This has been one of the longest weeks I've had in the workplace since back in 2000 when I was still at Scient. This is my second week on this project and the third week overall for the project, so I was expecting things to still be moving pretty slowly, but I was 100% wrong about that. It turns out that this project is only going to be 8 weeks long in total, so we're nearing the halfway point and we've been cranking like possible to make that end-of-July deadline. So far, I've had workdays that ran from 6:30am (the time I left for the airport on Monday) to 11:00pm, 8:00am to 11:30pm, and 8:30am to 8:30pm and I never really got much rest this past weekend, so I've been running on fumes all week long. I'm heading back to NYC tonight, so this won't be one of those long work nights, but it wouldn't surprise me if I end up doing some work when I get home tonight. I still don't know what they're going to put me on when this project ends, but i hope it'll be something based in NYC so I'll be able to have the NYC summer experience and start wylin' out like I've heard that a lot of my classmates are doing on a daily basis.
Although the grind has been hella hectic so far, I've really been enjoying it because I'm getting to do work that is totally new to me and I feel like I'm an important part of this team. Thinking back to my last year or two of work before business school, this internship experience is a night-and-day difference from that. In my old job, I felt like I'd been stagnant for a while because I was just plugging away at Java code on the same project that I'd been on from the time I started at my most recent employer. I would just come into the office and see the same old code and wonder when I'd ever get a chance to see another type of work. This experience is totally different...it feels like there is always something new each day. Whether it is participating in a brainstorming session about potential customer segments for our client to pursue, helping my manager do a competitive analysis, or working on the beginning stages of a capability gap analysis (which is my main focus for this project), I'm actually getting to do work that I'll learn from and I'm also using the lessons that I learned in school this year. This consulting game is definitely an arena where I can see myself for the first few years after graduation, if not longer.
I don't think I've given a rundown of my team yet, so here it is...the team is made up of:
- 2 Sr. Managers: one that is in charge of the strategy portion of the client initiative (8 yrs at ACN) and one that is in charge of the entire overarching client initiative that has other projects that will follow ours (15 yrs at ACN)
- 2 Managers: one that is in charge of managing the pieces work that will make up our final client solution (8 yrs at ACN) and one that is in charge of an analysis of who a company acquired by our client can get integrated into the overall effort (2 months at ACN)
- 2 Analysts: one from the Financial Services industry group that is our subject matter expert in that vertical (1.5 yrs at ACN) and one that is working on a competitve landscape assessment for the client (2 yrs at ACN)
There is a pretty wide range of backgrounds, interests, and personalities on the team, but they're all pretty cool cats and we have been working very well together. Plus, I've been hitting them with damn near every possible question that can be asked about what it is like to work here full-time and they never get tired of giving me answers. The Sr. Manager in charge of the strategy project (Andy - my direct boss) and the financial services Analyst (Chris) have been especially helpful with giving me information about working here and they've been very candid, which is greatly appreciated because I'll have some major choices to make in the next couple of months. The best part of being on this team is that everyone's opinion matters, no matter how much total work experience and tenure at Accenture you have at this point. This may seem like a small thing, but it definitely wasn't like that at the two companies where I worked. At those companies, I always felt like my input carried little weight and, in turn, my advancement opportunities were limited in comparison to people who'd been in the game longer. From what I've been told, it's like this on all Accenture project teams, which is a HUGE plus for the company in my book...let's just see how the rest of the summer goes.
Yesterday, I went down to Atlantic City to go to the christening ceremony for one of my college roommates’ new daughter. It all started off in NYC with me trying to rent a car, which turned into a major hassle. I did everything right by reserving a car for a 9am pickup earlier in the week, but, when I got there to get the car, I saw a line of 6 people in front of me waiting for cars. By the time I got my car, it was past 10:30 and I was about an hour behind schedule. I had been told that it would take me 2 hours to get down there, so I thought I still had a chance to make it for the christening, but I ended up getting stuck in some of the slowest traffic imaginable on the way down due to an accident that happened on the Garden State Parkway. The supposed 2 hour drive down ended up taking me over 3 1/2 hours. I missed the entire christening, but I did get there in time to attend the reception afterward (and get my grub on). It was great to hang out with my boy and his family and, especially, to see his little girl...she's damn near perfect. Cute as all get-out and she never cried once with all the people who were goo-goo'ing all around her and picking her up constantly. Even better, I got a chance to see my friend stress-free and totally content for the first time ever in all my years of knowing him. As I was driving down, I realized that I've known their family for ten years and that they always looked out for me when I was at Princeton, so it was good to be able to share that day with them. after talking to him and seeing how happy he is, it really got me thinking about the family thing, dating, and relationships in general…and that brings me to why I am telling this story.
It recently occurred to me that one subject I’d never written about in this blog is dating scene in business school. I guess the best way to approach this would be to break it into three categories and comment on each:
1. Single people
- I started with this group because it is potentially the most complicated one to deal with. Most B-school students come in single and these people have any number of goals when it comes to school, including staying single and hitting the books, finding their perfect match and heading to the altar one day, taking the time to casually date, and using their new MBA pedigree to get as much action as possible. I have classmates that fall into all of those categories and saw mixed success with their goals. Rather than going into details on specific stories, I’ll just give some words of advice:
a. This is graduate school, not college, so be prepared to get your “grown and sexy” on…not your “drunk and stupid”. I know that drunken hook-ups were the big move in college, but that is not the case when you get to business school. Again, without going into details, I’ll just say that stories spread pretty quickly when you’re in an enclosed social environment like B-school, so it doesn’t looks good to be that person who goes out every week, gets drunk as a skunk, and ends up trying to mack on every prospect possible. We’re adults now, so, for the sake of your reputations, PLEASE try to act accordingly…people have long memories.
b. Be careful if you try to date within the business school because there is no guarantee that it will go well. I wouldn’t say that people are guaranteed to put your business out in the street, but, if that were to happen and you were the one who did wrong, you could end up looking like an ass to a decent percentage of your future network.
c. Don’t be afraid to venture out into the other graduate schools for dating prospects. I know a couple of people who have found success with prospects from other departments and I imagine that the conversations would be a lot more interesting if you are on a date with someone who won’t be talking about the topics you’ll hear all the time at school, like net present value, Porter’s Five Forces, and balance sheets.
d. It might seem cool to go after undergraduates, but you’d be better served not doing so. Chances are, it won’t take much game to pull one of them, but, when the word gets out that your 25+ year old self has been trying to go after 18-20 year olds, you’ll come off looking hella shady.
e. Professors are OFF LIMITS!!! I didn’t hear stories of anyone getting down with a professor this past year, but, in some cases, the profs can be around the same age as the students and there is always a possibility of something going down. I realize that this should go without saying, but some people might consider knocking off a prof as an accomplishment of some sort. As hard as it is to get into B-school, is it really worth messing up your grades to be able to say that you were able to get down with a faculty member?
f. Ladies, I know that this is a weird time for some of you because you may be in your mid to late 20’s, but please keep your standards as high as they normally would be and don’t put out the vibe that you’re looking for a man. Some guys will sense that and use it to their advantage to reel you in…only to cut you off later on. There are a lot of double standards out there and, although it isn’t fair, women have to be extra careful about how they are perceived when it comes to dating because a shaky reputation (whether earned or perceived) is very hard to change once it is established. Also, be on the lookout for guys who want to make you their meal-ticket…there are some really bootleg guys out there who want to find a woman to take care of them, so don’t let yourself be a victim. I know that y’all are grown and that this is a basic part of the game, but, when it comes to matters of the heart, it can get complicated and I’d be a foul dude if I didn’t at least warn you about this.
g. Fellas, if you’re going to make moves on MBA women, you’ve got to make sure that your game is as tight as possible or else you’ll be a sad, sad soul. It is likely that any woman that you become attracted to at school is as smart, if not smarter, than you and those old “I work at/as [insert big-time company or job title] and went to school at [insert big name university]”, “Hey, Miss Lady…”, and “Baby, somebody better call God, cuz he's missing an angel!” lines that used to work well for you just won’t cut it. Be as real and straight-forward as possible and get used to introducing YOURSELF and not your ACCOMPLISHMENTS because that will set you apart from the other cats at your school who are trying to holla at the same set of women…and don’t be that dude who tries to mack on every woman in your class because that will either have you looking skuzzy or lame. Also, be wary of those shark females…you know what I mean…those women who will get extra geeked about you when they find out you’re pursuing an MBA from a top school. I’ve heard (and seen for myself) how some women’s vibe changes when they find out about your schooling and, if that happens, take that as a sign to do like Saddam and retreat into a fox-hole. Some are trying to dig in your pockets and others are trying to get a wedding ring out of you, so make sure that any woman you deal with is checking for you and not your resume. I know that y’all are grown and that this is a basic part of the game, but, when it comes to matters of the booty, it can get complicated and I’d be turning my back on part of the “Fellas’ Charter” if I didn’t give these warnings :-)
2. People in committed relationships:
- It’s hard to tell what can happen with the people in this group. I’ve seen cross-country relationships stay as strong as ever with the student and the SO making do with monthly visits and regular phone calls. I’ve seen relationships that classmates had with people who were within a couple hours drive of campus fizzle in no time flat. At most B-schools, there is a day referred to as “Black Monday” (the first Monday after Thanksgiving), which is supposed to represent the first day of singlehood for people who started the school year in relationships who broke up with their SO’s over the holiday weekend. Everyone likely comes into school believing that they‘ll be one of the success stories, but things can switch quickly when you enter a place full of incredibly intelligent and driven people who can share experiences that you’ve never even fathomed before. One thing that I’ve learned is that the changes that one goes through while in school can either make a relationship stronger or lead someone to end their relationship. This is something that MUST be considered when deciding on whether to keep things going or not because I imagine that going through a break-up is hell when you’ve got class readings, assignments, and exams to worry about at the same time.
3. Married/Engaged people:
- I originally thought that this would be the group that would have the relationship game locked down because they’ve already made their commitments to a mate before coming to school. Unfortunately, I learned that these people have issues to deal with too. It seems that a lot of people underestimate the stress that being in business school and the time that it requires can have on a relationship. I had classmates who had to be in class all day and then in study group sessions all night and, all the while, their spouse was left at home alone often with kids to watch. I can think of some fantastic examples of classmates who put their families first and minimized the after-hours activities so they could be home for family time, but it had to have been a struggle to come to that decision because so many bonds are built with classmates over drinks and/or random dinners in the evening. If a couple has no kids and the mate is working, then it doesn’t seem to be that bad because the mate would have their own stuff going on too, but this isn’t always how it goes down for childless couples. I’ve heard stories of some international students who have SO’s who can’t work in the US because of visa issues, so they don’t really have much to do when the student is occupied. There is a strong couples network within the GSB and a lot of the wives/husbands of students know each other well and they do kick it, but I imagine that it has to be hard to be an SO of a student. I hope that all of the married/engaged soon-to-be students will have long conversations with their mates about this issue before matriculating this Fall.
As for myself, none of this was a big issue for me because I came to the GSB single and came into the school year with thoughts of being single throughout my time at Stanford. My thinking was that B-school would be hard enough without having to worry about keeping a long distance relationship going or being on the prowl around campus, so I just made school my focus and didn’t think about much else. For most of the year, I was cool with that, but, as lame as it sounds to say it, it can get really lonely going through this process after a while. There are so many things that can stress you out, make you happy, and just plain kick you in the butt in business school and dealing with all of that by one's self is tough. I saw a lot of classmates who had relationships break up over the course of the school year, but I also saw others keep their long distance ones going and other establish strong relationships (with other B-schoolers and grad students from other departments at Stanford), so it got me rethinking my view on it all. I'm still 100% focused on school, which is an absolute must to get these two degrees and still graduate on time, but I think I would be open to finding someone during this second year of school. It's not like I'm on the hunt or anything (because I don't have much extra time), but, if Miss Right finds me and has her game on point, she might be able to holla at The Kid ;-). Now that I think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people who had my initial view during the start of their first year have decided to make a similar change in mindset…something tells me that there is going to be a whole lot of pimpin’ going on around the GSB starting in the Fall.
Dang, it's been a long week. I just got back into NYC last night after spending 4 days in Chicago for summer intern training and promptly met two of my classmates, a friend from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and two of her classmates and acted a fool in NYC. I probably should have stayed in and rested, but my man Shawn called me up and told me to mobilize, so I had to go out and do my thing. My original plan was to stay out until midnight or maybe 12:30am at the latest, but we just went from club to party to club all night and, by the time I hopped a cab back here, it was past 3am. We even ran into a group of 8 of our GSB classmates while we were out and I thought they’d kick it with us, but they all went home early. I ended up spending a load of cash and I haven’t even gotten a paycheck yet, but it was the kind of night that I was expecting to have many of while working in NYC.
The strategy intern orientation in Chicago threw a bunch of information at us and the long days of training were tough, but I got a lot of good information about how Accenture does their thing. Before going into this training, I didn’t know how the strategy work played into their overall corporate strategy as a company that offers consulting, technology, and outsourcing services, but they cleared all of that up for me. And, they gave us a lot of lessons on issue based problem solving and effective communication, which underlies all of the work they do in the Strategy group. Aside from the work stuff, I had a ball in Chi-town and could see myself living there at some point for a year or so. The people there were really laid back and I was seriously diggin’ the architecture in their downtown area. The events the company planned for us gave us a chance to see part of what life could be like there and was a good way to welcome all of us to the company for the summer.
I found out yesterday that I’m going to be staffed on a project in Columbus, Ohio for a software company that is devising a market entry strategy. I was a little disappointed when I found out about the location because I’ll have to be away from NYC from Monday through Thursday, but I’m excited about the learning experience that I’ll get. This project is basically giving me the chance to leverage my software background to develop some strategy skills, which is EXACTLY what I was hoping to et out of this summer. By the time I finish in August, my strategy game should be tight as Jon Travolta leisure suit in “Stayin’ Alive”.
One topic that I’ve never covered in this blog is what it’s like to own a rental property that is far away from where you go to school. I own a condo in the DC Metro area and I thought of selling it when I got into Stanford, but two of my boys agreed to rent it from me and it seemed like it would work out. Since I’m cool with both guys, I knew that they’d look after the place for me and allow me to keep on building equity while I was at Stanford. Things got complicated when one f the guys moved out at the end of March after buying a house with his girlfriend. Because of him moving out, I had to subsidize half of the housing expenses for the months of April through June from my student loan money so I wouldn’t have to kick my other friend out or make him pay it all himself. The complications got larger when that other friend got accepted into Yale’s business school and told me that he’d be moving out in July.
All of the worrying about the place had finally gotten to me and I decided to sell the condo to make things easier on myself next school year. I believe that the real estate market in the DC metro area is experiencing a huge bubble so this seemed like the perfect time to get out and get the most profit possible. Plus, it offered the added benefit of giving me cash that I can invest over the next year to put toward buying another spot in whichever city I end up in after graduation. I officially put the place on the market on Thursday morning and my realtor called me this morning saying that we’d gotten an offer for purchase. I just got back from receiving a faxed copy of the contract, signing it, and sending it back. So, in about three weeks, it’ll all be done.
I guess I told that story to illustrate that it is incredibly difficult to manage a property from far away while you’re in B-school. A lot of my friends told me that I should have kept the condo and brought in a management company to deal with it, but the rates those places charge would have made me have to charge tenants too much in rent. Also, I didn’t want to trust a stranger to rent my place and take care of it, especially with them know that I’d be 3000 miles away. Selling it was the best option for me, but that doesn’t mean that it is that way for you. If you’re planning on moving away for B-school, I’d recommend looking at the following when making the choice to sell your home or keep it to rent out:
1. The state of the housing market – Does it look like your property value will rise/fall in the next year or two? Would you make more money by getting out now or is it worth it to keep the place and let the value go up?
2. Do you have trustworthy renters lined up? If not, are you willing to trust the well-being of your place to people that you don’t know?
3. Is there anyone in the vicinity of your home that you can rely on to go in and make repairs, if required. If not, do you have any contractors or other businesses lined up that can do the job and not rip you off?
4. Do you ant to make a profit off of the rent you charge or just cover the cost of owning the home (mortgage, home owner’s/condo fees, property taxes, maintenance, etc)?
Once you think through those things, the decision should be easy for you…at least it was for me.
Whew! I got back in from my first day at Accenture a little less than 2 hours ago and I'm feeling like I got run over. The day started so early that I was barely awake when I had to get on the train to NJ. There were about 20 of us in attendance, most of whom either came right out of undergrad or only had a year of prior work experience. We covered a lot of good information about the background and direction of Accenture, but, to be honest, a good portion of what we went over seemed pretty elementary to the other MBA interns and I, who came in with years of work experience prior to Bschool. There was one section that covered leadership, why it is needed, and what ACN's view of it was that ran for over an hour...it was definitely good content for the youngsters to see, but it was stuff that I'd seen many times over. The people from ACN that I met were all on point and, best of all, were passionate about the type and level of work that they've been doing for the company. By the end of the session, I felt wiped out, but I was excited about the upcoming work I'd be doing this summer.
Everything was all good until I got on the subway and had a "Marquis, you are still a Black dude in America" moment that got me all kinds of salty. I am now officially in "hating" mode right about now. I got on the train, took a seat, and proceeded to mind my own business listening to my iPod...Mind you, I was still dressed up in business casual attire from my day at ACN, so I couldn't have looked threatening in any way. Well, in the 9 stops between getting on the train and leaving it, four white ladies effectively killed the buzz that I had after my day of orientation. The first two ladies came on the train carrying a bunch of bags and, once they looked around the train and saw that the only empty seat in their area was beside me, they decided to stand up with all their crap rather than sit beside me. Next, a third white lady got on the train and spent 30 seconds looking around for a seat before she realized the only free seat was by me, but this one actually sat down in it...at the next stop, the lady on the other side of her got off and the lady by me immediately slid over to the empty seat. At first, I thought she was moving because she wanted to have an empty seat on each side of her, but that changed when i looked and saw that she'd moved away from me to put a seat in between us and be sitting right next to another white lady. Now, this all happened over the course of 5-6 minutes, so my jaw was damn near on the floor in amazement. The final blow was when the 4th lady came on, looked around, and sat in the empty seat beside me...at the next stop, a dude across from us got off the train and ol' girl jumped up and made a B-line for the newly empty seat. That didn't shock me as much as the people who she moved to sit beside...a couple of white guys who were dressed in business casual attire just like me but had such an aroma of booze and cigarettes that I felt like I was going to start feeling drunk and get a nicotine buzz. The whole situation has had me on edge for the past couple of hours because it just goes to show that some people will always form opinions about people of color, no matter how well they are dressed and how professional they are acting.
next up is a trip to Chicago tomorrow for the remainder of my orientation. All of ACN's MBA interns are being flown there to have a chance to meet/hang with each other and get some intense training into what we need to provide value on our client projects. The recruiter for the strategy internship program emailed us earlier today with an agenda and it looks like they've got a bunch of dope stuff planned for us. She says that the trainers are going to have us grindin' like crazy, but the after hours stuff should provide some much needed balance to the time that we'll be in Chi-town. I don't know how much of the trip is supposed to be fun and how much should be educational, but, knowing me, I'll probably try to make it all fun and will likely leave there without picking up any of the intended information :-)
I just got to NYC yesterday afternoon and I'm having a great time already. Everything started out with me getting settled into my summer apartment, which i was able to get through a hookup from my girl Maya. I'm renting the room in her uncle's place that she uses during the school year at Columbia Business School and I'm getting a fantastic deal on this spot (I won't go into details, but it's half of what i thought i'd be paying). The apartment is in a great location on the Upper West Side and my room is hue and has both a bed and a futon, so I'll be able to have a place for my peoples to crash if they come into NYC to kick it. Best of all, it is located only 4 or 5 subway stops away from my office, so the commute should be a breeze once work starts. I also had a chance to grab dinner with one of my friends from Princeton who just finished her first year at Yale Law School and then get some drinks with one of my friends who just finished her first year at Tuck Business School. I don't know what I did to be able to surround myself with such dope friends, but I swear that most, if not all, of my peoples will be balers one day. I just hope they remember the little people like me when they make it big. ;-)
Speaking of work, my internship starts on Monday with a day-long orientation in one of Accenture's NJ offices. I did some checking earlier this morning and I'm going to have to get up at 5am that day to get myself ready and catch the 6:20am train in order to make it to the session on time. That is goign to make for a long first day of work, but I'm excited to see what the company is all about. Following the office orientation, I'll be flying out to Chicago on Tuesday for the intern orientation, which will run from Wednesday to Friday. i'm not sure what we'll be covering during those sessions, but it'll at least give all of the interns a chance to meet each other and kick it. I'm a little concerned about meeting these other kids because people tell me that I tend to be sort of off the chain socially and I'm afraid that I might be a little too much for them. No worries though because, if I shock these kids a little, tht just lets me know that it'll be my mission to get them to lighten up before we all go our separate ways on Friday :-) As you can probably tell, I'm excited about starting this job, but I'd be lying if I claimed to not be worried at all. i've learned a ton in my three quarters at the GSB, but I can't help but wonder if I will be on point enough for the job. Did I do a good enough job of internalizing all of the lessons from my classes? Am I going to be poised enough for a Consulting environment (the software industry is MUCH more laid back than Consulting and it fit me very well)? Most important of all, will I come out of this summer with a job offer? There are a lot of questions and the answers to them will come out soon enough...
One last thing...I'd like to give a congratulations shout out to my girl Shani (Princeton undergrad and currently a Stanford Law student) on her upcoming wedding on Saturday morning. I'm going to be attending it along with my roomie Detavio and a bunch of folks I was cool with back in the day at Princeton. It should be a mixture of the old and new for me and, with an open bar full of top shelf "libations", I'm sure that it will be a good time for everyone there. I wish Shani and her soon-to-be husband all of the best as they make this move together.
Well, it's finally official...the first year of my MBA experience is over. I had a take home exam and a final project due for two classes today and got those joints done yesterday, so I'm free and clear. I'm now back in good ol' VA at my sister's house and it feels good to be able to say that I survived the first year and, while it seemed to go too slowly for words at times, I can't help but think that it flew by as I look back on the MBA1 year. Coming in as someone with no real business expertise, I learned a ton in the classroom and from my classmates, which I hope I'll be able to put to good use when I start work on Monday. Even more important than that, I would say that I've had a lot of time to reflect on things during these three quarters and have re-evaluated my stance on several issues, including my career aspirations, opinions of others, and view on relationships...business school is just the sort of change I needed at this point in my development as a professional and as a person overall.
I've been told by a lot of people that I've taken a lot of risks with how candid I've been in describing the MBA experience so far, but I can't help but do so because that's how I get down. When I started writing in this blog, my intention was to give folks a real view of what it's like to go to business school and I hope that that's what i've done. Many people, including myself, have some preconceived notions about it being easy to be successful at this and, as you've probably gathered from my entries, this is far from easy. It might be fun at times, but it is also hard work and can be down-right stressful at times. I've been told that I shouldn't have said so much about my internship search struggles, but I just wanted to show that, if your interview game isn't on point, you will have problems just like I did. People have said that I slipped up by using the real names of companies that I interviewed with, but I wanted to show that there are highs and lows to the treatment that students get while they're interviewing and companies aren't going to kiss your feet just because you go to a good school. Finally, I have been told that I shouldn't have talked so much about how hard the work was for most of the year, but I fell victim to a tendency to care too much about grades instead of focusing on learning and enjoying the time at school. I didn't realize that I'd messed up there until 2 quarters into the school year, so I hope that others who've read my stories will have the right mindset coming in and will save themselves the stress of staying up until 2-3am every night trying to read every selection for each day's lectures.
Overall, I just want people to see what this is all like and, if that ends up making me look like the most bootleg, unqualified, stressed, high-strung MBA student of all time, then so be it...at least, y'all can rest assured that I'm being as real as possible. With that said, I wouldn't have traded what I've gone through in the past three quarters of school for anything. I've learned more about myself and what i'm capable of during this period than in any other outside of my time at Princeton. I thank God every day that Derrick Bolton and his staff slipped up and let me into the GSB because I know that I'm a much different person now than I was when I arrived on campus last Sept and I will develop even further between now and next June when i graduate. I guess this is the official start of my summer experience, so the next entry will take off from there.
One more thing before I go...VA DONE COME UP!!! (I just had to throw that in there because it feels SO good to be back in the greatest state in the USA)