Starting up success – Nick’s story

Jordan Fujiwara — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:31:36 -0600

It’s September now, the last corporate residencies are winding down as both the second year and first year MBA students here at Dalhousie get ready to tackle the fall semester. Nick Ksiezopolski finishes up his residency with Innovacorp tomorrow. Originally from Toronto, Nick received a Bachelor of Science and Business from Murray State University (Kentucky). What brought him to the East Coast of Canada to further his business pursuits?

“I think that for most of my life I’ve been taking the riskier choice,” he explains. "The ‘non–status quo’ choice. I bought in to this program because it was new and unproven. Also the paid corporate residency fit well and it appealed to aspects of my entrepreneurial background.” Nick is certainly taking advantage of the flexibility in the last eight months of the program and shaping them to suit his entrepreneurial appetite. He is doing a self-directed course with Innovacorp (supervised by Scott Comber, the MBA program’s Director) and will be exploring the minimum viable product strategy. “The concept is that of a ‘lean’ start-up. Basically, you validate the ‘pain’ in an industry before actually developing the product,” says Nick. “I’m taking the New Venture Creation class too, and plan to implement my findings. Ideally, at the end of this I’d like to be able to execute my business plan and launch my product.” So yeah, he’s pretty much planning to build a business while in school. And get school credit for it. No big deal. Nick’s future aspirations? Venture capital.

So, coming back to Nick’s residency: what did he do at Innovacorp? Nicks starts by going over what Innovacorp does: “We work with early stage, high growth potential start-up companies and help them commercialize their technology. There’s the Mentoring Team, which acts sort of like the client’s ‘advisory board’ and helps them navigate the ‘start-up valley of death’. There’s the Investment Team, which is kind of like Dragon’s Den where we hear a pitch, ask questions and push back, do an assessment after and decide whether or not to invest.” Nick was a Business Advisor for both the Mentoring Team and the Investment Team, but he also got to take part in other aspects of the business such as the Incubation facilities (physical buildings where the clients work and meet) and Internal Corporate Strategy.

His job often involved due diligence (e.g. confirming the facts presented in an investment pitch), but he has also tackled other tasks, including helping with the company’s business plan and facilitating a very successful brainstorming meeting. He used some techniques we learned in the first months of the Corporate Residency MBA: as part of our Personal & Professional Development (PPE) stream, we took part in an assessment called ‘OneSmartWorld.’ You answer some questions and it breaks your management style into colour-coded groups and you learn about how they all interact. Under the umbrella of OneSmartWorld lies something called Smarter Meetings, which uses the same colours and concepts to help design effective meetings. Nick tells us how he brought this classroom lesson into the real world with enormous success: “I helped hold a cross-functional meeting that was very inefficient and lacked a true sense of direction. We got nothing done, there was confusion over who was quarter-backing the deliverables and what the plan was moving forward, and I was very frustrated with it. Then I remembered the Smarter Meetings from class. So I got in touch with the founder, Bob Wiele. He was very receptive and helpful and within 48 hours I had built and organized a meeting agenda around the Smarter Meeting process. I facilitated the meeting and it was a resounding success. We got more done in those 80 minutes than I could ever have imagined.” Nick’s CEO wasn’t scheduled to attend the meeting, but as word spread around the office, he made time to drop in for 15 minutes to get a flavour of the Smarter Meetings process. It was such an engaging experience that the CEO stayed the entire time! “It was a huge success, and I still get compliments to this day on it.”

That is very impressive Nick. No other way to describe it. I’ll give everyone a minute to absorb how awesome that is.

Done? Okay. Nick’s other adventures during these initial 14 months of the Corporate Residency MBA include managing a Tennis Camp, co-owning the student consulting firm Atlantic Business Consultants and being on the MBA Society as the Athletic Director. “Intramurals start soon!” is the bulletin for the 80-odd students (hopefully) reading this.

In closing, Nick wants to stress the importance of keeping this MBA program special: “It’s crucial that we don’t let this program be just for getting those three letters after your name. The first class has done a great job so far embracing the flexibility of the program and showing what we can do with it. We’ve pushed the rock partway up a steep hill, but it is so easy for that rock to come crashing down. The next class needs to continue to push that rock further and higher up the hill.”

Great point, Nick. As usual, I totally agree. See everybody next Thursday, which marks the beginning of classes!

Career path serendipity – Joanne’s story

Jordan Fujiwara — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:56:07 -0600

Joanne Yeung counts herself as pretty lucky. Her corporate residency experience started off a little stressful but has ended up being a life-changing experience. She has unexpectedly found a wonderful career fit and is very well positioned to seamlessly shift gears into the working world immediately upon graduation. It’s a great story! Read on...

Joanne is originally from Toronto. She received a BSc from York and a Master’s of Science from Waterloo, both in Chemistry. With that background, when she shifted into business with the Corporate Residency MBA her thoughts were on the big pharmaceutical companies. In September 2009, we had the first round of interviews with companies for our residencies. There was going to be at least one pharmaceutical firm there, but unfortunately they had to back out.

So began the task of finding a placement with the help of Management Career Services. “It was very stressful,” she remembers, “especially with five or six courses piled on top. But I gained a lot from job hunting too. For example, I had never cold-called before and I definitely improved my networking skills through the process.” During this time, Joanne sought the help of another JoAnne: “I have to say thanks to JoAnne Akerboom especially. I went to see her every Friday and bugged the hell out of her... she was very encouraging and supportive. Knowing she was there to help was very comforting.” JoAnne Akerboom is the Executive Director of External Affairs for the Faculty of Management and is involved with a lot of the marketing for our new program here. This just goes to show how involved our staff is!

Although Joanne didn’t end up working with a pharmaceutical company, she landed a position with Environment Canada, stationed in Gatineau, Quebec, as a Junior Policy Analyst. “I’m on a planning team that works on the renegotiations of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. There are different issue groups and ours deals with chemicals. My main focus is on stakeholder engagement and analysis of comments received in relation to the Canadian/Binational [USA and Canada] position. Through my experience, I have gained vast knowledge about environmental protection policy as well as regulatory management.”

You can see how Joanne's chemistry background might come in handy here... but she certainly didn’t expect to end up working for the government at the start of her MBA! However, through the experience with Environment Canada, she has found her niche: “participating in the renegotiation has definitely been an eye-opening experience! In addition, the fostering of support and the work-life balance has definitely aligned well with my personal values. Knowing that I am part of an elite team of public servants who are dedicated to providing Canadians a better future definitely confirms my career aspiration in the federal government.” Joanne notes how each seemingly disconnected point along her so-called career path has played its part: “I started with the science degrees; if not for those I wouldn’t have gotten this position. But if not for the MBA, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity of working here.” Even though her residency is over, she has arranged to continue to work part time at the Dartmouth Regional office. She’ll be in a totally new field (no Great Lakes out here), and is very excited to get started. Her work in Quebec involved connecting with a lot of people in Toronto, and with the government’s vast breadth of different positions and fields (and the relative ease of being able to shift from one to the other) she can breathe easy when it comes to figuring out what to do after graduation.

See? Pretty sweet story, huh? Joanne’s message to the new and future classes: “One thing I want to say is: if you don’t get a job right out of the first round, don’t be discouraged. The staff is very helpful and they have lots of connections. Take it has a challenge and see it as a learning opportunity. Your hard work will pay off at the end.”

I can certainly relate to that one, Joanne. We’ll be back next week, see you then!

International acclaim – Matilde’s story

Jordan Fujiwara — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:54:37 -0600

Let’s jump right into this one, because there’s a lot to cover! Matilde de Antueno is coming to the end of her exciting residency as a Global Internal Auditor for McCain Foods Limited. She grew up in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, but still has a deep connection with her birthplace’s culture (La Plata, Argentina). She speaks fluent Spanish and English and received a BSc Major in Biology, Minor in Business from Dalhousie.

“I’m very interested in the concept of international business,” she says. Well, as a Global Internal Auditor for McCain, she definitely got the right kind of exposure for that career aspiration! “The most exciting thing for me during this residency was, without a doubt, getting to travel to various locations. Mainly Mexico and Colombia, though I spent a lot of time in Florenceville, New Brunswick, as well (which is where McCain was founded). You can’t handle situations in different countries like you would in Canada, you’ve got to pick up on cultural clues. I got to apply some of what we learned in class; for example, in Managing People we learned about managing other cultures and in Global Business we did some international situation simulations.”

Apart from the travelling, her work is also pretty interesting. Check it out: “So there’s a difference between an external auditor (like PwC or Deloitte) and an internal one. We [internal] don’t necessarily look just at the financial statements. You look at all the processes of the company. You will start with the farmers and the potatoes, all the way up to, say, HR and how they deal with hiring. So, for example, in Colombia, we’d look at the contracts with the farmers and make sure they are following the right protocol and health and safety standards. Then when we go to the Sales office we have to make sure that the people buying and selling the potatoes and products are doing so in an ethical way. Basically, you go in and ask a variety of questions, you go through the steps and see if any issues arise. It is a great experience as I get to see all the different areas of the company.”

Matilde’s exceptional exposure to different parts of McCain’s global operations allowed her to see the same company through the lenses of different cultures. She found it interesting to see how a company’s culture could be expressed in so many places. “McCain prides itself on being a family-owned business,” she explains. "Everywhere I went it still sort of had that same feel.” In Canada, Matilde experienced this attitude when she was able to have lunch with the CEO and President of McCain Foods Limited. “It was a great opportunity! I asked him: ‘What does it take to be successful? Hard work? Or finding the right opportunities?’ He said: ‘Both, but there are no wrong decisions.’ What I took away from that was: ‘Don’t regret making one decision over the other – you learn something from everything you do.’ I’ve heard that kind of stuff from my parents before, but I really took it to heart this time after hearing it from someone in such a successful position!”

I can’t think of too many scenarios where Matilde could have had a better experience on her residency, especially considering her interest in international business. She is, unsurprisingly, quite happy with the opportunity that the Corporate Residency MBA has afforded her: “Being able to have these eight months, to be a real part of the company, means I’m not like every other co-op student. Without a doubt, the corporate residency was the most attractive part of this program for me because I lacked a lot of business work experience and I definitely needed something that would give me a little advantage.”

Coming into the final, eight-month academic portion of the program, Matilde is continuing her focus on international business. She is the Internal Vice President for the freshly revitalized Dalhousie International Business Society. “The contacts that I made at McCain have allowed me to already line up speakers that are willing to come to Dal to talk about their experiences with international business and how they got to where they are. The Society is a great way to stay involved in the student community and be a part of something that I am interested in!”

In parting, Matilde has a message for the new class: “Don’t be scared and take every opportunity that comes along. There is NO wrong decision, you just gotta GO for something – and then you can figure out if you do or do not like it. I love being in the program. I know I made the right choice and I am so excited for the future and to be at this stage in my life!”

Tremendous! I’m excited to see everyone lining themselves up for success. And you’re excited to come back next Thursday for another awesome story! Learn more about the Corporate Residency MBA at: http://dalmba.ca

Always an adventure... – Andrew's story

Jordan Fujiwara — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:07:58 -0600

Andrew Konesky is one of those people who can be described as a “character,” in a good way. He has a deliberate way of going about things and never fails to educate me on some aspect of the world on a fairly consistent basis. Perhaps this is due to his breadth of worldly experience. In the years before coming into the program, Andrew has sold cars, real estate and computers, he has lived in Calgary, India and Norway, worked in marketing, the oil and gas industry and probably 700 other things I’ve yet to discover. He is originally from Halifax and began his undergrad taking Electrical Engineering at Saint Mary’s University. After two years of school, he dropped out and moved overseas for a couple of years before finally returning and earning a BSc from the same school. From there he spent five years working in various remote locations, seeking his fortune in oil and gas before making the move to come back to school for round three.

“For me, the program means something a little different coming in as a mature student. The program is marketed towards younger, fresh-out-of-undergrad students,” Andrew says. He recalls the past: “I had outgrown my organization and there were considerable health risks traveling overseas for work (I was getting sick a lot). To make matters worse, I wasn’t challenged anymore; what I was doing wasn’t conducive to learning, there’s a ceiling... so I decided to make a change.”

So how has the experience been so far? “I enjoy the fact that Dal took the books and threw them out the window. They started with a clean slate when building this program and I love that they engaged employers during its creation to learn exactly what employers wanted. With significant portions of the program dedicated to Personal and Professional Effectiveness, soft skill development and ethical leadership, I believe this is the beginning of the new MBA.”

Andrew feels that Dalhousie “has tuned in to what employers are looking for.” He was able to take part in two ‘fishbowl’ sessions, which are organized conversations where participants representing various stakeholders sit in a circle and take turns contributing in order to generate new ideas. During these sessions, it became clear that the message employers were sending was received loud and clear by the school. “I’m proud to be a part of the inaugural year where we are contributing to the development of the program.”

For his residency, Andrew works for Emera Energy, which primarily deals with the procurement and transmission of physical commodities (i.e. the trade of natural gas and power). “We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emera, which is a utility company,” explains Andrew. "We are the unregulated branch [of Emera] with a staff of about 35 people. My role as a Gas Scheduler is to ensure that physical natural gas is transported from Point A to Point B. Whether that means moving it from the hub where we bought it to where it is being sold, or moving it to a plant for consumption, the gas never stops moving. Gas is most often used to generate electricity at one of the power plants we manage.”

This year, Andrew is also the Social Rep on the MBA Society (the official title might be something like Director of School Culture or something? I forget, so does he). He has this message for all current students: “Please let me know if there’s any event you would like to see planned. I’ll try my best to put them together for you!”

To new and prospective students, Andrew recalls something he heard in one of the fishbowl sessions: “When asked about when to begin thinking about interviews, Bruce Smith [Senior Manager of Staffing & Planning at Scotiabank] said: ‘Your interview started the minute you showed up to school on the first day.’ No truer words have been spoken.”

And finally, to echo similar statements by his peers in our Corporate Residency MBA, Andrew says: “Take advantage of every opportunity that’s presented to you by this program (and there will be plenty of them). You’ll get out of this what you put into it. Network as much as possible and go to every social event (if for nothing else but the free drinks!)”

Solid advice, my friend. See everybody next Thursday!

Support in a balancing act – Randel’s story

Jordan Fujiwara — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:00:27 -0600

Today we’re going to hear Randel Madell’s story. She is my partner in crime as she owns half of Coburg Consultants Limited. However, she works for Coburg part-time while tackling a full-time corporate residency (she’s not crazy, just ambitious). Originally from Calgary, with a BA in Economics and English from St. Mary’s University College (not to be confused with the Saint Mary’s in Halifax; this school is in Calgary), Randel was unsure of her career direction, but totally sure that she wanted an MBA on the east or west coast. The ocean called.

A year before officially signing up for the program, she came to Halifax to check it out and spoke with Rick Nason, who now teaches finance in the Corporate Residency MBA. He noted that the program was well suited to those who weren’t entirely sure what they would be doing with an MBA (i.e. Randel). Fast forward to today, and Randel couldn’t be happier with the choice she made: “I just want to emphasize the opportunities I’ve had with the program: business competitions, the huge number of interviews and networking sessions, being part of the MBA Society, owning Coburg... and we’re only halfway through.”

She was particularly fond of the some of the business competitions, such as the Scotiabank Stock Challenge held at Saint Mary’s University last year: “They set up 10 companies and a live trading floor. In between ten three-minute rounds they gave you a news release and you had a minute to figure out how the companies’ stock would be affected. Then the round started and you had three minutes to buy or sell. Our team won first place in that and also placed second in the Sobeys Live Case Competition.” Randel is definitely looking to get involved in more of these business competitions in the fall/winter and is even looking to set up a course credit that integrates them.

She tells a familiar tale of the camaraderie of the program: “No one’s a number,” she says, “One of the biggest things I’ve been impressed with is the support network. Not just from the students, but from the MBA office as well. I was diagnosed with lupus early in the work term and everyone has been nothing but supportive and have been helping me figure out ways to manage it. Another great example is that I moved recently within the city and essentially all of my moving was done by fellow MBAs from both 2011 and 2012 classes.”

Randel’s full-time position is with Cushman & Wakefield Atlantic as a Research Coordinator. C&W is the largest global real estate solutions company in the world. “Basically I keep track of every square foot of commercial space in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,” she explains. “I also write quarterly reports for these regions that involve the inventory, market shift, forecasting and economic outlook for the region. These are written for every segment (retail, industrial, office) of the market in both provinces, and then published globally through the company website.”

She fondly recalls the experience of a particular company conference in PEI: “It was quite intimate: The Canadian president & CEO of Cushman & Wakefield was there for a few days and I got to have some great discussions with him as well as members of all our Atlantic Canadian offices.” Randel bunked up with classmate Alex Mulkewytch, who is also doing her residency with C&W in the same position as Randel but based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. “Other networking within the company has been incredible too. I have worked on deals with, spoken to or met in person someone from every major office in Canada, and it has opened several doors for the future.”

“I think if anyone’s interested in commercial real estate, it’s a big industry and hard to be able to learn about it, but this job gives you a great introduction.” Currently, Randel is exploring the possibility of going to work with C&W after she graduates next year! Clearly, they like her. Great job, Randel!

Also, Randel is this year’s Director of Career Services and Alumni Relations on the MBA Society. “My biggest job is acting as the liaison between the students and Management Career Services. I’m the channel to use if the new class has any concerns (especially anonymous ones) about the residencies or the hiring process.” Her final piece of advice for today: “Be open minded. Just... the amount of incredible opportunities that are going to be put in front of you... if you keep an open mind you will get an amazing residency.”

As a real-life example of someone who’s doing something a little different for his residency, I’m a big supporter of that message, Randel. We’ve been called the “tailor-made MBA” for a reason. See you next week!