The New Labor Stats and Lessons for Leaders

Today’s slumping economy is haunting millions of Americans. Veterans of the workforce fear being let go and never finding a job again. Middle age employees worry about supporting their families and maintaining their careers. And students in both business and law schools are trying to understand what's going on and adapt in order to find stable jobs upon graduation.

With these thoughts at the front of everyone's mind at the turn of the New Year, the Labor Department (DOL) just reported yesterday that 85,000 jobs were lost in December. This came as a pretty big surprise to economists who, after analyzing the net gain of 5,000 jobs in November, suspected that December would repeat the trend. And what’s worse is that reported numbers also show that more than 660,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force last month, meaning that the actual unemployment rate closer to ~10.5% instead of ~10.0%.

Although this change in calculation increases the unemployment rate to a near all-time high percentage, the bigger issue might be the fact that people are starting to drop out of the workforce, suggesting higher levels of pessimism than in 2009 and lower levels of hope than ever before. But if you think about it, this certainly makes a lot of sense. Many people have been closing in on a year out of work. And for the past twelve months, I've consistently heard so many people say that they have never seen things as bad as they are now.

Under this bright spotlight, America's leaders now have to juggle crisis management, media and investor relations, new firm strategy, and most difficult of all, the horrifying, daunting, and ambiguous task of communicating to its people what’s going on and where they are headed. Inherent in this task is the fact that the people are vulnerable and that many will become upset, angry, uncertain, and doubtful of whatever a leader might say. So while public leadership is something that has always hard, today it has become a near impossible challenge.

To be successful, the ability to communicate effectively will be critical. And going forward, modern leadership will less about the actual result than it is about inspiring others and building consensus. To do that, leaders will have to deeply relate to the issues of the people and also be able to deliver a compelling message. In times past, executives have overlooked this ability in favor of making quick decision and analyzing financial impact. But this method of leadership will not work today. Instead leaders will have to be more connected with people and be more conscious of how they make people feel and how they will impact their situations. And so the very best leaders will be those who not only analyze issues and make decisions but those who also understand that what matters even more is how you make others feel in the process.

To quickly clarify, actions always speak louder than words and leaders will also have to focus on achieving financial and operational results in the long run. This is the only way any organization can survive. But in times of panic and adversity and in ambiguous times where the people are calling for a leader, focusing on optimism and communication is a key first step. So today, the leaders that emerge will be those who are good storytellers. They will craft a story, tell that story to the people, and then inspire them with hope about how things can be going forward.

In the days to come President Obama (and CEOs of many companies) will embark on this very task. Though fiscal strategy and economic theory will be of critical importance in solving the issues, I hope that he reflects back to when he first became president and that he chooses talk more about his hope to rebuild the economy and create jobs than he does pure strategy.

In the end, how he frames and communicates these issues will determine his success.

Reflecting On The Economic Challenges Of 2009

2009 was an interesting year. I left my consulting job in the spring after finally deciding to return to business school and law school. And what timing! The financial crisis had just struck and the fear of recession left all of the business world scrambling. At the same Barack Obama had just made political and legal history with his historic presidential election. I was pretty excited at the chance to study these economic and political events, especially since I'd be enrolling in a JD-MBA program. But it became hard to remain so excited as I watched layoffs, bankruptcies, and unemployment begin to take over the economy.

Ever since the past summer, I’ve tried to keep up with the news, chat with my classmates, and solicit perspectives from industry professionals trying figure out exactly what’s going on. To be honest, I'm still not 100% certain, maybe not even 50% certain of everything that's happening. as I'm by no means an expert on economic or labor issues. But I suspect that one's viewpoint is tied to his experience in the labor market, and sometimes it can be hard to see outside of that perspective. For example, I had a discussion with a classmate from the investment banking industry (economics defines this as skilled labor) during the first week of class. We were discussing how recruiting was supposed to be down 40% - 50% this year, and his perspective was that everyone should really embrace the situation. That hard times create new opportunities, give new learning experiences, and spawn new ideas and companies. In a second conversation, I talked with a family member who works in a position that earns an hourly wage (economics defines this as unskilled labor) and his employer had cut back his hours. Because of his situation, he empathized a lot more with those who were unemployed, and he suspects that the recovery will be a longer and a more difficult process, and that speeding it up requires a more of a collaborative effort to help people to find jobs. I think both perspectives are pretty valid.

But whether or not you agree with either perspective, the common denominator is that we are in pretty tough times now and that recovery will depend both on a collaborative effort and a willingness to consider new opportunities to solve the problem. Until now, MBAs have been contributing to the recovery mostly by forecasting unemployment rates, analyzing spending patterns, and predicting the market turnaround. And JDs have been looking at similar issues, but focusing on finding ways to use their technical skills with the law and policy skills to create change. My opinion--for what it's worth--is that given certain structural problems in the modern economy, many of these financial and legal tactics may do nothing more than to cover the wound, rather than address the bigger cultural issues that in recent history have influenced our levels of consumption, debt, and greed.

If business and law schools want to continue to play a role in the recovery, they should reflect on how these issues fit into the country's top priorities. Over the last few decades, MBAs have flocked to the finance industry and law school graduates to corporate law (a field that works directly with the finance industry) both lured by six-figure salaries that are 3x the average wage. In return, these smart graduates have worked in roles that emphasize getting things done over learning, charge excessive rates for services, and structure deals to maximize profit. And because there was so much profit, other industries looked up to the industry and soon followed suit.

This mentality eventually made its way into the mortgage industry, and needless to say, as soon as its companies began to offer credit, Americans began to borrow. A lot. They applied for new lines of credit, bought new homes and cars, and got big screen tvs and went on vacations. Unfortunately, this era of growth was artificial. In the end, people overextended themselves financially, and eventually found themselves in too deep once the economy slowed. In November, the media and administration became optimistic again and claimed that we were rebounding from the crisis and that jobs would be back in no time. I'm not so sure I agree. There are far too many people out of work now, and the average length of unemployment is closing in on a year in some locations, a number will stay on the rise given the decreasing number of jobs.

One thing I've learned in the past two years watching much of this unfold is that one of the most important resource a company has in the long-term is still its people. And that resource needs to be prioritized right alongside profitability. This is true especially in challenging times because even when profits and the stock market are down, the stock of a company's employees can be up. People can collaborate to come up with new ideas, they help a company adapt and change with the markets, they advance technology and promote innovation, and they work together to accomplish more than their individual capabilities. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans aren’t afforded the training or education to fine tune their management or critical thinking skills, so they end up in lower paying jobs, can’t save their money, remain in deep debt, and can't positively impact the economy, while only a minority of Americans at the top thrive. Not only is this socially troubling but in the long run it's also economically less productive and has contributed to the state of affairs we're in today.

My thought is that the Obama administration agrees, which is why the president wants to focus more on education and training and make decisions based on longer-term public investment. In his view, the economy does best when all Americans have the chance to increase in skill and contribute to the market. Many people agree with him ideologically but many also object because of the costs and the up front time investment. Obama is also working with companies to adjust compensation plans to make them more fair and to reduce layoffs in the workforce, both of which are controversial with economists. Maybe his strategy stems from the idealism that comes along with being trained as a lawyer. Or perhaps it’s easier for him to think that broadly since he’s not feeling the pressure of a collapsing industry on his shoulders. Perhaps it’s also because his shareholders are comprised of the broader population, and not investors, so his policy incentives are different. Who knows? But the interesting part to me is that both the policy (JD) and economic (MBA) perspectives seem critical in analyzing economic recovery.

And so both MBAs and JDs can play a major role in helping save the economy. As MBAs continue to look for profitable deals, invest in companies, and architect executive pay plans, they are also called to leverage profits to create jobs, use investments to steer innovation, and think more broadly about human capital and not just executives. Similarly, lawyers also have dual obligations. And instead of simply relying on facts and mitigation of risk to make decisions, lawyers must think more critically about the issues. They need to weigh the economic issues with the resulting social issues, think about how those issues affect a broader range of people, anticipate a wider range of possible outcomes, and then balance risk with those outcomes to come up with new policy plans.

Easier said than done? Perhaps. Brokering a balance between profit and social value, when there are diverse points of view and competing agendas is rarely easy. To lead America down that path requires leaders who are not afraid of change and who deeply believe that social values are just as important as economic value. I suspect that given our economy, more people will be open to change and aware of social values than ever before.

Personally, the recession has certainly forced me to reflect on change. Having old colleagues, friends, and family members affected by the market has made me more empathetic to those still in the workforce, especially those who don't have education as a buffer. Society should also take time to do some reflecting. And perhaps in 2010, society will decide that instead of focusing so much on pricing strategies and stock market gains, it will also start to focus on creating opportunities for education, promoting generosity in the midst of competition, and maximizing human potential, and not just profits. Because in the long-run, perhaps these will make for more stable economy. Business schools and law schools should welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of this change.

* Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think

Happy New Year

Hey all, I wanted to write to say happy new year and thanks for following my blog in 2009. It's definitely been great getting all the comments and emails, I hope that the trend continues in 2010. Given that we are already in the new year, that means that our first day in class is lingering. I just got back into Chicago a couple of days ago, and am getting ready to begin school in two days. I'm looking forward to the second semester and I suspect I'll be posting quite a bit over the next few weeks.

Also, given the new year, I've recently noticed that there's a lot of talk going on about whether the end of 2009 was the end of the decade or if that's not until 2010. I'm not sure what the technical answer is, but either way, the Harvard Business Review (MBA leadership blog) did happen to post a couple of interesting (and short) articles on business issues over the last decade if you're interested. I've also posted an article on the Top Ten Business School Stories in 2009 by BusinessWeek, which is a pretty good read. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything similar for law schools.

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Title: “A Better Decade Of Business Is Coming”
Author: Gill Corkindale
Source: Harvard Business Review

Title: “The Decade in Management Ideas”
Author: Julia Kirby
Source: Harvard Business Review

Title: “Top Ten Business School Stories of 2009"
Author: Alison Damast and Geoff Gloeckler
Source: BusinessWeek

One Key to Law/Business School--Manage Your Energy and Not Your Time

Here at Northwestern Law, we just finished finals yesterday. It was definitely a grueling process, but I think things ultimately turned out pretty well. And even though we only finished yesterday, I've already been reflecting a bit on my first semester.

One thing I've learned in the past three months is that the first year of law school is a lot about discipline. Students spend most of the day in class and evenings in the library or other study space reading and prepping for class. But this past semester there came a point for all of us where increased discipline didn’t help--cases were too long, material got harder, our energy levels were low.

The same was true when I worked in the consulting world before school. The further anyone made it up the career ladder, the more demanding the work became. While in some cases, people can cope by being more resourceful and persuasive--which was usually my strategy--most people cope by putting in longer hours. At law school, this translates into spending more time studying and less time on other activities--exercising, friendships, and relationships. Over at Kellogg things aren’t much different, except that student schedules are jam-packed, just with networking events, socials, and team projects rather than case books.

Here at Northwestern Law, older students talk a lot about studying smart rather than hard, in hopes to get some of that time back. For some that means not actually studying until the end of the semester; for others it means reading every day to avoid pileups during the semester; for others it means not preparing for in-class discussions but instead studying for the final from day one. People spend a lot of time strategizing about how they can optimize time.

Based on my experience in my first semester of law school, I think there is similar value to strategizing about your energy level. For example, thinking about how you use social sites like Facebook, email, and g-chat might help control your mental energy or concentration levels while you're working. Taking part in activities that have meaning or give you a sense of purpose can also affect your energy, though prioritizing which activities qualify is can be a difficult process. Additionally, getting involved in activities relatd to your future career goals can give you quite a bit of energy, since these tend to be the things that you are passionate it about. And it goes without saying that investing time in friendships and relationships can be either a drain or refill to your energy, usually the latter. For me, I spent a lot of time thinking about all three of these during the first semester, as I met a lot of new friends here at school and as I put quite a bit of time thinking about professional activities. Conversely, I didn't spend much time thinking about technology, though I know quite a few people who did. Overall, I think my strategy worked out pretty well. Although I had my ups and downs in energy like everyone else, and was not at my best during mid-term week, I was able to maintain pretty high energy levels all semester and peaked right at the end of the year.

In a 2006 study, a group of Fortune 500 companies underwent a test where part of the group underwent self-management and energy management training. The study compared the results of the test group of companies against a control group of companies that did not. Using company-specific financial metrics (such as revenue, employee productivity, relationship management) to compare the two groups, the study showed that the organizations that invested more time in these activities were more profitable over time.

Personally, I like to think track and field runners as a good example of this concept, where top runners are not only aggressive in their training routines but also focused on managing their energy level. Through a long season of running hundreds of a miles, runners must eat the right foods, consume the right number of calories, keep stress levels reduced, and get a lot of rest right before competitions, all in addition to getting faster and eventually peaking at the end of the year.

Similarly, I think both students and professionals might be better off by spending a bit more time managing their energy levels.

Achievement

Moving into the first week of October, "Achievement" seems to be a big theme for lots of people I know. It's specifically relevant for those who are either in graduate school or who are applying to graduate school this fall. Just two days ago, I met a future applicant to Northwestern Law, and I stopped and chatted with him for about 25 minutes to give him a few pointers on how to stand out in his application and how to talk about his past achievements in his personal statement. Yesterday, a buddy of mine asked me to review some essays for HBS, including their staple essay "What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such?" Like the gentleman applying to law school, he also wanted help quantifying his past achievements. And just today, I met with a JD-MBA prospect at Northwestern. I chatted with him for over an hour about his application, and he told me about some of the things he had achieved since graduating back in 2005. He's gearing up to submit his JD-MBA application on 10/15.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about my own achievements recently. Having recently returned to the life of a student again, it's hard not to wonder what type of grades I'll get, what types of jobs I'll have over the next few years, and ultimately what I'll be doing many years from now. Every day, I'm working to achieve as much as possible. Doing so, I can't help but think a lot about my classmates who are going through the same process. Northwestern Law has a lot of sharp kids, and it's pretty clear that many of them will achieve a lot in their careers. My entire section spends a lot of time in the library, and as a whole everyone seems pretty motivated. I have one friend in particular who I chat with quite a bit. She has as much discipline as anyone I know in the class. She has a 5am early morning study schedule, a laser focus on getting good grades, an ability to block out all the social chaos that comes with law school, and a commitment to doing what it takes to get a great job upon graduation. I am pretty impressed, and I have no doubt that she'll do really well and achieve everything she's hoping to.

My point is that thinking about your achievements is something that successful people do for a large part of their lives. It's inevitable. Although it seems a bit counterintuitive in environments like Northwestern, where the culture is overwhelmingly team-based and where most people come to leave their egos at the door, Northwestern is no exception to the rule. People here think and talk all the time about what they want to individually achieve.

I remember almost 12 months ago when I first began thinking about my achievements. I had just begun my business school applications. My first step after narrowing down the schools I wanted to apply to was thinking long and hard about every single one of my accomplishments. I was forced brainstorm all my major things I'd done in my life, decide which ones were most important to me, analyze which ones had the broadest impact, quantify how each one impacted the people and organizations around me, and finally sum up all the things I learned from the experiences. I took the process pretty seriously, especially in a year full of b-school applicants, and it took months to organize all my thoughts. But this process really paid off, and I recommend all current applicants do the same. I'll tell you why.

Conventional wisdom says that your past performance (i.e. achievements) is the best indicator of future performance. The theory is that if you've achieved a lot in the past, than you're more likely to do so in the future. Graduate schools bank on this fact when they're making admissions decisions, especially MBA programs . For example, if you've done well in a relevant job, earned good grades in a relevant major, and received strong reviews in a competitive work environment, then odds are you're more likely to be better prepared to do well in graduate school and eventually in the workforce again.

But this concept doesn't just apply to admissions, it also applies to job searching. Right now, all of my business school counterparts at Kellogg are currently re-thinking through their accomplishments, as they're starting the recruiting process. They're being asked questions such as What was your role at your last job? What have accomplished so far in school? What did you do as club president? and Why should we hire you? The number of behavioral questions can be really challenging, and during an interview you don't have time to think about your response and you don't have the leeway to improvise on the spot. You've got to come prepared to talk. And if you can do that well, then you'll probably do quite well in the interview. But don't be fooled, once my classmates get a job, it doesn't end there. They'll still be doing the same after school when they're interviewing for their second and third jobs and when they're marketing their companies, offering their services to clients, running political campaigns, and going through performance reviews.

Ultimately, what I've learned since starting my application process more than 15 months ago is that being successful necessitates a very high level of reflection on past achievements. It requires being self aware and understanding how your environments effect your ability to succeed at the same levels you have experienced before. In my own experience, the more I've thought about my experiences ahead of time, the better off I've been. I believe that the best leaders reflect on past experiences all the time. This is why they so often have compelling stories, a grand vision for the future, and are able to achieve seemingly impossible results. And in the end, their reflection gives them an arsenal to draw on not only to achieve a high level of success but to help others do the same.

MBTI Type, Careers, and Leadership

Having started a JD-MBA program this year and having just got back from the NBMBAA Career Fair over the weekend, I've recently been thinking a lot about career goals and trying to get a sense of which way I should be headed, especially given that two sets of career options will be open. I've thought a lot about consulting, law, and finance as well as some other non traditional career paths, such as becoming an entrepreneur or going into some kind of public service. A lot of people in both business and law school have trouble defining what kind of work they want to do or what field appeals to them. Many of us choose jobs or fields based on the prestige level or future earnings potential, but we quickly find out that the industry is not a good fit or we quickly burn out. I think that understanding your personality type can be helpful for analyzing what may or may not work for you.

As part of my first year of law school, the incoming class took an MBTI test. I suspect I'll also take one next year at the business school. If you don't know much about it, the MBTI test talks about your personality and designates you with a 4-letter code across 4 categories. Here are the basics of the 4 categories:

Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).

Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).

Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).

Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Statistically, lawyers (and law students) are slightly more likely to be introverts than extroverts. They also tend to be intuitive more than sensing, thinking to feeling, and judging to perceiving. The irony for me, is that I only align with lawyers on 1 out of 4 (Intuitive). I am curious to see how my type stacks up in business school. I suspect that more kids in business school will be "E" but that I'll still be a bit different in terms of the other categories. I think in general, business students tend to be more sensing and judging, as they rely more on logic and firm decisions than they do on intuition or on the human element. That said, I think there's a place for all sorts of leaders in both the business and legal communities.

Aside from career preferences, MBTI type is also a great tool to use to start thinking about your professional leadership style, which ultimately may be more important to your long-term success. Leading at a consulting firm, a bank, a law firm, or a public service enterprise is not about performing tasks or giving orders to employees. Rather it’s about working with and through employees at various levels of performance and various levels in the firm hierarchy. It's about maneuvering a group of peers who may question your decisions and even your position in the organization.

To do this well, leaders must be both self-aware and empathetic ..... understanding their own moods, motivations, and tendencies, and recognizing and appreciating those of others. The MBTI test helps you understand how people take in and act upon information. If you can understand your preferences and others', then you can reach a broader audience, communicate in a way that others find compelling, and inspire them to act.

As I embark on my leadership journey, I plan to try to keep my type in the back of my mind as well as become more adept at interpreting the preferences of others around me. Here is a little more about my type.

My Type
ENFP

Designation
ENFP is usually designated as "Inspirer," "Champion," or "Change Agent." I've always been an ENFP, and I really do think the description is spot on.

Description
"Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency." (Click Here For My Resource)

Leadership Style
"ENFPs are energetic and enthusiastic leaders who are likely to take charge when a new endeavor needs a visionary spokesperson. ENFPs are values-oriented people who become champions of causes and services relating to human needs and dreams. Their leadership style is one of soliciting and recognizing others' contributions and of evaluating the personal needs of their followers. ENFPs are often charismatic leaders who are able to help people see the possibilities beyond themselves and their current realities." (Click Here For My Resource).

My Comments
To me, the description of this type is spot on, especially the "recognizing patterns," "making connections," "using verbal fluency," and the focusing on the human element descriptions. Ironically, my MBTI seems to be better suited for an entrepreneur, public service professional, or politician than for a lawyer or business person. The good news is that I'm quite interested in all of those possibilities. The bad news is that despite my interest, there is a lot of pressure to come out of school a lawyer or business person upon graduation, at least for a few years. Not only do I have lots of loans to figure out how to pay off, but I also think that getting some solid legal and/or business experience at a top firm will be invaluable. I'm curious to see how everything plays out.

Korean Popstar In My Section And Diversity At Northwestern

So it seems like my section has a lot of the really interesting people this year. Turns out that in addition to the 19 year old I recently posted about, I also sit next to a Korean pop star. My section mate, who for now wishes to remain anonymous, graduated from Korea University in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in English literature, but since graduation she's been making a living by singing and performing in Asia. Ultimately, she chose to come to Northwestern Law to become an international human rights lawyer but also plans to continue performing after school. My classmate is a really great addition to the section, and we've already become library buddies during the first two weeks.

While having a Korean pop star in my section is certainly unique, I think the general notion of having varied professional and ethnic backgrounds is old news to Northwestern Law, statistically the most diverse law school in the world. It's also water under the bridge for top MBA programs, which constantly aim for as diverse classes as possible. In today's professional community, diversity is the standard, so schools are trying to reflect that in their learning environments. Schools not only welcome, but also embrace, a student body enriched by individuals of various nationalities, cultures, interests, and points of view.

Practically speaking, the core of our learning model in law school, the Socratic method, continually reinforces this notion. In the Socratic Method, students must continually demonstrate the ability to work across these boundaries. They must absorb multiple perspectives while articulating their own views. They must also demonstrate the ability to work with and through other people. The capacity to confront a wide variety of issues, both legal and non legal. And the facility to build consensus amidst a variety of competing opinions and perspectives. The diversity here at Northwestern makes it a great place to learn these critical professional skills.

Summer Pre-Law Program and My Intro to the Case Method

Ever since high school, I’ve always preferred energizing teachers who were entertaining and able to get me to pay attention for a full class. Unfortunately these teachers have been in the minority, even at Stanford, because many teachers focused on research more than on being an effective teacher. The good new is that business school and law school are quite different. Both have some pretty unique teaching methods to keep students engaged and participating in class (case method courses, learning team discussions, multimedia simulations, experiential learning courses, and interactive lectures).

King among these is the case method. The case method is a teaching approach that consists of presenting the students with a case putting them in the role of the decision-maker facing a problem. While some schools employ this more than others (for example Harvard Business School and The University of Virginia Darden), many schools do make use of it, and it's hard to debate that the case method is best at keeping you attentive in class.

In a case discussion, students are forced to constantly pay attention to what's being said, to continually integrate everything as the class moves forward, to synthesize 4 hours of reading the night before, and to think one-step ahead of the discussion. You do this all while being prepared to jump into the conversation and provide relevant, timely, and insightful comments. This is a complete 180-degree turn from my time at Stanford, where many of my classes were often about professors dumping thousands of facts into my head.

Most people think the case method exists only in business school, but that's not true at all. The case method, originally called the casebook method, has been around in law school longer than in business school. For a given class, a professor will assign several cases from the casebook to read, and the professor will ask students questions, pushing students to discuss legal rules and think critically about the ambiguous situations. As part of the experience, students discuss opposing viewpoints, and the professor will debate with students by asking and answering questions (i.e. Socratic Method). This is all done to stimulate thinking, empower students to come up with ideas, and illustrate concepts and theories.

Just last week, I experienced this in my Summer Law Prep Program at Northwestern. The summer prep program is for incoming first year students who want to get a head start on law school before classes actually begin. The program received applications from most of the incoming Northwestern class, and they selected 30 or so participants. We spent the full day, from 9:00am to 4:30pm, taking classes, listening to panels, reading legal cases, and participating in case discussions. During the week we learned from various members of Northwestern Law's faculty, met with current students, and visited attorneys at the sponsoring law firm based in Chicago. Just this past Wednesday, this law firm was gracious enough to host us at their offices and provide us with a nice meal and chat with us about working in the legal industry.

For me, the program really helped illuminate what it really takes to do well in case discussions. I also noticed how the case discussion at the law school is different from the case discussions in business school. In law school, the discussions tend be a bit more focused than b-school discussions. Also, law students tend to focus on the minute details of a case, whereas MBAs are more interested in the broader implications of the case. Additionally, in law school the cases are shorter, more technical, and care more about building consensus, whereas business school cases often extend for an entire class, are more cross-functional in nature, and value the individual perspectives of the people.

That said, the one similarity I found is that for the truly engaged participant, the case method can help to refine your professional leadership style. Think about it for a second. Just like working the real world, as a student you have to analyze a variety of difficult issues and engage in high-stakes discussions where the results that have complex economic and political effects. In preparation for the discussion before class, you have to uncover the issues at hand, develop supporting analysis, and come up with recommendations, all under time pressure and with limited information available. In the classroom, you must articulate your response in front of smart and sometimes critical classmates, most who have different perspectives than you and many whom you want to impress. These are the experiences business and legal leaders go through every day, and in a case discussion, you get the chance to practice that over and over again. I am excited to take these these types of courses at both business and law school. And I'm thankful to have a head start because of my summer program at Northwestern.

"Blink" and Business School

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, a book that draws psychology research to discuss the ways people make decisions. I think the topic is highly relevant to b-school students, since graduates spend their careers as managers and leaders who make important business decisions.

"Blink" is a book about the first two seconds, the instant conclusions that we reach about things that sometimes are accurate and occasionally far better than analysis. Gladwell contrasts these "blink" decisions with the longer decision-making process, where one observes the world, takes in information, analyzes the data, considers biases, formulates opinions, and then makes decisions.

Gladwell says that "we live in a society dedicated to the idea that we're always better off gathering as much information and spending as much time as possible in deliberation," but he contests that this is not always true and provides concrete examples to back that up.

Reading Blink as a pre-MBA student, I not only saw truth in Gladwell's theory, but I also saw the value that this framework also has in business, where decisions often tend to be too long and drawn out. I’ll discuss a few examples that came to mind as relevant to MBAs:

Admissions
If you’re an admissions officer and you’re judging the caliber of a b-school applicant, how much do you analyze the candidates grades, standardized test scores and company history, and how much do you trust your quick interpretations about their leadership potential, motivation, and promise in the classroom. These latter traits are often picked up right away in an application.

Academics
If you’re a professor quickly assessing a student, how much do you analyze past grades and previous test scores and how much do you consider the influence the student has in the classroom and your snap judgments about their ability? As a seasonsed professor you should be able to asses these latter characteristics quickly, right?

Company Interviews
If you’re an industry interviewer screening candidates at b-school, how much do you look for someone with industry expertise and quantifiable success over their pre-MBA career versus a career changer who you can immediately tell is motivated to learn and has the leadership potential to do well.

Consulting Interviews
If you’re a consulting recruiter looking to hire MBA candidates, how much do you analyze GMAT scres, finance and strategy courses, and the case study performance and how much do you trust your snap judgment about their client presence, charisma, and conversational intelligence, which happens in just a 30-minute interview.

Entrepreneurship
If you’re an entrepreneur, how much do you analyze the external marketplace using analysis and your 4Ps framework. Alternatively how much do you trust your instincts about consumers and your ability to sell? You usually know the answers to the latter issues right away.

Venture Capital
If you’re a VC firm looking to invest capital, how much do you analyze financial statements versus trusting your instinct about a promising product and a strong management team, which are often quickly apparent.

Performance Review
Finally, as an HR manager or line manager charged with rating, promoting, or compensating employees, how many days/weeks do you analyze performance metrics (i.e. HR actually does this) and how much do you consider determination, leadership skills, or potential to succeed in an organization. HR folks usually know these employee criticality levels right away.

Conclusion
Overall, I think I agree with Gladwell’s point, that the very best decision-makers, (in my case...business decision makers) are the ones who understand how to use both processes. While applying to business school, it is definitely important to allow admissions officers to use both types of decision making processes. Admissions will definitely make snap judgments about your writing style, leadership roles, and your pre-MBA work experience, so your must write your application with the big picture in mind, focus on the first two sentences of your essays, and ensure that recommenders quickly convey their points to keep admissions interested at a high level. At the same time, admissions also wants to see results, so it's important to provide a certain level of detail in your essays and on your resume. It's a tough balance that takes a lot of time and lots of revisions to optimize.

During school, students will have the opportunity to grow in both domains, taking both experiential and leadership classes as well as quantitative and analytical classes. The onus is on us students to determine the mix of classes we want. I personally hope to put a lot of time into experiential and leadership classes, but also know that there is a lot of value in the others as well. Rather than over analyze my schedule and class options ahead of time, I’ll probably make quick (i.e. “Blink’) decisions along the way based on what makes sense at the time.

A little about Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and MLT on CNN last week

Hey everyone! So, I want to take a few moments to write about my program Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). I've written about the program before, but I'm giving them a special shout out now because 1) I recently finished the MLT program this June and 2) because MLT was recently hosted on CNN’s Black in America series just last week. Check out a clip from the show using the link here.

I am definitely fortunate to have been part of MLT as an MBA applicant, the program is off the hook. Before I give my personal thoughts on it, here is a blurb from the website:

“MLT's MBA Prep prepares early-career professionals for admission to top MBA programs and to make successful post-MBA career transitions. Individual coaching, seminars led by admissions officers, relationship- and skill-building workshops, mentoring from alumni, and in-depth boot camps led by corporate partners are all part of this highly successful program."

My program took place over an 18-month period. In that time, I spent lots of time with my cohort, my individual coach, and my MLT friends, and together we visited campuses, interacted with current MBA students, reflected on personal goals, studied for the GMAT, wrote essays, and met with partner companies and admissions representatives. It was definitely a rigorous experience balancing the program with work, especially as a consultant, but it was well-worth when I got into a couple of really great schools and feel like I have a good head start to accelerate my career.

I just finished my MLT year in June, along with about 150 other fellows. The majority of the fellows got into one of their top choice programs---overall today there are over 500 total MBA Prep Alumni, 90+% get into one of their top three business school choices, and most attend top 10 business schools.

My cohort members were located in Boston and upper New York. There were about a dozen of us all from VERY different professional backgrounds and with very different professional interests. But the common denominator is that everyone is headed to great schools this fall, including Wharton, Booth (multiple), Kellogg (multiple), Tuck (multiple), Columbia, and others. We definitely had a lot of talented applicants.

In general, MLT has lots of kids going to these and other top schools this year. Additionally, MLT also sent a lot of kids to Kellogg this year, which I personally am excited about, it will be great to have a lot of friends down in Evanston.

If you are interested in MLT, you should definitely consider applying. Information sessions are happening all over the US in August for applicants who want to apply in 2010/2011 and graduate in 2013. Take a look at the website and see if any sessions are in your geography. Also, feel free to email me or post any questions about the program here on my blog.

Never Eat Alone

A former colleague recently recommended the book "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi. My colleague recently read the book, and he told me that my style and background reminded him a lot of Keith. I picked up the book about two weeks ago and just finished reading. It's definitely a good read and is very relevant for those in the MBA world.

In the book, Keith lays out the specific steps he uses to connect and stay in contact with others—friends, colleagues, family, and associates. He basically sees the world around him as a place that should be based on generosity, where he helps friends, helps people connect with each other, rather than networking for personal gain.

I enjoy his approaches and theories about networking and 100% agree with the emphasis he places on it. But whether or not you agree with his philosophies, I think the topic is very relevant for all of us MBA applicants/admits/students. In MBA programs, students’ schedules are jam packed 7 days a week--studying for class, practicing cases, attending speakers events, meeting with professors, planning student events, on trips with classmates, prepping for interviews, and attending networking events. We will all interact with thousands of different people in a 2-year span. And if you're on your game, this process begins well before we ever set foot in our first class.

As such, I think it’s important to think about what you want to get out of those interactions. Perhaps you want to run for a specific club leadership role or maybe student government. Perhaps, you want to meet everyone in a certain company or industry or maybe just find the right colleague who can prep us for a job interview. Perhaps you want to make sure you have a huge network after school or maybe even just have a really good time there. Maybe you want to do all of that. No matter what your goals are, making friends and contacts is an important part of school.

We don’t all have to be power networkers, but I think it’s important that we figure out how we want to balance our networking energies and schedules with everything else. And while most of us will have some preconceptions about our strategies going in, I suspect it will be a lot of learning as we go. One thing I do know though, is that once my program begins, I don’t plan on eating alone too many times.

Citibank and Leading with Your Heart

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a pre-MBA boot camp event hosted by Citigroup in New York. It was the capstone event that finished off my yearlong process with MLT. I spent one of the mornings with Citigroup's subsidiary Citi Cards and was fortunate to hear 40-year old CEO Paul Galant give a talk. Boy was he sharp. There were about 100 of us there, and Paul thrived in front of the crowd. He talked lot of about leadership and the turbulent times in the financial services industry. His style was charismatic and sincere, and he often referenced the idea getting through to the "hearts and minds "of your workers.

I've often heard the phrase "Great leaders win over the hearts and minds of others." What's interesting about the phrase is that the word heart comes before the word mind in that phrase. I don't think it's a mistake that it was created this way. The heart is what a person believes, dreams about, values, and is committed to. When you can touch someone on that level, then you can become a better leader.

In my experience, this is not often emphasized in today's business world, where the bottom line is king and where analytics and process usually trump other priorities. As an MBA student and business person, I can't argue with bottom line or with P&L, but I would definitely debate that being profitable in the long run is as much about good leadership as it is about cutting costs or anything else.

I liked Paul a lot, and I agree with his philosophy. Upon graduation in 3 years, I hope to work for a firm that values inspirational leadership and looks for that ability in their firm leaders. Unfortunately, I didn't have that experience at all at my last firm.

Kellogg 360-Degree Feedback Assessment

As part of going to Kellogg, matriculating students have to do a 360 Feedback Assessment. This means that we are rated on my leadership and teamwork characteristics by former colleagues, including peers, mentors, bosses, customers and community members. I recently solicited about 12 people for feedback, and about half have completed my assessment. I also recently submitted my personal assessment. Some of the categories for ranking included:

- Vision and Alignment
- Change and Innovation
- Values and Integrity
- Self-Reflection
- Team Building
- Goal Setting
- Relationship Building

I tried to be as objective as possible in my own rankings. I think I can predict how most people see my leadership and working style, and I am pretty excited to see how the cumulative results turn out. I'll get a chance to see the final report when my time at Kellogg begins.

Lessons from Jack Welch and the Online MBA

Business guru, Jack Welch, recently announced that he's launching an online MBA program ("The Jack Welch Institute"). This event is pretty interesting to me given that he doesn't even have an MBA. However, Welch is clearly no stranger to business school. He's hired MBAs for the past 20+ years and has spent the past 3 years at MIT Sloan's School of Management teaching its most popular course. I think there are a couple of lessons to be learned here:

1. Power of Brand
As we all know, brand is important, that's why applicants try to flock to the top schools and top firms. Jack Welch has impeccable business brand, with a resume including being the CEO of GE, being Fortune “Manager of the Century”, writing an award winning business column for BusinessWeek; a new show on MSN; and the most popular course at MIT Sloan. With this type of business brand, it's clear why Welch has gotten so much traction with his idea. What I think is particularly interesting is that Jack Welch has garnered all of this buzz even though he will not actually be teaching a course at the school.

2. Importance of Leadership
Welch is know for his management and leadership techniques. In a recent interview, Welch said that his MBA program would be based on his philosophy of leadership and human resources. While many businesses and schools tout the importance of analytical skills, Welch is attempting to demonstrate through his curriculum that management and leadership skills are equally as important, just as they were in his career progress.

3. Upside in Online Education
Online education is a hot industry. Take the University of Phoenix (UoP) as a case study. UoP today has nearly 400,000 students and 200 international locations, only 20 years after the online campus was established (1989). What's also impressive is that UoP has not been affected by the economy. Since the downturn in 2008 until now, UoP hasn't declined in profitability but rather grown 20%. According to U.S.News & World Report, more than 4 millions Americans took an online course last year, up from less than two million in 2003. These types of stats are unheard of in today's economy.

4. Leaders Take Risks
Creating a new business school today is a really risky endeavour. Nearly all the top MBA programs have been around for about 100 years (Stanford ~85 years), and were originally built with bricks and mortar ... not with wifi, internet applications, and software. And while UoP is a great case study for online education, it has not established itself as a top MBA program, so the Welch institute would be the first. Clearly, Welch has an appetite for risk and doesn't mind spending a little money in hopes to revolutionize the industry.

5. You Don't Need an MBA
Another lesson to learn is that you don't need an MBA to be a leader, not even in the business school industry. Don't get me wrong, an MBA is incredibly useful and the brand of a top school can't be denied. However, in America an MBA is not a necessity for advancement. Welch's career is proof that business skills, leadership lessons, and management techniques can be learned on the job.