EMBA Survival

Rice vs. UT (again)

Which EMBA do you prefer? As you already know, I prefer Rice.

Rice EMBA		UT EMBA
Year 1		Year 1
	Organizational Behavior		Managing People and Organizations
	Strategy		Strategic Management
	Financial Accounting		Financial Accounting
	Data Analysis		Managerial Statistics
	Finance		Financial Management
	Negotiations		Executive Seminar I
	Leadership		Executive Seminar II
	Managerial Economics
	Team Dynamics
	Leadership Communications
	Ethics
	Strategic IT
	Marketing
	Management Accounting
	Operations Management
Year 2		Year 2
	Globalization of Business		Global Management
	Economic Environment of Business		Marketing Management
	Business and Governments		Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
	Entrepreneurship/Intrapreneurship		Operations Management
	Advanced Competitive Strategy: Integrating the Enterprise		Art and Science of Negotiation
	International Business Briefing		Executive Seminar III
	International Negotiations and Communications		Executive Seminar IV
	Elective 1
	Elective 2
	Elective 3
	Elective 4
	Elective 5
	Elective 6
	Elective 7
	Elective 8

leadership

I'm really enjoying my leadership class.  Our professor, Duane Windsor, draws from a wide range of sources, even pop culture.  For example, we briefly covered the Kobayashi Maru scenario from Star Trek.  "This was an infamous no-win scenario that was part of the curriculum for command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy. It was primarily used to assess a cadet's discipline, character, and command capabilities when facing an impossible situation." -ref.

During the first class he thoughtfully acknowledged competing theories and practices in leadership.  This slide was very helpful in terms of giving me a framework for processing it all: Download leadership.ppt  (posted with permission)

effective writing tips from Hemmingway and Orwell

EMBA students must write clearly and concisely.  The word is crisp.  Here is some great advice from the masters: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/

Another useful tip from manager tools, is B.L.U.F.  "Bottom Line Up Front".  If you try to hold your reader in suspense, you'll lose them.  Just spit it out, and follow up with an explanation.

Come work with me at a great company - Finance and Accounting Management

If this job interests you and you know me personally, please contact me before applying.  Good luck!

Title	Accounting and Finance Manager - Relocation Assistance Available
Functional Area	Accounting & Finance
Experience Level	5-10 years
Work Location	San Antonio , TX
Position Description	As a Manager, you will be accountable for overseeing the daily operations and activities of a full accounting team, including accountants, senior accountants, and team managers in a team of about 6 to 7. We are seeking an individual who has demonstrated an exceptional ability to assess performance, provide feedback effectively, and coach and develop team members to deliver best business results. Other responsibilities include: • Monitoring of, and ensuring adherence to, all external guidelines, policies, regulations, and laws related to accounting and operations services provided for our client accounts • Communicating with other areas and departments within Capital Group to resolve issues • Creation, development, and maintenance of external business relationships that support the business need • Oversight and delivery of training as needed In addition to routine responsibilities mentioned above, you will have the opportunity to work on special projects involving new business issues and to present mutual fund reports to fund officers. You can also expect to work collaboratively with your peers to manage resources, enhance work processes, and improve overall service delivered to our internal and external client groups.
Hiring Criteria	To qualify for this position, you must have: • Minimum 6-8 years of accounting experience, including at least 3-4 years of successfully supervising and leading people in a team environment • Bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting or finance • An exceptional standard of quality: this involves attention to detail, organization, thoughtful analysis and problem-solving, and accountability for excellent results • Strong leadership skills, including the ability to coach and instruct others in order to reach desired results • Excellent written and verbal communication skills The ideal candidate will also possess: • CPA and/or MBA • Knowledge/experience related to supervising investment management accounting teams • Knowledge/experience related to supervising an audit team
	www.capgroup.com

oral assessment III

Here's my 5 minute prepared presentation during the Rice EMBA Intensive Learning Weekend.  Preparation and rehersal both significantly reduce anxiety and significantly improve delivery.  We had the opportunity to rehearse our presentations 3-4 times with 2 peers prior to delivering to the class and the instructor.  I found that 3-4 dry runs before the actual presentation are very much worth the effort.  We are only talking about 15-20 minutes of your time.

creating corporate advantage

This article was written by the authors of our Strategy textbook.   After reading it I got some new ideas for my final strategy paper - but it's too late for that.

I suspect it will be a good refresher to skim in a few years.

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=98303&ml_page=1

(you have to be a hbr subscriber to read the entire article)

financial models by headcount

I've seen head-count burn-rates calculated at a couple of places, but it's not the norm.

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/10/financial-model.html

Scroll down to the bottom, in part II: lessons.  The number 1 take-away was Focus on headcount.  Granted, that won't work for all business models, but it is interesting how accurate it turns out to be.

an introduction to venture capital

for entrepreneurs looking to raise capital, start reading:

http://www.venturehacks.com/

http://www.techconfidential.com/vc-ratings/

http://www.thefunded.com/

Also, you might start reading the thoughts of individual VCs themselves on their blogs.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3071-the-venture-capital-blogs-resource-page

http://andrewbfife.blogspot.com/2006/06/65-vc-angel-investor-blogs.html

If you invest some time reading these sites, and you are smart and motivated, you will walk away with an actionable strategy for pitching your business plan to VCs.

leveraging student creativity

http://www.informationarbitrage.com/2007/10/leveraging-the-.html

Look forward to more companies hosting contests to generate value and attract top job applicants at the same time.

If you don't read information arbitrage, you are missing out on some brilliant insights.

term one complete - new classes

Organizational Behavior and Strategy are now over.  It's too bad, because I really enjoyed those classes.

Leadership Communications, Financial Accounting, Data Analysis, & Team Dynamics continue on.

New classes:

Managerial micro-economics, Leadership, and Negotiations.  Negotiations is already half-way over.  We have one more intensive pragmatic weekend in March which will wrap that up.