Catching up...

So much has happened since last post -- the Net Impact Conference in Nashville, Jeff Immelt's visit to campus, the results of the Base of the Pyramid learning lab writing contest, choosing an immersion, and the beginning of my role as co-editor-in-chief of the Cornell Business Journal -- I don't know where to start.

Perhaps the most recent first: Last night, I put in my bid for my top choice immersion: Sustainable Global Enterprise. For those who don't know, the Johnson School is one of the up-and-comers in the B-School trend toward sustainability and teaching how to apply principles of social and environmental stewardship in the business world. The school has a Base of the Pyramid (BoP) Learning Lab (which refers to the base of the economic pyramid, aka the several billion of the world's poor that live on about a dollar a day) and is also home to the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, chaired by Professor Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads.

I came to the Johnson School for this immersion and the chance to study under professor Hart. Unfortunately, he is on sabbatical this year, so he'll only be teaching portions of the immersion curriculum. The rest will fall on the capable hands of Professor Mark Milstein. In Hart's absence, and through a bit of refocusing on my part, I will probably yet opt out of SGE in favor of a customized immersion. I'll still plan to take Milstein's class, but I'll couple that with finance, accounting, HR, Organizational Development, and the last two classes of the core, with an eye toward balancing out my skillset and further drilling down into the best functional areas for me.

I love working with people and helping effect change in organizations, so that's why the focus toward HR and OD.

...which leads me to GE (I hope). Last night, the Johnson School was fortunate to host a great number of folks from all different parts of the that company. Of particular interest to me were the HR managers and the growing cadre of individuals working in the Renewable Energy Leadership Program, which is a rotational program geared towards training the next crop of leaders in the field of wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies. The people that I've met in both of these areas, which include mostly Johnson School alums, have been really impressive, but also down-to-earth and cool.

Let me preface this obvious affinity for GE by stating that I am not a big company kind of guy. Of course, I did write for BusinessWeek, which is owned by McGraw-Hill, but even that felt more like a small company to me. No one in my family has ever worked for a large company, my father sometimes says. But in coming to business school and getting a look at what some of the corporate goliaths do, and how they handle themselves in the world, I have gained a lot of respect for companies like GE. Not only do they hire the best people, but they aren't afraid to get into areas like renewables, which is admittedly still controversial in the eyes of both political extremes. And they've got the resources to back it up, which means you can be on the forefront of change there.

Which leads me to Immelt. "Now this is a professional." That's what I was thinking the entire time the man was on stage last night. He had Carl Quintanilla from CNBC moderating a panel discussion, which was simulcast to another five business schools around the country. And boy did he have us transfixed. He mixed humor with advice with optimism with hard business empiricism; someone aptly compared him to Bill Clinton, in his manner, his intellectual sharpness, and his control of the crowd. It was a great experience to hear him speak.

What's next on my list? Oh yeah -- some great news from yesterday on a personal note. Months ago, I entered a writing contest sponsored by the afforementioned BoP Learning Lab. Yesterday I found out I took third place and a $500 prize for my efforts. I had told my wife when I entered that, should I win, she'd be the beneficiary of a stay at an area bed and breakfast. I'm ecstatic to be able to make that a reality.

Speaking of writing... and editing, yesterday I had my first meeting with my co-editor of the Cornell Business Journal, Vivek Pai, and the outgoing editor-in-chief, Anne Sorock. I'm excited to make a splash with the paper, and also feel extremely fortunate to have an awesome teammate in Vivek. I hope he can find the time to make the CBJ as good as it can be, since he's currently managing the Herculean task of so many first-years: Investment banking recruiting. As of now, I've got nothing but high hopes.

Last topic: the Net Impact National Conference in Nashville (mentioned in an earlier post) was the best time I've had in a while, for it's mix of professional development/networking opportunities and social/fun opportunities. Nashville is a great city, with Honky Tonk pouring out of just about every bar you pass. And the opportunity to spend time with the 25 or so classmates from Johnson that attended was awesome. Other highlights of the conference include the opening keynote with Yvon Chouinard, the founder and head of Patagonia, and also a personal hero of mine. His book, Let My People Go Surfing, is a model for how to create a flexible, dynamic, and inclusive corporate culture, and his company is the living reflection of his philosophy. Another highlight was a panel called "strategic diversity and inclusion," with four of the brightest individuals I've heard in a long time, talking about the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workplace, and how to achieve it. The career fair was also great -- I connected with folks from all sorts of companies, from education to consulting to non-profit to consumer packaged goods. Next year the conference is in Philadelphia, and I'm already looking forward to it.

I think that about does it for this post. I'll try to keep them more consistent and shorter in the future, but rare is the day when I find the time. Which reminds me: that Christmas break seems so close but yet so far.

Perspective

I just heard from the administration that the admissions office sent the link to this and other student blogs to all prospective students. I'd been meaning to insert my email address somewhere in my blog, just in case anyone is interested in discussing any of the topics I've written about, asking questions, or just making conversation via email.

Feel free to contact me at jng28@cornell.edu for any of the above reasons. I'll be making another formal post soon.