EMBA Survival

Some companies are recruiting MBAs while they are still in school

Got an email today describing a fast-track leadership development program at AT&T.  Interviews are in early Nov.  Funny, the interviews are walking distance from my loft.  Small world.

The program is described in this doc: Download ATTFLPApp.pdf

Good luck with your application!

Oral assessment II

Assignment: prep for less than 10 min, stand up in front of class, and talk about a predefined topic.  I imagine it gets easier the more you do it.

In the speech I mention Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, The Now Habit, Getting Things Done by Dave Allen, and First Things First by Stephen Covey.

All of those books were very useful to me.  I read them to prep myself for the demands of an EMBA.

Paul Kedrosky mentions my employer in his blog

Cap Group is #3 on the list.  The company has done quite well over its 75 year history.

http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2007/07/17/its_good_to_be_2.html

If you don't read Paul, add him to your RSS reader now :-)

likeable leaders

The thesis of this book is that leaders are often chosen more for their charisma, not their character, competence, or even true leadership ability. 

Outside of that, the point I believe my professor was making when discussing this book is that people often attribute causality for events when there is no logical connection.

Back to the book.  I haven't read it yet, but I will.  Probably won't have time until after I graduate.  The main fact is, however, people want to work with likeable people.   That isn't going to change.

2nd Year MBA Job Opportunity

This is a fantastic opportunity:

Title	Investment Analyst - Equity (Other MBA)
AutoReqId	6872BR
Functional Area	Investment Research & Management
Work Location	Geneva, Switzerland Hong Kong London, England Los Angeles, CA (Downtown) New York, NY San Francisco, CA Singapore Tokyo, Japan
Full Time / Part Time	Full Time
Position Description	This position is specifically posted for 2nd year MBA students. If you are NOT a 2nd year MBA student, please do NOT apply to this position. Feel free to apply to other available opportunities with The Capital Group Companies. https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?Agent=1&jobid=78169&ClientId=13910&PartnerId=13910&SiteId=5018&JobSiteId=5018&Language=1&JobReqLang=1&JobSiteInfo=78169_5018 Capital's investment research professionals are responsible for gathering, analyzing, interpreting and communicating the information on which most of our investment decisions are based. After a relatively brief period of time, usually within one year, analysts are given the responsibility of managing a research portfolio within their area of coverage. This allows them to bring to life their conviction on a particular security. There is no formal training program for new analysts because we believe there is more than one way to make investment decisions. We have two offices in Los Angeles and usually new U.S. based investment research professionals tend to begin there. Other U.S. investment offices are located in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta. Most non-U.S. investment research professionals are based in our offices in Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Singapore, and Tokyo. This year we have opportunities in North America, Europe & Asia.
Hiring Criteria	We seek bright, highly motivated and disciplined individuals who can: direct their own work in a friendly cooperative but largely self-guided environment; thrive on a heavy dose of research, writing, and business travel; enjoy the financial investment process and the elements required to make it successful and who want to understand the connection between numbers on a financial statement and what a real business actually makes or does; communicate easily and effectively, both orally and in writing, with colleagues and with top management of other companies.

Oral Assessment I

One of the first things we did in our Leadership Communication class was a 3 minute speech.  You pull a topic out of a hat, gather your thoughts briefly, and then step up in front of class and talk.  Here's my stab at it:

I may not show it, but I was a bit nervous.  The objective of the oral assessment is to serve as an input into your communications development plan.  Even though it frightens me a bit, I'm looking forward to giving more speeches/presentations at school; there's no doubt that developing excellent public speaking skills will enhance my career.