Season 2: Deep diving in the work: gear up, man

(MBA, Eli Lilly) The first week was almost about learning the background information about the project, getting familiar with the team members and the facilities. Lilly has many campuses in Indianapolis and I am sitting in the most magnificent building called Lilly Corporate Center. Inside there are lots of facilities such as cafeteria, food court, lecture halls, employee clinic, gyms, laundry, and credit union (yes, they indeed have credit union…). At Each noon, I always try different cuisines and enjoy the wide range of choices from Asian food to Mexico food.

Now I have clear understanding about the project: I am going to create a model to assess the global credit risk and generate credit limit recommendation, involving enormous stats testing and data matrix calibration. It is challenging as it aims to standardize the credit risk assessment practice all over the world where there are currently over 100 different practices among countries. My supervisor apparently has set a very high expectation on my project: tight schedule, many milestones, and plenty of small projects. She is a straightforward supervisor who is aggressive and tough, quite different from my ex bosses. It actually posted a challenge to me as I have to manage well the relationship with her and make sure she will buy in my project results at the end of the day. To make the situation more complicated, she is expecting me to work closely with another analyst who has worked in credit team for around two years. And the feedback of the analyst is having a big influence on my supervisor’s comment for my final performance. Albeit these challenges, I am pursuing a strategy to align the analyst and indirectly my supervisor, i.e. keeping close communication with the analyst and working hard to win her respect and coordination. Once I get her on board, it is certain my supervisor will recognize.

As it is closer to the project deadline, my calendar is becoming more and more occupied. Usually I get up at 6:30AM and arrive in office at 7:30AM. Attend averagely three meetings and have a 30min talk with two new people respectively per day. It is quite helpful to talk with people from different departments, as they can give me introduction to the business they are doing, suggestions on my project and why they like to work in Lilly. Then I will spend the rest of time on the project… At around 6:30PM, I will leave office.

In all, the working style is a little different from what I perceived in Lilly’s on campus presentation but it is good to deeply dive into my colleagues daily work life in Lilly. Yes, it is a tough project, far more challenging than MAP. But it is also a good opportunity to test my competence out of my comfort zone. Let’s cross figures and best luck. Gear up, man!
P.S. Today I went to a “How we make the drug” lunch and learn presentation hosted by the EVP of Research in Lilly. Very interesting topic…