Monday, December 20, 2010

Toys for Tots and NORAD Santa tracker

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the George Washington School of Business' Toys for Tots drive in conjunction with some of DC's finest United States Marine Corps troops and leaders!

Student's teachers and administrators - please know that your contributed toys are now on their way into the hands of local children in need.

Track santa as he works his magic: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

Sunday, December 5, 2010

How much control do we have over the economic future?

4 out of the top 5 economies in 2050 will be formerly developing economies. Who will help shape their growth? Will the growth be sustainable? Equitable?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Intrapreneur versus Entrepreneur by John Dillman

In determining which business school to attend, I used resources such as Aspen Institute’s Beyond Pinstripes and Net Impact’s annual b-school rankings to narrow down the field. When it came time to make my decision, GW’s involvement with Net Impact and its leadership in weaving ethics, sustainability, and the like into the fabric of the program tipped the balance and here I am today.

After a fast-paced but enjoyable module 1 in which I suffered from the tunnel vision one gets when navigating 6 classes in as many weeks, I was amped to attend the Net Impact Conference in Ann Arbor. Occurring one week after our first set of finals, it presented the perfect opportunity to put academics aside and reconnect with what drew to me to business school in the first place.

I came to GW to become a better problem solver, and the problems I wanted to help solve were the focus of this conference. I set loose goals going in, knowing that the weekend would inspire more questions than provide answers.

Among the many questions swirling through my head when I boarded the plane after a great weekend, there was one that stood out: intrapreneurship or entrepreneurship?

Whatever I end up doing after business school, my primary motivation will be solving problems and helping people. How should I express this through my career? Should I go the CSR route and push for change from within an organization? Or should I heed the advice of Gary Hirshberg (founder and CE-YO of Stonyfield Organic) or Majora Carter (economic consultant and environmental justice advocate) who both make convincing arguments for building from the ground up?

Both paths feature excitement, opportunity, advantages, and disadvantages. With CSR and intrapreneurship, there is the opportunity to change well-established organizations. The size of a Wal-Mart or Coca-Cola is such that any change you make will have a far-reaching impact. You learn from people who have been in business a long time and have a chance to develop into a seasoned professional. This is appealing to someone like me who will re-enter the workforce in 2012 with less than 3 years of professional experience on the books. Furthermore, there is something to be said for the notion that the most effective agents of change are those who understand and have lived the system. Only after a year and change at Ashoka’s Youth Venture was I able to push through effective programs in my area.

With entrepreneurship, you avoid the risk of getting sucked into the belly of a slow-moving organization. You avoid the situation of taking a position in marketing or HR when what you really want is to work on sustainability. With entrepreneurship, it is your ship to steer. You can move the ball forward as fast or as slow as you want to, and apply pressure to incumbents who are not altering their behavior fast enough.

There are downsides to this path as well. There is the risk that you fail completely. Even if you are successful and your organization is doing wonderful things, you may have a hard time achieving the scale needed to make a big impact. Is an hour spent working to increase the success of your start-up better than an hour spent working to make Wal-Mart more socially responsible?

Of course, the choice is not simply between entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship, start-up versus incumbent. There are a variety of options in between – established-mid size organizations or start-ups with a couple of years under their belt.

The purpose of this post is not to endorse one path over the other. Rather, it is to share with you my still evolving thought process on a career in effective change making.

John Dillman Global MBA, 2012

Thursday, November 25, 2010

"Sirius XM Radio's interview of Honest Tea's TeaEO" by Eliza Roberts

I had the fortune of attending a live interview at the Sirius XM radio station of the TeaEO of Honest Tea, Seth Goldman. I have always loved Honest Tea as a beverage. My favorite flavor is “Peach Oolalong” “Just a Tad Sweet.” But, Seth's modesty, his passion for using business to bring about positive change, his humor, and his honesty about work/ life balance and the challenges of starting your own company made me love Honest Tea even more.

Seth got the idea to start Honest Tea while sitting in a business class at the Yale School of Management and discussing the beverage business case on Coca-Cola and Pepsi. He realized that there were sweet sodas and watery beverages, but no drinks that were less sweet. After graduating and experimenting in his kitchen in Maryland with thermoses on loan to him and a tea that he said tasted initially like grass, he approached the local Whole foods to tell them about his new concoction.

The next thing he knew, Whole Foods ordered 15,000 bottles as an experiment and Seth and his co-founder, a professor at Yale, had to find a way to manufacture it on a large scale. He and some MBA interns offered samplings at stores throughout the region and by the end of the month it was the best selling tea in all stores. Today, 10 years later, Honest Tea is the best selling beverage within the healthy drinks category and has grown to 60 million in sales. Honest Tea was also the first to offer fair trade tea in 2003 and by March of this year expects all of its teas to be fair trade.

What is his advice to MBA students, or people who want to be just like him? Seth offered two words of wisdom:

1) Do what you really care about. Don’t take a job that you are NOT going to be fired up to go to every day.

2) Once you find what you want to do, go after it like nothing can stop you!

What are his thoughts on Corporate Responsibility? For companies working to implement CSR initiatives, the best approach is not just taking money from high profit margins and distributing it as in-kind donations to a local non-profit, but rather finding a way to make CSR the core of what you do. For Honest Tea, giving back and offering healthy, organic, fair trade beverages to consumers is at the core of what they do. His goal in running Honest Tea is to not just be successful and grow the business, but to try to change the way business operate by demonstrating that organics, healthy foods, and sustainability should be relevant to companies operating within the private sector.

Honest Tea’s corporate culture is all about honesty. The office has absolutely no walls to encourage innovation. There is an experimental kitchen that is filled with random dried fruits shipped in from farmers from all over the world who want to supply to Honest Tea. And my favorite part, the office has a gong. Apparently, the gong is hit whenever the company achieves a sales goal. I love the image of Coca-Cola executives visiting the office upon purchasing 40% of Honest Tea’s shares, yet unable to have a private meeting because of the lack of walls and at the same time trying to make sense of the gong hanging from the office wall and the test kitchen that is the only test kitchen used by Honest Tea to create new products.

What kind of impact will Coca-Cola’s outright purchase of the company within the next year or so have on Honest Tea? Seth explained that he expects some cross-fertilization to take place between the companies. He was invited to attend a sustainability brainstorming session in Atlanta recently and hopes to be able to influence sustainability initiatives taken on by Coca-Cola. The most positive outcome is that Honest Tea will be able to take advantage of Coca-Cola’s distribution network. I will not only be able to purchase my Peach Oolalong at the stores in the DC metro area, but at truck stops, convenience stores, and everywhere else where Coca-Cola delivers at present. With Honest Tea’s new distribution capabilities, Honest Tea will be able to increase its sales and in turn increase purchases from fair trade suppliers, thus supporting the fair trade and organics movement throughout the US and the rest of the world. Furthermore, more US consumers will have an option to by a healthier alternative to soda and purchase the drink at a lower cost than other organic beverages.

But, what will happen to Honest Tea in the coming years? Will Honest Tea be able to maintain its corporate culture (and the gong in the Bethesda, Maryland office)? I hope so. The key now is for Honest Tea to demonstrate to Coca-Cola that the culture, employees and the way it operates today brings value to the company and to the delicious tea products that end up on the shelves of retail stores today.


Eliza Roberts Globa MBA, 2011

Monday, November 22, 2010

"The Fossil Fuel Alternative Energy Imperative Chapter 1" by Andrew Seal

Algeria, Angola, Canada, Colombia, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela. What do these countries have in common?

The list includes several countries that are described by the US State Department as having “long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable.” The list includes countries that either languish at the bottom of or don’t even qualify for the Human Development Index. But most of all, this list constitutes the top 10 (83%) of all U.S. crude oil imports.

Oil is a destabilizing, and strategic, natural resource. It both props up totalitarian regimes and shapes U.S. foreign policy. The Strait of Hormuz is a perfect example of this. Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. According to the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration “Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint due to its daily oil flow of … roughly 40 percent of all seaborne traded oil.” Stationed immediately nearby is the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which also serves as the headquarters of the Naval Component Command of US CENTCOM and is responsible for all naval combat operations in the Mid-East region.

While examples of this kind abound, the US has done little to wean itself from the Oligopolistic oil market, which is overwhelmingly dominated by OPEC (over half the above countries in the top 10 are OPEC member nations.) The strategic importance of and our addiction to this natural resource supports oppressive regimes and sends our fighting men and women to areas of the world they would not need be otherwise. We need to change this.

Start by walking and riding a bike, or use public transit whenever possible. If personal vehicle use is unavoidable in the short term, ensure that you carpool as often as possible, maintain your vehicle and properly inflate and rotate your tires. Electric vehicles are now becoming widely available for purchase at a variety of dealerships. As the world’s leading consumer of oil (approximately 20million barrels a day), we have a tremendous opportunity to create change.

Shifting the oil demand curve will lower prices and we can use that change in price to subsidize electronic vehicle and renewable energy infrastructure that will further foster decreased fuel prices and increase our leverage over the OPEC cartel while fostering the growth of American green jobs.

Decreasing demand for oil is the right thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do.

Sources:

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/world_oil_transit_chokepoints/Hormuz.html

http://www.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfm?view=consumption


Andrew Seal Global MBA, 2012

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Certificate in Responsible Management Open House!

Interested to learn more about the Certificate in Responsible Management? Attend the open house on Tuesday, September 28 from 6-7:30pm in Duques room 520.

If you can't attend the event but want to learn more, feel free to email Eliza Roberts at ebr@gwmail.gwu.edu or Professor John Forrer at jforrer@gwu.edu


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"Climate Corps 2010: Inside the Energy Efficiency Cubicle" by Jeremy Dommu

I generally don’t like cubicles. Before I started my MBA at the George Washington University, I spent five years working at a cubicle. When I left my job in public accounting, I was relieved at the thought of abolishing cubicles from my life forever. But now as a 2010 EDF Climate Corps fellow at PHH Arval, I have never been so proud to have my very own cubicle. In fact, I don’t even call it a cubicle – this is now my workstation. I’ve even decorated it with EDF and Net Impact signs. I think the reason for my renewed enthusiasm for office life is that I have never felt more passionate about my work.

As an EDF Climate Corps fellow, I am responsible for making the business case for sustainability. I’m helping my host company, PHH Arval, simultaneously improve its bottom line while increasing environmental performance. This win-win situation is created by recommending projects that reduce energy usage and in turn lower utility bills in a commercial office building while cutting harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

PHH takes sustainability seriously. Their award-winning PHH GreenFleet program, for example, works with many of today’s leading transportation companies to encourage less fuel consumption, more efficient driving and the improvement of fuel economy for fleets. PHH also practices what it preaches. Through the dedication of an environmentally conscious facilities department and the commitment of a voluntary Green Team, PHH has already reduced electricity consumption by 20 percent in the past 5 years, obtained an EnergyStar rating that puts it in the top 25 percent of all office buildings in its class and is well on its way to meeting its Environmental Protection Agecny Climate Leaders goal.

Even for such an environmentally responsible organization, I am finding that significant opportunities for lowering energy consumption still remain in all the primary areas of the office building. As I learned during EDF’s week-long Climate Corps training, “low-hanging fruit always grows back.” So, even for the most environmentally conscious organizations, a renewed look at energy consumption is bound to turn up new opportunities to save money as technology changes, cost barriers drop and new standards, regulations and incentives are offered.

After noting that an above-average amount of electricity usage at PHH is attributed to lighting, I’ve been analyzing several projects that I hope will reduce lighting costs:

  • The installation of occupancy sensors in closed spaces
  • Daylight harvesting to take advantage of the natural light that flows in through the wall-to-wall windows
  • A review of nighttime and weekend lighting policies

I’m also reviewing the HVAC system and believe that the heating and cooling loads can be reduced through improvements to insulation, air sealing and window film. Computer Power Management software can also be installed to minimize energy waste from office equipment, and Vending Misers can be installed on all vending machines in the building.

Furthermore, I’ve been thinking about data centers. EDF organizes weekly expert calls by leaders in energy efficiency. On one of those calls, Don Beaty, a lead consultant for datacom facilities and designer for all Google data centers worldwide, explained that there is absolutely no reason for data centers to be cooled to a frigid 68 degrees or lower. Instead, ASHRAE environmental specifications allow for the intake temperature to be set as high as 80 degrees without risk to equipment and without impacting performance. Before the call took place, I reserved a conference room and invited the IT managers from PHH to attend. The message about temperatures in data centers immediately reached its intended audience from a very credible source. Now, I’m working with the energy-conscious IT department to increase the temperature in the data centers at PHH. I am currently working on quantifying the savings from this increase; which I believe will be substantial.

As this example illustrates, energy efficiency is easy money and good business. While there is no upfront cost of increasing the temperature set-point in a data center, some of the other projects I am considering do require an initial investment. Yet, by analyzing these projects from a financial perspective, just like a company does with any other investment they make, I am finding that these projects are smart business ventures with high returns, low risk and quick pay-backs. So, as a business student and environmentalist, I’m proud to sit at the energy efficiency cubicle, formed by the benefits these projects have on the environment, energy usage and to a company’s bottom line.


*Jeremy Dommu is a 2010 EDF Climate Corps Fellow at PHH Arval. This content is also posted on the Environmental Defense Fund Innovation Exchange Blog and Greenbiz.com. Further coverage of the Climate Corps program is available at GreenBiz.com/edfclimatecorps.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Volunteer Opportunity--Tubman Elementary

If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity, email: albarr@gmail.com or click on the link below.


Working together, we have made a significant impact. Through the hard work of volunteers, teachers, and students, the percentage of Tubman students proficient in reading increased for the second year in a row (while the average DC elementary school actually moved backwards on this measure). In addition, DC-CAS results indicate that Tubman students who participated in Reading All-Stars last year were twice as likely to become proficient in reading as their peers who did not participate. So our involvement truly made a difference.


However, there is still so much work left to do. There are still far too many kids – both at Tubman and across the city – that cannot read at grade level. So we’ll be back at Tubman this fall, working harder than ever, to help every student there reach proficiency in reading. It’s a huge challenge, but it’s also an opportunity to make a huge difference. Can you volunteer this fall to make sure every Tubman student that needs help receives it? Get details and sign up now by clicking here. We're making progress. We can't stop now.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

"The Seoul of Business School" by Jeremy Dommu

It's 11 a.m. on May 20 in Seoul, South Korea, and 10 students from the George Washington University MBA, including myself, are frantically scrambling to put the finishing touches on a presentation we are scheduled to deliver in three hours. We worked for seven weeks back home in Washington, D.C., researching the wind turbine business and had already spent two weeks in South Korea consulting with Hyosung to develop a strategy to expand its turbine manufacturing business in Korea, Latin America, and the U.S. With just hours until two senior vice-presidents of the wind business are scheduled to arrive at our hotel's conference room, we are still tweaking PowerPoint slides and fine-tuning our oral delivery of slide content.

This is the culmination of my first year in GW's Global MBA program, and like the year that has just preceded it, it's ending with a flurry of activity and a rapid coordination of efforts. Armed with the tools of finance, supply chain management, business strategy, international management, business communications, macroeconomics, and marketing—all part of our recently completed first-year core classes—our team works together seamlessly to add the finishing touches to aid in the delivery of a set of recommendations we hope can help Hyosung achieve its goal of becoming one of the top 10 global providers of wind energy solutions by 2017.

For me, the opportunity to consult in an international setting was one of the driving forces in my decision to attend GW. This residency was more than just a field trip after a 14-hour flight. It was a consulting engagement at its heart and a good opportunity to employ the business skills we have developed over the past year. I chose the trip to Korea over other trip options to India, Sweden, Serbia, and Mexico, because its focus on the intersection of business and public policy and the development of renewable energy resources so closely aligns with my career goals. While my excitement grew as the trip approached, my wildest expectations couldn't have prepared me for the learning experience, networking opportunities, and sheer enjoyment I was so fortunate to get during GW's international residency project in Seoul.


FROM WIND TURBINES TO CHICKEN FEET

The focus of our trip was exploring South Korea's green growth strategy. Korea has pledged to stimulate its economy through the development of green technologies and innovation. Twenty GW students were on the trip, divided in two teams. While 10 of us worked with Hyosung on wind turbines, the other 10 consulted with SK Energy on the development of lithium ion batteries, which will be used to power a new fleet of electric vehicles worldwide.

Both of these projects provided ample opportunities to apply practical MBA skills to new industries. But beyond the education, this trip was an amazingly good time characterized by karaoke nights, Korean baseball, sleep dancing (what happens at 6 a.m. at the club when your mind and body shut down on the dance floor), chicken feet, and more soju than I care to remember. Shepherded down the streets of Seoul by our faithful TA and patient guide, Sungha, all 20 GW MBAs made the most of this incredible opportunity, and I believe all of us are significantly better off after this experience.

I think what truly made the trip such a success was the leadership of our professor and guide, Danny Leipziger. Simply put, Leipziger is a rock star in Korea. He joined GW's MBA faculty in 1997 after a long career at the World Bank, where he led the bank's first economic recovery loan to South Korea after the Asian financial crisis. While we were in South Korea, Leipziger set up a series of meetings with various officials, economists, assemblymen, business leaders, and media personnel. The meetings complemented the work we were doing with our client companies as they worked to respond to the public policy push for green innovations.

GW has a significant network of more than 800 alumni in Korea. Several of these alumni stepped forward to act as our gracious and extremely generous hosts. The success of these individuals and their insights into the Korean business culture served as both inspiration and education when they hosted a 20-course traditional Korean meal, a night reminiscent of D.C. power dining at a Western-style steak house, and topped it off with VIP entrance and table service at one of Seoul's hottest nightclubs. This friendliness will not soon be forgotten, and my classmates and I look forward to continuing to build on the relationships and networks we developed on our trip.

This trip demonstrated the value of an MBA, as I was able to apply the skills I have acquired over the past year. I have become a better communicator and team player, and I'm better versed in the multiple functional areas of business that are required to become a leader in management and a fine strategist to others. The trip exemplified the Seoul—err, soul—of business school, which I would characterize as the combined application of existing knowledge while simultaneously obtaining experience in new subject matters.

Personally, I am broadening my knowledge of the energy industry as I prepare to become a champion for demonstrating the financial value that can be derived when businesses embrace environmental sustainability. Going to Seoul was the perfect capstone to an incredible first year of business school. After our two distinguished guests departed following our presentation, I can look back now with confidence that we provided them with several viable strategies and ideas that I hope will help them grow as much as we have during this incredible experience.

Jeremy Dommu Global MBA, 2011

*This is taken from his Businessweek Blog

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

"The Right to Water" by Eliza Roberts

“Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right.” ~Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General

Water may be regarded as a basic human right. Yet, today more than 1 in 6 people in the world don’t have access to safe drinking water. According to a recent World Health Organization Assessment, more than 5 million human beings die each year from illnesses linked to unsafe drinking water; one-third of these deaths are in India alone.

India currently has the second largest population in the world with 1,182,783,000 people. As the population continues to increase and as more Indians move into the middle class thus consuming more water on a day-to-day basis, water consumption is going to increase at an alarming rate.

Many arid regions of India depend heavily on groundwater for farming and basic survival. Some 85% of the population depends on groundwater for their water supply. Yet, between 1947 and 2000, access to groundwater per capita decreased from 5,150 cubic meters to 2,200 cubic meters. With increasing populations in India, it is expected that by 2017, there will be a further decline of per capita availability of groundwater to 1,600 cubic meters.

If that doesn’t sound alarming enough, try this.. Glaciers and snow in the Himalayas are a primary source of water for rivers throughout the country. Yet, with climate change this important source is melting quickly and is expected to decrease dramatically in the coming years. Climate change is also expected to alter the monsoon patterns, which may leave many farmers with arid non-farmable land.

In addition to concerns about the supply of water in India, there are a number of problems surrounding the quality and cleanliness of the water that is available. Many of the rivers have been mismanaged, overused, and polluted. The Ganges, for example, the holiest river in India is also the most polluted river in the world. Approximately 90 million liters of sewage are dumped in the river everyday.

In India, 70 to 80% of illnesses are related to water contamination or poor sanitation and cases of these illnesses are on the rise. Those afflicted face a number of challenges, including inability to work and high medical bills. These effects can be particularly debilitating and costly for those without the resources to afford medical bills and make up for lost days at work making it more of a challenge for them to escape from poverty.

Despite the daunting information and statistics that I have layed out, there are ways to address these problems and minimize their impacts in the future. Many development organizations, governments worldwide, NGOs and the Indian government are investing money into water and sanitation projects to try to deal with water issues throughout the country. Many of these projects have been successful, but there are still too many people throughout the country without access to safe water, toilets and sanitation.

There needs to be more of a focus throughout India and the world on the importance water. It is often not until resources become depleted that people begin to recognize their value. As water sources become more polluted and depleted, I can only hope that people will begin to recognize its importance and pool together greater resources to address the challenges that lay ahead.

As water challenges are addressed, it is important to recognize that solutions cannot simply come from one sector. Non-profits alone, for example, cannot address these challenges throughout the country. There needs to be a multi-pronged approach with funding and development from NGOs and governmental entities both in India and throughout the world; corporations that see the value in investing in innovative water technologies that reach both the elite, as well as the poor; Microfinance Institutions that provide loans for the purchase of health care, water filters and other technologies; government policies that work to conserve and protect water sources, as well as effective implementation of these policies at the state and local level; citizens throughout the world who conduct research and pilot projects to find innovative, cost-effective solutions to address the challenges ahead; and citizens on the ground who implement grassroots advocacy campaigns to conserve and protect their water.

Eliza Roberts Global MBA, 2011

*This is taken from Eliza's wordpress blog

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

"Football for Hope: Strategic CSR in Action" by Kristina Brzezinski

Fifa and streetfootballworld founded the Football for Hope Movement to use football (soccer in the States) as a tool to address issues such as health, education, gender equality, peace building, the environment, and HIV/AIDS.

My class had the privilege of visiting the first Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha Township outside of Cape Town (see photo below). The centre uses football as a tool to attract youth ages 10-16 to the centre, and then invites them to join educational programs as well. While the centre does have about seven staff, it is mostly run by volunteers from the township.

In addition to various educational programs run by different nonprofit partners, the youth are also taught leadership skills, so they can address and solve problems in their communities. Volunteers are also able to gain much needed skills and after so many volunteer hours they can also gain access to training opportunities; for example, a 42-year-old woman got her driver’s license for the first time.

There are a number of 2010 World Cup sponsors, but Yingli Solar stands out for providing solar panels to each of the 20 centers around Africa (including the five in South Africa) as this method of support helps the centers and the environment long-term, while also aligning with Yingli Solar’s business strategy.

Although the center only opened in January of this year, the staff and volunteers have already witnessed the youth developing new skills and learning how to protect themselves, their families, and their country from HIV/AIDS. Football for Hope and its grassroots efforts for social change is just one of the legacies the 2010 World Cup will leave South Africa and Africa.

First Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha Township outside of Cape Town


Kristina Brzezinski Global MBA, 2011

"Hello from the Rainbow Nation!" by Kristina Brzezinski

I’m currently in South Africa for a study abroad class, and my group project is on the World Cup’s impact on the environment, economy and society in South Africa. Before I write about that, though, I first must say that South Africa is truly the Rainbow Nation in every way from the diversity of its people and languages to the diversity of its beautiful climates.

The first World Cup to be hosted on African soil is so important to South Africa and Africa, not just for the direct economic and social benefits of the World Cup, but because it puts South Africa and Africa on the world stage in a positive light when so much Western media coverage of Africa is consistently negative. Such coverage can scare off tourists, investors, and companies holding back Africa’s development and denying the rest of the world everything Africa has to offer.

Yes, South Africa may be more developed than many African countries, but its richness isn’t in the new airports, public transit, or stadiums, but in its warm and welcoming people; its extreme sports and myriad other tourist attractions, its history, from which, my country could probably learn a few things about healing after racist oppression; and the present and future economic opportunities.

In regards to safety and security, it’s no different than being in any large Western city; there are areas that are safe and areas that aren’t. When in a big crowd, keep an eye on your purse or wallet, and don’t wander alone into unfamiliar areas at night.

While I hope that the media coverage becomes more responsible and accurate, South Africa hopes all its World Cup guests become unofficial ambassadors to the rest of the world. They can count me as one.

Kristina Brzezinski Global MBA, 2011

Thursday, May 13, 2010

"Year End Reflections on the Conflict between Productivity and Wisdom in an MBA Program" by Erik Walenza-Slabe

The functional nature of an MBA program naturally favors the compartmentalization of knowledge, and therein lays the great strength and deficiency of modern professionalism. The strengths are evident in the measurable productivity of modern professionals. The deficiencies are subjective in nature and thus easily ignored – if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t matter… Yet what is deficient is nothing less than wisdom, that marginalized concept which at its core indicates a holistic appreciation of one’s community, however defined.

There are three marginalized aptitudes that I passionately believe should be incorporated into the very soul of an MBA program, so that by permeating the process they nurture the development of a business class worthy of leading humanity into the 21st century. Let there be no question that I believe the business class has as thus far proven itself unworthy of the honor. The first two aptitudes apply directly to corporate social responsibility, the third concerns an individual’s ability to positively engage his fellows – they are: (1) The harmonizing of personal and social values with business practice (i.e., how to pursue business without acting hypocritically), (2) The proper treatment of individuals and communities, and (3) The art of effective communication.

I discuss these subjects not because I am dissatisfied with GWU’s GMBA program in particular. During my 20+ years as a student - stretching from grade school, through two undergraduate degrees and into this MBA program - I have experienced negligible institutional interest in nurturing these aptitudes. The reason for this omission is that they are of a holistic rather than a functional nature. They are neither readily measurable nor do they lend themselves to a resume – yet they provide the bridge between mere intelligence and wisdom. Intelligence has been in high demand of late - optimized by the whiz kids of Wall Street. Wisdom, in contrast, has become a sorely undervalued resource. The result has been growth in profitability and stagnation in life satisfaction – that, at least, is measurable – coupled with a sustained rise in mental disorders, depression being foremost among them. Social scientists are in overwhelming agreement that (a) wealth reduces suffering, up to a point, and (b) material prosperity does not produce sustained joie de vivre. Only healthy relationships and strong communities have consistently proven capable of producing that elusive prize.

How might the aptitudes that underlie wisdom be better developed at GWU? The first facility, sincere behavior, is amenable to classroom discussion. Hypocrisy is a disease that flourishes in the darkness of silent certainty but cannot abide the light of open dialogue. Extending classroom discussions to include the complex social effects of business decision will help to force students to reconcile their proposed actions with their internal ideals. Discussion must extend beyond appeals to double or triple bottom line awareness by continuously responding to the question: would this decision contribute to a more ideal world, a world I would wish upon my children and, importantly, upon the children of mothers and fathers in every corner of the globe? Of course each individual’s ideal world will differ, as it should. This line of thought will not force students to arrive at the same conclusions, but it will demand the recognition of values as the proper fountainhead of action, rather than as intellectual curiosities.

The art of treating people well is of a more practical nature and lends itself more naturally to the classroom. Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, provides a suitable starting point to understanding how to nurture interpersonal relationships. This lesson is particularly important to future managers, as we expect ourselves to be, and it is unfortunate that MBA curriculum talks up but does not teach how to build relationships. Perhaps it is hoped that students’ interpersonal skills are fully developed prior to entering graduate school – a happy but hopeless prospect. Interpersonal skills are myriad and include understanding the unstated needs of others, generating trust, critiquing without alienating, and helping others build confidence. There is no standard metric for measuring these objectives, but there are more and less effective behaviors and MBAs, as with the general population, are not given the training to employ them well. The ability to treat people well stems directly from the ability to communicate effectively, which is the third objective on my list.

As with interpersonal relationships, we might hope that MBA students intuitively know how to communicate effectively. But empirical evidence suggests that we communicate as well as the next bloke. We are trained to be superior and superior communication is a central asset of successful managers. Do we listen with precision and comprehension? Can we succinctly express a sudden thought? Classroom experience suggests not. Do we even know how to analyze an audience prior to framing an argument? We might have an idea, but we certainly have no system for doing so. Some of these skills are holistic and must be incorporated into the very structure of education, others can be developed through the study of techniques and flexible rules – all are crucial to the development of effective managers and, indeed, effective community members.

Erik Walenza-Slabe Global MBA, 2011

Sunday, May 9, 2010

"International Consultancy Project--Sweden" by Eliza Roberts


One of the core requirements for first year MBA students in the Global MBA program at the GWU School of Business
is to conduct a consulting project for a foreign company abroad as a part of the International Residency Project. This year, the 120 or so Global MBAs are going to Serbia, Sweden, Korea, India, and Mexico. Check out the "Writers in Residency Blog" to document these courses.

The projects range from marketing food products in Serbia, to microfinance in Mexico and marketing for Swedish Green Technology companies that want to begin selling products in the US market. The classes began during the 4th quarter and culminate with a 2-week trip overseas to meet with clients and present in person, and to meet with other likeminded companies in the country.

I am on the Sweden trip and have spent the last 7 or so weeks with a team of 5 developing a marketing plan for a Swedish company that seeks to turn manure into energy. We have already had multiple conversations with our client and have drafted a nearly finalized version of our marketing plan that will likely change somewhat upon meeting with our client early next week. We just arrived in Sweden today and will spend tomorrow sight seeing and trying to fight our jet lag before diving back into our projects early next week and meeting with a number of sustainably- minded companies in Sweden.

There are a number of meetings I am really excited about, but I am particularly looking forward to a meeting with the sustainability person at IKEA. Our trip is starting in Malmo and after about a week we will take a train north to Gotenberg. The weather is much colder than expected, especially after basking in the DC sun. We are all hoping that the sun comes out and that a warm front arrives as soon as possible!

Eliza Roberts Global MBA, 2011

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

First Annual Certificate in Responsible Management Ceremony!


On April 15, GWSB held its
first annual Certificate in Responsible Management Awards Ceremony. Certificates were awarded to five business school students for completing the requirements of the CRM: 50 hours of service learning, 45 hours of extracurriculars, 6 credits of courses that pertain to the mission of the certificate program, and the creation of a blog to document and share these experiences. The five students who received certificates were: Danielle Bash, Alexandra Chaikin, Andrew Dawson, Sabina Puppo, Todd Ahern.

This years' recipients represent the first recipients of the Certificate in Responsible Management at the George Washington University School of Business and as far as we know, this Certificate program is among the first of its kind among rival business schools.

Dean Phillips spoke and distributed the certificates. David Greeley, Vice President of the Center for Private Sector Health Partnerships at the Academy for Educational Development (AED) was the featured speaker. He spoke about public private partnerships and his experiences in both the private sector and the non-profit sector.

Applicants from left to right: Andrew Dawson, Danielle Bash, Alexandra Chaikin, & Sabina Puppo



Speaker David Greeley, VP and Director for Center for Private Health Sector Health Initiatives, Academy for Education Development (AED)



Friday, April 9, 2010

First Annual Certificate in Responsible Management Ceremony


The first annual Certificate in Responsible Management Ceremony will take place on April 15 from 5:30-6:30pm in Funger 420. Certificates will be awarded to 4 George Washington University School of Business Students for completion of the Certificate in Responsible Management.

We are honored to have David Greeley, VP of the Center for Private Health Partnerships at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), as a speaker for the ceremony. A reception will follow the event.

Please RSVP to:
ebr@gwmail.edu.edu

Thursday, March 11, 2010

"No More Steady Paycheck" by Jeremy Dommu


I am in my late twenties, I'm unemployed, and my limited savings from five years of employment are nearly depleted. Yet, unlike many victims of the recession, I actually put myself in this position voluntarily. Why? Because I have nearly two full years of my life to pursue whatever academic and career endeavors I choose. I'm on my own clock, and the only person I am accountable to is myself. It's an incredible opportunity, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be in this position.

Occasionally I look back and consider all that I gave up—a steady paycheck, a promising career in public accounting, a steady paycheck, five years of hard work and long hours, and a steady paycheck. But mostly, I relish this time, stay focused on my goals, and plan to reenter the workforce prepared significantly better than when I left it.

For some peers, their focus is primarily wrapped up in case studies, group meetings, test preparation, and class presentations—the assignments at a core of an MBA curriculum. For others, it's also quite simple to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel—the mythical six-figure salary, the Rolodex full of contacts earned from approaching industry experts under the innocent guise of a student, and whatever positive stigma still exists from simply being an MBA. For me, while those are incredibly important, I believe the projects I'm involved in outside of class are the most valuable and justify the time I'm putting into this degree.

That is why I consistently remind myself to free up more of my time and effort for activities outside of class. I rarely turn down a learning opportunity I see as valuable, and I regularly remind my peers of how to get involved. I'd like to spend some time highlighting some of the projects I am most excited about, and I hope my activities outside of class help others realize the merits of a full-time MBA and motivate my peers to stay involved. After all, at the end of the day, the benefits of an MBA are measured based solely on how much each individual puts into it.


South Korea

One of the flagship components of
George Washington's Global MBA program (GW Full-Time MBA Profile) is its International Residency. At the completion of our first year, all GW MBAs go abroad for a two-week consultancy project. What is unique about this project is that this isn't a field trip. We actually are developing critical recommendations and delivering them to an interested company or industry representatives. This year, our choices were India, Mexico, Serbia, Sweden, and South Korea—each project with a unique industry focus and area of business. In May, I will be joining a team of 20 GW MBAs in Seoul. Led by a former World Bank vice-president and Korean expert, we will prepare a strategic assessment of Korea's export prospects in the area of green technology and present our findings during a series of meetings to business, government, and think-tank organizations. The project begins with a seven-week course at GW and concludes with a two-week stay in South Korea. This is first-hand global learning.


GWSB Summit

The GW MBA program prides itself on student–run initiatives. If a student or group of students has an idea, then faculty, the administration, and dean empower and support that idea. I am a member of a new student club at GW, the GW Energy Group, and we, in collaboration with our Net Impact chapter, are putting this theory to the test with an ambitious plan to organize and run a half-day conference on business response to climate change. Using a combination of our own contacts, university sponsors, and our will-power and persistence, we are recruiting top business leaders, professionals, and students to come together on Apr. 8 at the Jack Morton Auditorium at GW to discuss the affects of climate change on business. Our goal, through a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions, is to paint a picture of a future clean-energy economy—and challenge future businesses leaders to make this vision a reality.


Net Impact Case Competition

Three of my classmates and I will represent GW at the Leeds Net Impact Case Competition in Boulder, Colo., on Feb. 19 and 20. The Leeds is the premier case format competition built around businesses facing sustainability challenges while succeeding financially. We are one of 20 semifinalist teams selected from a total of 68 entries in the first round of the competition.

In this round, we spent roughly 80 combined hours on a case that challenged us to propose policy recommendations to the U.S. Agriculture Dept. to increase sustainability and local agricultural practices. Our recommendations to develop a sustainable food label, which would create tax subsidies for local and sustainable food, and to require percentages of food served in publicly funded venues to be from sustainable sources, clearly impressed. Now we are heading to Boulder to compete in a competition sponsored by Excel Energy. Given the goals of the competition and the sponsor, we envision a class focusing on renewable energy technology or energy efficiency. But we won't know the complete details of our case until about 12 hours before we are scheduled to deliver our presentation to the judges. We certainly don't plan on any shut-eye that night.


Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority (WMATA)

Simply put, D.C. public transportation is a mess. With significant budget overruns and in the wake of several horrific accidents, there is much room for improvement. Enter a team of 30 MBA students—a unique collaboration among GW, Georgetown, American, and John Hopkins students—to conduct a sustainability audit and advise the organization on energy, water, waste, and operational efficiency measures to trim costs, improve environmental impacts, and help earn the authority some much-needed positive press.


Internships and Classes

I'm approaching crunch time for internships, have several additional interviews lined up, and hope to find out good news in the coming month or two about where I will be spending my summer. I've applied to five incredible internship programs and would be honored to be accepted into any one of them. I plan on detailing the process in the next entry, so stay tuned for all the gory details.

After a successful completion of the first half of year one, this spring semester continues our core curriculum (now marketing, macroeconomics, finance, operations strategy, managerial accounting, and my first elective course—Worldwide Energy Challenges, taught by a vice-president at ICF International). While I have a great deal on my plate, there is a great deal to look forward to, with domestic and international trips on the horizon and the excitement of an unknown future.

Jeremy Dommu Global MBA, 2011
*This is taken from Jeremy Dommu's blog on BusinessWeek.