2008-08-09
Italian Volleyball
While I'm working on my career strategy all day I have some olympic coverage going on in the background. Because NBC won't broadcast online to viewers outside the US, I have to be creative with my choice of media. Fortunately I found a web service called Zattoo that shows many international channels online. Right now I am watching USA beach volleyball on an Italian channel--che bella!
2008-08-08
The Olympics Have Begun!
As we finished our last day of Stakeholder Managment today, our breaks were consumed by watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Everyone cheered as countries represented in our class marched in. What fun--I can't wait for the competitive rivalries to start once the events get going.
I was proud to learn that Rice is well represented in the Olympics: we have eight athletes and coaches representing their countries. Additionally, Rice's president is there at the opening ceremony. Go Rice and Go USA!
I was proud to learn that Rice is well represented in the Olympics: we have eight athletes and coaches representing their countries. Additionally, Rice's president is there at the opening ceremony. Go Rice and Go USA!
2008-08-06
Career Strategy Update: Objective and Industries
Following is another email that I just sent my Career Board today:
First, let me elaborate a little on my objective (Change the world through business leadership!) because I know it sounds cheesy. The premise is pretty simple: governments and NGOs are just some of the parties that can address some of the major challenges the world faces today. In a capitalist society, and in a global market-driven economy, I believe very strongly in the power of the business to address them as well. When I look back at the world-changing developments of recent history, many (most?) of them have come from private industry. Furthermore, my professional experience is in business so, if I want to change the world (and I do!), it makes sense for me to focus on this area.
A company like Exxon-Mobil, for example, has a profound ability to change the world. As one of the world’s largest energy producers and global employers, everything it does or doesn’t do has serious consequences for the world’s energy, environmental, and social challenges. It has the power to change the world for the better—or for the worse. Consequently, it is crucial that Exxon-Mobil’s leadership “get it right.” I am not so presumptuous as to contend that I have all the answers about what is “right” or that I am qualified to take over as CEO of Exxon-Mobil tomorrow. However, I consider it my duty to give it my best shot.
Thus my strategy is as follows:
1. Identify industries that have the greatest potential to change the world.
2. Match those industries with my interests and background. About which industries am I most passionate? To which industries can I offer the most value with my own skills and experience. For example, I believe biotechnology can be a world-changing industry but it is not a great match with background.
3. Learn more about my target industries with industry analyses, analyst reports, and conversations with contacts in those industries. Validate my understanding of the industries and what I would bring to each one. Study the business system(s) of each industry and identify the specific activities that are most interesting and/or offer the greatest opportunity to change the world.
4. Identify and target specific companies that are most interesting within each targeted business activity. Criteria include: innovation, financial performance, market performance, quality of work life, quality of leadership, opportunities for learning/mentorship, and geographic location/travel.
5. Market myself to targeted companies by networking, on-campus recruiting, and unsolicited applications.
I am currently in steps 3 and 4, depending on the industry. I have also subsumed my nanotechnology interest under green energy and commercial space operations. The more I learned about nanotechnology, the more I confirmed that my interests in it were almost exclusively insomuch as it relates to these other two industries. My status for each of my remaining three target industries is as follows:
Green Energy: Step 4
The sub-industries that interest me most are:
Renewables (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal): technology development (e.g. nanotechnology thin-film solar cells), device manufacturing (e.g. wind turbine manufacturing), operations (e.g. wind farm development)
Distribution: technology development (e.g., nanotechnology high-efficiency transmission lines or high-capacitance residential power storage)
Vestas (world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer) and AES (a power generator/developer that includes renewables in its portfolio) recruit on-campus for their leadership development programs. Shell, which has more green energy in its offering than it used to also recruits here but I just don’t get a great “vibe” from them in terms of fit. In Step 4 I am identifying all of the other companies to target as well.
Technology: Step 3
I am most interested in revolutionary web software companies, not IT services companies, but I am still in Step 3, identifying exactly which business activities and sub-industries to target proactively.
Google recruits on-campus and is definitely on my list. Amazon may sign up too. British Telecom has also contacted me and motivated me to open up a little to technology companies outside of my web software scope. They are looking for global leaders to help them expand their concept of “the 21st-century network” worldwide and are offering what sounds like a very appealing leadership development program.
Commercial Space Operations: Step 3
I am still validating this industry to understand whether I should target it or not. It is very nascent, which is both exciting and challenging—there are no industry reports, for example. I have contacts in NASA and NASA contractors but I really need to talk to people IN this industry and they are hard to find. Using online networking tools I have generated some contacts at the Space Island Group (http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/home.html) and am cold calling this week. If anyone has other ideas about how to learn more about *commercial* space operations, I would love to discuss.
First, let me elaborate a little on my objective (Change the world through business leadership!) because I know it sounds cheesy. The premise is pretty simple: governments and NGOs are just some of the parties that can address some of the major challenges the world faces today. In a capitalist society, and in a global market-driven economy, I believe very strongly in the power of the business to address them as well. When I look back at the world-changing developments of recent history, many (most?) of them have come from private industry. Furthermore, my professional experience is in business so, if I want to change the world (and I do!), it makes sense for me to focus on this area.
A company like Exxon-Mobil, for example, has a profound ability to change the world. As one of the world’s largest energy producers and global employers, everything it does or doesn’t do has serious consequences for the world’s energy, environmental, and social challenges. It has the power to change the world for the better—or for the worse. Consequently, it is crucial that Exxon-Mobil’s leadership “get it right.” I am not so presumptuous as to contend that I have all the answers about what is “right” or that I am qualified to take over as CEO of Exxon-Mobil tomorrow. However, I consider it my duty to give it my best shot.
Thus my strategy is as follows:
1. Identify industries that have the greatest potential to change the world.
2. Match those industries with my interests and background. About which industries am I most passionate? To which industries can I offer the most value with my own skills and experience. For example, I believe biotechnology can be a world-changing industry but it is not a great match with background.
3. Learn more about my target industries with industry analyses, analyst reports, and conversations with contacts in those industries. Validate my understanding of the industries and what I would bring to each one. Study the business system(s) of each industry and identify the specific activities that are most interesting and/or offer the greatest opportunity to change the world.
4. Identify and target specific companies that are most interesting within each targeted business activity. Criteria include: innovation, financial performance, market performance, quality of work life, quality of leadership, opportunities for learning/mentorship, and geographic location/travel.
5. Market myself to targeted companies by networking, on-campus recruiting, and unsolicited applications.
I am currently in steps 3 and 4, depending on the industry. I have also subsumed my nanotechnology interest under green energy and commercial space operations. The more I learned about nanotechnology, the more I confirmed that my interests in it were almost exclusively insomuch as it relates to these other two industries. My status for each of my remaining three target industries is as follows:
Green Energy: Step 4
The sub-industries that interest me most are:
Renewables (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal): technology development (e.g. nanotechnology thin-film solar cells), device manufacturing (e.g. wind turbine manufacturing), operations (e.g. wind farm development)
Distribution: technology development (e.g., nanotechnology high-efficiency transmission lines or high-capacitance residential power storage)
Vestas (world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer) and AES (a power generator/developer that includes renewables in its portfolio) recruit on-campus for their leadership development programs. Shell, which has more green energy in its offering than it used to also recruits here but I just don’t get a great “vibe” from them in terms of fit. In Step 4 I am identifying all of the other companies to target as well.
Technology: Step 3
I am most interested in revolutionary web software companies, not IT services companies, but I am still in Step 3, identifying exactly which business activities and sub-industries to target proactively.
Google recruits on-campus and is definitely on my list. Amazon may sign up too. British Telecom has also contacted me and motivated me to open up a little to technology companies outside of my web software scope. They are looking for global leaders to help them expand their concept of “the 21st-century network” worldwide and are offering what sounds like a very appealing leadership development program.
Commercial Space Operations: Step 3
I am still validating this industry to understand whether I should target it or not. It is very nascent, which is both exciting and challenging—there are no industry reports, for example. I have contacts in NASA and NASA contractors but I really need to talk to people IN this industry and they are hard to find. Using online networking tools I have generated some contacts at the Space Island Group (http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/home.html) and am cold calling this week. If anyone has other ideas about how to learn more about *commercial* space operations, I would love to discuss.
My Career
With less than four months (Yikes! How did it pass so quickly?!) left on the program, our thoughts have turned toward our post-IMD careers. Many of us are looking to continue paths that we already started, many are looking for radical changes, and many are seeking something in between.
As this is an integral part of the IMD experience, I will keep my readers (especially those future-IMDers) posted on my progression as I move from a high-level, general strategy to something more focused, to [hopefully] offers, to selecting my next move.
I am pursuing my career search using a corporate model. I am the CEO of my search (I'm also the product that I will eventually be marketing.) and, as such, I put together a Board of Directors to help advise me. The Board consists of one VC, one pilot, two consultants, two entrepreneurs (This is how I’m classifying you—let me know if I’m off the mark.), three CXOs, a banker, a doctor, and a lawyer—I think that provides adequate diversity! The Board members are spread around the US and Australia but I have some informal advisors in Europe as well.
The first emails I sent to my Board members (mid-July) contained variations of the following information. It is general and ambiguous, but it is a starting point. Although I have limited my Board to 10 members, I would certainly welcome comments and criticisms from the rest of my readers. My opening position:
My objective: to change the world through business leadership! I hope to do this by obtaining an influential general management position (with an entrepreneurial element as well!) at a company with the potential for significant global impact.
Skills I bring: founding and leading organizations, communicating and persuading diverse stakeholders, and global perspective, having lived in three countries and speaking three languages
Experience: 7 years in entrepreneurship and general management with software companies serving diverse industries and geographic markets around the world
By definition, general management is awfully . . . general! So my challenge has been to refine my career search to focus on just the areas where there is the greatest fit. After a significant amount of thinking about my strengths, motivations, goals, and experience, I have decided to target the following four industries:
Renewable Energy (solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, etc.) – I am familiar with the energy industry through having served it with software my whole career; now I see it as an industry with the potential to change the world—for the better!
Commercial Space Operations (space industrialization, exploration) – I have lived in the shadow of space exploration my entire life and it has always been a passion of mine. With the growing number of companies participating, I see opportunities to contribute without working for bureaucratic government organizations.
Nanotechnology – I am specifically interested in nanotechnologies that support renewable energy (carbon-walled nanotubes that transmit electricity over vast distances with little attenuation, for example) and commercial space operations (incredibly light, strong materials that make reusable launch vehicles more practical, for example). Although I have no background in nanotech, Rice is very strong in this area and should provide significant networking opportunities.
Web Software (Internet portals, applications, etc.) – I remain enamored of IT and its ability to change the lives of millions practically overnight. Given my background, this is probably the “lowest-risk” search strategy, but I am committed to pursuing the others with equal gusto.
Geographically I am targeting the USA (Houston, Austin, San Diego, or Silicon Valley), Italy, the UK, or Switzerland. I am open to the right opportunity that is based anywhere, and I anticipate significant travel, but these are my ideal “home bases.”
As this is an integral part of the IMD experience, I will keep my readers (especially those future-IMDers) posted on my progression as I move from a high-level, general strategy to something more focused, to [hopefully] offers, to selecting my next move.
I am pursuing my career search using a corporate model. I am the CEO of my search (I'm also the product that I will eventually be marketing.) and, as such, I put together a Board of Directors to help advise me. The Board consists of one VC, one pilot, two consultants, two entrepreneurs (This is how I’m classifying you—let me know if I’m off the mark.), three CXOs, a banker, a doctor, and a lawyer—I think that provides adequate diversity! The Board members are spread around the US and Australia but I have some informal advisors in Europe as well.
The first emails I sent to my Board members (mid-July) contained variations of the following information. It is general and ambiguous, but it is a starting point. Although I have limited my Board to 10 members, I would certainly welcome comments and criticisms from the rest of my readers. My opening position:
My objective: to change the world through business leadership! I hope to do this by obtaining an influential general management position (with an entrepreneurial element as well!) at a company with the potential for significant global impact.
Skills I bring: founding and leading organizations, communicating and persuading diverse stakeholders, and global perspective, having lived in three countries and speaking three languages
Experience: 7 years in entrepreneurship and general management with software companies serving diverse industries and geographic markets around the world
By definition, general management is awfully . . . general! So my challenge has been to refine my career search to focus on just the areas where there is the greatest fit. After a significant amount of thinking about my strengths, motivations, goals, and experience, I have decided to target the following four industries:
Renewable Energy (solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, etc.) – I am familiar with the energy industry through having served it with software my whole career; now I see it as an industry with the potential to change the world—for the better!
Commercial Space Operations (space industrialization, exploration) – I have lived in the shadow of space exploration my entire life and it has always been a passion of mine. With the growing number of companies participating, I see opportunities to contribute without working for bureaucratic government organizations.
Nanotechnology – I am specifically interested in nanotechnologies that support renewable energy (carbon-walled nanotubes that transmit electricity over vast distances with little attenuation, for example) and commercial space operations (incredibly light, strong materials that make reusable launch vehicles more practical, for example). Although I have no background in nanotech, Rice is very strong in this area and should provide significant networking opportunities.
Web Software (Internet portals, applications, etc.) – I remain enamored of IT and its ability to change the lives of millions practically overnight. Given my background, this is probably the “lowest-risk” search strategy, but I am committed to pursuing the others with equal gusto.
Geographically I am targeting the USA (Houston, Austin, San Diego, or Silicon Valley), Italy, the UK, or Switzerland. I am open to the right opportunity that is based anywhere, and I anticipate significant travel, but these are my ideal “home bases.”
2008-08-03
Daniel Day Lewis
In between rewriting my PPIN (a 20-page paper that defines everything I stand for and analyzes my past to understand why) and pounding my way through the 20 cases we have to prepare for this week's course on stakeholder management, I had the opportunity to watch some movies this weekend.
Friday night I revisited a movie I hadn't seen since pre-school: Howard the Duck. I was looking for something to have on in the background as I caught up on some emails so I didn't want anything too intellectual--no worries there! This movie was just as bad as I remember it but it did bring back some memories.
Saturday I threw on Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay which was almost as bad. Again, though, I just wanted something for the background while I cooked and putzed around.
Saturday evening I settled in for a Daniel Day Lewis fix. I never really knew who he was until I saw Gangs of New York, in which I found his portrayal of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting absolutely riveting. When I saw There Will Be Blood (for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor) several weeks ago I was reminded of how much I admired his acting so decided to procure his other movies. Saturday night I watched The Last of the Mohicans and this evening I just finished My Left Foot, for which he also won Best Actor. Daniel Day Lewis only seems to surface every few years but, when he does, it is a performance worth watching.
I was glad to have some time this weekend to watch some movies--one of my favorite pastimes. Also, congratulations again to Washington Redskins greats Art Monk and Darrell Green, who were officially inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend. Hail to the Redskins!
Friday night I revisited a movie I hadn't seen since pre-school: Howard the Duck. I was looking for something to have on in the background as I caught up on some emails so I didn't want anything too intellectual--no worries there! This movie was just as bad as I remember it but it did bring back some memories.
Saturday I threw on Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay which was almost as bad. Again, though, I just wanted something for the background while I cooked and putzed around.
Saturday evening I settled in for a Daniel Day Lewis fix. I never really knew who he was until I saw Gangs of New York, in which I found his portrayal of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting absolutely riveting. When I saw There Will Be Blood (for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor) several weeks ago I was reminded of how much I admired his acting so decided to procure his other movies. Saturday night I watched The Last of the Mohicans and this evening I just finished My Left Foot, for which he also won Best Actor. Daniel Day Lewis only seems to surface every few years but, when he does, it is a performance worth watching.
I was glad to have some time this weekend to watch some movies--one of my favorite pastimes. Also, congratulations again to Washington Redskins greats Art Monk and Darrell Green, who were officially inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend. Hail to the Redskins!
2008-08-02
2007
At long last I have finished my chronological tour through American popular music. The 2000s ended my journey with more of a whimper than a bang so I really don't have much to say about them. Here are a few thoughts, though:
Although I'm no great fan of Mariah Carey's, it is impressive that she has now been cranking out hits for almost 20 years.
I'm glad that the fad formula of female vocalist + Ja Rule groaning/grunting in the background came and went pretty quickly.
There are still a number of great rock/alternative songs that aren't making it onto Billboard's charts.
Now that I have completed this musical tour and, at the same time, played through all of Jimmy Buffett's albums (35 years worth!), I almost don't know what to listen to next. However, the weather is great, which means I need something to pump me up for some beach volley. I'll just start at the top of the alphabet. Next up: AC/DC!
Although I'm no great fan of Mariah Carey's, it is impressive that she has now been cranking out hits for almost 20 years.
I'm glad that the fad formula of female vocalist + Ja Rule groaning/grunting in the background came and went pretty quickly.
There are still a number of great rock/alternative songs that aren't making it onto Billboard's charts.
Now that I have completed this musical tour and, at the same time, played through all of Jimmy Buffett's albums (35 years worth!), I almost don't know what to listen to next. However, the weather is great, which means I need something to pump me up for some beach volley. I'll just start at the top of the alphabet. Next up: AC/DC!
2008-08-01
Allez Suisse!
We have spent the past three days in a negotiation workshop run by CM Partners. It was a great experience studying frameworks for analysis of one-on-one and multi-party negotiations. These frameworks are useful for advance preparation as well as mindfulness in the moment. The goal throughout our similated negotiations was understanding each party's interests in order to reach a wise decision for mutual gain. Of course understanding wasn't enough; we also practiced many communication techniques to keep dialogs moving in a positive direction, even in the face of "difficult" circumstances or people. We wrapped up the session this afternoon by tying it in with other IMD course themes: principled negotiation can be a great tool to help us make the world a better place.
Today is also Swiss National Day. It was celebrated with a brilliant display of fireworks over the lake, which I could see very well from my window. Now that the official fireworks are over, the private fireworks are going off with loud booms and occasional flashes in the distance. I think I'll sleep with earplugs in tonight as the "wild and crazy" Swiss get their celebration on!
Today is also Swiss National Day. It was celebrated with a brilliant display of fireworks over the lake, which I could see very well from my window. Now that the official fireworks are over, the private fireworks are going off with loud booms and occasional flashes in the distance. I think I'll sleep with earplugs in tonight as the "wild and crazy" Swiss get their celebration on!
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