Powerpointing away..

Hey folks!

Time has just flown by- I'm already in week 10 of my internship- 2 more to go..

While the excitement of going back to Ann Arbor and seeing my friends is immense, I am also very sad- since I had such a great time here in Seattle, with the MBA interns from the other B-schools and at Microsoft. I am in the process of developing my final presentation(s) and writing out a white paper documenting all my work.

I will be presenting to three types of audiences:
1) Exec: CFO, GM and Directors
2) Revenue Finance Group consisting of analysts, managers and senior managers
3) Directors from other departments who are interested in the topic of my project

As I refine the individual slide decks for each of these presentations, I am extremely cautious about my audience, the key messages I want to leave with each group and the level of depth/ complexity I want to go into. My mentor has been extremely supportive in providing me feedback on my slides do far. One thing that has really helped me is that from the beginning of my internship, I used Powerpoint slides as a tool to run meetings and gather information. While it consumed a lot of time, it also helped me develop a story as my project progressed and now I am completely comfortable with the story-line for my final presentation.

Creation of the slide deck early helped me in another way as well- as I met with business partners and other team mates for their inputs on my project, I also got their views on the way I visualized the slides. Believe me, I have changed every slide in my deck atleast 7-8 times now. This makes me extremely comfortable now that any audience, no matter how different, will be able to understand the slides as they incorporate the feedback of so many people.

As you can tell, I am dreaming powerpoint right now...and am proud to be working for the company that developed this great tool- Powerpoint! I am also super excited about the new Office 2013- I have had a chance to test it (or dogfood it in Microsoft terms) and it was far beyond my expectations! So watch out for this great product! You can see the customer preview on the site:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Now back to slide number......:)

It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away....

Hi there folks!

You must be wondering why the title of my post is from a Boyzone song from decades ago. The rason is because no matter what context the boyzone used these lyrics in, it applies to every situation I can think of. Do you remember when your mum warned you that words are like arrows- they can never be taken back ? (well except ofcourse in sci-fi movies they can..but lets pretend not to be superheroes here :)

Why I'm dwelling so much on this message of words is because the last two weeks, I have been trying to socialise with and influence several business partners about a framework that I have developed, and my best friends are impactful words, thoughtful messaging and attention to my audience.

Thanks to my manager at Microsoft, I am paying a lot more attention to the way I relay my messages to business partners and it has been a great learning experience so far. It is not sufficient to have a great model/ framework/ findings if they are not messaged carefully and with impact. This is a skill that comes with awareness, practise and experience (in the words of my mentor). So I'm practising...:)
So for all the finance guys out there- remember, your numbers are only as good as the "words" accompanying them. And the right words take some preparation..

And btw, tomorrow the MBA interns at Microsoft (just the 60 of us) are having lunch with Steve Balmer- I'm super excited!!!!!

Shhhh....I'm listening....

Hey there,

I cannot believe that 5 weeks of my internship are already over and next week I hit the mid-point. The last few weeks have been phenomenal in every sense of the word. I have met the most interesting people, learned so much about technology, received some of the best advice on career advancement and had so much fun!

My project is shaping up very well and there are so many dimensions that have been added to it, that every morning, I cannot wait to get to work and get started. I joined the Corporate finance world, expecting lots of spreadsheet modeling, financial valuation and analytics. Yes, I am getting to do all of that, but only 50% of the time. The other 50% of my project is purely qualitative- understanding the products (software!!), studying customer behavior and projecting that behavior for future development and socializing different ways of thinking about processes across different groups within the company ( marketing, product management, business managers, sales, strategy and operations).

With so much time spent on meeting people from so many different departments and functions, I am learning to further hone my communication and relationship management skills. At Microsoft, like any other big corporation, people and relationships are the real key to success; and this has been reiterated by all the C-level executives that we have met so far. They have all attributed their success to their relationships with the right people and influencing skills.

Another skill that I feel I use everyday is that of mindful listening; which can be argued is a part of communication skills, but I like to separate it out because what we mostly learn about communication is how we express ourselves, in written, verbally or through body language. We are not taught or trained to "listen". There have been several times during my conversations with business partners when I have been best served by just listening, and not rushing to share my own opinion of the matter to impress my counterpart.

So what I've learned to do is : don't just communicate, LISTEN. And when you speak AFTER carefully listening to the other person, your words will INFLUENCE and IMPRESS them.

Hopefully I continue to develop this skill as I continue in my career.....

So now Shhhh...I'm listening....:)

Surprise Surprise.......whooom! and here's the Surface!

Hi all,


Nothing much has happened since my last post- only Microsoft has created a HUGE stir in the tablet market by introducing its own new tablet- the Surface, AND they introduced the Windows Phone 8 AND they acquired the work-place friendly social networking business Yammer for $1.2B- all in 2 weeks! Yes- that is the kind of market-swinging movement at Microsoft right now, which makes it an extremely exciting place to spend the summer. 

USA Today's article comparing Surface to the Ipad


As an intern in such a dynamic company, there are so many new things to learn- from enjoying  and adding to the wide-spread speculation before the Surface was launched (yes- no one outside of the immediate Surface team even had a whiff of what was being launched that day) to considering what effect this and other launches (and acquisitions) will have on the company's products, business model, branding and future strategy. 


A midst all this excitement in the Redmond campus, there are moments when Microsoftees come up with more brilliant and innovative ideas and new products are incubated after these key moments. Which then explains the environment that has been created in the Redmond campus- casual, lots of nature and free of many of the redundant corporate fads- an environment that is conducive to creativity and open to radical ideas (about tech obviously).

That also explains why Microsoft gives its MBA interns such great opportunities to meet with the highest level executives. We have an Executive Lunch series where the 60 of us are put in a room with C-level people, so far we have met with the Chief operating officer, Kevin Turner (60K poeple around the world report to him- just a fun fact) and Lisa Brummel ( the Chief People Officer, who has had the most unconventional career- going from an MBA to leading the marketing for some of Microsoft's best products to being on the team that incubated the Surface several years ago!). During these lunches, we eat great food and get this exec's full attention to ask any question that we have for around 1.5 hours. The full time employees here say that this opportunity is not even afforded to those who have been at the company for 6-7 years- That is the kind of learning we as MBA interns have at Microsoft.

Now when I am not talking to C-level execs at Microsoft :), I work on my project with an absolutely great team, meet with people from several different departments and enjoy more events. Last week, the Microsoft Business Division had our summer party- we went golfing at this amazing golf course called New Castle. See the picture of the view of Seattle from this Golf course=> it was breathtaking!  And the weather was on our side that day, lots of sunshine.


Last week we also had a happy hour for the interns at this (again) amazing place called Ray's boathouse in Ballard (added to my "must go list" in Seattle!) All these events are accompanied by open bars and buffet lunches/dinners.

In between all this fun, my project is gaining momentum and I am getting into the swing of things. Last week I had a chance to present to my Director my progress and findings so far and realized that I was making a presentation after a very long time. That made me think- we do not make enough presentations during our MBA really, we should do more of those. Microsoft is very a Power point heavy company- everything is done in Power point and excels and presentation skills therefore play an extremely important role in the communications to higher management levels. Another important skills that I feel I am developing at Microsoft is that of balancing detailed analytical thinking with high-level strategic thinking. Every discussion moves back and forth between these two views and its important to think about the nitty-gritties as well as from the 30,000 feet level at the same time. 


So guys- that's been my last two weeks of a lot of fun and excitement- and its only been 3 weeks since I started...I could get used to this fun....:)


Chao! Till we meet again....

Hello Seattle!

Hey there!

Its good to be back here on the blog. The last two weeks have just flown by. I got to Seattle on the 1st

(remember I told you in my first post that I will be interning at Microsoft this summer), so yeah, got here, and drove directly to the apartments that Microsoft ("MS") arranged for us. And lo and behold!- these apartments are bang in the middle of downtown Seattle, just minutes away from the famous Pike Place Market and the beautiful harbor!!!

The weekend was inconsequential as I bought the basics to settle into my fully furnished service apartment. and then the week began....
Monday was orientation day (called NEO- New Employee Orientation) at MS where about a 100-200 full time employees, about 500-600 undergrad interns and 20 MBA interns started their journey at MS. Yes, we later found out that MS received 3000 MBA applications for internships, they interviewed 892 applicants and finally 60 of us made it through- I feel honored to be part of this extremely smart group of individuals. So the class of interns at MS was a good mix from the top 10 schools- but one thing was common among all of us- I found every one of my peers extremely down-to-earth and amicable. And that made so much sense when I met the MS team that I will be working with during the summer.

People at MS are like that- brilliant and modest. They like to have fun even as they work really hard and every five minutes I hear people cracking up into laughter in the corridor outside my office. So on Tuesday, I was introduced to my team in the Microsoft Office Division and I felt very much a part of this team very quickly. My mentor introduced me to all the members of the 8-member team and briefed me on the details of the project. My summer project is about the transition of MS's customers in the business productivity space to cloud computing- yes- its looking at the existing and future strategy for the  exciting new Office 365!!!! This is an exciting time in Redmond, as Microsoft prepares to compete with Google in the area of cloud computing.

As I began working on my project, I realized two very important things that I learned at Ross, which I am applying directly to my project-
1) The way I look at problems has become so much more structured
2) Complexity and overload of information doesn't seem to bother me anymore (especially after those strategy cases which every Rosser will agree were info overloads!), enabling me to filter the more important pieces of information and focusing on those.

Outside of the project work, my team members (both senior and junior) had taken me out to lunch and on tours of the Microsoft Commons (they have awesome food and shops- even a massage parlor and salon!) on three out of the four working days I have been here. So far, I'm loving this casual environment- yes! I'm wearing jeans and t-shirts to work everyday!!!!!!!!!!!!!...some more !!!!! It's a big change from NYC and I'm loving it! Now off to tour the Pike place market and enjoy the Seattle downtown! Will be back with some more news next time..Chao!

Sleepless in Seattle! after being well fed in India!

Hi all! I am Nupur Bagaria, MBA Class of 2013. A brief introduction is in place: I am born Indian, raised in Africa for 17 years, did my undergrad and first job in Southeast Asia (Singapore) [and became a citizen there because I absolutely loved that country!] and worked for the last 3 years in New York. And to make my life more interesting than just globe trotting, I have now decided to switch industries from financial services to high-tech! Prior to Ross, I worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the banking and capital markets space. Now for the summer, I will be going to Microsoft in their Office Division- Corporate finance.

But before I take you to the world of Windows 8 and Office 365, I would like to share my MAP experience with you because it was in the true sense of the word- UNIQUE. I was part of a team of four consulting for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This organization, which is an amalgamation of public and private individuals, has created the world's largest biometric database! They have taken on the task of issuing biometric identities to the 1.2 Billion people in India. As you can imagine, this is no mean feat. In fact, they have amazed the world by issuing approximately 200 millions IDs within a year of establishment. My team's MAP project revolved around developing the application ecosystem for this identity system. We realized that this system has the potential to transform the lives of millions in so many ways, especially the under-privileged.

As part of the MAP, we traveled to India for 3 weeks. We had the opportunity to meet with the Chairman of the UIDAI- Mr. Nandan Nilekani- co-founder and ex-CEO of the multi-billion dollar IT company, Infosys. For the uninitiated, here is a wiki on Mr. Nilekani=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandan_Nilekani and several other very senior government officials in the organization. In fact, we had a chance to speak with Mr. Nilekani right after his meeting with the IMF Chief- Ms. Christine Lagarde! (see picture).

My team found that the UIDAI has shown exemplary innovation in several ways (organizational structure, technology, technology management etc.) and its impact on Indian residents is so massive that I fall short on words. For those interested, here is the website of the UIDAI=> http://uidai.gov.in/ Thank you Ross for this unique experience!

Well folks, I can go on and on about my MAP project, and the excitement that I have for my summer internship is similar. Interning at Microsoft will be a game-charger for me. First- it will be a switch from the world of banking and financial services to high-tech, second from the east coast to the (much warmer!) west coast and thirdly from suits to business casual :) I have heard the techies are fond of denim and t-shirts and am really excited to experience that!

And now I will go back to being busy with what I plan to do throughout May- CHILL.

Stay tuned for my next post- till then- Chao!