The MBA Student Voice

Anderson Case Competitions: Pick your flavor

One of the items that topped my business school bucket list was “participate in a case competition.” I didn’t have the opportunity to compete in one during undergrad and thought it would be the perfect avenue to apply the many skills that I’m honing at Anderson. Plus it’s a quintessential bschool activity, almost a right of passage. Luckily, Anderson hosts a range of case competitions on campus each year, so students have a lot of interesting challenges from a range of industries to cut their teeth on.

During the fall, some of my classmates came up with the next big thing for Amazon during the HTBA Amazon Case Competition and solved a complex hypothetical growth problem for Smart Things during the 2014 Deloitte National Case Challenge. This winter quarter, my friend and fellow first-year, Dan Abbott, and his teammates took home the gold during the 4th annual Challenges in Energy Case Competition for their win-win solution for EV charging at commercial location. Another friend, Liz Prutting, competed in the Entertainment Case Competition during the annual MEMES Pulse Conference, sponsored by Paramount Pictures. Her team came up with a set of creative recommendations on how to move media consumers up the margin ladder for movie purchases.

I, on the other hand, leapt into the case comp pool by way of the Net Impact Consulting Challenge (NICC), which took place last weekend. While most case competitions are just a few days, the NICC was a fascinating 2.5-week real consulting engagement with a real client. All participating clients were local LA non-profit organizations that signed up with real issues they needed help analyzing. My team of five was paired with a client org, which will remain anonymous, that has a serious volunteer recruitment and retention problem. (They rely on volunteers for 90% of all activities.) As someone who is deeply interested in all things human-capital-management related, this was a great fit for me!

Over the course of the next two and a half weeks, our team conducted extensive secondary research on volunteer trends and best practices in the non-profit sector. This informed our primary research, as we did multiple site visits to interview volunteers and conduct surveys. Ultimately we came up with a detailed plan outlining different recruitment and retention tactics to increase volunteer numbers and keep them engaged longer, and presented our recommendations to a panel of social impact experts. I wish the story ended with "then we won first place!" But it doesn't, because we didn't. We didn't even advance to the finals. But that didn't matter - our client was thrilled with our research, analysis, and recommendations. In a follow-up meeting, they said that they planned to implement most, if not all, of our suggestions. That meant more to our team than any first place prize. Plus, now I think I've found a new organization to volunteer with here in LA!

In other Anderson Case Competition news (for all you bankers out there) - tomorrow marks the kick-off of the Fink Center Stock Pitch Competition 2015. Good luck to the team representing Anderson!

Team Sugar Dumplings: Richard Wang, Britney Sussman, Kirby Ryan, Lucy Prom, and Lindsee Redmond

Follow me on twitter: @brit808 

Dean Olian Makes Anderson a Place for Women in Business

“Recently I was introduced as a ‘female CEO’ and I laughed because I have never heard a man introduced as a ‘male CEO’.” Said Tory Burch during the 2013 Women’s Rule Summit. I stood with the 200 other women in the conference room who represented some of the most powerful individuals in Washington and clapped in agreement. While in D.C., I had the privilege to not only participate in, but also lead a number of women’s events. I was proud to bear witness to President Obama’s speech commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, and inspired to work with my corporate members at Business Forward to lift up best practices for retaining, developing, and promoting women executives. Possibly my biggest take away (apart from LEAN IN!) is that the environment of a company or organization plays a critical role in a woman’s success.

So, when I began looking at business schools, I knew that I needed a program didn’t just talk the talk, but actually walked the walk when it came to empowering its female students. Looking strictly at the numbers, Anderson has a similar ratio to most top business schools; women account for 34% of my class. But we have something no other business school has – Dean Judy Olian. Since being appointed the first female Dean of UCLA Anderson in 2006, Dean Olian has worked tirelessly to break through glass ceilings, benefitting all students, past present and future. She isn’t just a role model; she’s a gladiator. She is confronting both student and faculty gender ratios. Anderson doubled the number of female faculty members and tripled the number of women who are full professors since 2006. (Yet women still account for less than 20 percent of the faculty.)

Imagine my excitement when I was given the opportunity to organize a lunch with Dean Olian for the ladies of Anderson on behalf the Women’s Business Connection (I have the awesome job of WBC Director of Professional Development). So last Thursday, 40 gals gathered together and lunched, while Dean Olian dropped some serious insight about life over sandwiches. I think it’s really rare for a leader of any organization to be so humble, honest, and genuine. She shared with us her incredible background because “we are products of our roots” and the below advice for women in leadership. It was inspiring.

Top Ten Lessons By Dean Judy Olian:

10. Be excellent or more than excellent in your performance.

9. Say YES to assignments.

8. When you fail, force yourself to learn from the experience.

7. It’s not personal.

6. Take risks! Don’t be afraid to be afraid.

5. Figure out what you’re really good at and try to structure your role around your strengths.

4. Take care of you.

3. Turn adversity into an advantage.

2. Be great mothers, sisters, and aunties. Be a role model and a mentor.

1. Choose the right partner. 

 President Barack Obama delivers remarks from the East Wing on the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, signed by President Kennedy. President Obama is no stranger to gender-pay equality issues. The first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was widely considered a huge win for women and civil rights. 

Dean Olian refuses to accept the status quo and views all students as the key to Anderson’s continued success. Apart from last Thursday’s lunch, she continually makes herself available to all members of the student body hosting office hours, events, and joining us every Thursday at Anderson Afternoons (seen here). 

Each year Dean Olian generously hosts students who are not traveling home for the Thanksgiving holiday at her home. For many it's their first time celebrating Thanksgiving, and the Dean makes it extremely memorable. 

 

Favorite Recruiting Moments of Fall 2014

I survived my first quarter!! No, I didn’t just survive; I flourished! But it wasn’t easy. Over the last three months, I was stretched and challenged in ways that change a person. I had 36 hours of things to do each day, and I had to bring my A-game to everything. First quarter classes are extremely rigorous and Google was recruiting on campus Day 1, so for 12 weeks I did a calculated dance between academics, recruiting, and social activities. It was intense and I’m a better version of myself because of it.

Sometimes I would be on the phone to my parents and would have to stop myself and say, “It might sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not. I love this. Every email I send, every informational interview I do, and every hour I put into studying is all about me and my future. It’s not about my boss or the organization I work for. It’s about me. It’s a uniquely selfish time and I love every minute of it.”

All of the hard work paid off, and at the end of the quarter, I accepted an offer for a summer internship (stay tuned for more about that in a future post). However it’s not about the destination, but the path you take to get there, and I really enjoyed the recruiting process. I recruited for human capital consulting and internal human capital management roles at tech companies. It is a field that is gaining interest at Anderson as more companies think strategically about how they manage their employees. Companies make presentations daily and nightly on campus, but here are my top four favorite recruiting events of fall quarter:

1. MCA Firm Kickoff – At Anderson, a lot of the recruiting takes place through on-campus professional clubs. The opportunities for consulting are run through the Management Consulting Association (MCA). At the MCA Firm Kickoff, over 15 top firms sent representatives to meet Anderson students. Each practice was stationed at a cocktail table, and for three hours, students could walk around and network with each one. It was a formal yet casual affair, and the perfect venue to make a good first impression with a variety of firms. The event was also on the night before the Statistics midterm, so it served as a good lesson in balancing academics and recruiting.
2. National Academy of Human Resources Foundation – The NAHR hosts an annual dinner and meeting with its fellows in New York City each November. One of the NAHR Foundation initiatives is to include select MBA students in the event, with the goal of attracting “top first year Master’s students to the HR profession.” I was chosen to represent Anderson at this year’s NAHR dinner, where I had the chance to chat with CHROs from a range of Fortune 100 companies. It was inspiring to hear from executives who have shaped the HR function over the last few decades.
3. Deloitte Human Capital Case Workshop – Deloitte has one of the leading human capital consulting practices and a growing office in LA. So I jumped at the chance to learn from some of the best at a case workshop they did on campus. Five practitioners, who were all also Anderson alumni, generously spent four hours on a Friday walking us through the Deloitte approach to casing. They provided us with valuable feedback after we worked through a practice case in groups. The day wrapped with a happy hour at a bar in West LA, which was a great way to get to know the Deloitte HC Anderson team a little better.
4. Days on the Job Tech Trek – Fellow Student Voice Blogger, Piyush Jain, published an earlier article that talks about this week in more detail, but to quickly summarize: for one week in November deemed “DOJ Week,” classes were canceled and Anderson students flew all around the country, visiting companies they are interested in. The High Tech Business Association (HTBA) organized the Tech Trek, which allowed me to jet up to Seattle, then down to San Francisco and visit Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, Visa, LinkedIn, eBay, Intel, and Autodesk. It was an incredible opportunity to network with Anderson alumni working at each of these companies and experience the corporate culture first hand. I was able to ask recruiters about strategic HR summer internship opportunities and hear about their human capital issues. For example, we toured Visa Inc.’s recently-opened innovation outpost in the heart of San Francisco. As Visa prepares to do a lot of tech hiring, the new office is a statement of how Visa is branding itself to compete for top talent against other companies.

After such a rewarding first quarter, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the school year has in store for me. Here’s to an incredible 2015!

The group of Master's students who were selected to participate in the 2014 National Academy of Human Resources Annual Dinner and Discussion Meeting in New York City.

Anderson students who visited Adobe during the San Francisco "Days on the Job" Tech Trek.

No car? No problem.

When considering Anderson and making the move to Los Angeles, one of my worries was that I did not own a car. Coming from Washington, D.C., or any other walk-able, carless-commuter-friendly city, this is a huge consideration. Not only had I grown to enjoy not having a car and taking alternate modes of transportation, but I also wasn’t prepared to incur the costs of buying one. However, after living in LA for two months sans automobile, I can officially report that you really don’t need one. Here’s why:

1. Live very close to campus. I decided to live in the Hilgard Avenue Apartments offered through UCLA Graduate Student Housing. I live in one of the approximately 30 studio apartments, located on the eastern side of campus, just a 15-minute walk to Anderson. Electricity, water, gas, and cable/internet are all included meaning I have just one bill a month, which is great. Considering that I spend about 11-13 hours on campus a day (yes, you will spend A LOT of time on campus in your first quarter), living within walking distance has been a godsend.

2. The Big Blue Bus. As a UCLA student, when I show my Bruin card, a one-way trip on the Big Blue Bus costs me just $0.50. The Big Blue runs all over West LA and I take it to Brentwood, Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City, etc. It is extremely navigable and I have a stop directly across from my apartment building.

3. Carpooling. Off-campus bschool activities are widely attended by my fellow classmates and there is always an opportunity to jump in with someone who has a car. Plus for larger events, like tailgating at the Rose Bowl for UCLA games or Anderween, our Halloween party downtown, the social chairs always arrange for buses to drive Anderson students.

4. Not driving under the influence. To be honest, a number of the off-campus events take place at bars or somewhere alcohol is served. In these instances, I wouldn’t be driving even if I did have a car. Ride sharing through companies like Uber and Lyft is widely used by my classmates and offers a great, reasonably priced alternative.

5. Renting a car is cheaper than paying for a parking spot or the inevitable LA street sweeping tickets suffered by anyone parking on the street. If I’m dying to get out and explore, maybe go for a drive up to Malibu or down to Laguna Beach, I rent a car through any one of the many car rental companies that run continuous deals on one or two-day rentals. This ultimately ends up costing me less than just paying for parking. 

6. Rent a bike for the quarter. The UCLA Bike Shop rents bikes to students for just $50 per quarter. While LA isn't as bike friendly as some other major cities, as long as I take a road less traveled that doesn't feed right onto the 405, I find biking fairly safe. Plus, the bike path along the beach that runs from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach makes for an amazing weekend ride.

Hilgard Avenue Graduate Student Apartments

The Big Blue Bus - Making life for carless students in West LA easy for only two quarters a ride.

Pre-Orientation Trip: Santa Cruz Island - Joint Post By Zafeer Khan & Britney Sussman

With orientation just a week away groups of Anderson students went on various excursions across the State from Yosemite to the Sierra Nevadas to Santa Cruz Island. I was lucky to be able to join fellow blogger Britney Sussman (see her comments below), along with eight other Anderson students for a two-day camping trip to the wonderful Santa Cruz Island. After a 1-hour ferry ride, we arrived at Scorpion Bay with pristine blue water and dramatic kelp forests. There was plenty of wildlife to spot from sea lions to foxes to whales (pictures below). Kit Hansen (Anderson ’15) answered all our questions regarding life at b-school so a special thanks to him. And thanks to our UCLA undergraduate guides, Spencer and Kaitlyn, for organizing action-packed days of hiking and snorkeling, as well as feeding us the best camping food ever.

 

The BS POV – I wasn’t able to attend A-Days, the official preview weekend for admitted students held back in March. Therefore this pre-orientation camping trip was my first opportunity to interact with my new classmates. I’ll admit that I was a little nervous heading into the excursion. What if we didn’t click right away? Would camping with complete strangers on a deserted island for three days be awkward? Would we bond over the lack of showers? Luckily my worries were squashed before we even boarded the ferry to Santa Cruz Island. Within the first hour, I realized that I was among an exceptional group of people. As Zafeer mentioned, there were only 10 incoming first-years on the trip, but I was immediately stuck by each person’s diversity, intelligence, passion, and all-around coolness. Our group had flocked from far corners of the earth: Chile, Japan, Bangladesh, Canada, New York, Atlanta, etc. Each had accomplished serious career milestones and had distinct visions for how he or she wanted to impact the future. It was great to share stories while we trekked all over the island, and despite all of our differences, there existed a special like-mindedness. The trip further confirmed why Anderson felt like such a good fit; it’s the people it attracts. And if the people make the place, this is going to be a great two years!

ANDERSON 16 – watch out, here we come!

Cambodia: A dark history with a bright future

I dedicated this summer, between quitting my job and starting business school, to expanding my global perspective. Five countries in two and a half months was Southeast Asia 101.  Luckily I’m just getting warmed up. I plan to continue my global education with the Anderson Center for Global Management, making global management one of my MBA specializations.

During this summer’s adventure, I took a special, personal interest in Cambodia. While it is rich in natural resources and now offers cheaper labor than China, the recent and horrific chapter of Khmer Rouge has created a distinct business environment, both economically and culturally.

On April 17, 1975, Pol Pot rode through the streets of Phnom Penh as the new dictator of Cambodia and leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea. He was only in power for four years, but managed to kill one fourth of the country’s population, roughly 2 million people, in a societal experiment gone terribly wrong. I feel a unique connection to this genocide – my father's best friend in high school was one of only six Americans captured and killed by the Khmer Rouge during their reign. Chris Delance was a sailor in the wrong place at the wrong time off the coast of Cambodia in late 1978. He was taken to the infamous S-21 prison, tortured, and killed shortly before the Vietnamese liberation in 1979. 

When I arrived in Phnom Penh just over 39 years later, I had no idea what to expect from Cambodia. I found a vibrant country eager but struggling to offer a quality of life comparable to its Lao, Vietnamese, and Thai neighbors. To get a better sense of its economy and people, I had the priveledge to sit down with the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, William Todd. We discussed economic opportunities and if Cambodia is ready for outside investment. The conclusion? Now is the time. There is too much instability and uncertainty for public companies to make large investments in Cambodia, but now is the time for entrepreneurs and private companies. Other places in Southeast Asia, like Singapore or Hong Kong, have extremely overinflated prices. Investment capital will go much farther in Cambodia because of the accessibility to inexpensive land and natural resources. However, investors should be prepared for a "rough and tumble" way of conducting business. Many deals are made off the books and paid with cash. 

We also discussed mobile technology (an industy I am passionate about) and how it is changing Cambodia. Since the government heavily regulates all national media, people now turn to the Internet for a more unbiased news source. Facebook and other social media in the palm of one's hand is becoming a powerful tool for organizing on both sides of the political spectrum.

I left Cambodia feeling hopeful. It is up to the future generation of global business leaders to help Cambodia develop in a sustainable and prosperous way. After gaining a solid global foundation from Anderson, I look forward to being part of that solution.

      

Left Photo: My dad on the left and Chris Delance on the right at a Long Beach, CA lifeguard stand in 1962.

Right Photo: S-21 photo of Chris Delance taken in 1978. (Documentation Center of Cambodia)

Below Photo: Ambassador William Todd and I at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia.

 

Silicon Beach

Ah, the b-school application journey... where to begin? As I explored business schools and weighed the merits of each program, location was a huge factor in my decision of where to apply. As I mentioned in my intro blog, I'm from Hawaii, but have been living and working in Washington, DC for the last four years. Based on my past experience, personal preference, & my future goals of switching careers and joining the tech industry, I came up with three simple qualifications for each school location:

1) in/close to a city

2) significant tech industry presence nearby

3) no harsh winters (I'm not a fan of the words "polar vortex")

My short list included Stanford GSB, UC Berkeley Haas, and UT Austin McCombs. Soon after I started to think about business school, I was tasked with organizing a business roundtable series for Business Forward, the organization I worked for. Each meeting brought together 20-30 key business leaders from a specific city and 6-8 senior Obama Administration officials. Each group met at the White House to discuss a range of topics critical to creating jobs and promoting economic competitiveness in their respective cities. It was when I began to put the group together from Los Angeles that I first heard the term, "Silicon Beach." (No, not the plastic surgery kind of silicon... the Silicon Valley kind of silicon.) Foolishly, I had always assumed that LA was mainly entertainment and tourism. However, as I sat in that meeting, I realized that LA is full of social disrupters, entrepreneurs, tech gurus, and mega tech investors. I learned that Los Angeles is quickly becoming a tech start-up hub that fosters innovation. Many of the largest tech companies have a presence there. By the end of the meeting, I was hooked. LA easily met all of my location criteria. Turns out that you don't have to go to northern California to have your silicon cake and eat it too.

Felicia Escobar, Senior Policy Advisor, Domestic Policy Council, White House, discusses H-1B visas and immigration reform with a Silicon Beach tech entrepreneur.

Silicon Beach business leaders meet with White House officials.

 

Fired Up & Ready to GO

Aloha Student Voice Readers! My name is Britney Sussman and I'll be moonlighting as an Anderson student blogger while I prepare to join the incoming full-time MBA Class of 2016 at UCLA Anderson this fall. I hope to share some stories, advice, bad jokes, and yet another Anderson perspective with you, but first a little background info:

For the last three years I worked for a business-policy non-profit in Washington, DC, called Business Forward. Its mission is to bring more business leaders into the policy-making process because Washington's lawmakers need to do a better job at listening to business and the business community needs to do a better job at helping Washington on tough votes. I served as the organization's Director of Corporate Member Services, working with over 50 of some of the largest companies in America (think Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Walmart, Target, Visa, Comcast, etc.), who underwrite Business Forward. Each corporate member makes it possible for thousands of business leaders across the country to get involved without having to pay anything. This experience at the nexus of business and policy gave me invaluable exposure to a wide range of policy issues. I became especially interested in workforce issues as I designed many roundtable discussions focused on diversity and inclusion, hiring the long-term unemployed, the skills gap, immigration, and healthcare. While dialog is important, I realized that I wanted to work for a company that moves beyond talk and takes bold action - more specifically in the tech sector, in strategic human capital management. Enter UCLA Anderson as the golden key to my career switch.

You may have noticed that I used the past tense in the previous paragraph about Business Forward (especially if you've been studying the verbal section of the GMAT). I recently left my position there to spend the summer before bschool traveling. I was born and raised on the small island of Kauai, HI, and due to island fever (yes, that's a real thing), I caught the travel bug early on. This summer's itinerary includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia (I'm writing this from Phenom Penh), Indonesia, and Malaysia. Stay tuned for more from the road. A' hui hou!

 

One benefit of going back to business school - the opportunity to do some traveling beforehand.. Angkor WHAT?!