It's a Tuesday afternoon and I'm sitting here at Cosi's sidewalk patio on Michigan Ave across from the Art Institute watching some huge protest (I have no idea what for) that has basically shut down this part of the city. No matter. It's a beautiful Chicago day, the first day of May and life is good. I'm currently studying for Prof Matthew Bothner's Strategy & Structure class, which is absolutely fascinating. We discuss two HBS cases per week and Prof Bothner does an amazing job of guiding discussion, getting people involved, and incorporating variety of tools (videos, interviews, metaphors, frameworks) to foster insights and enhance our learning experience. For students who are shy, afraid of being cold called, or just don't have an opinion - this class is not for you! Last week we discussed Loy Weston pioneering the expansion of KFC in Japan. Great case, very entertaining, but most of all it deals with the difficulties of expanding a franchise concept overseas where a lot of the elements that made the company (and brand) successful in the home country don't necessarily translate into a profitable foreign venture. It often takes a resourceful and sometimes radical manager like Loy Weston to jump start the venture, but after it's in place how do you manage the relationship? I've enjoyed the class so much that I actually flew out to Napa Valley, CA for the annual GSB Wine Cllub Napa Valley Trip (also featured in the April 9 issue of Business Week Magazine) a day late just so I could attend Prof Bothner's class.
Speaking of Napa...here's an update on how the trip went.
Friday, April 10th, our first stop was at Flora Springs Winery. Flora Springs sits upon a beautiful St. Helena estate were we began by taking a tour of the vineyard and winery. It was thrilling to observe the wine making process first-hand, made even more special because Flora was bottling one of their newest release wines that morning. Our next stop was at the famous Silver Oak Cellars on the Silverado Trail passing the legendary Opus One on our way. As we gazed at the magnificent estate, our guide Bruce relayed a funny story about the winery. Apparently, when Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe Rothschild began digging the caves for the wine cellar, they hit a series of hot springs. Since heat negates the benefit of an underground cave (wine ages perfectly at cool temperatures), a cooling system was installed in the cave to protect the wine against the underground hot springs!
When we arrived at Silver Oak, Michael, our host greeted us and poured a tasting of their 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon; a spectacular wine, very characteristic of Oakville Cabernet Sauvignons. Michael than escorted us to the patio where we tasted the 2002 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet while absorbing views of Silver Oak’s Cabernet vineyard.
We then proceeded to Rutherford Grove, a small family-owned winery in historic Rutherford. There, Rob Ledford arranged a magnificent picnic lunch, which we enjoyed while soaking up the warm California sun and sipping a Rutherford Grove 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. Lunch was followed by with a tasting of Rutherford Grove wines, the highlight being a 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.
Next we stopped at Beringer Estates (only to provide a contrast to boutique wineries that comprised most of our weekend) on our way to Frank Family Winery. At FF the “Rouge” (a sparkling rose) was a favorite of the group, but that couldn’t top the Estate Chardonnay and the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which were both superb. The staff was extremely friendly and we loved their wines so much that the group shipped two cases of wine back to Chicago.
Saturday was spent in Sonoma Valley. We began our day at Nicholson Ranch where we learned about their wine making process, which emphasizes limited production, high quality wines. While touring the caves we tasted the Estate Chardonnay and two yummy, silky, and fruity Pinot Noirs.
Next, we stopped for lunch at The Girl and The Fig restaurant in downtown Sonoma. Lunch was outstanding. I savored over a bowl of asparagus cream soup and salami & brie served over a baguette accompanied with giant capers. Craig Kahler selected a set of delicious Viogniers, which paired exceptionally well with our meals.
That afternoon we visited BR Cohn, Kunde, and Imagery Estates. BR Cohn was fun, yet the wines were average, but we got a kick out of playing with their dog Moose and later tasting his namesake wine “Moose’s Red.” We then headed north to visit Imagery Estates where I was blown away by all of their wines (so much so that I, along with four others, joined their wine club!). A special tip…Imagery’s wines are excellent (especially the 2004 Petit Syrah) they only sell their wines through the wine club and tasting room, and they are considering closing their wine club soon! Kunde was our last stop of the day, and we headed back to the hotel to ready ourselves for our final dinner.
Our Saturday night dinner took place at Bay Leaf. After being seated in the Italian room, the owner Mounir Fahmy greeted us and described our three course dinner in such outstanding detail that my mouth began to water. Many of us indulged in the baby back ribs and some chose the grilled salmon. Making the evening even better, Fahmy treated us to “winery style” service where the entire kitchen staff presented our courses precisely at the exact same moment. The food was amazing, the wine superb, and desert delectable. It was the perfect culmination to a weekend learning about great wine, immersing ourselves in the magnificent Napa and Sonoma landscape, and enjoying fine meals and service. On Sunday night we left Midway airport saddened that we had left such a special place where we enjoyed some of the best luxuries in life, reminisced amongst good friends, and enriched our MBA experience. But wait. For many of us there is still next year!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
Wow, so much has been going on since last week. Let's see last weekend I flew out to Rochester, NY for the University of Rochester Simon Graduate School of Business marketing case competition. It was a fun weekend. We flew out on Friday afternoon and arrived in Rochester around 4:00pm, just in time for check in and happy hour sponsored by non other than Heineken! As you can probably infer, this turned out to be an AWESOME time, and a very interesting case (at least for guys who like beer).
The case competition took place all day Saturday. Basically they put you into a team with five other randomly chosen students from different B-Schools. I was on a team with students from Simon, Stern, Rice, Temple, and Iowa. We were provided the case at 8:30 am, had 15 minutes for questions, and then locked ourselves in a room for five hours to develop our marketing strategy. Unfortunately our strategy wasn't one of the top three winners, but apparently we were in the top five. I did win the beer pouring competition for our team though!
Aside from the competition, the weekend was great. I met a bunch of great people at different B-Schools, learned about exciting opportunities at Heineken, and spent two evenings enjoying the delightful Rochester garbage plate.
The best part of the weekend was finding out my bid results for DAS (Drop Add Swap) IV in our bidding system. I love taking risks and so my bidding style is to wait until the later rounds to get into good classes that typically sell for a lot of points, but sell for much less in the later rounds. I ended up adding "Strategy & Structure" with Matthew Bothner, "Negotiations" with Linda Ginzel, and "Corporate Finance" with Anir Sufi to go along with the New Venture Challenge. By the way, Bothner's Strategy & Structure class seems awesome (which is probably why it goes for 10,000 points). Prof Bothner is amazing and discussing Wal-mart and Apple this week was phenomenal. Essentially, Wal-mart created a competitive advantage when it was forced to adapt to pricing pressure and challenges created by suppliers in the retail industry. Essentially, in the early days the company was unable to get competitive pricing from manufacturers because the company wasn't big enough and wasn't selling enough volume per store. In response, Wal-mart decided to buy items in bulk and ship them to a central warehouse where they stored the items and shipped them to stores as they were needed. This allowed them to get decent pricing, which remained in line with their low-pricing strategy. Eventually they came to dominate small towns in the south (where other discount retailers didn't want to go) and then began to expand out from within.
Let's see, on Wednesday the GSB Wine Club hosted an event with Jack Cakebread, founder and owner of Cakebread Cellars. Jake was great and the wines we tasted were all excellent. Afterward a bunch of us walked over to Enology, a new wine bar on Michigan Ave next to the Chicago Tribune Tower. The bar was awesome and I met the wine director who showed me their wine cellar, which was full of some classic wines including three bottles of 1945 Chateau Latour that they just picked up at a wine auction. Afterward we took a cab over to Billy Goat Tavern and grabbed some hot dogs and burgers.
By the way...I am so pissed. I placed 4th out of 80 in the GSB Risk & Gaming Club NCAA bracket pool! Damn. The top three places won money. I even picked the right finals OSU vs. Florida. Oh well, next year...
The case competition took place all day Saturday. Basically they put you into a team with five other randomly chosen students from different B-Schools. I was on a team with students from Simon, Stern, Rice, Temple, and Iowa. We were provided the case at 8:30 am, had 15 minutes for questions, and then locked ourselves in a room for five hours to develop our marketing strategy. Unfortunately our strategy wasn't one of the top three winners, but apparently we were in the top five. I did win the beer pouring competition for our team though!
Aside from the competition, the weekend was great. I met a bunch of great people at different B-Schools, learned about exciting opportunities at Heineken, and spent two evenings enjoying the delightful Rochester garbage plate.
The best part of the weekend was finding out my bid results for DAS (Drop Add Swap) IV in our bidding system. I love taking risks and so my bidding style is to wait until the later rounds to get into good classes that typically sell for a lot of points, but sell for much less in the later rounds. I ended up adding "Strategy & Structure" with Matthew Bothner, "Negotiations" with Linda Ginzel, and "Corporate Finance" with Anir Sufi to go along with the New Venture Challenge. By the way, Bothner's Strategy & Structure class seems awesome (which is probably why it goes for 10,000 points). Prof Bothner is amazing and discussing Wal-mart and Apple this week was phenomenal. Essentially, Wal-mart created a competitive advantage when it was forced to adapt to pricing pressure and challenges created by suppliers in the retail industry. Essentially, in the early days the company was unable to get competitive pricing from manufacturers because the company wasn't big enough and wasn't selling enough volume per store. In response, Wal-mart decided to buy items in bulk and ship them to a central warehouse where they stored the items and shipped them to stores as they were needed. This allowed them to get decent pricing, which remained in line with their low-pricing strategy. Eventually they came to dominate small towns in the south (where other discount retailers didn't want to go) and then began to expand out from within.
Let's see, on Wednesday the GSB Wine Club hosted an event with Jack Cakebread, founder and owner of Cakebread Cellars. Jake was great and the wines we tasted were all excellent. Afterward a bunch of us walked over to Enology, a new wine bar on Michigan Ave next to the Chicago Tribune Tower. The bar was awesome and I met the wine director who showed me their wine cellar, which was full of some classic wines including three bottles of 1945 Chateau Latour that they just picked up at a wine auction. Afterward we took a cab over to Billy Goat Tavern and grabbed some hot dogs and burgers.
By the way...I am so pissed. I placed 4th out of 80 in the GSB Risk & Gaming Club NCAA bracket pool! Damn. The top three places won money. I even picked the right finals OSU vs. Florida. Oh well, next year...
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
First day back from spring break in St. Croix USVI and I'm already back into the grind with our first New Venture Challenge class from 6:00 - 9:00pm on Monday nights...but I'll get more into that later. Now for more interesting stuff...
St. Croix was awesome and a nice respite from both the weather and schedule back in Chicago. Here's a recap of our week events.
Monday
Took the Big Beard Renegade out to Buck Island accompanied by two dolphins the entire trip!
The Buck Island coral reef is amazing and according to National Geographic it's one of the top 10 places to snorkel in the world. The reef is so dense that there are just a few paths to get from the interior of the reef to the outside and the park management put in tiles on the ocean floor to guide swimmers in and out of the reef. While snorkeling we also saw 5 huge barracuda.
On the trip we met Lindsey and Steve who recommended Dashi restaurant on Company street for good sushi. Dashi was okay, the sushi rice was hard and practically unedable, but the flying fish tempura “Tabiko” was amazing and so was the Escolar. We enjoyed the escolar so much that we ordered an extra five pieces of Escolar sashimi.
Tuesday
We explored Christiansted some and stopped for lunch at “Luncheria” and outdoor taco stand on King street. The food is good and super cheap there. Two tacos are $3.00 and we enjoyed awesome $1.50 Margaritas, which introduced us to the foreign concept of the “stateside pour.” Apparently, on the island alcohol is cheaper than soda or mixers so you tipically get a drink with 75% rum and 25% mixer. I guess if you’re an alcholic, St. Croix is the wrong place to go for recovery! That evening we took our hostess at the Breakfast Club (where we were staying) out for dinner at Duggan's Reef Restaurant, which was recommended to us by Leslie and Sarah, two sisters we met at Luncheria who were locals on the island. We were craving lobster and ordered a 1.5lb lobster surf and turf with filet mignon - fantastic! After dinner we went out to Hotel on the Cay for drinks and to listen to some live Caribbean music. Hotel on the Cay is actually located on a Cay right off of Christiansted harbor and you have to take ferry ($3.00 round trip) out to). The place was absolutely packed and we could barely find a table to sit at. While hanging out we met Nicki and Floyd, the couple who owns Carrington's Inn, who were both really nice and invited us to hang out later on that week.
Wednesday
I booked two morning scuba dives. The first dive was at a point called Steve's Gentle Winds. We did a 60-70 foot dive to see some awesome coral. Due to Hurrican Hugo much of the more shallow coral (at Buck Island) was destroyed, but here the coral was still in tact and beautiful. Our second dive was a "Blue Shoot" where the island's only ship wreck is located. The dive was a bit shallower 45-60ft, but the visibility was amazing. The water was so clear it was looking into an aquarium! The ship wreck was alright and apparently there was a huge eel that lived around it (which some idiotic dive operators were luring out by feeding it), so our dive master was quick to warn us not to extend our fingers if we did encounter the eel. Unfortunately, the eel was no where to be found, but exploring the wreck was really cool.
That evening we had cocktails (white Sangria) at Savant and then headed over to Bacchus for dinner. On Wednesdays they have by one get one free bottles of wine, so we ordered a bottle of Pine Ridge Chardonnay and followed up with a Edmeads Zinfandel, which paired with my veal shank very well. Fortunately St. Croix law allows you to take your unfinished wine home, so we had a little left over for dinner the following night. For dessert we had the bread pudding - fabulous and highly recommended.
Thursday
We spent the day traversing the St. Croix rain forests, coast, and tide pools in a jeep with Tam Tam Tours. This is a ton of fun. Your driver took us four wheeling through the jungle and up to the mountain peaks where you can see the other Virgin Islands and almost all of St. Croix. We also hiked out to the tide pools, visited Canes Bay, and then went to the Domino Club where the beer drinking pigs are located. The woman who owns the club brews her own liquor (kind of like moonshine) but with honey. It's really potent stuff (alcohol wise), but delicious. I then bought a couple of O'Doul's beers (they won't feed the pigs regular beer because the last pig died of kidney failure). Here's a video of us feeding beer to the pigs...
Friday
We drove the island and went snorkeling at Canes Bay (where the famous "wall" is located). We didn't get to dive the wall, but we did do a lot of snorkeling and saw a huge sting ray and found an enormous puffer fish hiding in a cave. After snorkeling we enjoyed a drink out at the beach bar and then headed back to Christiansted. That night we had an awesome dinner at Savant Restaurant, and enjoyed a bottle of 2000 Joseph Phelps Le Mistral which we found at a small wine shop in Harrisburg, PA. Savant has a really cool patio in the back and we got a prime table. The food was fantastic and I had the mahi puff pastry stuffed with ricotta and taragon. If you're ever in St. Croix, I highly recommend visiting Savant, their wine list isn't the best (Bacchus is much better), but the food, service, and ambiance cannot be beat!
Saturday
Sadly we have to fly back to Chicago...
St. Croix was awesome and a nice respite from both the weather and schedule back in Chicago. Here's a recap of our week events.
Monday
Took the Big Beard Renegade out to Buck Island accompanied by two dolphins the entire trip!
The Buck Island coral reef is amazing and according to National Geographic it's one of the top 10 places to snorkel in the world. The reef is so dense that there are just a few paths to get from the interior of the reef to the outside and the park management put in tiles on the ocean floor to guide swimmers in and out of the reef. While snorkeling we also saw 5 huge barracuda.
On the trip we met Lindsey and Steve who recommended Dashi restaurant on Company street for good sushi. Dashi was okay, the sushi rice was hard and practically unedable, but the flying fish tempura “Tabiko” was amazing and so was the Escolar. We enjoyed the escolar so much that we ordered an extra five pieces of Escolar sashimi.
Tuesday
We explored Christiansted some and stopped for lunch at “Luncheria” and outdoor taco stand on King street. The food is good and super cheap there. Two tacos are $3.00 and we enjoyed awesome $1.50 Margaritas, which introduced us to the foreign concept of the “stateside pour.” Apparently, on the island alcohol is cheaper than soda or mixers so you tipically get a drink with 75% rum and 25% mixer. I guess if you’re an alcholic, St. Croix is the wrong place to go for recovery! That evening we took our hostess at the Breakfast Club (where we were staying) out for dinner at Duggan's Reef Restaurant, which was recommended to us by Leslie and Sarah, two sisters we met at Luncheria who were locals on the island. We were craving lobster and ordered a 1.5lb lobster surf and turf with filet mignon - fantastic! After dinner we went out to Hotel on the Cay for drinks and to listen to some live Caribbean music. Hotel on the Cay is actually located on a Cay right off of Christiansted harbor and you have to take ferry ($3.00 round trip) out to). The place was absolutely packed and we could barely find a table to sit at. While hanging out we met Nicki and Floyd, the couple who owns Carrington's Inn, who were both really nice and invited us to hang out later on that week.
Wednesday
I booked two morning scuba dives. The first dive was at a point called Steve's Gentle Winds. We did a 60-70 foot dive to see some awesome coral. Due to Hurrican Hugo much of the more shallow coral (at Buck Island) was destroyed, but here the coral was still in tact and beautiful. Our second dive was a "Blue Shoot" where the island's only ship wreck is located. The dive was a bit shallower 45-60ft, but the visibility was amazing. The water was so clear it was looking into an aquarium! The ship wreck was alright and apparently there was a huge eel that lived around it (which some idiotic dive operators were luring out by feeding it), so our dive master was quick to warn us not to extend our fingers if we did encounter the eel. Unfortunately, the eel was no where to be found, but exploring the wreck was really cool.
That evening we had cocktails (white Sangria) at Savant and then headed over to Bacchus for dinner. On Wednesdays they have by one get one free bottles of wine, so we ordered a bottle of Pine Ridge Chardonnay and followed up with a Edmeads Zinfandel, which paired with my veal shank very well. Fortunately St. Croix law allows you to take your unfinished wine home, so we had a little left over for dinner the following night. For dessert we had the bread pudding - fabulous and highly recommended.
Thursday
We spent the day traversing the St. Croix rain forests, coast, and tide pools in a jeep with Tam Tam Tours. This is a ton of fun. Your driver took us four wheeling through the jungle and up to the mountain peaks where you can see the other Virgin Islands and almost all of St. Croix. We also hiked out to the tide pools, visited Canes Bay, and then went to the Domino Club where the beer drinking pigs are located. The woman who owns the club brews her own liquor (kind of like moonshine) but with honey. It's really potent stuff (alcohol wise), but delicious. I then bought a couple of O'Doul's beers (they won't feed the pigs regular beer because the last pig died of kidney failure). Here's a video of us feeding beer to the pigs...
Friday
We drove the island and went snorkeling at Canes Bay (where the famous "wall" is located). We didn't get to dive the wall, but we did do a lot of snorkeling and saw a huge sting ray and found an enormous puffer fish hiding in a cave. After snorkeling we enjoyed a drink out at the beach bar and then headed back to Christiansted. That night we had an awesome dinner at Savant Restaurant, and enjoyed a bottle of 2000 Joseph Phelps Le Mistral which we found at a small wine shop in Harrisburg, PA. Savant has a really cool patio in the back and we got a prime table. The food was fantastic and I had the mahi puff pastry stuffed with ricotta and taragon. If you're ever in St. Croix, I highly recommend visiting Savant, their wine list isn't the best (Bacchus is much better), but the food, service, and ambiance cannot be beat!
Saturday
Sadly we have to fly back to Chicago...
Friday, March 16, 2007
I can't believe the winter quarter has already come to an end! It feels spectacular to just sit around watching march madness (Illinois vs. Virginia Tech)...BTW go Fighting Illini! Please don't break my bracket! I already guessed wrong on BC, Old Dominion, and Duke (still can't believe that one), but I don't think my chances of coming away with the $620 GSB pot are looking good right now. It is just the first round, and I have all my final four seeds still in play, but then again, so does everyone else.
Well, I'm glad to announce that internship recruiting has finally come to an end for me. Boy that was a brutal process, although I'm quite happy with my results. I received five offers and ended up having to choose between Apple, P&G, and United Airlines. All great companies, and it was a very difficult decision, but I'll be going to United Airlines for the summer. It's nice because they're located in Chicago, I really liked everyone I met during my interviews, and the benefits are...should I say AWESOME? I can't wait to spend my weekends laying on the beach in Sao Paulo or Santiago...the options seem limitless.
Speaking of which my fiance and I are headed to St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands) for spring break. We leave tomorrow flying first class through Charlotte, and there's a huge noreaster coming through Pennsylvania right now, which I hope doesn't impact our flight tomorrow.
Let's see the classes during winter quarter have all been good, with the exception of investments, which was both difficult (I still confuse myself with bond duration and convexity problems), and recruiting took a lot of time away from studying. My favorite class this quarter was Harry Davis's Business Policy class. I can sum up how awesome this class in one sentence: During week seven, Prof Davis opened class with a Jazz trio (alto sax, upright bass, and drums) playing for 10 min!! We spent the next hour and a half discussing the origins and process of creativity and how to foster creativity in organizations. The subject matter might seem nebulous to some, but I took away so much from that class. Putting structure to creativity seems like a futile task, but I feel like I have a much better grasp of the subject than I ever have. Thinking about creativity from the standpoint that to be creative you need to have 1) A thinking person, 2) An instrument that provides and "encounter," for that creative energy, and 3) Constraints or limitations that help focus your thought. What truly drives creativity is the intensity of thought, which brings about an encounter (possibly the instrument), and then leads to the generation of new ideas.
The example that I took away from that class was of Warren Buffett. Apparently, Buffett didn't come up with most of his best ideas and insights until he had been working under Benjamin Graham and later on his own for a number of years. Only after 10 years did Buffett realize that there were assets a company owned, but were not included its balance sheet. These assets were "intangible" in the sense that they involved brand equity, which is worth a great deal, but was considered difficult to value at the time, and hence was not kept on the balance sheet. Companies like Disney (at the time) had a valuable brand and also had many popular characters (like Mickey Mouse, Daffy Duck, etc.) and numerous movies that would generate tons of future revenue because people adored these characters; so much so that they had been woven into the fabric of American pop culture. Obviously, Disney's brand and cartoon characters held significant value, but were not captured on its balance sheet - an extremely undervalued investment!
Probably the best thing that I took away from the quarter was being selected as a GSB Wine Club Co-Chair. The GSB Wine Club is HUGE (biggest on campus) and there is a ton of interest in the club at school, so I'm really excited about working on events and functions for the club over the next year or so. This was the only club I really wanted to be a student leader in. For the final selection dinner I brought a bottle of 2000 Los Vascos "Le Dix," which was absolutely phenomenal and blew us away, best wine at the dinner by far!
Well, I'm glad to announce that internship recruiting has finally come to an end for me. Boy that was a brutal process, although I'm quite happy with my results. I received five offers and ended up having to choose between Apple, P&G, and United Airlines. All great companies, and it was a very difficult decision, but I'll be going to United Airlines for the summer. It's nice because they're located in Chicago, I really liked everyone I met during my interviews, and the benefits are...should I say AWESOME? I can't wait to spend my weekends laying on the beach in Sao Paulo or Santiago...the options seem limitless.
Speaking of which my fiance and I are headed to St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands) for spring break. We leave tomorrow flying first class through Charlotte, and there's a huge noreaster coming through Pennsylvania right now, which I hope doesn't impact our flight tomorrow.
Let's see the classes during winter quarter have all been good, with the exception of investments, which was both difficult (I still confuse myself with bond duration and convexity problems), and recruiting took a lot of time away from studying. My favorite class this quarter was Harry Davis's Business Policy class. I can sum up how awesome this class in one sentence: During week seven, Prof Davis opened class with a Jazz trio (alto sax, upright bass, and drums) playing for 10 min!! We spent the next hour and a half discussing the origins and process of creativity and how to foster creativity in organizations. The subject matter might seem nebulous to some, but I took away so much from that class. Putting structure to creativity seems like a futile task, but I feel like I have a much better grasp of the subject than I ever have. Thinking about creativity from the standpoint that to be creative you need to have 1) A thinking person, 2) An instrument that provides and "encounter," for that creative energy, and 3) Constraints or limitations that help focus your thought. What truly drives creativity is the intensity of thought, which brings about an encounter (possibly the instrument), and then leads to the generation of new ideas.
The example that I took away from that class was of Warren Buffett. Apparently, Buffett didn't come up with most of his best ideas and insights until he had been working under Benjamin Graham and later on his own for a number of years. Only after 10 years did Buffett realize that there were assets a company owned, but were not included its balance sheet. These assets were "intangible" in the sense that they involved brand equity, which is worth a great deal, but was considered difficult to value at the time, and hence was not kept on the balance sheet. Companies like Disney (at the time) had a valuable brand and also had many popular characters (like Mickey Mouse, Daffy Duck, etc.) and numerous movies that would generate tons of future revenue because people adored these characters; so much so that they had been woven into the fabric of American pop culture. Obviously, Disney's brand and cartoon characters held significant value, but were not captured on its balance sheet - an extremely undervalued investment!
Probably the best thing that I took away from the quarter was being selected as a GSB Wine Club Co-Chair. The GSB Wine Club is HUGE (biggest on campus) and there is a ton of interest in the club at school, so I'm really excited about working on events and functions for the club over the next year or so. This was the only club I really wanted to be a student leader in. For the final selection dinner I brought a bottle of 2000 Los Vascos "Le Dix," which was absolutely phenomenal and blew us away, best wine at the dinner by far!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
I'm now about 50 pages into my latest assignment for Business Policy class. This week we have to read David Halberstam's "The Best and The Brightest," which I've enjoyed so far, but I have no idea how I'm going to finish this 600+ page book in two days. Prof Davis actually recommended we read the book in a single sitting. Now that is funny.
Speaking of funny...I just finished indulging in the last of my NFL playoff feast by watching the New England Patriots defeat the San Diego Chargers to advance to the AFC Championship game. The Chargers actually led for the most of the game, and one clutch play by Troy Brown to force a fumble after Brady was intercepted for the third time allowed the Pats to tie the game and then go on to win 24-21. The funny part came toward the end when Nate Kaeding missed a 54 yard field goal and the Patriots players started dancing in the middle of the field imitating Shawn Merriman's ridiculous dance he does after getting a sack. After the game LaDainian Tomlinson got pissed and attempted to start a scuffle with Ellis Hobbs on the sideline. Maybe now that he's tired of loosing, he'll score even more worthless touchdowns next year!
According to ESPN:
Tomlinson said he was upset that some Patriots were dancing on the Chargers logo at midfield after they had silenced the record crowd of 68,810 at Qualcomm Stadium and wrecked the Chargers' season.
"I would never react in that way. I was very upset," Tomlinson said. "When you go to the middle of our field and start doing the dance Shawne Merriman is
known for, that is disrespectful. They showed no class and maybe that comes from the head coach."
Merriman did a spasmodic dance to celebrate each of his NFL-high 17 sacks.
Anyway, I love how Tomlinson says the players intentionally did the dance on the Charger's logo, they were in the middle of the field after the play! And what team wouldn't celebrate after winning such an important game?
I can't wait until the press starts hyping up the Peyton Manning vs. Belichick & Brady match up. Just another opportunity for Peyton and Tony Dungy to choke like they always do in a crucial Playoff game! This one might be the funniest yet.
So let's see...this weekend was fun, that is...after I had a day from hell on Friday. The entire day was consumed with a Management Consulting Group workshop followed by more case practice and then Prof Frazinni's Investments class from 6-9pm. It's always nice to end your day talking about arbitrage opportunities in the bond market. I guess one the nice aspects of the Chicago GSB program is the flexibility it allows, namely being able to attend different sections of a course if it is more convenient. But there's something wrong when I'm finding that the most convenient time on my schedule is 6-9pm on Friday night!
On Saturday we celebrated Lori's birthday at Tank Sushi in Lincoln Park. The sushi was awesome and a couple bottles of sake made it even better. Our group of 14 had a fun time (besides a problem with our $600 check at the end), and my only complaint would be that the prices are on the high side (I guess you're also paying for this hip ambiance and fashionable crowd), but being an MBA student I took notice of their half-price sushi special from 4-6pm every day, which I will certainly add to my dining agenda. Afterward half of the group went home and the soldiers headed to Wrightwood Tap and enjoyed the rest of the evening over beer interspersed with rounds of Washington Apple shots. Of course we ended the night with our customary burritos at La Bamba.
Speaking of funny...I just finished indulging in the last of my NFL playoff feast by watching the New England Patriots defeat the San Diego Chargers to advance to the AFC Championship game. The Chargers actually led for the most of the game, and one clutch play by Troy Brown to force a fumble after Brady was intercepted for the third time allowed the Pats to tie the game and then go on to win 24-21. The funny part came toward the end when Nate Kaeding missed a 54 yard field goal and the Patriots players started dancing in the middle of the field imitating Shawn Merriman's ridiculous dance he does after getting a sack. After the game LaDainian Tomlinson got pissed and attempted to start a scuffle with Ellis Hobbs on the sideline. Maybe now that he's tired of loosing, he'll score even more worthless touchdowns next year!
According to ESPN:
Tomlinson said he was upset that some Patriots were dancing on the Chargers logo at midfield after they had silenced the record crowd of 68,810 at Qualcomm Stadium and wrecked the Chargers' season.
"I would never react in that way. I was very upset," Tomlinson said. "When you go to the middle of our field and start doing the dance Shawne Merriman is
known for, that is disrespectful. They showed no class and maybe that comes from the head coach."
Merriman did a spasmodic dance to celebrate each of his NFL-high 17 sacks.
Anyway, I love how Tomlinson says the players intentionally did the dance on the Charger's logo, they were in the middle of the field after the play! And what team wouldn't celebrate after winning such an important game?
I can't wait until the press starts hyping up the Peyton Manning vs. Belichick & Brady match up. Just another opportunity for Peyton and Tony Dungy to choke like they always do in a crucial Playoff game! This one might be the funniest yet.
So let's see...this weekend was fun, that is...after I had a day from hell on Friday. The entire day was consumed with a Management Consulting Group workshop followed by more case practice and then Prof Frazinni's Investments class from 6-9pm. It's always nice to end your day talking about arbitrage opportunities in the bond market. I guess one the nice aspects of the Chicago GSB program is the flexibility it allows, namely being able to attend different sections of a course if it is more convenient. But there's something wrong when I'm finding that the most convenient time on my schedule is 6-9pm on Friday night!
On Saturday we celebrated Lori's birthday at Tank Sushi in Lincoln Park. The sushi was awesome and a couple bottles of sake made it even better. Our group of 14 had a fun time (besides a problem with our $600 check at the end), and my only complaint would be that the prices are on the high side (I guess you're also paying for this hip ambiance and fashionable crowd), but being an MBA student I took notice of their half-price sushi special from 4-6pm every day, which I will certainly add to my dining agenda. Afterward half of the group went home and the soldiers headed to Wrightwood Tap and enjoyed the rest of the evening over beer interspersed with rounds of Washington Apple shots. Of course we ended the night with our customary burritos at La Bamba.
Despite the fact that I have no leisure time whatsoever taking four classes, being cohort president, and currently in the midst of corporate recruiting, I’ve decided to stop putting off one of my goals and start this MBA blog. The added bonus....it seems I'm the first Class of 2008 Chicago GSB blogger on the League of MBA Bloggers website!
So where should I start? I guess with a funny story…So I’m sitting in the Apple corporate presentation last night and the recruiter is talking about the future of iPods, digital music, the powerbook line, and all of the coolest products in the universe when he opens the floor up for questions. So my buddy (a really awesome guy I met on our random walk trip) raises his hand and asks “So, does Dell…?” and the entire classroom erupts in laughter…I myself was rolling on the floor laughing. The recruiter from Apple was a good sport and just shrugged it off. But man that was funny as hell.
Speaking of good laughs… I recently got tired of the generic ring tones on my Motorola RAZR cell phone and decided to download a new one. After trudging through all the generic crap Cingular offers, I finally found a cool ring tone. Get this...The Dukes of Hazard Theme song! I mean, is there anything cooler?? Anyway, I was in a lunch and learn today where a consulting firm was presenting the challenges of selling music through a traditional medium (CDs) when digital downloads are becoming so popular when all of a sudden I hear “Just the good ole boys…" I was horrifed! x All of a sudden the entire classroom (including the presenter) is staring in my direction as I’m frantically digging in my pocket to turn this evil device (but awesome ring tone) off. I did succeed, but not until the song was halfway done and my face crimson.
An insight I’d like to include before signing off on today. So I was lucky enough to get into Prof McGill’s Marketing Strategy class, which by the way is amazing and worth every point I spent bidding on it. On Tuesday we discussed the HBS Colgate-Palmolive case study about the toothbrush market (fascinating stuff I know), and a good question came up. A student asks “Why would you expect a person to only buy Colgate toothbrushes when I never buy the same kind of toothbrush myself? Now, this would seem like a good question, but the always-insightful Anne McGill replies, “well you’re in your 20’s, you change your mind a lot. Just wait until you’re 30 and look at the clothes you wearing. That’s your style. Twenty years later, when you’re 50 you’ll be wearing the exact same style. You’re locked in. Locked in at 30.” Her words might seem sad, maybe even tragic, but I think there’s some truth to them. But God I hope I’m not the poor schmuck who’s wearing tapered acid wash jeans, a weave belt, and polo shirt to a cocktail party when I’m 50.
By the way, we're in the midst of filming our cohort film, which is coming along great. I acted in one of the scenes tonight, which amazingly was really fun. Well maybe it was so fun because the Friday LPF (Liquidity Preference Function) was going on tonight and I would not have been such a good actor had I not downed four beers before starting. Maybe hollywood is in my future after all!
So where should I start? I guess with a funny story…So I’m sitting in the Apple corporate presentation last night and the recruiter is talking about the future of iPods, digital music, the powerbook line, and all of the coolest products in the universe when he opens the floor up for questions. So my buddy (a really awesome guy I met on our random walk trip) raises his hand and asks “So, does Dell…?” and the entire classroom erupts in laughter…I myself was rolling on the floor laughing. The recruiter from Apple was a good sport and just shrugged it off. But man that was funny as hell.
Speaking of good laughs… I recently got tired of the generic ring tones on my Motorola RAZR cell phone and decided to download a new one. After trudging through all the generic crap Cingular offers, I finally found a cool ring tone. Get this...The Dukes of Hazard Theme song! I mean, is there anything cooler?? Anyway, I was in a lunch and learn today where a consulting firm was presenting the challenges of selling music through a traditional medium (CDs) when digital downloads are becoming so popular when all of a sudden I hear “Just the good ole boys…" I was horrifed! x All of a sudden the entire classroom (including the presenter) is staring in my direction as I’m frantically digging in my pocket to turn this evil device (but awesome ring tone) off. I did succeed, but not until the song was halfway done and my face crimson.
An insight I’d like to include before signing off on today. So I was lucky enough to get into Prof McGill’s Marketing Strategy class, which by the way is amazing and worth every point I spent bidding on it. On Tuesday we discussed the HBS Colgate-Palmolive case study about the toothbrush market (fascinating stuff I know), and a good question came up. A student asks “Why would you expect a person to only buy Colgate toothbrushes when I never buy the same kind of toothbrush myself? Now, this would seem like a good question, but the always-insightful Anne McGill replies, “well you’re in your 20’s, you change your mind a lot. Just wait until you’re 30 and look at the clothes you wearing. That’s your style. Twenty years later, when you’re 50 you’ll be wearing the exact same style. You’re locked in. Locked in at 30.” Her words might seem sad, maybe even tragic, but I think there’s some truth to them. But God I hope I’m not the poor schmuck who’s wearing tapered acid wash jeans, a weave belt, and polo shirt to a cocktail party when I’m 50.
By the way, we're in the midst of filming our cohort film, which is coming along great. I acted in one of the scenes tonight, which amazingly was really fun. Well maybe it was so fun because the Friday LPF (Liquidity Preference Function) was going on tonight and I would not have been such a good actor had I not downed four beers before starting. Maybe hollywood is in my future after all!
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