I am back...and 10 years just flied by with a blink of an eye

I had this urge of "digging" out my blog after interviewing a candidate today.

He asked me why I decided to join frog, and what were some memorable interactions/experience that best bring out the Haas culture. 

As my mind travels back in time, I remember this blog that I had. I remember there was a post on innovation somewhere in my blog. It took me awhile to find my blog. Once i found it, i immediately bookmarked it. I then read several posts. They brought back memories that I didn't know existed before, especially the one article about Ivan's advice on how to spend my last summer upon graduating from MBA. 

How fortunate I was to be able to work alongside with inspirational people like Ivan? And I understood why I constantly feel something important that is missing from my current job. I really miss working alongside people whom I respect ( and care for me in return) Just as Gillian perfer to mingle with working mom as she feel she can have more meaningful conversations with working mom than full time mom, I really see the workplace as a place where I can get some inspiration and make meaningful relationships. Although I have all this time at hand in my current job, I don't feel I  fit in and I don't feel I am appreciated or valued. I am blessed that I have an opportunity to pursuit something different. 

Is Haas the school for you?

There are three types of classmates when I was doing my MBA at Haas:

The first type: Those who knew quite clearly what they want to do after Haas. They knew why Haas and what they will do when they get into Haas. They are the ones who had spent significantly amount of their time during the application process to think about themselves- what matters to them the most, what they are good/bad at, what they are passionate about and what turns them off. During the program, they focus only in one or two areas and are often the ones who initiate and leads.

The second type: Those who didn't know what they want to do after Haas but see Haas as a great opportunity to explore their career interests and options. These people knew what they didn't want to do after MBA but couldn't really articulate what they wanted to do. In the first year of the program, they proactively participates in workshop and networking events across different industries and functions. They have a very fulfilling Haas experience as the Haas environment encourages each student to define and pursue their own success.

The third type: Those who are just lost and overwhelmed so they end up just following what other people are doing, may it be tech marketing, PE or whatever-that-most-people-in-that-bschool-thinks-are-the-best-jobs. They are the ones who have the mindset of "entering a top MBA program" is an achievement in itself but have very little clue on what they want to accomplish after Haas. They also don't really know why Haas is a good program for them and the truth is that Haas is probably not the right program for them. I have observed that these people are highly competitive and are mainly driven by their need to feel superior to others. They are overly concern of what other people will think of them and have a weak inner strength. These people will soon realize that Haas is probably not the right environment hence they never feel quite happy about their experience

I don't encourage people who have the similar thinking as the third type to apply for Haas. If you think that going to a top MBA equals a guranteed successful career , I am deeply worried for you. MBA is a journey, not a destination. More importantly, show the MBA admission that you will be the first or second type if they admit you. I also highly encourage applicants to go read student blogs or talk to as many as alums as you can on your dream school. Unless you have a very clear sense of what the culture and the envirinment of Haas is like and what makes Haas so unique, the admission officers are probably going to be a bit skeptical if Haas is the right school for you.

Haas is ranked as the top five schools that produced the most startup founders

By John A. Byrne

September 2, 2011

Which business schools have produced the most entrepreneurs?

A recently published LinkedIn study examined the backgrounds of members who identify themselves as startup founders and came up with the leading schools for entrepreneurs.

The results dramatically differ from the two most-cited yet deeply flawed rankings of leading entrepreneurial programs by Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. By sifting through its more than 120 million member profiles, LinkedIn has produced the ideal “put up or shut up” analysis. It’s the kind of data that calls out schools that have made entrepreneurship a marketing or promotional vehicle vs. those that have produced actual startup entrepreneurs.


LinkedIn membership data shows these five schools produced the most startup founders:

Stanford,

Harvard,

MIT Sloan,

Berkeley’s Haas School, and

Dartmouth College’s Tuck School.

The next five are Wharton, Columbia, Babson, Virginia Darden, and the Johnson School at Cornell University.

On traveling-...

While I was going through my old files today, I found this note that I wrote on my south american trip last summer....

I like the way we travel- immersed in the experience by learning the language, dancing to local music and meeting local people. Traveling to me is no longer about sightseeing..it's about understanding the culture through engaging the things that I enjoy. ( in the process I realized how bad I am in learning a new language and how much practice I need to be good at dancing)

I like the conversation we have- on marriage, life, relationship, family and self-confidence. I think I learned more about marriage than I ever did. I know that no matter how happily married you are (and to be quite frank, no one can say they are really happily married..), there are times you will be hurt, unsatisfied and bored with the daily routine. Also, how important it is that you share common interest with the other person so you two can have fun together. Moreover how important your spouse's family impact your marriage. I also came to become a bit more clear about my attitude towards marriage.

As much as I enjoy other people's company, I came to realize that at times I like to have some time to myself. I need to reflect on how I am influenced by my surroundings.

I am getting used to "not planning in advance" and relaxing as much as I can during traveling. Sometimes you will need faith to believe that good things will happen to you. You need to let opportunities enter your life and I realized that having a little faith will go a long way..I will always remember the Casa Sweety example.

I hope I am not addicted to coffee. I've tasted one of the best coffee in my life..I love the smell, the awakening taste, the bitterness and the good smell of the fresh milk. they continue to make me energetic and happy. And the coffee in Bogota are better than those in Paris ( and cheaper prices too). How can anyone in Bogota not addicted to coffee?

I am not sure if I fully believe that the only things that matter in life is your relationship with others, although I am open and delighted by meeting new people during the trip:

Gustov and Nelson are my two first private Salsa teachers. I know they are far from the best salsa teachers but they will always have a special place in my heart since they are the ones who brought the world of Salsa to me

Andres is a mysterious guy who we met in Cali. We were confused with his motives to hang out with us and still a bit angry that we had to pay for US$25 for the cab ride. I think this experience, our standard toward guys changed..as long as the person pays, we think he is cool..That is so wrong..and yeah, I had the most "too much/too close" dancing experience in the club that Andres took us

Carlos is my Salsa teacher at Cali. We had two hours of Salsa each day for three days. He is by far the best Salsa teacher that I had during the trip. Not only he dances well, he knows how to teach. I also loved our dancing studio in Cali. It's simple, and hot at times but I love the full length mirror and watching little kids stretching and practicing their moves

Esmeralda and Andreas: A passionate couple who taught us 6 classes of Merangue, Cuban Salsa and hip-hop. We love to discuss their relationship- How cute Andreas is, How dominant Esmeralda is and how Esmeralda must have been the best thing that ever happened to Andreas. Later we found out how wrong we were and how romantic their relationship must be. Although Shikha and I are still skeptical about their relationship, I cannot help thinking how crazy Andreas must have been and how much courage is required for their relationship to work. I like Esmeralda in so many ways, she is confident, attractive, strong, smart and knows how to have a good time.

Leo and Omar: Two local “musicians” who we met in Cartagena. They could barely speak a word of English. I think they must have thought I was very dumb and boring since I barely speak when we hang out with them. I try to understand the conversion but often I end up wondering stupid things such as why my good friend broke his promise to see us

Tor and Ben: Two Harvard law school student that we meet when we went to Tu Candela in Cartagena. We re-connected and went out for dinner several time when we traveled back to Bogota. Tor reminded me of the "Karl when he was in colleague" for some reason- tall& thin, a bit sentimental, uptight, clean, nerdy.

Reading this little note brough back so many memories and also reminded me how much I want to travel again..

Salsa passion

Hi Ivan,

First of all, Happy Chinese New Years to you and your family. I love the family picture on your facebook profile. It seems you are really enjoying your time with your two kids :-)

Secondly, some news from my side. I re-joined McKinsey ( for the second time) about a month ago. I was really not looking forward to it but at the same time I can't help feeling excited about another year of growth and development. My current project is a somewhat challenging but I am sure I will be fine if I continue to be open, inspiring and focused.

Last but not the least, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the great advice you gave me when I asked you what I should do for my post-MBA trip. You said whatever I decided to do, I should go for depth, not breath. I took the advice and began to pursuit my love for dancing- I started to take Salsa lessons in Mexico, then in Columbia (where I met the amazing couple Esmeralda and Andreas) , and back in Taipei and Singapore. I feel happy that I am able to fulfill my childhood desire of dancing, and on top of that, made some friends along the way. It's hard to describe why I enjoy dancing so much.- perhaps it's the attention you get when you dace well, or it's how relaxed/sexy you feel when you immerse yourself with the romantic Latin music, or maybe it's just realizing how much I need to improve in trusting others... Whatever it is, I just know that when I dance, all the trouble seems to go away.

It's a great feeling.

No matter how much work takes up my time. I will never stop dancing

(my first new year resolution)

My Haas profile

My profile has been up on the Haas full-time program web page for more than a month now. Since then I've received questions from prospective applicants over the linkedIn. It's exciting to know that there are people out there who are proactive enough to reach out and then share their career goals with me so passionately. At the same time, I also thank them for their insightful questions and for allowing me to share my Haas experience.

Q: What is your most unique learning experience during the two years at Haas?
A: Unlike some of my classmates, I was fortunate to be exposed to various business project as a business analyst so the formal academic/business/student project learning experience was not as "unique" to me. What I find to be the most unique experience is rather personal and intimate-It was the intuitive leadership class I took while I was on my exchange program at HEC, Paris. It made me realized that I still lack much of the the "soft skills" of a good leader. And in order to be better at the"soft skills". I need to "feel" ( as oppose to "think") more by stop being judgemental to my own feelings.


Q: If I had chosen another school for MBA, what would I have missed the most in Haas?
A: I would have missed the entrepreneur spirit and atmosphere. At Haas, everyone is encouraged to take risk and pursue their own success. I never felt there was a "mainstream" nor "majority" field of focus. I never felt awkward or uneasy when I shared my career passion with my classmates. It's still a competitive place where we still strive for excellence but we don't compare . Because of this strong culture, I am now much more open to other perspectives both in my professional and personal life.

How has my MBA changed the way I work?

This is a very serious topic. Because if the answer is no, I wonder what I had been doing in the past two year and why I spent all my money

During the first week of work, I had a strange feeling that the past two years had been a dream. Everything about the office remain pretty much the same: The blue carpet, our receptionist Audrey, the sofa at the pentry, the breath-taking view of the Taipei from the office, and the most helpful IT in the world-Terry. I tried so hard to recall the first day of my MBA yet that day seemed even further away than the last day of my analyst years at McKinsey. It was the first time that I felt my MBA was truly over. I felt sad and scared. I wasn't sure how my two years at Berkeley has helped me become a better associate or a more effective leader.

Something must have changed...
..I must have changed...
But what is it?

And then after one project, I realized that the reason why I don't have the answer to this question is because it was the wrong question to ask. Maybe my MBA hasn't trained me to become the most effective McKinsey associate, but it certainly has taught me something way beyond my career: It simply changed the way I think about my life. I learned to accept things that I cannot change and have more couarge to change the things that matter to me. I know it will take practice before I have the wisdom to know the differernce between the two but I will remain open to this journey

Enjoy life

It's April already. This means that we have about 6 weeks remaining in our MBA. People have started to plan what they want to do for their last long break before they get on with their busy career. I wanted to get some advice from my mentor on what his thinks about this last long break since he was the same shoe as me years ago. And here is what he told me:

Ok, seriously, I say you should spend the time to see the world. I know you have been to many places, so see the world may have different meaning. If I have visited most places I'd like to see (like you), I would spend a whole month in a city I really like and live like a local. I will shop at farmer's market and learn local cooking. I will spend weekend at where the locals go. And I will take pictures and write notes to make sure every bit of experience is kept and remembered.

Alternatively, you can pick one thing you are interested in and make yourself a real expert (not McK type of expert). If you like ramen, you can travel through Japan and taste 100 top ramen in 10 cities in a month. If you like architecture, maybe you can wander across US or Europe or Japan and visit all the great architect works. If you like music, go follow the live tour of your favorite artists. Be a groupie. This is your last chance.

Or go scuba diving like crazy in some random islands. You will dive in same location for so many times that even fish there get to know you. But only when you do that you will see the details.Or follow a book you really like. Live the story, not just read the story.I can go on and on. The point is, you may want to build a "spike" at this moment. Go for depth, not breadth. It's not about how many cities you have visited on Facebook.

Be creative. Be crazy (take a train from London all the way to HK, for example). You can afford that (not just financially).Or maybe you are embarrassed about some really simple thing like you can't swim or can't ride a bike or can't cook. Then learn it.It's a luxury to have seen the world already before you start b-school. You should know much better about what you can do and want to do in the very last summer break. Don't waste it.

And last he told me to enjoy life.

Maybe the only way to live your life is to enjoy it.

L’elegance du herisson

I just finished reading the book L’elegance du herisson. This is a book about Parisians, Japanese culture, philosophy, wealthy people, beauty and kindness.The book reminded me of my past 4 months in Paris, where I was doing my exchange program. To be frank I barely studied at HEC. If you ask any of my friends back in college to describe me, they would probably say something like "discipline, determined and always strives for excellence" But at HEC I was a lazy student who likes to surf on the internet for cheap flight tickets, paintings of Van Dyke and definition of "avant-garde". I did whatever i felt I wanted to do, not what I think I should do. The change can be traced back to the first class I took at HEC…

The class is called intuitive intelligence and innovative leadership. Some people might think this kind of “soft skill” classes is too fluffy but for a person like me who is interested in psychology, the class is fascinating. The professor began the class with a little game. After the game he asked me how I felt about the game in front of 30 students:

Me: Well, I noticed that everyone has their own rhythm when they are playing the game so throughout the game I was trying to figure out their rhythms so we could win.

The professor: May I ask you, were you a consultant or a banker before MBA ?

Me: (amazed yet a bit embarrassed by how quickly he could see through me) : Yes, I used to be an analyst at a consulting firm. (Even worse, I was both if I counted my miserable summer experience..)

The Professor: I am not asking you what you were thinking when you play the game, I am asking you to share how you feel when you were playing the game.

Me: (OMG, OMG, OMG how did I feel? ) Well..... it’s weird because I felt both relaxing and uneasy at the same time.

The professor: (Smiling) In French there is a saying “ When John cries, John laughs. ” Theoretically speaking, it makes perfect sense for a person to experience contradictory feelings at the same time. What I find more interesting is how you described your own feeling. You said “It’s weird”. Do you notice that you were making a judgment and generalization about your feeling? and by doing so you are distancing yourself from your actual feeling and experience?

It wasn’t comfortable to be analyzed by the professor in front of 30 strangers but what he said had a deep impact on how I wanted to spend my precious 4 months in Paris. Instead of ”thinking ” what my exchange experience should be, I want to simply “feel” it. I know I cannot change the fact that I love to think and reflect but for the first time in my life I wanted something more than "trying to figure out why and how".

I wanted to be closer to my heart.

And I could not think of a place more beautiful and elegant than Paris for me to do so.

Just before the summer internship

Today is the last day of my summer vacation. Starting from tomorrow, I will be working 16 hours per week. I am less concerned about the specific skill that is required to do the job but worry more about how I will manage to make zero mistakes when I only have less than 5 hours of sleep per day. It may sound funny but for some reasons I find it hard to articulate to people why I had chosen investment banking for my summer. Perhaps it's the challenge? the money? the desire to go to PE post-MBA? my curiosity? or a little bit of everything?


Then a document saved me. While I was going through some old folders on my laptop, I found this career leader report that was analyzed for us before we came to Haas. It was very interesting to re-read it since it gave me a logical answer to my previous question: I chose it because it's pretty consistent with my interest. My #1 interest is " Influence Through Language and Ideas" so the report suggests that " sales is a natural fit for you. Deal-oriented financial-services positions may also appeal strongly to you if you also have an interest and some skill in Quantitative Analysis" Who knows, I might end up enjoying the hectic IB job


For whatever reason you decided to try something new, don't assume what your experience will like beforehand. Embrace it with an open mind and I am sure you will be fine in the end

The land of smile, massage and Tuk-Tuk

My summer trip to Thailand marked many of my “firsts” traveling experiences: It’s the first time traveling with just guys and no girls; first time no accommodation booked prior to the trip; first time not having a plan where to go on a daily basis; first time traveling with people I barely know before the trip and first time time traveling with non-Asian.

Initially I wasn’t too worried about it and was convinced that whatever comes to me, I will be able to adopt and deal with it. However, as each day passes by, I began to feel a little uncomfortable about the lack of planning and common topic between the 3 of us. ( The only common topic was Haas and we sure didn't want to talk about it on vacation) I decided to just take it easy and tried not let those thoughts bother me. One of my mentor once told me " If you feel frustrated, remember to lower your standard. " Except the fact that I insisted we fly to Chiang Mai instead of taking an overnight train, I pretty much just went with the flow.

Thailand is a place full of color. From its temple to its food, even the taxi cabs are in many colors: Green, pink, yellow, blue.. We did the touristy stuff such as visited the Grand Palace in Bangkok, rode the elephants in Chiang Mai and spent an afternoon at the Maya Bay in Phuket. We also experienced the out-of-ordinary things such as getting nearly attacked by a group of monkey, a set of tailored suit and several shirts in a tailor shop recommended by Nok and traditional Thai breakfast at Nok's house.

Although there were compromises and surprises, it turned out that we got along pretty well and I had a good time. In the land of smile, massage and tuk-tuk ( an unique type of taxi), I learned that

1. I hate lonely plant tour books ( I am already 29, backpacking? please..)

2. I prefer to get up and do things instead of just relaxing on the beach all day long for 3 days?

3. American culture is more on the rough side as described by my travel buddy

Here are some pictures on the best of Thailand

The land of massage and tuk-tuks

Imperfection makes the beauty

The way I think about my MBA experience is one that you need to focus more on your inner self rather than pursuing outer achievements. In the real world, it's so easy to get into the habit of evaluating what you've gained through a set of achievements (promotion, bigger bonus, higher title , recognized company brand etc) rather than through understanding how the experience has changed you into a better or stronger person. I suspect that if one doesn't fully understand what has made him/her achieved his/her goals, it would be hard for him/her to replicate the success. In my view MBA (particularly the Haas environment ) is a perfect environment for you to think about how all the extra-curriculum activities, study group discussions, group projects, speaker series and lectures have changed you. After all, MBA is a life changing experience. If you cannot articulate how the experience has changed you, you haven't open yourself up

Recently I was involved in the Challenge 4 Charity cheerleading competition. Before our final practice, we were taking things very easy and slowly. Initially I was a little frustrated at how uncommitted people were towards the practices and was beginning to regret that I signed up for the competition. But in the end we pulled everything together and I had a great time. We put our 100% effort during our performance and that was all it takes to be good enough.

I learned that although practice makes perfect, perfect doesn't make you happy. Imperfection is what makes everything funny, cute and beautiful

Watch our funny/cute cheer leading on you tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJv39zg6P0

"We are here

It's clear

We are too good to stop

Charging in at full speed

Reaching to the top. Go Bears!"

Innovation and business

If you have the chance to browse through the recent business books there are many out there that talk about innovation. Innovation indeed has become a popular word in today's business world. However, a very famous retired marketing professor, David Aaker , recently gave a speech on innovation. He said "Innovation without branding reduces its potential business impact." His whole idea was that once you brand your innovation/technology, it won't matter if the competitor comes with a copy because you own it. In other words, branding allows the company to own the innovation. For example, Apple cannot claim they own the MP3 technology but they can certainly say that they own iPod (imagine what would happen if Apple did not brand this user-friendly MP3 player!) So here is the bottom line is: Competitor can copy the technology in a relatively short period of time but not the brand. Aaker's speech has led me to explore further the relationship between innovation and impact on business. The question I have in my mind is: How does innovation impact the way company does its business? As my marketing professor, Rashi Glazer, have once said: Innovative technology might have provided new solutions to the customer but it has not changed the fundamental business question: What is the core benefit that your innovative technology is providing to the customer? What problem are you trying to help the customer solve with your new technology?

Once again, I am convinced that technology is not the answer to the business question, the passion to improve human being's life is.

Peru

Despite all the drama happened during our Peru trip ( connecting flight was cancelled, luggage was lost between LA and Lima. Wendy's serious fever, problems with the returning flight..) the Peru trip was amazing. The country itself is a mess but I am sure no tourist will mind. We visited three major cities in total: Lima, Cusco and Puno, each has its own uniqueness:

Lama: We did not have much time exploring Lima but my impression is that it's a typical country capital where the most wealthy people live. It's a city where you need the locals to show you around or else you'll get ripped off.

Cusco: The city is just beautiful and lively. It is said that during recent years, driven by Peruvian and foreign citizens, Cusco has began to host many fusion and neo-andean food places where traditional andean taste is found fusioned with modern techniques and ingredients, delivering a very innovative, exciting and trendy cuisine. One night we visited a trendy bar Los Perros where I swear I had the best sandwich and potato dish in my life. Another aspect that made visiting Cusco particularity exciting was that it sits at a daunting altitude of 3,400 meter. I remember the first day I was there I had to constantly remind myself not to walk too fast because it was so hard to catch my breath. During our 3 nights there, we stayed at a cozy hotel Cusco plaza , which is only 3 minutes away from the Plaza de Armas (the city central). Because the hotel location was so close to the most popular restaurants, every night after dinner we'd walk back to the hotel while enjoying the charming and dynamic nightlife of the city.

Puno: I have to admit I was a bit disappointed about the city, especially after we have experienced the beauty of Cusco (Not to mention our tour guide could barely speak English) Tourists visit Puno to see lake titicaca (pronounced ti-ti-ha-ha). As I had expected before the trip, it was nice to see things other than Inca ruins for a change. I particularly enjoyed the tranquil islands and the lake. The tour guide insisted that the lake resembles the shape of a puma even though it was obvious that it dif not. He said " Here in Peru, you have to use your imagination." I am an impatient person who usually pays very little attention to tour guides. His words, however, caught my attention. In the real world, people tend to only search for the truth. But I believe that those who are truly successful are the ones who imagines. They take challenges well because they can imagine themselves succeeding the daunting tasks. More importantly, they use imagination to create the self they want.

Last but not the least, there are so many moments that made the Peru trip memorable: The surprisingly good Purvian cafe au lait, playing "raise your hand if you have.." beer game, singing silly songs on the road trip to Pisac, fighting to eat before the food is all gone, indulge myself in the gorgeous Andes landscape and petting the adorable llamas.

Whenever the going gets tough, I imagine I have never left Peru.

Peru

Peru, Berkeley Solution Group and Asia Business Conference

Ever since I accepted my summer internship offer, I have become even less reluctant to study for my classes. I am a strong believer that the best way to learn in an MBA program is to get yourself involved. This is why I've been spending most of my time with extra-curriculum activities in the first half of the spring semester:

Plan a Peru trip for 13 people for the upcoming spring break, Lead consulting projects for the Berkeley Solution Group and market the Asia Business Conference. When I signed up to take these responsibilities, I did not know how much effort I need to put in nor did I know what challenges or frustrations I will encounter. However, I was confident that I will overcome them as they come to me. Plan a Peru trip: This started as just a couple of us who wanted to take advantage of Peru's no Visa requirement for Taiwanese passport holders. But as the words got out, more and more people wanted to join and we actually had to put a limit on the number people for the trip. All I can say is that planning for 4 people was VERY different from planning for 13 people. In the beginning I sent out weekly updates to get people's feedbacks on the itinerary, but the response rate was very low as people were busy with recruiting. It turned out my biggest challenge was to decide what decisions I should make on my own vs. letting people voice their opinion. While it's good to let everyone have a say, a leader has to take a stance and make wise decisions when people have no/different views. (And they almost always will have different, even conflicting, views!) I am glad that in the end we settled something that looks extremely exciting and within our budget

Lead consulting projects for the Berkeley Solution Group (BSG): Having been on the working team side (us) of consulting projects, I joined the BSG to get experiences on the partner side (them) . I took the lead on a market sizing/assessing market opportunity project for a small online distributor even though I had a gut feeling that the client will be demanding. It turned out that not only was he challenging us a lot, he was also quite controlling and condescending. Managing people of this type takes much energy/patience and time--No wonder partners gets compensated so much. Despite the frustration of dealing with him, I learned something valuable from him as well : As a partner ( a.k.a. a sales person), never start sentence with a no when speaking to the client. We can say no to our colleagues, parents, boyfriends, classmates but never to a client. I have a feeling that this project is not going to be an easy ride but it will definitely help me expose to a broader spectrum of business people

VP of the marketing for the Asia Business Conference: The Berkeley Asia Business Conference is an annual, full-day event organized and initiated by Haas MBA students. This event aims to bring together business professionals, entrepreneurs and students to discuss and exchange ideas on current Asia business topics. The theme for this year was " Global ambition, local transformation." In the beginning I was pretty confused about how I should market the event without knowing who our panelists/keynote speakers will be and what they will be talking about (ambiguity hinders me from taking actions) Furthermore, I did not know what was the best way to reach our target audience (which we broadly defined as any who is interested in learning about the latest trends in Asia) and what was the best way to reach them. In the end we did a lot of "grassroots" marketing: posting on facebook, MBAA alert, campus wide career service, newspaper ads on Daily Californian, Alumni calendar, professional networks, personal emails to the evening and weekend MBA, SF Craigslist, and flyers around the campus. Postcards in people's mailbox...you name it. Surprisingly, we were able to get 175 registrations ( a 75% increase from last year!) thanks to everyone's effort in spreading the words.. (Internet and email rocks) Throughout the process I felt there were many improvement areas but the key learning was be organized> be inspiring/excited > be flexible Not the other way around.

Cold call

Cold call is a very commonly tool used by "enthusiastic" professors who want to make sure that students are paying attention in class. This semester, our macro professor is one of those enthusiastic professors. No matter how good you think you are in macroeconomics, at some point you will be cold called with absolutely no clue what to say. I am always amazed at how creative my classmates can get when this happens to them. Here are some of my very favorites:

Professor Ross "So why can we assume a fixed interest rate in the Mundell-Fleming model?"
Spaced out Student "Because the interest rate is fixed?"

Professor Ross "How does the Fed decrease the money supply?"
Confused student "By taking money out of the money supply."

Professor Ross " Does anyone know why Zimbabwe is experiencing a hyper-inflation?"
Clever student who is trying to buy time " Well..it's my pleasure to be here and thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer this question.."

The lesson I learned is that when you have absolutely no idea what to say under a rather stressful environment, why not try a little humor?

Why Haas?

I got asked this questions many times. It's a fair question since 2 years is indeed a lot of commitment both in terms of time and money. Here is my honest answer:

What made the choice easier for me was that McKinsey sponsored my study with the right/obligation to work for them for 2 years after I graduate. As such, I did not to worry too much about financing my MBA. My motivation for obtaining an MBA was driven more by the desire to explore things. I wanted a diverse yet rather laid-back environment as oppose to programs that focus primarily on a particular area such as finance or marketing. In short, I viewed my business school more of an opportunity to find out more about myself rather than making a career switch like many of my classmates.

So far I am very satisfied with my choice as Haas is indeed a very diverse school. More people want to go to management consulting or corporate strategy for the big tech companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon , EBay, Microsoft etc but non-profit, corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship attracts almost as much attention. I really enjoy being surrounded in this environment because I got to explore different things before I decided I want to focus on finance/investment banking. And that's exactly what I did during fall A: I went to company presentations/career treks, joined a variety of clubs, participated different types of case competitions and talked to many 2nd years about their summer experience. In the process of searching what I wanted, I came to understand more about myself. I found myself more result-oriented, structured, practical, risk-adverse, driven and hardworking than some of my classmates. Therefore I decided perhaps I could try investment banking as my summer as it requires the characteristics I mentioned above. After a month of interviewing, I was fortunate to receive a summer offer from a prestigeous invement bank even though Haas is not preceived as a strong finance school as some other programs.

My conclusion? Haas is an ideal place for people who are not sure what they wanted to do after business school as it provides a tremendous amount of options and opportunities. (Esp. if you want to stay in the Silicon Valley after MBA) However, it's up to you to explore where you will find fit and then do the very best you can to get it. A very wise ex-colleague of mine told me that no one else's definition of success matters. Haas is the ideal place for you to define your own success.

Summer internship

For the past month, I've been pretty occupied in securing a summer internship. I apologize for my late responses in the inquires that my blog readers has sent me through my emails. If I have not gotten back to you, please email me again

So what's new in the spring semester? Not much actually. First of all, the social activities have significantly reduced as most of us are busy dropping resumes, practicing consulting cases and going for interviews. Everyday there are people dressed in suit and tie. There is a mix of frustration, hope and relieved among the small community. The “Any good news so far?" can became a pretty sensitive topic... Second of all, pretty much everyone is "settled in" with their group of friends, not to mentioned some have found a steady partner at Haas (or outside of Haas..)

Out of all the summer internships, investment banking recruits the earliest. By now most of us have either secured an offer or need to quickly move to plan B. Next are the consulting firms. Since most people have interview invitations with more than 3 firms, each firm has 2-3 rounds; the process can be pretty painful and long. The feedback I've heard from some people is that McKinsey interview tends to be tougher than BCG or Bain's since the McK consultants take more control of the case and constantly challenge your answers/questions. Nevertheless, so far we have 4 McKinsey summer offers, 4 BCG offers. The last type, which is on-going, is the industry corporate recruits. I heard from my classmates that these interviews require a significant time of preparation since these companies tend to ask company-specific questions to gauge your interest in working for them (eg. Which company product does you like the best? If you could change one thing about our product xxx, what would it be? )

Having gone through so many investment banking interviews and speaking to my classmates, here is my perspective on three most important success key factors in landing a summer internship:

• Know and be able to convey clearly why you want to do the job your are interviewing for. The interviewer wants to know your motivation
• Show your enthusiasm for the job. How? 1. Know the job well. 2. Know what ability is required to perform the job well and 3. be able to convince your interviewer that you can bring value to the job from day one
• Focus on the interview process, not the actual result. I believe one reaches his/her maximum potential when they are driven by excitement ( of the process) , rather than fear (of the end result, i.e. failure)

The worst and best of the Haas first semester experience

The best Haas experiences from the words of my closer classmates:

• People, people, and people. People are the most valuable asset that differentiates Haas different from the other top schools. They are smart, incredibly intelligent yet very humble, down to earth, friendly, fun to be with and extremely helpful


• Dinner with my study group. We have a really diverse, yet supportive team. We get along really well, in fact, I feel pretty close to them already. Academically, we were very efficient, and I think for all of us, our grades were better as a whole than as individuals

• The extremely diversified environment: From digital media’s >play conference to the biggest finance conference in the west coast. From the Young Entrepreneur At Hass program (YEAH) where you get to listen to the kids from middle school telling you what they learned about teamwork, leadership, etc in their own words to representing Haas competing with Wharton, Chicago on a deal restructuring case competition. From participating the apple case competition to receiving my investment banking fellowship award. There is so much opportunity for one to freely explore


• The wild parties: : San Francisco Scavenger Hunt , the Hamptons party after the fall A finals celebration, the Halloween party, the walk-off and the Indian consumption function..

• Great core classes: Marketing, accounting and communications
  

To be fair, I’ve also asked them to share what they thought were the worst Haas experiences:

• Getting an email on a Saturday about a 3-hour make-up class on Tuesday. (After all, we are a pretty chilled group!)


• The food in Haas café (I’ve started to bring my own sandwich about half way into the fall semester. However, I have to say they do have pretty good fries)


• Sitting in the leadership class (This is probably the most controversial fall class. People have complained that we don’t learn much by listening to professors that aren’t even inspiring leaders themselves, content overlapping with the Organizational Behavior class and not getting enough support to analyze our 360 degree leadership feedback. To me, I think leadership is more a mindset rather than a capability issue. As such, there is a limit as to how much one can teach about leadership. Of course good leaders need to be capable, but I deeply believe the really great leaders are the ones that have the “servant”, “humanity” and “inspiring” mindset and not necessarily always the most capable)

Marketing is getting what you want

In the last marketing class, Rashi said to us " Marketing is the most important class you will ever learn in business school because it is really about getting what you want in your life" He then showed us a chart with three circles on it: Company (that’s you), Customer (What you want) and Competitors (obstacles). Just like any company who is trying to maximize its market share by attracting more customers. You, as an individual’s, should always market yourself in a way so you can get what you want in from life. To do so, you need to answer the 4W's :

• Who ( You and the customer): you and your goal
  
• What (Product and price): your characteristics, capabilities , background, looks etc


• When, Where and how (distribution): know the right time and go to the right person


• Why (Communication): your pitch, story

Earlier I have posted a survey to get feedback from my readers on what they think is the core of marketing. The answer is value proposition (30% got it right!). What is value proposition? It sounds like this fluffy, big word that only marketers can understand. Rashi defined value proposition as benefit minus price. In order to increase your value proposition, you either lower your price by cutting cost or you increase your product benefit. What’s more sustainable and less likely to be replicated by your competitor? Increase your product benefit!! Why? Imagine you are after a girl and you have a competitor, say Mr. Nice. Mr. Nice’s value proposition to the girl is “I am neither smarter nor more charming (limited benefit) but I have very low expectations: As long as you are willing to be my girlfriend, I don’t care if I am the last on your priority list (low acquisition cost).” Unless the girl doesn’t care about the quality of her love life (go for price over quality), Mr. Nice will never get the girl. Get the picture?

So How can one increase your the "benefit"? Differntiate your self: Seek opportunities that will help you develop what makes you special and different.