The end is near

I am in week 8 of my 12 week internship. While it has been a great experience so far, now is the time to start putting things together so that I am able to deliver a valueable end deliverable. That implies going over your work with relevant folks, stakeholders and otherwise, to get their perspectives on the issues at hand and itearate on the final deliverable based on their feedback. This process does get stressful at times but is a necessary part of delivering a good end-product.

I am currently working on search advertising. Google owns the lions share of the market, and given that this business has strong network effects, competitors find it difficult to gain market share. The network effect in search looks like this: a larger share of search queries leads to advertisers prefering the search engine which gives them a broader audience exposure, which in turn means that users will get more relevant advertisements for their search queries creating a better user experience and thus they will stick to the larger search engine. However with the launch of Bing, and now with the Yahoo deal (scheduled to go live in October), Microsoft will have a fighting chance of gaining query share and advertising spend.

On a related note, Microsoft's communication head put up an interesting blog here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/06/25/microsoft-by-the-numbers.aspx. It has been analysed by Techcrunch here: http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/26/microsoft-numbers/

Moving onto things which are more fun, the fourth of July weekend was great. Watching Netherlands move into the semis was a perfect start. Saturday was a trip to Mt St Helens, an active volcano about 120 miles south of Seattle. On Sunday, I went Kayaking on Lake Union. All of these trips were with friends from Ross. We closed the weekend with a Microsoft sponsored barbeque and a great fireworks show. Hopefully I will be able to have a few more trips before the close of my internship.

Still Good!

So a lot has happened since my last post. I’ve sort of undergone some metamorphosis to become something akin to an investment banker. It’s been an interesting two weeks with prime ringside seats to the unique spectacle that’s Wall Street. I’ll give you a sneak peek into my world: (1) practically anything that comes to my desk is urgent and the fate of American democracy… no, modern civilization rests on my ability to turn in that piece of work by “yesterday”. (2) The IB Summer associate program is also interesting in the sense that it’s an opportunity to be bossed around a bit by some of the analysts (who are lower in rank than you, but vastly more experienced). When reviewing some of their analyses, it’s typical to get long academic lectures in response to basic questions. There are a few more interesting sides to the summer program and I can only say that I’m loving it.

We were given our summer project at the end of the first week. This involves using the firm’s tools to analyze a potential deal and prepare a presentation for a company management. We are expected to this on our own time (difficult when you’re working from 9:00 AM to 3:00AM, weekends inclusive), turn it in by 1 August and be ready to give a presentation to a panel of Managing Directors. Needless to say the full time offer may be dependent on performance at this session.

Now, I’ll give some color on some of my specific experiences so far. I have a feeling I’m fast becoming the “King of Debt” as it seems I’m getting a bit more than my share of those types of deals. I also think I have the dubious distinction of having worked with practically every group except the ones I expressed specific preferences. While that gives some cause for concern, I’ve been assured that I’d still get the opportunity to work with my chosen groups in the course of the summer.

It’s not all been doom and gloom. Granted it’s a tough job, but the people here are so nice that it becomes quite palatable. The Associates, VPs and yes, the Analysts on my deals have been very supportive and engaging. There have also been a slew of events, speaker series, and a fun exercise to predict where major economic indicators would be by the end of the summer. We also had an ice-cream break and will be doing a volunteer day this Friday. So far I’m finding this more enjoyable than I’d dared to expect.

Networking in a consulting world

(MBA,Booz) Socializing and networking is an important issue for every intern, though I guess it’s a bigger issue for a consulting intern. The way consulting teams are built for a specific project are network derived and one’s ability to connect to the right people might determine whether he\she will be stuffed to a wanted project.

There are few circles in which a consultant networks, it starts with the home office in which a consultant spends Fridays and his\her time “on the beach” – a term that is used to describe time with no project assignment. Then comes the practice – in Booz we are all aligned to a certain practice and are stuffed accordingly, so knowing a principal from one’s practice that is in charge of a wanted project might turn out very helpful even if that principal is from another office. And there’s always the regular firm wide networking with everyone else.

It’s a big challenge to understand the way the system works and who are the right people to address once you want to be stuffed on an assignment – but on the other hand, judging by whom I met so far, this company has great people and culture and networking in Booz is a pleasure rather than a “task to accomplish”. At the end of the day, unlike most other jobs, consultants are stuck together for better or worse along every Monday to Thursday, and if they don’t find their peers fun to be with after work - when having dinner or when stuck in an airport – it’s not good for the whole team.

And now for a little update from the field! All the hard work I did in the past few weeks will come to realization this week when the piece of work I am responsible for will be used to help the customer to make a very important decision, A very exciting time for me!

That will be all for today, next post will be my last one and will close this blog as my internship ends in two weeks.

Consulting - three weeks in

I'm three weeks into my internship and Booz and honestly, so far I'm loving it. The work is challenging, and the people I work with are absolutely fantastic - extremely smart, yet down to earth. I can best describe the experience so far as an extension of the Ross MBA experience.

Let's put things into context - what exactly did I do the last couple of weeks? As I mentioned in my last post, I am working for a client in NJ and we are helping to design their organization structure (strategic objective, reporting structure, incentives, metrics, etc.) for the COO. So yes, this is one of those high touch engagements, and as a result, the attire is business formal. The first week was all about ramping up and setting the expectations for the rest of the summer. Booz & Co. gives its interns the undiluted consulting experience - this means that we are expected to contribute just like we were full-time Associates. So as you can imagine, the learning curve is extremely steep. I had a lot of reading up to do to develop an understanding of the industry. After I spent a day doing that, it was time to understand the client firm (one day). After that I had to get going, and any other background learning would have to come from the job itself. Given that 9 weeks is an extremely short period of time, I wanted to become productive as soon as I could and made a conscious effort those first few days to ramp up my knowledge. Once my manager noticed that I was relatively comfortable with the knowledge (at least I knew where to look for what!), I took over the workstream of developing the model of the current view of the organization. The team had already collected data from various client units. I had to collate the data, clean it up and integrate it into the model in a meaningful way.

We had a big client presentation scheduled the following week, and my manager said that my model would be driving a few slides on the deck. So I had to put in a lot of effort (yes, I even worked a couple of hours over the weekend) to build the pages. My biggest takeaway here is that great excel modeling skills is not just about being able to model close to real life scenarios while making good assumptions. It also involves being able to automate a lot of the repetitive tasks so that you can spend more time thinking about how best you can do the former. As my manager had mentioned, my pages did end up going into the deck. It was a pretty good feeling to see that my analysis was directly impacting the client. The presentation went well, and now my task is to extend this model so that we can use this to design the new organization.

The biggest surprise for me has been the people. There's no question that they are all extremely smart folks. But the best part is, despite how busy they were (there was quite a bit of pressure within the team before that first deliverable) they always took the time out to help me with my questions, and made sure I was comfortable. To summarize, the first two weeks on the project have been fantastic, and I am really enjoying myself so far. Stay tuned!

Just Say No!

One of the hardest things for me this summer has been managing my workload. We all know that an internship is nothing more than a summer long interview, so we all want to impress our bosses and do the best job possible. However, doing a good job and managing your workload do not have to conflict. It is always important to know exactly what you have on your plate at one time so you know what new projects you can take on.

Although it may be hard to tell a superior you can not work on something, sometimes it is necessary in order to do the best job possible. No boss will look at this as you being a slacker, but rather they will appreciate your honesty and they will expect you do your best work on whatever it is you are working on. Although it has been uncomfortable for me to do this, I have done it on multiple occassions this summer. I report to more than one person, and each of my bosses doesn't know my workload. Everytime I told one of them that I could not work on something they were completely fine with it and actually respected me for respectfully declining the work they had for me.

Despite what I just said you can easily mess this up. Once you are done with the large project you are working on make sure to approach the person again, tell them you are done with the other project, and then ask if they would still want you to work on their project or if they have anything else for you. This is not brown-nosing but rather showing that you are a diligent and respectful employee. Being able to manage up is a very hard skill to learn, but an internship with a heavy workload can help you learn to do it effectively.

So if you can't take on a new project because you are swamped remember, JUST SAY NO! (politely of course)

How a Trading Floor Works

Imagine standing up to a sea of computer monitors and more than 1500 individuals fixated on the at least three screens in front of them. Add to that sales people standing and shouting at traders across the floor, as well as the incessant ringing of phones and never ending chatter of people talking to clients, each other and anyone else. What never fails to amaze the passive observer is the fact that all that activity is driven by a single entity - the market. Its millisecond changes in price and information sends ripples through the trading floor, bringing together activity from all around the country, and even from across the oceans into a single location.

But one has to wonder how all the chaos is controlled and packed into a neat organization, much less a global financial institution. First, consider the seating arrangements on the floor. Space is allocated to individual desks, which have their sales people and traders sit at most an aisle away. These desks deal in their own individual markets, with sales people either getting orders for traders to execute, or moving securities off the traders’ books. Now, consider the synergy available to the investment bank from having the bulk of its trading operations in a single location. Traders and sales people do not confine themselves to their desks; they move around, call, or simply stand up and shout across desks to get the pulse of other markets. These extra bits of information, cheaply and efficiently gathered, allow traders/sales people to form a much better picture of how markets are moving, what they term "color".

Color is the trading floor's edge. Sales people call their clients to update them on market color gotten from traders or other clients. This in turn allows them to get their client's perspective on markets, thus giving them an even clearer picture of the forces driving the markets. This process continues, and the trading floor that gives the best color, thus enabling its clients to make the most money, ultimately takes home the biggest share of the pot.

Fun times in Kansas!

In my last two posts I mainly described all the hard work I've been through to understand the business and ensure my projects add value to the company. Having been with Hill's Pet Nutrition for 5 weeks now, the only thing that haven't changed is the amount of work. What have changed though is the amount of fun!

When I first started I didn't know too many people in the state of Kansas (actually I knew only one from work) so fun wasn't part of my everyday life. It got even worse when I had to deal with flooded roads and storms (picture was taken at 3pm). If you add to that tornado warnings every other day, there you have a whole bad situation in terms of lifestyle.

However, things started to turn around as the HR department had organized some activities for all the interns. Since we are only two MBA interns, it was great to get a chance and meet others from packaging, engineering, procurement etc. After a picnic at Lake Shawnee, which was extremely fun, we all started to hang out and arrange different kind of activities with the best of it being the get-together in my apartment to watch USA against Ghana for the World Cup. If only USA had won our afternoon would have been even better but you can't have it all! To fight the pain from the devastating loss my American counterparts suggested we go for a beer which took me some time to drink. Look at the glass size in the picture...

Overall, the World Cup has dominated, not only discussions but also our time. Being part of a truly global company gave me the opportunity to watch the Greece-Nigeria game with a couple of Nigerians that work for Hill's. Also, based on my initiative, there are several brackets flowing around but so far mine is the most accurate. I guess soccer is not an American sport yet. Good times... Hopefully it will be even better during the second half of my stay...

Strasburg + Obama = Craziness.

Hey everyone!

So the last time I posted, it was my first day—I was nervous, excited, and clueless. Over the past two weeks I have worked possibly one of the most challenging homestands ever and I have been assigned numerous projects. At the first game I was assigned to work, not only was Strasburg pitching, but we also had a surprise guest appearance by President Obama.

Not only did we have to work around secret service, but the stadium was completely sold out—a packed house. During the game, I was assigned to work in the PNC Diamond Club. I had to check people in, make sure everyone had wristbands, and oversee the club to ensure everything was running smoothly. Overall, my first game experience was successful. Since I have started my internship, I have worked at 6 games. This upcoming week we have a 10 game homestand, and I am extremely excited to work at the games.

While the team is away on the road, the office has a very different atmosphere. On game days, people are coming and going; on office days, it is much more relaxed. On non-game days I usually work on projects and attend department meetings. While the team is away, there are a ton of events at the stadium that my department puts together. For example, this week the Lexus Dealers from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area came out to the field for an organized softball game. Last night, we hosted the 49^th Annual Congressional Baseball Game. It is a 7-inning baseball game, Republicans versus Democrats, with approximately 7,000 people attending, and for charity. Prior to the game, I was responsible for letting in media and sponsors. During the event, I was assigned to manage the Pressbox. It was very calm and low-key in the Pressbox, so I was able to watch most of the game. This was such a cool event to work at.

I have a lot of new projects to work on in the next few weeks. My biggest one coming up is the Dave Matthews Band Concert that is being held at the stadium at the end of July. I look forward to updating everyone on this project! Stay Tuned Everyone, Stay Tuned

Learning and Unlearning

"Are you having fun ? What did you learn ?" the CEO asked, even before I could start my midway presentation.

I'm more than half way through my internship and often during these 7 weeks I have got the urge to do more analytical 'MBA type' stuff. The need to give business issues the form of a well laid out case and then provide an elegant solution. However, in the real world facts have a way of hiding until right after you have made the decision and then in hindsight they are all there. And more than that, although something like a conjoint analysis might be very valuable and look even better on a report, business needs might be more effectively served by a quick calculation delivered with perfect timing.

Even though picturing yourself making that all convincing strategy argument supported by incontestable facts is very satisfying, but almost never achievable in a real business scenario. As I start the last month of my internship I'm convinced the increased comfort with business ambiguity will help me propose more practical solutions to the problems I'm handling.

I would say the most important learning in this internship has been to know better when to keep the MBA in me reined in and let common sense make the call...and yes it has been fun learning that and more. A bit unsettling, but fun none the less.
Finally, as posting on this blog has also been part of the summer experience, I would use this comment to say something about the blogging assignment. When I opted for this exercise at the onset of summer I felt that this may be useful. But now I’m coming round to the view that it may be better to discontinue this exercise from the next year or make some changes at the very least. Blogging is essentially about free sharing of ideas and the less boundaries we put around it the better. Also in my view in its present form this assignment has been a distraction from what students should primarily be concentrating on - which is their internship. It may be minor but it’s a distraction none the less. More important, the internet is much too powerful a medium to waste on saying something just because you have to meet a word limit. Just my two cents… (390 words)

I Do What I Do

MBA, News Corp. Based on all the amazing feedback (some real, but mostly imagined) I have received from my fans (which I am not so sure exist), bloggers and celebrities alike, I feel there is some ambiguity of what the day in life of Roy the intern is like. Let me tell you… I am living the Digital Ad Sales dream. Every week I am assigned to a full time employee to help with sales support, usually filling in for an employee that is out on vacation, given the fact that this is the vacation taking time of year. When filling in I typically create Powerpoint sales presentations, recommend new sales opportunities, research digital sales campaigns and work to help optimize advertising campaigns to ensure the client is receiving the largest bang for its buck. Additionally, I am there to help in whatever capacity the account executive needs me to. These duties of course are in addition to my role of researching emerging digital mediums.

The past two weeks have seen me research a couple interesting new digital opportunities that will become big in the not so distant future. These two advertising opportunities are Google TV and Facebook’s targeted ad serving. Both of the two have the potential to really change the current digital advertising landscape and be cash cows for these respective companies. Facebook’s ad serving to third party websites really is interesting given the amount of information they have on individuals, which is truly a marketers dream.

Finally, since the World Cup has started and I am supposed to watch TV at work, I have spent way too much time following the games. However, I am definitely not alone in this endeavor. The whole office pretty much shuts down during these games. Based on my calculations of the small sample size of what is Floor 22 of the News Corp building, I would have to say that worker productivity is down at least 80% during the World Cup.

Summery Philly Sips

OK, I have to admit it… I really like Philadelphia! And I am very pleased with the location of both my place and my office in Center City. I know it might not the same for everyone, but for me, having an internship in a city is a big plus! When thinking about my personal experience in managing social life as an intern, it is something that surely makes a difference.

The first one in a bunch of events that I have enjoyed, just walking distance from my current area, was the Ross Alumni Reunion. It was refreshing to get together with fellow Rossers and talk about our summer experience so far. It was also good to receive advice from recent (and not so recent) graduates in Philly as well. Afterwards, I discovered that a group of people from my office organized outings every other week to a happy hour, taking advantage of http://centercityphila.org/life/SipsPartic.php. I joined, sharing the mission of the gathering, since I’m also into socializing and strengthening ties with co-workers in different functions and divisions of the company.

And there is also the World Cup! I was very surprised to see that some of the matches were watched in the office or in nearby sport bars and pubs. I didn’t expect to find such a strong enthusiasm with soccer, and yet I found a huge T.V. on a completely blocked street. The fans were outside, watching the game and making noise. It felt a little bit like home. Continuing with the sporting events but not in my neighborhood, I went to see a baseball game. The Phillies made a nice and eventful game that night, with just the perfect summer weather!

The city has great food offering and I’ve been able to go to nice restaurants. I have also gone to the Historic places and the Old City, which was very interesting. I used the Memorial Day long weekend to visit a friend in Boston and I hope to be in NYC for the Independence weekend. And yes, I know that it all happened here, but I miss some of the people I’ll be seeing in New York! I have yet to go to some of the museums Philly has to offer… I’m looking forward to it!!

Week 7 of finance at Sears

I have completed week 7 on my internship and am almost at the last stretch.

I have been making progress with my second big project. I am analyzing financial and marketing data from 2009 and 2010 in the first and second quarters to assess if there has been a significant impact on sales during this period due to shifting the release of new promotions in the circular from Sundays to Fridays. I am comparing sales and promotional markdown data against circular metrics such as page count, length of promotions in days, frequency of promotions in days/week and circulation volume (number of households reached through the circular). I am using graphical trending, segmentation criteria, statistical correlation and regression analysis to determine the strength of relationships between metrics and their ultimate relative impact on sales. So far, I have been making progress with refining my methodology. It remains to be seen if the data will be conclusive enough for me to make strong recommendations for or against current policy.

The project has provided me with plenty of intellectual stimulation, analytical learning opportunities and brainstorming opportunities with my immediate managers and SVP. I am hoping to have made concrete progress on the project by the end of the internship (in 3 weeks), so that it is ready to handover to other staff for follow up analysis on data that comes in through the rest of the year.

I have developed an outline for my final presentation and am working on getting feedback on the first draft this week. I am due to present to the business unit CFO’s in 10 days time, so I have to keep pushing forward on this piece on a regular basis.

I have been attending many internship activities as well; networking with other interns throughout the company at breakfasts and lunches; and attending skills training classes available through an internal educational program called Sears Holdings University. I just attended a Project Management class last week and will be attending one on Pursuing Creativity next week.

This internship has proven to be a well-rounded experience, as the management at Sears really believes in doing everything possible to enhance and retain the human capital they have. Anyone considering an internship at Sears will find themselves in a position where attention is paid to what they want and action is taken to ensure a good experience for the intern.

Great start to NYC summer

New York has always been among the top cities I wanted to live in. It's full of life and color, a tremendous variety of restaurants and the most vibrant art and culture platform that I have seen anywhere. Finally my dream comes true for the summer as I start my internship with IBM. As I absorb my first week of experiencing this fascinating city, I am surprised how quickly it flew by.

My internship at IBM started with a three day onboarding class in Washington D.C. with other MBA interns from Kellogg, Booth, Wharton and Columbia. While the class itself was to familiarize us with the company and the administrative processes, the three days together in D.C. were a great way for the intern batch to bond and build an instant support network in the company.

The first week flew by in a blur as I absorbed training materials and research, and networked with consultants and partners in the Strategy & Transformation practice. The need to network with people cannot be overemphasized in a large consulting organization. Since you do not have a strict reporting heirarchy, finding ways to advance your career is in your own hands. Building a network of peers and mentors can help solve problems on an assignment and help land the engagements you're looking to work on and open opportunities in the company over a longer term.

My project starts in Atlanta next week, and it's expected have a typical Monday through Thursday on-site travel schedule. My work will be focused on organizational alignment and change management at a large multinational corporation. I hope to get exposure to my client's senior leadership and be able to identify additional strategic and operational challenges facing their business. My metric for success in the project would be to creatively solve a significant problem for my client that would result in measurable value to the client. On the weekends, of course, I will be exploring the city and making some good friends.

Full Steam Ahead (MBA, Amazon)

The last two weeks at Amazon have gone by very quickly. I presented my research to 12 technical managers last week and delivered two reports this week. I am certainly kept on my toes and love it. Working with supervisors is interesting, because I have been given so much freedom to run my project. I chat with my manager once or twice a week to bounce my ideas off him. I work closely with two other managers, and I took up a tiny side project for one of them. I also meet weekly with my mentor, who is incredibly helpful when I am stuck on an issue.

My summer project evolved quite a bit in the first two weeks. It was quite exciting to turn a broad business idea and problem into a structured 3-month plan. My MAP project really helped with that. My manager had presented me with a set of projects/issues I could help with, and I thought through them to pick the ones I would work on this Summer. My decision was based on my potential impact on the project, my interests, skills and learning objectives. I communicated these with my manager, and together we came up with a set of goals for me. I broke down those goals into actionable items, and talked to my mentor about what was achievable.

I also learned that setting hard deadlines for myself, and communicating those with the rest of the team helps me focus and push forward on my work. I try to deliver a document every week, so that I time-box myself. Documenting my findings also helps me when a question is asked of me, or when I am trying to drive towards solutions. So it’s a tactic I recommend to everyone. Besides, it improves writing and presentation skills.
Here’s yet another video of Jeff Bezos, this one is more current, from the Princeton graduation:

Week 1 at Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee

My first day at Harley-Davidson began with a bike night. How very fitting! H-D has a bike night every Thursday outside the H-D museum during summer. Bikers from all over Milwaukee, and not just H-D owners, congregate outside the museum to show off their bikes and enjoy some good food and drinks. It is quite an amazing site!

Besides bike night, there’s another reason that summertime in Milwaukee is the best time of the year. It’s also summerfest time! Check out the website at www.summerfest.com. Harley-Davidson sponsors a stage, and on the first day, I got to watch the show from the HD deck, with free food and drinks flowing through the evening. This privilege continues during the 2 weeks of summerfest late in the evening, and it’s a great opportunity to meet other HD enthusiasts.

My project is turning out to be very interesting as well. For a complete motorcycle novice like me, getting to know every part & accessory that H-D sells on its various models is quite a daunting task, but I am learning so much! The sheer passion of the H-D customers and employees is very infectious, which is probably what makes the work culture here so very easy-going and open.

I am especially looking forward to the plant visit to Kansas City next week, where I get to see how HD manufacturers its legendary bikes. In addition, I will be visiting the dealers to understand the sales process. But the most awaited portion of my on-the-ground research is a currently tentative trip to Sturgis for the largest annual motorcycle rally in the US. There’s no better way to get to know HD customers.

Milwaukee is a very beautiful city, and is very European in its building architecture. The German influence is still very visible in the city’s construction, people and culture. And of course, it is known as the ‘drunkest’ city in the US. Policemen cruise around in their special ‘Police’ edition Harley-Davidson bikes, and also on really large horses! Apparently, the easiest way to get a drunk crowd under control is to show up on either of these 2 beasts.

I am learning so many new things not just from a project perspective, but also about the local people, and the American culture. My next update will have more details about my Kansas City visit, and my discussions with H-D dealers. Till then, keep riding!