An Afternoon with the Dalai Lama

It was with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to write an entry for the USD MBA blog about my reflections on the visit His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama recently made to the University of San Diego. It was such an amazing experience to spend an afternoon with such a wise Teacher – in person, no less!

However, a severe case of writer’s block ensued – days turned in to weeks. Why? It didn’t make much sense, I love to write, and what better way to procrastinate during end of semester/beginning of finals than by creating some time to sit down and to do some “fun work that could technically be classified as homework”?

The problem was that I couldn’t decide what voice to use when writing this blog entry; which Marta did I want to be? There is the business school ex-fixed-income trader & portfolio manager Marta.  And then there is the yoga-therapist/yoga-teacher, philosopher, public speaker, lover of all things Spiritual Marta.

Could I be both; was this a “both/and” or an “either/or” situation?

The Dalai Lama spoke about “Compassion without Borders”.  I finally wiggled out of the vice-grip of the writer’s block when I realized, oftentimes, the deepest and highest border is the wall that blocks the compassion we can show our Selves!  And if we don’t get that sorted, how are we supposed to show compassion to others?

Case of writer’s block cured; I CAN be both Marta’s (to be read: “I told myself to get over myself”).

On a parallel note, is there REALLY room for compassion in a capitalist model? I will come back to this a little later.

Now, I must disclose the fact that I would have never made it to the event if it wasn’t for my dear, amazing friend, and business school colleague, Claire Brown.  She gave me her ticket because she found herself on a sudden trip to Ireland (thank you, Universe, for that!).  So I felt extremely fortunate that I could attend this event in person.  Honestly, I also felt a little guilty, because Claire has devoted so much of her life to service in under-developed areas of the world – well, I just felt like she deserved to go more than I did.

But, again, as the cards played out in the Universal scheme of things, I got the seat.

The thing I will remember most about this afternoon – amongst many noteworthy moments – is when the Dalai Lama walked on stage and took his seat.  His hands were on his knees, his thick socks pulled high, his sandals strapped over his socks.  He looked out over the audience – I am not certain if anyone was breathing, we were all rife with eager anticipation – what would he SAY?

Then he laughed; his laughter melted my heart.  His laugh came from a pure place of joy.  Although reincarnation is not an “accepted philosophy” in my religious background, if EVER there was a time I believed in reincarnation, it was in that moment.  His laughter vibrated with a wisdom that could only be accumulated through 14 lifetimes… and he chose to gift us with it!

I will never forget that laugh and smile.  This man has witnessed some of the most hostile and hate-filled traumas, the violence, the heartbreak, yet because he very specifically chooses his attitude, he still smiles and laughs.

Apart from the laugh, there were two questions, posed by the audience, which I also consider to be highlights of the afternoon.

The first question, paraphrased, was: How can you choose and feel compassion for people who show no remorse?

His Holiness responded – without flinching – that these people (aka. the super mean, violent, tyrannical people) are the ones that deserve the MOST compassion.  He advised us to feel pity and compassion for these people, because their actions are born out of ignorance and a “not knowing better”.

Wow.  This advice sounds great – but, man, my own ignorance was bubbling up because the courage to execute that in the face of real life and death injustice, well I just don’t know if I have that in me.

He then went on to relay a story about one of his dear friends and fellow activists that was imprisoned. He received a letter this man wrote to him whilst in prison; in the letter, the man mentioned he was in real danger, which the Dalai Lama initially thought meant his life was in danger.  After the man’s release, when they were reunited, the Dalai Lama asked him what he meant?  The man responded: I was in danger of losing compassion for my enemies.

When I heard that story, I was humbled.  Because if that guy can sit in a prison, potentially experience physical trauma, receive gross injustice, AND still be concerned about compassion, certainly there are some small tweaks I can make in my own life to show a little more compassion to my fellow human beings.

And if I don’t know how to yet, well, don’t I at least owe it to the World – out of respect for people who are so much more enlightened to me – to practice and get better at it?

The second question, paraphrased, was: How do you remain optimistic, in spite of what you have seen?

Again, the audience received that gorgeous smile of the Dalai Lama, as he said: Because being optimistic is easier than the alternative.

Again, I was humbled. But it is totally true!  Here is a little self-test.  Think about a situation in your life where the outcome, at the present, is unknown.  Close your eyes and imagine the best possible outcome; note how your body feels.  Now, close your eyes and imagine the worst possible outcomes; note how your body feels.  Optimism is truly easier, and we know this to be true at a very basic level of human connectedness because optimism FEELS better.  It is, simply, easier to be optimistic. 

Now, back to my earlier question: is their room for compassion in the capitalist model?

I believe wholeheartedly that there is more than just space for compassion, but compassion is what is required for sustainable economic expansion.

Now, you may think, “That sounds great Marta, but is it realistic to think that is executable?”

My response: Yes, and I choose to remain optimistic.

Next, you may question my sanity. “Well, optimism sounds nice. But how?”

My response: Well, I am not certain about that one. But I do know that practice makes perfect, and small attempts will eventually accumulate into real positive, impactful change.

Final question you may have: “Well, that’s great for you. But you are just one person.  What about all those greedy leaders in Corporate America who just don’t get it?”

My response: They deserve even MORE compassion and pity.  Their position is born out of extreme ignorance.  Let’s educate them together. The mission statement of USD’s business school is: We develop socially responsible leaders with a global mindset through academically rigorous, relevant, and values-based education and research.

And, Dear Readers, it is TRULY up to us.  There is room for “both/and”; it is not an “either/or” situation.  I believe that even the smallest changes we implement contribute to the greater whole of social change.  None of us have all the answers individually, so let’s figure it out together.

“You were born with Potential

You were born with goodness & trust

You were born with ideals & dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You were not meant for crawling, so don’t

You have wings

Learn to use them & fly!”

~~ Rumi, was a 13^th Century Sufi Mystic

-Marta Wenker

Marta is a first year International MBA student. Marta has extensive experience in fixed-income portfolio management and consulting. Marta also practices and teaches yoga.

Venture Vetting Competition

The Venue

After class last Thursday, I headed over to the IPJ Theater to catch a glimpse of the much-anticipated Venture Vetting (V2) Competition.  Out of twenty teams who submitted a business plan pitch deck, four were selected to be finalists.  Tonight, they would present their business proposals to three angel investors for a chance to win a portion or all of the prize money – $15,000.

Students, alums, family members and visiting business leaders from the local community crowded into the IPJ Theater at 7 PM.  The first pitch started right on time.  Although their concept of a consulting firm is familiar territory, the two young entrepreneurs brought new life into their plan’s detail.  Still undergraduates, they formed a deep friendship in the last few years living as roommates in the dormitory.  Their trust and mutual understanding can be seen in the seamless flow of their presentation and their response to the angels’ questions.

Team 1 Presents to Angel Investors

The second team presented a novel business and product – Bottle Talk.   Wineries will be able to use Bottle Talk to promote premium labels through their viral product recognition and information sharing phone app.  Not only is their app functioning and demonstrated successfully, they had also received orders from wineries.  The founder, another young undergrad student, also had an adviser and mentor in place. This mentor, a successful local businessman, added value to the team’s promising product. In short, they seem to have garnered all the ingredients for success and are ready to reap the reward of their sweat equity.

Team 2 Presents to the Angel Investors

Two other teams also presented their ideas and plans, each with an impressive perspective.  After some intensive questioning between the angels and the finalists on a one on one basis, we regrouped in the theater to hear the final judgment.  Will there be a winner?  We all wondered.  The students and audience each picked their own favorites, but our opinions differed wildly.  How does one compare values between four plans that each have merits and faults, but all represent the unique, diligent and heartfelt work from the teams that presented them?

I suppose that’s what differentiates the angels and us.  As they gathered back on the stage, the angels outlined their reasons for why two ventures out of the four finalists had merits that warranted them “fundable”.  Whether “it was low risk, stable revenue stream”, or “high risk, potential high reward”, or “having the right partner dynamics”, or “fit into a high growth area with lots of potential,” the winning teams had something extra to capture the attention of the investors.  That something not only spoke to their financial growth potential, but also to the spirit which fueled the team or partnership.

Each team walked away with a prize, a light bulb and, I’m certain, a great story to tell for years to come.

-Tina D’Amore

Tina is a first year International MBA student. Before starting her IMBA, Tina worked as a Customer Architecture and Project Lead at Qualcomm.

ACG Cup Round 2: The Legend Continues

It was a sunny spring afternoon when USD’s team “Global Opportunities” sailed our war ship onto the shores of Chapman University. The epic battle that played out among our peers a week earlier had provided us with the honor of representing our MBA program based on the unusual solution we presented, and on the out of the box thinking our team applied to the ACG case. The competition on our own campus was tough, and along with our classmates we learned a great deal, but nothing could have prepared us for the next round…

Days of training and hard work in the Copley library war room, and several sleepless nights, readied us to take on our fellow MBA teams from business schools across Southern California. As we stepped into the impressive Chapman business school lounge for a welcome reception, delicious meatballs and the stares of a thousand daggers greeted us. Looks that spelled out that our worthy opponents meant business met us from across the room  – they clearly planned on holding back nothing in the quest for the prestigious ACG Cup.

After a warm introduction from the very dedicated representatives and judges from ACG it was our team that took to the field first. I opened with an executive summary that grabbed the judges’ attention, or at least let them know that USD was in the house. Carlo Freschi, our esteemed captain, then dazzled the judges with our valuation skills and explained our method of comparing similar transactions as a measuring stick. Pauline Heyer, a.k.a. the spreadsheet warrior princess, went into the details of how a company should be analyzed next. This all set the stage for our resident strategist and spin doctor, Eric Held, to explain to the judges what a prudent private equity firm would do in this scenario and why. Finally, I closed us out by selling our team’s skills and experience to the judges in an effort to secure the deal. I should mention that while all this was going on we were constantly bombarded by questions from the judges that would make most second year i-bankers cry and that were meant to throw us off our game. After our respective presentations, the teams from different schools came back together in the reception area to bury our hatchets and exchange war stories while networking over a few adult beverages. Upon the judgment hour we were not victorious, but we pulled through strong and fought a worthy battle that represented our great school up on the hill in the best way.

With the satisfaction that comes from a job well done we journeyed home while we recollected the evening’s events and agreed that we had learned the following:

• In terms of the bigger picture, the ACG Cup had a steep learning curve but provided us with priceless skills that we would be sure to apply to our future careers. We were glad to have been given the chance to sharpen our finance and presentation skills, and we believe any opportunity to practice what we learn in the MBA classroom is very valuable experience.
•  Specifically regarding the ACG cup and investment banking, we learned that it is not all about the numbers. The numbers are important, but it is expected that as MBAs we would master the quantitative analysis in any reasonable given scenario. What mattered most in creating a distinction for the winning teams was the fact that soft skills like sales and marketing were just as important as the quant skills. Our team had gotten this right in the first round of the competition, but in the semi-finals the judges wanted an even bigger emphasis placed on selling our services as consultants and on selling the respective companies to each other.

In the end I think you can look at mergers and acquisitions like a celebrity marriage, with us as M&A consultants acting as the matchmakers. Both parties come into the relationship with significant assets that need to be protected through an ironclad prenup. You need to find a good match for the partners that would balance their individual strengths and weaknesses to bolster each other’s marketability and create additional profitability through combined synergies (think Brangelina). Both parties also need to be compatible since they would likely share some sort of living environment, just as respective management teams in two parties in an M&A deal would. At the same time it is almost certain that one of the parties, unlike a Kardashian marriage, would be making an exit in 4 to 5 years time (at least in the case of private equity) and needs to know they would leave the arrangement better off than when they entered it. But the most important lesson is that even if two parties are perfect for each other on paper it is still the matchmaker’s job to sell the parties to each other and make them want to rip each other’s proverbial clothes off. You literally have to help them fall in love with each other, and that’s the bottom line.

-Rig Lemmer

Rig is in the first year of the International MBA program. He has 10 years of experience in financial advising and investment management.  

Planning Beyond My MBA

I think that it is safe to say that nobody takes on the rigors of a MBA program just for enjoyment and a thirst for knowledge. We all have a greater end-goal in mind.  For many of us, we are looking to make a career shift into a new industry or functional area.  For others of us, we are trying to add new skills and abilities that will help us advance further along our current career paths.  Regardless of which category a candidate falls into, the Career Services department plays a large role in helping the candidate achieve his or her goals.

When I first committed to USD, I thought that Career Services would just consult with me regarding what industry and area I wanted to work in and send me related jobs, but this turned out to be a gross underestimation of the scope of their operations.  It’s true, they do give each and every student one-on-one time to discuss career goals and send us roughly a baker’s dozen worth of internship and full-time job postings each week.  In addition to helping us locate potential employment, they also hosted a class the first semester aimed to help refresh students on job-hunting best practices and interview skills.  In addition to these regularly scheduled class times, the Career Services department frequently hosts Industry Expert Panels, Employer in the Foyer, and miniature job fairs aimed at particular industries or concentrations to help students network and gain valuable face time with company representatives.

Recently, as a joint venture with the other two MBA programs in the San Diego area, Career Services put together the “Hire San Diego” job fair, which boasted over 30 employers, most from the San Diego area, that had full-time or internship openings for MBA students.  These companies represented a wide variety of industries and functional areas; biotech, consulting, insurance, finance, supply chain, marketing, and other positions were available.  This was a prime opportunity for candidates to meet some of the big players in the area and make great first impressions with companies they wanted to work for.

Personally, I did my research ahead of time and narrowed down the 30+ companies to a short list of about 8 companies that I conducted further research on and customized my resumé for.  This turned out to be an excellent strategy as the event was only scheduled to last for three hours and attendance from all three participating schools was very high.  At the beginning of the job fair, I was able to speak at length with two of my top companies, but as more student attendees arrived, lines to speak with each employer (most had two representatives present to speak with us) grew and wait-times could reach 30 minutes.  Planning what companies I wished to speak to ahead of time allowed me to efficiently use my time to make sure I spoke with each one, in lieu of wandering around the crowded hall and talking with random companies.  The research conducted about each company also gave me talking points that I could use to (hopefully) make a strong first impression and increase my chances of landing that summer internship.

Without the guidance and legwork put in by our Career Services department, locating these companies and arming myself with the proper strategies to impress them would make a strenuous undertaking much more tedious and daunting.  I applaud their efforts and know that they will strive to help every student, current and future, achieve their career aspirations. The Career Services team is an amazing asset to the USD MBA program.

~A Lyden Henderson

Lyden is a first year student in the full-time MBA program.  He received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Washington State University.  He is focusing his MBA studies on Supply Chain Management and Management Consulting.

Make sure to check out Dean Pyke’s new blog post.

Also, follow us on Twitter @sandiegomba

ACG Cup Round 1: Tales from a Finance Case Competition

The USD ACG Cup Teams

I am a first year full-time MBA. A little while back I was asked to join one of the ACG Cup teams. I casually replied, “sure.” In the same spirit as the semi-successful Jim Carey movie, Yes Man, my philosophy while in business school is to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just volunteered every remaining free minute of my life for a week. First off, some background on the ACG Cup. According to the ACG website, “The ACG Cup is a case study competition where MBA students are given an opportunity to present valuation, capital markets and M&A strategic advice to a panel of seasoned professionals within the San Diego ACG community.” In other words, it’s a finance case competition. So how does it work? Teams of 4 receive a 20-page finance case exactly one week before they are to deliver a 20-minute presentation to a panel of 4 judges.

Simple enough. Thank goodness that my cohort mate that invited me onto his team is a finance/numbers virtuoso. One of the greatest skills that my fellow cohort members and I are developing during our MBA experience at USD is the ability to identify team member’s strengths and how to leverage those strengths.  Whether an individual is a finance guru or the Jimmy Page of Powerpoint, identifying the value that each team member can add to the group is a critical skill in grad school and in the working world.  This case competition called on all of our time-management, delegation, quantitative and soft skills that we have been developing so far in our MBA.

Presentation day arrived. That morning, a drawing determined the order of the presentations. The presentations were scheduled between 6-8pm. Most teams were back on campus at 8am after having left the library group-work rooms earlier that morning at 1am, others at 3am. As my team’s presentation time neared, I tried to keep convincing myself that I had ice-water running through my veins… how tough could the judges be anyway? I looked over the roster of the judges: judge 1 had 3 degrees from MIT, judge 2 was a current venture capitalist, judge 3 worked in the treasury department of WD-40 and judge 4 was one of the founders of Odyssey Golf, among other ventures. That didn’t exactly help the nerves. Once we began, my teammates were firing on all cylinders and the presentation went off without a hitch. I couldn’t have been more proud of my team.

Decision time. USD had 4 teams competing against each other in the first round of competition. And the Oscar goes to… not my team.  Bummer. The winning USD MBA team put together a great presentation and nailed the strategy of the case.  We are all excited for them to crush the next rounds of the competition as they face off against the likes of SDSU, UCLA and USC.

The Winning USD Team!

The competition between the USD MBAs was now over. It was time to reflect on the experience.  I did the math; I spent over 60 hours on campus that week. The winning team, along with the rest of us losers, all went to the local dive-bar together to discuss our previously secretive presentations over a couple of coldies. That’s when I realized how great of a place USD is for an MBA. Even after a hard-fought competition, we all came together and our friendships were cultivated by the shared challenge that we had all just experienced.

The bottom line: get involved and take some chances. Next time someone asks you to join him or her in a challenge, say “sure” or a maybe even a more emphatic “Yes!” You will learn a ton and probably find out that your capacity to get things done is far greater than you think. Not only did we all gain a much deeper understanding of the finance concepts we covered and gain exposure to some key players in the San Diego business community, but we also learned a lot about each other and strengthened our growing friendships. Keep an eye out for an update from the winning team as they continue on in the competition. Best of luck Team USD!

-Tom Bobo

Tom is a first year full-time MBA student. He graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder. His MBA area of emphasis is Marketing and New Venture Management.

Make sure to check out Dean Dave Pyke’s Blog.

Ghana Practicum – On the “Dancing” Road (beware corny metaphors ahead)

IMBA Student Dancing with Locals

“The next 10 days have the potential to be revolutionizing for the future of education in Ghana,” declared Edify’s CEO, Chris Crane, to the business, peace studies, and School of Leadership and Education Sciences students at our opening dinner in Ghana.  With the Buenos Aires practicum and a year and a half of IMBA courses completed, I felt relatively confident going into our project.  However, I was clearly unaware of the surprises that the journey I was about to embark upon had in store for me.

Team in Ghana

On the ride from the airport to our hotel in Kasoa, Edify’s coordinator, Godwin, told us that in Ghana the dusty roads that our van was flying over were “dancing” roads since they make you bounce in your seat.  Our practicum experience, like the dancing roads, was a little bumpy and full of twists and turns (can’t say I didn’t warn you).   However, the unique challenges that we faced in Ghana were what made the practicum an invaluable experience for me.  Because of the widespread informal economy in Ghana, the accurate statistics that we are accustomed to relying on were not available for us to gain a clear understanding of the economy, employment situation or educational system.  Not having a clear roadmap to follow forced us to figure out alternate ways to understand the current situation and stop thinking traditionally.  Much of our research relied on getting first-hand information through in-depth interviews.  Interviewing very different people, we seemed to learn something each day that put us at a crossroads and forced us to take a completely different route.  The several detours we encountered taught our group the importance of being flexible and looking at situations from a different point of view.

 In the end, our journey and the challenges that came with it allowed us to develop a strategy that addressed the unique situation in Ghana.  Our final product, themed “Investing in Transformation,” determined methods for Edify to increase high-impact lending for the incremental development of low-cost private schools.  The difficult process definitely made it even more rewarding when the “dancing” road finally brought us to our destination – a plan to help Edify positively affect the most children living in poverty with quality education.

Also, since I keep mentioning dancing, one of the common themes through all of my University of San Diego international travels has been experiencing local dance.  Luckily, Ghana did not fail me in that department.  We were able to watch children perform traditional dance as well as see some more modern African dance.  The group did spend the free time we could find learning new Azonto moves.  I’m still working on perfecting the “wash and wear,” but I think I’ve reached my suggested word limit so we’ll have to travel down that road another time (sorry, I couldn’t help it).

 -Carolyn Pascual

Carolyn is a second year IMBA student.  She graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in journalism.

For more information about the Ghana practicum, see Dean Dave Pyke’s Blog.

USD Intersession: Market Research in Thailand

One of the big draws to the USD MBA program for me was the opportunity to participate in an international practicum; a short-term consulting project abroad.  In my undergraduate studies I had received degrees in both International Business and Asian Studies so the logical choice of destination for me was Bangkok, Thailand over our winter intersession break.

Exploring Bangkok

For those who aren’t familiar, the gist is this: as a team of 3-5 MBA students, you are assigned to a contact at a company in the country in question.  USD faculty arrange the logistics, help set up the projects, and monitor your progress, but once you are on the ground in the country the project is strictly between you and your contact.  The company we were working for focused on import/export and automobile modifications; for example, they have an exclusive contract with Ford to take Ford Rangers and modify them for use by the Afghan National Police.  They have around 4000 employees, and are headquartered in Bangkok.

Once we arrived in Bangkok step one was to meet our contact to find out what exactly it was he wanted us to do.  One important thing we learned in the process is that this was a real project.  The company valued our presence and were willing to commit resources (chiefly our contact at the company’s time) to give us the greatest chance at success.  When a company is rapidly growing as they are, they do not always have the time to thoroughly vet ideas for new projects.  That is where we come in.

In the end this was primarily a market research project.  They had a turnkey solution to sell; we were to explore where, why, and to who they would sell this solution.  After the week we were given, we were to present our answers to these questions and give recommendations to the senior executive team at the company headquarters.

Practicum Team with Company Contact

This project was a practical and meaningful learning opportunity.  We experienced what it is like to work under severe time pressure: with more time we could have made more thorough recommendations, but part of what we had to learn was that you cannot always have the perfect answer.  As one of my classmates astutely put it, “sometimes an 80% solution today is better than a 100% solution next week”.  Beyond that presenting to a dozen senior managers was the perfect chance to practice presentation skills we spent our first semester honing.  At the end of the day we must have convinced somebody: our contact at the company was later tasked with determining next steps for implementing our ideas.  The practicum was fantastic; I would recommend it to anyone regardless of your interest in working internationally.

Dan McAllister is a first-year, Full-time MBA student.  His background is in Finance and Accounting, and is interning in Jack in the Box’s Finance department this spring.

Life as a JD / MBA Student

As an undergrad looking into graduate programs, I found both law school and business school appealing.  With a bit more research I realized I could do both in a joint-degree program, and narrowed down my options to universities offering the joint program like the University of San Diego. 

One of the most interesting things I have noticed is the incredible contrast between law school and business school, despite the obvious career symbiosis between the two degrees.  Law school focuses on precedent, both to understand the law academically and as a means of molding future lawyers.  If you approach the law school career services office with a career aspiration that your resume doesn’t portend, chances are you will be guided in a career direction that is better indicated by your past.  On the contrary, business school looks forward and challenges tradition.  Many assignments, from courses such as Leadership, Peace Through Commerce and Strategic Management, require novel thinking and new ideas.  The MBA career services office is receptive to virtually any career aspirations, and works with you to take steps in the right direction.  I have especially enjoyed the emphasis career services puts on informational interviews, as the wide range of career options for an MBA requires a good deal of research to find the right job.

The best experience I have had in grad school was my Intersession trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to work on an international practicum and take a course in Corporate Governance at the COPPEAD business school in Rio.  For the practicum project I was assigned to a group with 3 USD MBA students and 3 COPPEAD MBA students, and the six of us worked with an engineer from São Paulo who wanted to open an MRI factory in Brazil.  This experience required me to do some research on Brazilian law, and presented to me the possibility of a career in business consulting.  In the future, I would love to work with start-up companies and be able to provide them with both business planning and legal advice.

USD MBA Students at COPPEAD in Rio de Janiero

I am so fortunate to be getting both graduate degrees, because they have each taught me a different way to look at the same problem, and I believe my analytical skills are more multi-faceted because of it.  While it’s true that there’s a chance I could get typecast as “the lawyer” in the business world, the MBA has taught me how to re-frame my education and experience to better suit the needs of an employer.  As a law student I was concerned with gathering as much advice as I could, in order to go by someone else’s opinion and experience, but as a JD/MBA I have learned that it’s better to find your own passion and, as Professor Gomez often quotes, “make the competition irrelevant”.

-Alexandra Frick

Alex is a third year JD/MBA who will be studying law abroad at the University of Copenhagen this semester and was a Genetics major at UC Davis.

Community Service: Using Business Skills to Give Back

At USD we have the unique opportunity to use what we learn in business school and apply it to volunteer work as a part of our team service project.  A number of us chose to use our new skills to volunteer for Jewish Family Services (JFS), an organization that provides several programs for families around the San Diego area.

In order to apply some of our business acumen, we ended up helping JFS run a career seminar for Iraqi refugees, some of whom had been in the United States for less than a week.  We helped the refugees by conducting mock interviews, developing their elevator pitches, and editing their resumes to set them up for their job search.

Classmates Mid-Resume Review

The volunteer work was especially rewarding for me as I had recently finished 5 years in the Army, with 2 of those years spent deployed to Iraq.  During my time in Iraq, I worked closely with the Iraqi people and gained a deep appreciation for their values while also witnessing their many hardships due to the effects of the war.   I was happy to find out that I would be working 1 on 1 with a refugee to build his resume.

Through my experiences in Iraq, I learned some conversational Arabic along with a few inside jokes in the process.  When I met the man I would be helping with his resume, I started off with one of my lame Iraqi jokes and it quickly broke the ice.  Through our discussions, we discovered that we had both spent time in the same city and even had mutual acquaintances in the country.

After spending much of the day working together, we developed an impressive resume.  Many of the refugees were very experienced with engineering and technology and simply needed someone to put their experience into American context.

My volunteer experience at USD not only allowed me to apply my business skills to help people in the community, but it also helped me improve the lives of those less fortunate who have faced adversity we can only imagine.

-Corey Sherk

Corey is a second year,  full-time MBA student. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and spent the summer interning at Cisco Systems. 

Lubricants & Luminaries

Hi, my name’s Bryan and I’m the Student President of the Graduate School of Business. Part of that job is to promote our MBA program. Now, all politicians are full of hot air, but since I hate sounding like a glossy marketing brochure, here’s the truth: the thing I like best about our program is WD-40. The lubricant. (That’s not in the brochure.)

Let me explain. A few weeks ago my housemate was spraying WD-40 on a squeaky hinge when it suddenly dawned on me that WD-40‘s Chairman of the Board teaches one of my classes! It’s a product I’ve used all my life and here I am learning from the guy that runs the show. And not just that show. He’s also the COO of Sempra Energy and a board member for Murphy Oil Company. And you know what he told us on day one? He said, “Listen, I’ve been doing this for 40 years. Here’s what you really need to know when you get out of here…” He then spent each class session training us with specific and practical examples from his career. Not once did I ask myself, “When am I ever going to use this in the real world?” Classes like this are so hard to find and yet so incredibly valuable. I felt really lucky to have stumbled into one.

But that’s the thing; it’s not the only one! Switch tabs and Google this phrase real fast: “company valuation.” The results will be articles from professors, Powerpoint presentations from business schools all over the world, and even training materials from McKinsey. If you look at them closely, you’ll see this sentence: “According to the Copeland book, [...]” They’re talking about Tom Copeland. The guy who literally wrote the book on modern finance. The guy who other finance experts contact when they’re stumped. Or, as I call him, “The professor I have class with on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Now, any business school will teach you about Modigliani and Miller — the nobel prize winners who basically laid the foundation of corporate finance back in the 50’s. But only in Copeland’s class will you hear, “So Miller and I went to lunch one time, and we had this bet…” And then in the next class it’ll be, “So I was sitting in my office in 1996 when the board of Enron called. They wanted to know if they should oppose the potential listing of natural gas prices on the Chicago Exchange…” Copeland walks you through the answer — it’s yes — and concludes by saying, “So that’s how my partner ended up working at Enron. His name was Jeff Skilling.” (Cue ethics discussion.)

This is what I love best about USD: I’m not learning from some PhD student who got his knowledge from a textbook and a slideshow. I’m learning from the folks that were in the trenches. The people who created the stuff they’re teaching. Experts. Luminaries. And not just the two above. My accounting professor works at the FASB.  The professor who taught my negotiations class was a trial lawyer — he argued and haggled over legal settlements for years. The list just keeps growing.

So while it might sound like something out of a glossy brochure, the simple truth is that the faculty at this program are world-class.[1] In the end, what really matters about a school is who’s doing the teaching. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have at the front of my classroom than the professors at USD.[2]

-Bryan Jones

Bryan graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served as the GBSA President in 2011. 

1 — I’m not running for re-election (term limits) and grades are already turned in, so there’s no political bias here!

2 — Possibly Jessica Alba.