Go Ross!

I haven’t posted much on here as I’ve been completely caught up in maintaining the Rosstache blog. I posted about this earlier here. When we kicked off Rosstache, we had no idea that the competition would become so popular and that we would end up raising $3,000 for Project Night Night with 70+ contestants. The journey culminates tonight with a party at the Hill House and I should be back to blogging regularly on here next week. If you haven’t seen the Rosstache blog yet, I heartily recommend it for the ‘Separated at birth’ section if nothing else.

If you look around the Ross campus these days, you’ll see all sorts of interesting hair growth on the faces of many male MBA students. Along with looking ridiculous, these students are competing in a mustache competition that seeks to raise funds for Project Night Night.  The competition has 70 participants (~12% of the MBA2 class) and the club was featured in an MSJ spread this week. You can find more information about the Ross Burt Reynolds club here and see participant pictures here. You also have an opportunity to participate in the competition by bidding on participant mustaches. Don’t forget to put in a bid for yours truly in the caveman category!

When the Ross class of 2008 gets to Ann Arbor, they will catch a campus in metamorphosis. The Davidson and Paton buildings, and the Assembly hall will be demolished to make way for the new buildings that will come in their place. Already, faculty and staff offices in Davidson have moved to the Executive Residences and I just took what is probably one of the last finals in Davidson hall. MBA students will not be affected too much and will get to take classes in the plush Executive Education facilities. I’m glad that Ross is moving full steam ahead on its plans to revamp the facilities but I’m a little sad that the classrooms where I spent most of my first year will soon be gone forever. Since I’ll be sticking around Ann Arbor till the end of June, I plan to catch the demolition in action and who knows, even blog about it?

Business school is an odd mix of academics, recruiting, networking, and some might say a regression to our college days. One of the coolest things about the people at Ross includes the variety of things they're into, or at least willing to try. I had never played hockey before coming here and joined the women's team last year. We have a blast! With a wide range of abilities, there's plenty of opportunity to learn something new and develop fast friendships that outlast the b-school experience. There is also no better way to relieve stress from finals and the job hunt. Last weekend, our teams went to Tuck for their annual b-school tourney. For the first time, the women's team won a game! It was an incredible confidence boost to many of us that simply thought we'd be satisfied with holding our own. Beating Yale in a 3-2 victory was something that will carry us through to the next tourney at Harvard in late March.

The Go Ross! blogging team has been kicking around ideas about applications for blogs at Ross. Our target audience in these considerations has included current and prospective students. For prospective students, Ross blogs offer a unique, immediate and unvarnished window to the MBA experience and could help the school differentiate itself better. As Ankita pointed out, this could be especially true for prospective interested in the several dual-degree programs that Michigan offers. Any current Erb, Public Policy, Public Health or JD dual-degrees up for the challenge?

For current students, blogs could be utilized as a knowledge portal, a medium for conversations or a device for community building. It would be cool if we had Professors at Ross blogging like Dan Drezner or the Becker-Posner combo at Chicago. As Greg and Calista suggested, having a blog for a conference such as Futurtech or the Go Blue Rendevouz weekend would be a great medium to disseminate information and drum up interest. The various clubs could also potentially have a blogger(s). The Healthcare and Lifesciences Club Librarian for example could post links to interesting articles on a blog as opposed to sending it out by email. The SGA and the UMBSA could have blogs about the various events that they put up and add pictures later to close the loop on the experience. On a personal note, I’ve put up a blog for Follies pictures at http://follies06.blogspot.com. On the blog, I’ve posted my own pictures and shared write access with other students to post their pictures. I’m also working on a blog for a charity event that some MBA2’s are putting together. Expect to see a link to that blog in the next couple of days.

In short then, the answer to the headline is yes.

When I was applying to Michigan, a blog that I visited regularly was Michigan MBA. Even after I joined Michigan and all through my first year, Zachary’s blog was a great window into the life of an MBA2. Though he has since graduated and stopped blogging at his site, Zachary’s material holds up well. The blog is a treasure trove of information and offers excellent insight into life of an MBA student at Michigan beginning with the move to Ann Arbor and ending with graduation. Enjoy!

The Follies shows at Ross happened last week and I had an absolute blast being a part of the festivities. This year, I rapped as Al Cotrone (the Director of the Office of Career Development at Ross) in a skit poking fun at recruiting activities, played a ‘Bus’ dude in a skit modeled after Missed Connections, and helped write, direct and shoot a video skit based on Bollywood movies.

I got compliments from a lot of people about the Bollywood skit and it also received a ‘Rosscar’ from the Monroe Street Journal. A Lion’s share of credit for the Bollywood skit goes to Meera Rao. Meera along with her MAP team came up with the idea for the skit when she was in India and she’s the one who wrote, directed and then skilfully edited (with Mike Sanders) the final product. We used the song ‘It’s the time to Disco‘ from the movie Kal Ho Na Ho and it was thrilling to hear the entire audience for the Saturday show clap along when the song come on in the skit. Kudos also to the entire Bollywood cast - especially for choreographing their own dance moves and for acting and dancing without complaining in 25 degree weather. I’m having major Follies withdrawal right now and as one of my cohorts said this morning -’ Why can’t we have Follies all the time?’.

I have a picture of my rapping performance with my awesome flygirls and my OCD recruiting medley cast after the post. You can find more Follies pictures here.

Why should a company care about AIDS? Will it affect their shareholder value? The answer is yes, depending on who their employees and customers are. The truth is that AIDS is not yet under control in developing parts of the world. These are the same places many multinational coporations set up production facilities as well as seek new customers. Under Gautam Kaul's advisement at the Ross School of Business, I've been working on a case study for classroom use that highlights the challenges and options faced by such multinationals. It's a multi-pronged issue with an wide variety of options. Evaluating the short and long term effects on a multitude of stakeholders is essential. The picture shares the UN Building in NYC lit up with an AIDS ribbon in 2001.

Searching out the business school that best fits with your personal goals and interest areas is not an easy task. Should you strictly go by the rankings you'll miss valuable insight that can make or break an experience. I spent countless hours investigating many schools from many angles. For me it boiled down to the shared ambitions, personalities, intellectual power, and pure stamina of the people I would call on for the rest of my career. I found like minds and simlar values at Ross. For me, success is far more than improving shareholder value. In fact, that is the least noble of all goals. Instead I sought a group of people driven to shift the tide. I do believe in the noble cause of business and that society and industry may be changed by the actions or inactions of business. It is balancing a multiple bottom line that includes value to society, the environment, shareholders, and industry. Governments and NGOs may also shift the tide--I'm most comfortable in business, it just seems to have broader focus and faster momentum. The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan has provided me with a rich experience to both challenge and support such grand notions. I'm wealthier already. Why should Ross be the best school for anyone else? Well, it's not. For some, such goals come further down the list. For others, a piece of that puzzle needs a different balance. The opportunities to create real and lasting change for real organizations is rare. The numerous opportunities to lead and be led in a multitude of topic areas is rare. The genuine challenge of exceptional classroom diversity of thought is rare. The culmination of a humble, yet intellectual and highly ambitious network of colleagues I will call on for the rest of my career is literally unmatched. Go blue.

A highlight of my first year in business school was my participation in
Follies. Last year, I was a part of the opening medley and I got an
opportunity to moonwalk across stage as Michael Jackson and then render
a modified version of ‘We are the world’. The experience was a blast as
much for the camaraderie during the practices as it was for the final
show itself. Follies is a great way for the business school community
to poke harmless fun at itself and blow off some steam.

I’ve been looking forward to Follies this year, though it is something
of a bittersweet feeling because it marks the beginning of the end of
my business school experience. I’ve ratcheted up my involvement this
time and co-written and co-directed a skit along with being a cast
member. I can’t tell you more than that for we’re in triple secret
lock down. Seriously. Follies will be staged on February 10th and 11th
2006 at 6:30PM at the Michigan theater. This is one show not to be
missed!

IBM's SVP of Marketing and Strategy, Bruce Harreld, opened the Ross FuturTech conference Thursday evening through an overview of the challenges faced by IBM in maintaining its industry leadership position across several breakthrough technologies. What is the next big thing? The audience quickly agreed that Biotech is the next paradigm shifting age. We're almost there and our challenge is broader and deeper than the information age or the industrial age or any age before it. On a personal level, Bruce challenged the students to infuse their futures with a healthy shot of innovation. To create a culture that is constantly thristy for change.

In Spring 2005 I was excited to be on Professor Michael Gordon's IMAP team to explore market-based mechanisms to build sustainable business models of reaching the very poor in Tanzania with a vital resource. That resource was a newly developed mosquito bed net to prevent the spread of Malaria called the Olyset. Prof Gordon was enthusiastic about turning our project into a valuable learning tool for the classroom and developed an online simulation exercise for our class in sustainable enterprise for Fall 2005.