy hour was no exception.  Not sure why I decided to ditch the professionals event (a harpist was playing there, I was tired...I dunno) but the students event sounded more appealing.

And it was!  Picture this--a huge tent, lights projected to look like trees on the ceiling of the tent.  Now that's cool.  And a laid back crowd of students, mingling with the people they pretty much knew, but nonetheless taking a first step onto the networking playground that is the center of big conferences like this one.

What I liked most about the event tonight (besides the stellar organization--congrats James and Julie) was the music.  Todd Kessler is a cool indie-sorta-josh kelleyish rocker.  Check him out. 

More on the events tomorrow including the morning keynote which I am really looking forward to.  I'm off to bed before my 6am conference call.  Gotta love working for a global company.

And so the Conference Begins!

I am back in Nashville for my second time in a few weeks, this time for the Net Impact conference.  Owen looks great and the design team, armed with walkie talkies is already solving problems.  I can't imagine planning a conference of this magnitude!  More later...