Sheryl Lee

Finding the Leader in You

Leadership is a much discussed theme in business school, especially here at Ross.  During the last year, I've had the opportunity to observe leadership both inside and outside of the classroom.  Some people are natural-born leaders, while some including myself, are probably not.  Some people lead by actions, some by words, some by just being who they are.  What Ross provides to everyone is the opportunity to challenge yourself as a leader through numerous workshops, classes, and extracurricular activities.  However, ultimately leadership development is very personal and it's up to you to make the most out of your Ross experience.

Starting with RLI orientation activities, you are encouraged to explore who you are as a leader and where you can improve.  In addition, classes offered by the Management & Organizations department allow you to take part in real-life applications and experience leadership firsthand.  A prime example is a class that I took in Fall A called "Business Leadership in Changing Times", which brought in top executives from six different firms to speak about on-the-job leadership and crisis management.  I can think of no other opportunity that allows students to question the CEO of Union Pacific about his commitment to railroad safety or the President of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company about ads that some groups claim target children.  Different students each week also formed an advocate team that the rest of the class peppered with questions about these same crisis issues.  This class really gave you the opportunity to experience "real-life" leadership, by not only allowing you to step into the shoes of an executive team for an hour, but by having these same executives speak to you about the real challenges of leading a company in today's business world. 

That being said, I've found that leadership at Ross is often more apparent outside of the classroom.  There are numerous opportunities to take on both formal and informal leadership roles within your section and within student clubs.  Last year, myself and a group of 4 others noticed that there were few opportunities for students to get involved in the local Ann Arbor community.  In response, we started up a new club this year called Community Action @ Ross, with the goal of getting everyone to commit to 10 hours of community service for the academic year.  We're currently at 140+ pledges and counting!  This just demonstrates that leadership opportunities are always out there- it's just up to you to take action. 

 

"The Future Leaders of the World": MBA Class of 2012 Section 6! 

At our Weekly Supper Club!  Photo Credit: Shu Toyofuku

And We're Back!

It's great to be back in Ann Arbor after a whirlwind end to the summer!  After I finished up my internship, I led a great M-Trek to Alaska with 3 other MBA2's and 10 MBA1's.  We had a fantastic time driving and camping in 2 RV's, eating s'mores, and trying not to get eaten by grizzly bears.

Some great group shots courtesy of Clemens Eder:

You can see some more of Clemens' fantastic photos on fellow blogger Boris' page.

After Alaska, I spent a few weeks in the Bay Area before flying back to Ann Arbor, moving into a new house, attending the first football game of the season, and of course, starting classes!  We are now entering the third week of the term and things are definitely back in full-swing.  For some reason, I was under the illusion that the MBA2 year would be easier, but this has clearly not turned out to be the case.  Elective classes are more in-depth, club leadership positions take up a lot of time, full-time recruiting is in full effect, you're trying to catch up with classmates you haven't seen since April, and someone thought it would be a bright idea to schedule five straight home footballs in a row.

Speaking of football, myself and 114,803 other fans were privileged enough to watch the first-ever night game at Michigan Stadium against longtime rival Notre Game on Sept 10th!  To say that the atmosphere was electric is definitely an understatement.  To be surrounded by screaming fans, watching your team score two touchdowns in the last few minutes, was something that I will never forget and definitely reminded me why I love being at Michigan!  GO BLUE!

 

A Small Dose of Reality...

What do I want to be when I grow up?  This is a question that many of us are still trying to answer during our two years at Ross.  We’re all accomplished individuals who have probably excelled at our past careers, yet we’re also people who are searching for something else- whether that be a new career path, an expanded network, new friends, new experiences, or a combination of all of the above.  Right now, the Class of 2012 is hard at work in our summer internships, taking on roles that will hopefully help us define our futures.  For some, the summer internship is a chance to try out a new field, while for others, it’s a way to reaffirm what they already know.

Before school, I worked for 5 years in financial services and I could have definitely continued down that path.  But I came to the realization that I wanted a change and that while I was good at my job, I wasn't necessarily happy or satisfied with the path that I was taking.  I wanted to find a career that I was more passionate about and came to the decision that coming to Ross would hopefully get me to where I wanted to go.  Many people come into business school with no idea of what they want to do with their lives.  Join the club.  But not all will actually step outside of their comfort zones and take big enough chances when it comes to recruiting.  And I admit that I fell into this category.  When recruiting started up, I let my resume define me.  I found it was easier to get interviews that fit my profile and didn't try hard enough to explore other career paths.  Looking back, I wish I had challenged myself a bit more.  Did I go for an internship in corporate finance because it was a logical choice?  Yes.  Is it going to help me get to where I want to be in my career?  I really don’t know.  So I encourage all incoming and prospective students to really think about what you're passionate about and not settle for something because it’s the easy way out.  If you pursue a field just because it makes sense, you might end up sitting where I am today, with a lot of things to think about in the fall. 

But that’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying this summer!  I've met some great people at Samsung and have been able to learn a lot about the more traditional corporate world.  And I look forward to presenting the results of my project to my manager and other executives in three weeks time.  During the weekends, I’ve been eating my way through NYC with fellow Rossers.  And for 4th of July weekend, I took a trip to Chicago, where I visited my closest Ross friends.  I'm so glad that I will always have a great network of friends and classmates whenever I travel in the future.  Rossers are truly everywhere!  Hope all are enjoying the summer!

Summer Fun!

Catching a game at Wrigley

With Daphne and Cynthia at the Met

Lunch at Peter Luger

 

Biking in Central Park (All NY Photo Credits: Cynthia Lee)

 

 

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer to Everyone!  I can't believe that my MBA experience is already halfway over!  MAP is complete, people are scattered across the country/world on internships, and it's time for me to hop back into the corporate world for the next 10 weeks.  Looking back, the past 12 months have definitely made up one of the most eventful, fun, and challenging years of recent memory. 

To close out April, my MAP team and I had the opportunity to present our findings to CARE executives on 3 continents (Bangladesh, Atlanta, & Africa) via conference call.  It was great to present our views and opinions, and really discuss the next steps that CARE needs to take to reach additional women in Bangladesh.  We also said good-bye to the MBA2's who have been our coaches, mentors, and friends during the past school year.  Best of luck to the class of 2011 on their future endeavors!

One of the great side benefits of an MBA program is the free time that you have to travel the world.  During the first few weeks of May, I traveled with 3 other MBA girls to Amsterdam and throughout Scandinavia.  All told, I've traveled to Iceland, Costa Rica, Bangladesh, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during the past 10 months, all with some great Ross friends!

For this summer, I am taking on a role in corporate finance at Samsung Electronics in NJ.  I look forward to being able to draw upon both my work and classroom experiences to hopefully make a positive impact during the next 10 weeks.  After the internship wraps up, I'm very excited to lead the Alaska M-Trek with 3 great friends.  I know that we'll have a fun time relaying our experiences, advice, and adventures from the past year!  Wishing everyone a great summer!

 

Some Favorite Travel Photos w/ Ross Friends:

Carol, Jessica, Sasha & I in Bergen (photo credit: Carol Lu)

In a Wooden Shoe! (photo credit: Carol Lu)

9 MBA1's & 19 MBA2's during Spring Break in Costa Rica! (photo credit: Rotem Yossef)

The MAP Experience

Finally back in Ann Arbor after 3 weeks in Bangladesh!  Even though I did miss the comforts of home, living in Bangladesh was definitely an experience that I will never forget.  I've never been to a place that is so in the moment, gritty, and real.  Even though the people there don't have much, what they do have are the smiles, the perseverance, and the overwhelming spirit to try and make their lives better for the future.  I've definitely been inspired by the people and the country!  

Picking up where I left off, our time in Bangladesh involved interviewing the numerous stakeholders in the ready-made garment sector and trying to judge their interest in the current women's empowerment program.  We had the chance to visit three different garment factories as well as interview officials from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.  It was definitely interesting to see the similarities and differences in their viewpoints.  A highlight for my team was getting to visit two learning centers, situated in the slums, where the women come to study and socialize after factory hours.  It was great to interact with them and see how much they enjoy the program.  We also took a trip to the city of Chittagong to meet with one of CARE's partner NGOs to discuss some of their programs.  Our time in Dhaka was capped off by a mid-point presentation that summarized what we had learned so far.  It was great to hear feedback and different viewpoints from our sponsor and our faculty adviser, who was visiting us at the time.  Our next step is to pull together a final presentation and paper that are due in about 2 weeks where we will summarize our findings and recommendations.  The MAP experience has definitely lived up to its name so far and I look forward to working with my team to complete a successful project!  

 

MAP 2011 Video from GBR:

 

Inside of a Learning Center

 

With the Learning Center Women

Photo Credit: Andrea Cunningham

At the Lalbagh Fort Museum

Photo Credit: Mia Bongiovanni

Adorable Kids on a nearby Rooftop

 

Visit to the Patonga Sea Beach in Chittagong

 

Learning Center for Children of Factory Workers

 

CARE Mural

 

Get Excited! It's M-Trek Time!

Congrats to all admitted students!  It's definitely an exciting time in Ann Arbor with GBR taking place this coming weekend!  Unfortunately, I won't be in town for GBR festivities but am wishing everyone a great time.  The purpose of this post is to remind all incoming students that M-Trek registration is now open!  You can read about my M-Trek experience to Iceland in my first ever blog post.  I had such a great time in Iceland that I'm actually leading a trek to Alaska this year with a great group of friends.  We're planning to rent two RV's and drive around the wilds of Alaska- hiking, rafting, kayaking, and ice climbing along the way!  If that's not quite your cup of tea, there are currently 30 other great treks to choose from!  So register today!

 

Iceland M-Trek Flag Photo 2010

Photo Credit: Jake Bielecki

 

Greetings from Bangladesh!

Hello from faraway Dhaka!  My MAP project team and I have had an adventurous last week flying to Bangladesh, exploring Dhaka city, and getting oriented with the project and our sponsors.  As I noted before, my team and I are working with the non-profit CARE Bangladesh.  Our objective is to develop a strategy for the scalability of WHEEL, a workforce empowerment program working with female workers in the ready made garment industry.  This program is already in place at 4 factories and 100+ learning centers in Dhaka city.  Our goal is to take a look at what types of programs have been successful in other countries, analyze CARE's current model, and develop a business plan to take this model to scale.  As my team has figured out during the past few weeks, this project is both inspiring and daunting in its challenges.

We first traveled 30+ hrs to get to Bangladesh, connecting through Frankfurt and Calcutta (where we unfortunately had a 6 hr mosquito-infested layover).  Upon arriving in Dhaka, we had 3 days to get adjusted to the 10 hr time change and to explore our surroundings in the Banani/Gulshan district of the city.  Luckily, some great Australians also working with CARE volunteered to pick us up and show us around.  

Sunday was our first day at the CARE office (Bangladesh has a Sunday-Thursday work week).  As we soon experienced firsthand, the traffic in Dhaka is notoriously horrible.  The streets are filled with cars, buses, motorbikes, rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, bicycles, and pedestrians!, all of whom have no disregard for lane lines and traffic rules.  It's been quite the adventure getting to and from the office everyday.  Luckily our CARE driver, Mukles, has taken great care of us!

During the past few days, we've met everyone at CARE who is involved in the WHEEL program and it's been great to see their enthusiasm for our project.  Today, we met with an executive director from CARE's partner NGO, SHEVA, as well as a representative from GAP.  In each of these meetings, we tried to ask questions that revealed each stakeholder's different motivations and goals.  It's definitely been interesting to hear everyone's point of view and try to figure out the basis of the issue.  We're also really excited to take our first visit to an actual learning center tomorrow night!  Will definitely follow up with another blog entry in the coming week to touch base on our progress.

 

Rickshaw Ride! (Photo Credit: Mia Bongiovanni)

 

View of Kawran Bazar (largest fruit & vegetable market in Dhaka) from the CARE office

 
Dhaka's Lovely Traffic

Man by the Banani River

 

Bird & Bunny Vendor (Photo Credit: Mia Bongiovanni)

 

Typical Street in the Banani District

The Art of Being Social

I admit it.  Before coming to business school, I wasn't exactly much of a social butterfly.  I much preferred staying home or going out to eat with friends and family vs. enjoying the SF social scene.  One of the reasons why I came to b-school was to push myself outside of my boundaries, to meet new people, and to try new things.  Through social clubs, numerous events, and just by talking with some great new people, being at Ross has given me great opportunities to "network" and more! 

One of the great things about Ross is that there's always something to do!  From section hangouts, to club events or bday celebrations, there are always opportunities to enjoy the Ann Arbor social scene.  Ross offers numerous social-based clubs that throw weekly and monthly events.  One of the largest student organizations on campus is the Ross Student Association, more commonly known as the RSA.  With weekly happy hours, tailgates at "The Bus", and the annual "MBA Prom", there are plenty of opportunities to meet and get to know fellow classmates.  Two other clubs that I'm a part of are the Wolverine Wine Club and the Gourmet Club, who together, recently threw a joint food/wine event at a local art gallery.  It was definitely nice to take a step back and enjoy the company of fellow classmates in a more upscale setting.

Wine+Food+Art=Love Event

Photo Credit: Rotem Yossef

MBA Prom

On a slightly smaller scale are the social events and impromptu get-togethers thrown by your fellow section-mates.  Last week, my section had "small group dinners" held at fellow classmates' houses around campus (shout-out to fellow blogger, Kendra for organizing this!).  I was "assigned" to a dinner thrown by superstar chef, Shu, who prepared an amazing Japanese hotpot and bbq dinner.  Yum!

Shu Prepping Our Section Dinner

After-Dinner Group Photo

Photo Credits: Shu Toyofuku

Another great way to meet people is through athletic-related clubs and intramurals.  So far, my section has put together intramural teams for softball, broomball, basketball, football, and dodgeball to name a few.  The annual Ross ski weekend was held last month at the Boyne Highlands where we had a great time skiing, tubing, and enjoying time away from Ann Arbor.  This year, I was also part of the Women's Ice Hockey Club, where MBA2 Nora Freedman led us through some drills as we learned the basics of the game.  Despite my lack of aggression on the ice, I had a great time learning how to play!

Boyne Skiing with fellow Rosser, Tim!

 

+ Tubing!

Emerging Hockey Star Raelyn Jacobson    

Last Hockey Practice!

Photo Credit: Raelyn Jacobson

 

Action-Based Learning

Sorry for the delay in posts!  Things have been a bit crazy in the past month, with interviews for summer internships, classes, and team meetings.  Congratulations to all Round 1 admits and Round 2 applicants that have been invited to interview!  For this blog post, I wanted to touch upon a question that came up in one of my cafe chats in San Francisco: What is action-based learning? 

In my perspective, action-based learning is the opportunity to take what you learn in class and really apply these concepts to a real-life environment, whether that be through a simulation or in a MAP project.  One of the things that I really enjoy about Ross is that classes are a mix of lectures, case studies, and simulations.  In our MO core class last term, we did a Mount Everest simulation where each person in each team had an assigned role with individual goals.  We had to work together to get to the top of the mountain while taking into account individual and team priorities.  This proved to be quite a challenge as only half of the teams actually made it to the summit while other teams "lost" people along the way.  As part of our Operations core class this term, we just started a factory simulation where we have control over the amount of inventory to purchase and the number of new machines to buy in order to optimize production.  The prize for the winning team who generates the most revenue is to get their names engraved on a plaque in the mail room!  Unfortunately, my team, "The Wolverettes", is currently hanging out near the bottom of the pack.  But we'll see what happens between now and when the simulation ends on Wednesday!

The MAP program is defintely the epitome of action-based learning here at Ross.  The opportunity to work on company-sponsored, real-world projects for seven weeks is a great way to take what you've learned in all of your core classes and put it into action.  Our MAP assignments actually got released last week, and I'm very excited to be able to work with a non-profit called CARE Bangladesh!  Three other students and I will be traveling to Dhaka, Bangladesh for three weeks in March in order to work on a business plan to help scale up a literacy model for female factory workers.  I'm really excited about the trip and hope that my team and I will be able to really make a difference!

A Year in Reflection

Happy New Year to All!  Just got back to Ann Arbor today after 2.5 weeks of visiting family and friends.  During break, I started reflecting on all that occurred during 2010.  Here's a recap of Ross-related events that happened throughout the year:

Jan: Applied to Ross in Round 2.

Feb: Got my interview invite on the 1st and came out to Ann Arbor for an interview on the 15th.  Loved the people, the school, and the atmosphere!

March: Narrowed down my b-school choices.  Decided Ross was the right place for me and submitted my deposit!

April: Attended the admitted student's weekend called Go Blue Redezvous (GBR) where I went to meet and greets, did a crazy scavenger hunt, went out to a dinner with an ambassador, secured housing, and met some great fellow classmates.  Used the rest of my vacation days at work to go on vacation to South Africa and Zimbabwe.   

May-June: Did my best to try and concentrate at the office while thinking about all the great things I was going to do at Ross.  Attended more admitted student events (happy hours, brunch) in SF.

July: Called it quits at work on the 16th.  Moved all of my stuff out from SF with the help of my parents.  Embarked on a roadtrip visiting Mt. Rushmore and 8 different National Parks.

August: Went on my M-Trek to Iceland with 4 MBA2 leaders and 10 incoming students.  Picked up my welcome packet that contained my section number.  Attended presentations on financial aid, academics, and recruiting resources.  Month was capped off by the Ross Leadership Initiative with sessions on leadership style, improv skits, and a section vs. section talent show.

September: Start of the whirlwind of core classes, recruiting, and social events.  Worked on my resume and story and attended the Corporate Finance Forum.  Attended my first ever football game and got sucked into football madness.  Got coerced to join the Women's Hockey Club and attended my first practice.

October: Finished the first set of core classes.  Start of corporate presentations and full-fledged recruiting.  Flew out to the Bay Area for the West Coast Forum and took a red-eye straight from there to attend the corporate finance events at the Wall Street Forum in NYC.  Went to the Wolverine Wine Club Gala, the Michigan Business Women's conference, and got tossed around by a mechanical bull at a pre-football tailgate.

November: Start of the second set of core classes.  Attended the General Management Conference, numerous corporate presentations, and finalized my resume.  Spent Thanksgiving break in PA/NY/NJ with friends and family.  On the social front, went to a Sushi & Sake party and Rock and Roll B-School. 

December: Finished the second set of core classes.  Started reaching out to MBA2's and alumni at target companies.  Was an attendee of the Guinness World Record-setting Big Chill at the Big House.  Ate a 3-course meal at one of Ann Arbor's nicest restaurants for $15, courtesy of the Gourmet Club.  Helped organize the Ross Net Impact holiday party, with all proceeds going to charity!  Said good-bye to my b-school friends as I left town for my first multi-week break since college.  Met 7 great prospective students during Cafe Chats in San Francisco.  And finally, closed out the old year with friends and family!

Looking back, I definitely had an eventful year that certainly impacted my life for the better.  I'm definitely glad that I made the decision to come to business school and even happier that I made the decision to come to Ross!  If you're reading this, hope that your year has been as great as mine and cheers to the future!

 

Some Pictures to Close Out the Year:

Parachuter Landing in the Big House

Holding Evan Lysaceks' Gold Medal at a Deloitte Presentation

 

Country Club Event hosted by the Wine Club (Photo Credit: Rotem Yossef)

 

 

What Happens when you combine the Bus and the Bull...

 

M-Trek Picnic Reunion (Photo Credit: Holly Wickter)

 

Ross Net Impact Community Service Event (Photo Credit: Anna Marie Cruz)

 

Hanging out with the Lovely Ladies of Section 6 (Photo Credit: Katie Tamarelli)