"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

"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.