Summer Thoughts: “What I Learned from my First Internship”

Oakley Headquarters – Foothill Ranch, CA

My summer at Oakley was the birth of my intrigue for business.  The year was 2011 and my life goals were relatively unclear at that point.  I had just finished my first year at community college and my father had gotten me an interview at the Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.  The truth of the matter is that on paper, I should never have gotten that internship, but they hired me.  To this day I am thankful that they took a chance on me, and I maintain contact.

I was a part of the Oakley Business Analytics team.  Before I started, the only thing that I could really infer about the work was that it would look good on a resume.  They knew that my skills were limited, but I am not sure that they understood the scope of the issue.  I had done well in my classes, and my father had vouched for my character, but this was my first time in the business world (although Oakley is not exactly a traditional business setting.  See photo of headquarters).

Based on this limited skillset, I knew that I was going to have to knock it out of the park with attitude and work ethic.  Given the start of ‘internship season,’ the intention of this article is to share 3 concepts that I learned while at Oakley which I keep with me to this day.  I have taken these skills into two other industries, another country (and language), and into my Haas classes.  I believe them to be widely applicable to life and business.  Take them for what you will, but they have worked for me so far.

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1.  Answers are easier to find than questions

The first thing I ever heard at Oakley is something that I am incapable of forgetting.  I was escorted to my team’s area when I met my first boss, David Sunderland.  He stopped what he was doing, and handed me a piece of paper and said, “here is your login.  There is your computer.  Add value.”  I was totally shocked.

This line was fundamental because it taught me that I should be looking for good questions rather than good answers.  I was at community college at that time, and all the problems were ‘givens,’ and after reading the section notes, all of them were solvable.  The data provided was complete, and there was a check figure in the back of the book.  School was a controlled environment, and Oakley was the opposite.

I worked with three great colleagues, Dina Nani, Troy Nguyen, and Mike Griffith.  The work was mostly project based, so it was not the kind of thing where I could develop a monotonous routine and chug it out.  We would start working on a project, search databases, create reports, get down to the meat of the problem (or the solution) and then move to the next.  Sometimes the project would re-appear, and sometimes it wouldn’t.  It was an extremely demanding environment, which is why good questions were so important.

…because every corporate headquarters needs a tank.

2.  Know what is good to have and what you have to have

This is a pivotal lesson that I took from Oakley.  As we have discussed, the environment at Oakley was fast-moving, and there was a constant trade-off between accuracy, and practicality.  I didn’t always understand that.  I had always generally assumed that there was a right answer, and anything else was wrong, while Oakley proved otherwise.

Oakley was my first look at imperfect data, (something that I have seen in every job since).  Sometimes it was time delay, formatting issues, SKUs (stock keeping unit) would not work, two reports should be identical and were not, and visa versa.  Anything and everything under the sun can make data tough to work with, and my time at Oakley was my first exposure to that.

There was one specific time that I recall where I should have sacrificed a bit of accuracy for a lot of practicality.  I was working on a Snowboard goggles inventory project.  Dina, Mike, and Troy had teed the ball up in SAP and I just had to run the reports and put them in excel for our boss, Dave.  The problem was that I could not get it exactly right.  A handful of SKUs didn’t work each time and I could not figure it out.  I tried and tried until the team finally asked me what was going on with the reports a day later, so I gave up and gave them what I had.  I was prepared for one of the guys to have to fix my problems and I was disappointed… but low and behold, it was okay.  Dave looked at the reports and I explained what went wrong and he said, “that’s fine, those SKUs are out of date anyways, and it actually would not change anything.  Thanks for the report.”

The reality is that I could have given him the reports an hour after I started, but I spent a day and a half trying to make it perfect when the conclusion was there all along.  The out of date SKUs made up such a tiny piece of the overall picture that I should have sensed something was not right.  I got tunnel vision.  When I was not able to make a complete report, I should have taken a step back, and weighed my options.  Those handful of SKUs were good to have, but were they ‘have to have’ SKUs?  The answer was no, but will not always be no.  The lesson is to remind yourself to ask the question.

My personal favorite, Oakley Frogskins

3.  Be enthusiastic

I learned early on that anyone can implement enthusiasm.  Whether the team was helping me with SAP and Excel, or I was making a coffee run, I tried to be alert and thorough.  I organized binders, printed decks, anything I could to add value with a good attitude.  As time went on, I understood more and I took the same enthusiasm into more important work.  I think that they wanted me to do well with this more important work based on the fact that I had showed enthusiasm in the past.  The bar is set low for interns, and attitude goes a long way.  My uncle once told me (referring to interns), “I can teach a guy what I need him to know, he just has to show up on time, and get excited.”

Luckily for me a project came up that was easy to understand, and in low enough priority that I was able to run with it.  Dina, Troy and I were tasked with auditing our transfer pricing system.  I started with only a portion of the work, but because I was significantly less busy, I finished my parts early and presented my framework.  They were still very busy, so I plugged away until I had audited almost the whole system myself.  I used any extra time I had to document my process and communicate my work.

This was not breathtaking work, it was only mildly time sensitive, and it did not even start out as my project, yet it morphed into my first real business accomplishment.  I became enthusiastic about it, which motivated me.  It was a cycle.  I did well, they recognized it, I got excited, which lead me to do well, and on and on.  I am sure it works in the negative direction, but fortunately for me, I do not have a good example of that.

—

Concluding, if my story is anything, it might simply be a reminder to others to look critically at past work experiences and boil them down a bit.  If you can learn from my experience, power to you, if not try to think about what you learned in your first work setting.  An introductory perspective is valuable because it forces you to boil it down to concepts, rather than specific practices (because entry level skills are so limited).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone back at Oakley.  Thanks to my father and Ryan Kaneshiro for getting me in the door.  Thanks to Dave, Dina, Mike and Troy for teaching me so much, and thanks to the whole Oakley finance department for being supportive and downright enjoyable.  My internship there had a massive impact on my career and education.  I learned a lot, and that experience gave a sparse resume a lot of credibility.  In fact, one of my two application essays to Haas was about my time at Oakley.  I hope to cross paths with you guys in the future.  Until then, “crank it out (Dave voice).”

This has been a great refresher to myself of the things I have done well and poorly in the past.  Work ethic and soft skills are critical.  This summer I will head into yet another industry, but I am much less intimidated as I might otherwise have been, because most of my takeaways from past work have not been industry specific.   I imagine that many Haas students reading this have got internships lined up as well, and I wish you all the best of luck.  My one bit of advice: get excited.

Reflections of a Haas Introvert

Thousands were congregated one Saturday morning in the bleachers of Memorial Stadium to hear a few glorious seconds of their graduate’s name called out, to see their graduate’s cap and gown breeze by on the large projection screens. Gazing into the crowd, trying to imagine the emotions running through each individual, was overwhelming.

Thousands gather for U.C. Berkeley’s General Commencement

As a volunteer at U.C. Berkeley’s May General Commencement for the Class of 2013, I witnessed the workings of the show from backstage: Lining up chairs for 3900 graduates, organizing the students into groups led by large clusters of colored balloons, anticipating the advent of Cal Band onto the field, spotting the keynote speaker Steve Wozniak at the end of the stage party procession, and trying (and failing) to get a photograph with him.

Cal Band

Eight hours after arriving to organize volunteers from The Californians – the little organization that could which plays the largest role of any student group on campus in planning the University’s general commencements – I found myself sitting on a nearly empty stage, gazing into a nearly empty stadium. Odd that in that moment I felt a greater sense of immediacy than when I first gazed out into the crowd in the morning. The graduates had walked. The ceremony was over. The fourth years I knew had moved their tassles into adulthood, I was now a bona-fide senior at Cal, and last – and most unbelievably – I would be sitting on this very stage in about one year, as the President of May Commencement.

But, if I’ve learned anything from my first year as a student of Haas, it is that with the right vision and the right people, we can breach momentous obstacles and accomplish great things.

***

First, the vision: A community of undergraduates united around Haas’ Four Defining Principles – where competition plays second fiddle to the teamwork and shared motivation that distinguishes Haas from the business programs around the nation and around the world; where social and professional development feed into one another in order to enrich the student experience. The right people: those students who observe the Defining Principles, who place importance in their studies and communities and strive to affect change for the better, change that extends beyond their spheres of comfort, all with quiet confidence.

The Cohort Program, revamped this academic year, seeks to make this vision more tangible by holding events that bring the undergraduate community together.  Just this past spring, the program organized a Marketing Case Competition that encouraged current Haas undergraduates to work with the incoming Class of 2015, a basketball game outing that drew over 50 Haas students out from Cheit Hall and BoA Forum watch our beloved Warriors pound the court at Oracle Arena, and – of course – the 1^st Annual Cohort Charity Gala. Drawing over 200 Haas undergraduates and their friends from a wide array of majors, with music provided by Haas’ very own Mike Teez, the Gala was the Program’s most successful event to date – proving that Haas undergrads are more than willing to engage with one another in a celebratory environment; it’s not all competition and cutting throats. Perhaps more importantly, the Gala raised over $1000 to donate to Not For Sale, a charity that works to fight human trafficking across the globe. The Cohort Program, having found its sea footing, is now sailing through waters no other undergraduate-organized group has quite navigated. With what is sure to be a newly established tradition for the undergraduate program in the form of the Gala and an incoming group of intelligent, determined Cohort Leaders for the Class of 2015, the Cohort Program will be something to watch in the coming year.

Class of 2014 Cohort Leaders

Now back to the right people. Or rather, the right person. I’m speaking of the underappreciated spearhead of the Haas Undergraduate Blog, the now former President of HBSA, the man whose vision and dedication revived the Cohort Program, and to those who know him well, a most beloved and caring friend, Tyler Wishnoff. It would require another post (or, quite frankly, a novel) for me to convey the impact Tyler has had on me, on the group of 2014 Cohort Leaders, on the Undergraduate Program at Haas, and on everyone he has come into contact within the course of his time at Cal.  So here is an anecdote – just a micro example of how the right people can make a true difference on those around them.

I was with one of my good friends and fellow Cohort Leader, and as is bound to happen, conversation drifted to the subject of our joint involvement, specifically, the Charity Gala. The typical topics came up: organization, funding, team dynamics, deltas and pluses. All the while I was harboring a certain memory of a particular moment during the event – when Tyler said that the Gala was the most successful event the Undergraduate Program he has seen; that he was impressed by the work the Cohort Program had been able to accomplish in just two semesters. That moment, along with seeing Tyler truly unwind and have fun, seemed the culmination of my first year at Haas, as an introvert making my way through the major, as a blogger, and as a member of the Cohort Program. My friend, too, expressed a similar sentiment – that somehow the greatest sense of accomplishment was derived from seeing Tyler’s huge smile that evening.

The smile that says it all

Again and again, I discovered this feeling was shared among all the Cohort Leaders. Even those who don’t know him personally, those who may just hear of his contributions via others, or even those who only briefly heard him speak as head of the Senior Gift Committee at General Commencement, and again at the Haas Undergraduate Ceremony, there is no doubt that Tyler is someone of great consequence, who has made a lasting mark on Haas and on the people around him.

***

It has been over a week since those 3900 seniors walked down across the stage to Pomp and Circumstance. I stood up from that seat on that nearly empty stage, took one last, long look at that nearly empty stadium, and followed the path so many graduates had traveled: down the ramp from the stage, through the field, under the 2013 balloon arch, and out the gate into the bright, intimidating, and unpredictable world beyond Berkeley. Still, I’m missing a sense of closure – of finality. They say all great things must come to an end; I can’t say I fully agree.

That anthem is still ringing in my ears – a reminder of what is to come and what needs to be accomplished in the summer months, into the next year. With great vision, and great people, I can’t help but expect greater things.

 

Photos courtesy of The Californians’ Class of 2014 Senior Class Council and the Haas School of Business Undergraduate Program

The Case For Culture: Living A Life Beyond Yourself

We are living in the age of beyond yourself business. Decades of environmental damage, government lobbying, and financial devastation have created a negative image for the business world. This has birthed a whole new industry of companies that work in traditional markets but operate under strict pro-social principles. There is a growing trend of awareness about where products come from, how companies treat their employees, and how businesses operate. This awareness has led to renewed pressure on government by the public to increase regulations and punish companies that trade sustainability for quick profits. The end is coming for the Gordon Gekkos of the world, as companies find that their longevity can be closely related to their CSR efforts and the choices their employees make.

Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow (and eco-friendly shareholder advocacy group), spoke at Haas on Monday, April 15^th and in his speech he pointed to an emerging trend in socially responsible investing. In the years since As You Sow began operations it has been advocating for companies to shift not just their production practices, but also their money into more socially responsible investments. This has resulted in ever increasing returns as regulations and rising interest by consumers about where products come from have pushed socially responsible investments up with much higher long-term growth potential than popular high value slash-and-burn short-run investments. The important lesson here isn’t just where to invest, it’s that the businesses and business practices that are becoming most relevant are the ones which pay more attention to all a company’s stakeholders, not just its stockholders.

Going deeper beyond the macro corporate level, a beyond yourself mindset is your best bet for finding success in your career and your life. Still, the workforce is competitive; doesn’t someone need to have a certain level of ruthlessness to get to the top? Certainly there are people who found success and reached remarkable heights by breaking rules and exploiting others, and while these individuals enjoyed short-run benefits, more often than not their behavior caught up with them. Some went to prison, some lost everything because their strategies were unsustainable, and all of them lost friends and allies. That is why the beyond yourself mentality is so key to a long successful and rewarding career.

One of the most important aspects of gaining power and keeping it is assembling a team of allies and creating a sustainable support network. This network includes co-workers, friends, family, and even business contacts. It also provides very powerful leverage when taking action, implementing a strategy in the workplace, making a career transition, or even bouncing back after losing a job or power in an organization. The beyond yourself mentality is also useful in the workplace for building awareness of stakeholder needs. Much like confidence without attitude helps build listening and understanding, beyond yourself can open your eyes to the need of others. This expands your perspective and can make you better at solving problems, creating solutions that are easy to implement, and coming up with new ideas that get your stakeholders excited and elevate you and your company.

Going beyond yourself is about awareness, it’s about recognizing the impact your decisions have and how to live sustainably in everything you do. Beyond yourself lies at the very heart of each of Haas’ defining principles. It’s the heightened awareness from thinking of others that builds communication and helps one have confidence without attitude, it compels us to speak up and question the status quo, not just for ourselves but for others that may not have a voice. Finally, it gets us all to understand that there’s more to the world than just ourselves and our opinions, that feedback and learning matter, and that we should remain students always.

Albert Einstein once said ‘only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile,’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. Given the changing social norms and expectations of business a life lived thinking of others can make for a life worthwhile. The proof is out there, happiness and success are always right in front of you; you just have to reach beyond yourself and grab it.

This article is the fifth and final article in a five part series that focuses on culture and the Haas School’s Four Defining Principles.

The Case For Culture: Embracing A Culture Of Feedback

Being a student always has never been more relevant to today’s business world, nor has it been more vital to success.

Rapid advancements in technology and the rise of the start-up business culture has shifted the paradigm of long-term business planning toward constant experimentation.

The old ideal of  ‘adapt or die’ to succeed in the business world is itself becoming the minimum of effort, or even obsolete entirely. It’s not enough to be reactionary, success is now found farther up stream through innovation.

While questioning the status quo can certainly help give one the right mindset to be more innovative than reactionary, a students always mindset is necessary. After all, innovation and new ideas are not always successful, and by not paying the proper respects to mistakes and failures constant innovation can just as easily lead to bankruptcy.

But what exactly does it mean to be a student always? Many see it as a purely academic endeavor, an extreme dedication to one’s studies. While it has a place in academics it’s much more than that. Simply put, students always is about lifelong learning in everything one does. Yes, this includes a proper education, but it’s also about learning from experiences with other people, on and off the job and in and out of school. It’s about learning from success but even more so from failure, and it’s also about embracing and making the most out of feedback.

Those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it, and that applies without question to business. Being a student always is about maximizing value extraction from success and mistakes. It’s not just about recognizing a strategy or idea that works or doesn’t, it’s about getting to the why behind those successes and failures. It’s far too common that companies don’t analyze their success. It’s easy, after all, to attribute success to personal brilliance. People take for granted their successes and rarely consider that they just got lucky or that their product succeeded for a reason completely unrelated to why they undertook that project in the first place.

Far more obvious is the value gained from learning from mistakes. It can be difficult to deconstruct failure, sometimes reliving the downfall of an idea you believed in is painful, but if you don’t ask why you failed you’ll never truly know if the idea had no merit or if success is possible by changing a key aspect of the design. Mistakes are expensive and misunderstood success can bring a high-flying company crashing down. In a world where new ideas are fueling the economy, being able to quickly recognize why something works or doesn’t can allow a business to iterate faster or come up with a new idea formulated from lessons learned through failure.

Moving on to the micro level, the students always approach to feedback can accelerate any career path. Often viewed as constructive criticism or worse, feedback tends to be avoided and can even lead to conflict in the workplace. While the way feedback is given can certainly be at fault for the high rate of aversion towards it, there is certainly a stigma attached to the concept of feedback that makes people defensive. It’s human nature to have an idealized view of ourselves in mind, or to become comfortable with our daily routines, that when anyone forces us to question what is familiar the results can be unsettling. The immediate response is to be defensive, but this is exactly where the students always mentality comes into play.

Being a student always is similar to having confidence without attitude in this respect, as it is about subverting your pride and leaving yourself vulnerable to the opinions and thoughts of others. This is not to say you need to accept those opinions as correct, but you should consider those opinions and see that feedback as an opportunity to become better. People really only give feedback for two reasons, they either are looking to help you better yourself, or they’re frustrated with your behavior and are letting you know. Either way, that feedback is telling you how you function in a team setting.

In both instances, listening to and acting on such feedback will improve your performance and chances of success. Being able to properly work on a team can earn a lot of allies in the office and plenty of success on projects, both key aspects of career success. It’s commonplace to see people in stagnant careers wondering why they are continually passed up for promotions and can’t get anywhere, they often blame others without realizing it’s them and their inability to see feedback as a gift. Only by taking the students always approach to feedback can you overcome the initial defensive response to feedback and use it to be your best.

The world is moving faster with no signs of slowing down. Efficiency is key and you can’t afford to leave anything on the table, being a student always will provide quite the advantage whether you’re running a business or wanting to stand out in the workforce.

This article is the fourth article in a five part series that focuses on culture and the Haas School’s Four Defining Principles.

Haas Athletes: Nicola Rössler (Cal Women’s Golf)

When I think of a round of golf, I think of a sunny day, a few birds, some trees, and a couple of cold beers stowed back in the cart.  I love golf.  Except for when I hit a bad shot, then I hate golf—but just for a moment.  Golf and I lead a song and dance of occasional encounters.  I have had good rounds, and not-so-good rounds.  I don’t play golf for the score though; I play it for the experience.  I play it to enjoy an afternoon with good friends or family, and take a break from the daily grind.

This semester I met Nicola Rössler, who thinks of golf quite differently.  Not only is she in Haas and on the Women’s Golf team here at Cal, she is also an international student from Germany.  Just for a moment imagine that.  One of those things is manageable, doing two would be a rough load, and accomplishing all three of those things is downright rare.

Nico is a junior golfer here at Cal.  Born and raised in Germany she made her national team at the age of 14, and she has been golfing competitively ever since.  Nico came to Cal and was an immediate standout for the Golden Bears.  She shot an impressive 3 under par (69) in her first college round, and sunk a hole in one at the Pac-12 championships in 2011.  Last year she and the team earned a National Championship as the 6th seeded Golden Bears edged USC on the final hole.  This past weekend the Bears ended their season at the NCAA Western Regionals where they took 18^th.  Nico lead the Bears at 10 over par through 3 rounds.

Without further ado, Haas’ own, Nicola Rössler.

START INTERVIEW

How did you start golfing?

I grew up as the youngest of three sisters and I was always really competitive growing up.  I did a lot of random sports, but I started playing club golf when I was 10.  Club golf is big in Germany, and I was able to rise up to the girl’s national team when I was 14.  I was playing for them in tournaments all around Europe right up until I came to Cal.

So you are very used to playing sports while going to school then?

When I was very young at the county level it did not conflict much with school, but once I started playing for the national team there was a lot of conflict.  When you are on the National team in Germany you end up having to travel a lot to get good enough weather to golf in.  In the winters we would take a 4-day trip every 2 weeks.  I really got used to balancing school and golf at that time, which has made my time at Cal a little bit easier.

What made you think of going to school here in the US, and why did you pick Cal?

I always wanted to go to school in the UK, but one of my teammates on the German national team actually went to Cal, and she suggested that I check it out.  One of the Cal coaches saw me at the European team championships, and after that, more coaches approached me.  I came on an official visit to Cal, and I loved it.  The city seemed very European to me, and I really liked the coach.

You are the first women’s golfer to be accepted to Haas, tell us a bit about that.

It was my dad who originally urged me to check out Haas.  My teammate from Germany also really suggested that I check it out so very early on I knew that I wanted to apply to Haas.  It was hard in the beginning because it was my first semester as an international student, which had challenges of its own.  My coach would ask me, “are you sure you want to do it?  Nobody has ever done it before.”

For example UGBA 10 [lower division business course required to apply to Haas] conflicted with our practice schedule and that was of course not ideal.  However now that I am in, she is very happy for me.  There are three freshmen on the team this year that are planning on applying to Haas as well.

How has it been to be an Athlete in Haas?

At times it is really difficult to fit it all in.  Some of the best Haas classes are electives, which are small classes with limited offering times, and when professors know that I will be missing a lot of class for golf, they are reluctant to let me join the class.  On the flip side there is a lot of athlete support here at UC Berkeley.  We have tutoring, which helped me get in, and it still helps me manage it all now.

Of course there is the constant parallel of competition in and out of the classroom.  A lot of Haas classes require performance on the spot.  I feel like it really helps having been in intense athletic situations.  I am used to the pressure and it helps me.  There are so many intelligence people in Haas, but performing on the spot is another kind of intelligence and I think that my time golfing has really cultivated that skill for me.

What is the most important Haas defining principle for you?

Challenging the status quo.  I have a hard time accepting things.  I always challenge my coaches, parents and professors.  It has been like that since I was very young, and I think that it has a lot to do with being the youngest of three.  Here at Haas the majority of professors really welcome this kind of attitude.  This lets us think outside the box and really get at the big picture, which is a big reason why we are here anyways.  Change is a good thing, and even when things remain the same, the act of thinking about that change is really beneficial to the overall environment.  As an international student I always try to bring a new perspective.

What has been your favorite Haas class?

I loved 192N, which is Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, which I loved because it was very realistic and applicable.  We actually developed our own social enterprise.  I also love 157, Managing People, which again, is really realistic and applicable to real life.  We have been analyzing real organizations and their structures.  I really love both professors.

[ProfessorShoutout©: 192N- Jim Schorr, 157- Whitney Hischier]

How does your typical week go as a golfer here at UC Berkeley?

There are a lot of early mornings.  On the days that we have workouts, we are up at 5:30am to work out.  By 8:30am we are on the course practicing.  We will practice for a few hours, but I like to stick around after for a bit.  By the time we get back to Cal, we have time to grab lunch and then we have class into the evening.  A couple of days per week we schedule classes in the morning and then go to the course in the afternoon.  On those days we do not get back to Cal until the evening.  As busy as we are, I try to build in down time and social time.  It is important to me to get golf and studying done first, but once in a while I have time to see friends, go out, and relax.

Golf is not exactly a traditional college sport, how is it different and similar to other team sports at Cal?

Well, as a sport, people do not always give it the respect of other sports.  We still put in a lot of time, and we are very competitive.  If people came to our workouts they might change their opinion of college golf.

There is also this perception that it is an individual sport.  Yes, there are individual rankings, but people care much more about the team rankings.  We are a team first.  When my teammates are really in the flow making their shots, I pick up that energy as well.  When we make a birdie we have a certain wave that we do to each other, and seeing that wave really gets my game going as well.

What has been your best moment as a Golden Bear golfer?

That is easy.  That is our Pac-12 Championship last year.  I was the youngest member on the team that year as a sophomore.  We were ranked 6^th in Pac-12 going into the championship, but we knew that if we all played we had a serious shot.  We started playing really well until we were leading the tournament actually.  On the last hole one of my teammates hit a birdie to beat USC by a stroke.  It was a really special moment.

How has it been this year?

We have a young team.  We have lost 3 seniors since then.  As a young team it is a very different dynamic.  We are trying our best to defend our title this year.  The Pac-12 is an amazing conference for golf.  For example last year we were 10^th in the nation and 6^th in the Pac-12.  We are trying to stick to our goals and stay focused.  If we stick to that then anything can happen.

Who has been your biggest role model?

The first is my dad.  His father died young and he took over our family business.  He has been doing that for a long time, yet he is still really open to change and improvement.  He never stops developing as a person, and he has always been a great role model for me.  He is driven and confident (without attitude), which was a great example for me growing up.  He is amazing!

The second is Laura Davies, a professional golfer.  She pulls off shots that nobody else even tries. She does it over and over.  I consider myself a conservative golfer; so learning from her example is great for my golf game.

The final question, the golden question… what do you want to do in the future?

I am not sure. I am considering a lot of options. I really want to work here in the bay area after graduation.  I would like to find out first-hand in a real business situation, what I am passionate about. At some point I want to go to grad school back in Europe.  Hopefully after working a bit I will have a better idea of what to continue studying later on.  Way down the line I would like to take over my family business.

END INTERVIEW

Nico is a pleasure to be around.  She has a good smile and an even better attitude.  I guess that’s what it takes to balance competitive course work and a Division 1 sport (in a second language).  Not only did I learn a lot about her in this process, I learned a lot about golf.  I think the sport that I mentioned in my introduction is actually “weekend golf,” or “leisure golf.”  My golf game is a break from the daily grind, and her golf game is a daily grind.  It is this very persistence that has helped her be so successful here at Cal, and I wish her the best of luck in the future.

Congratulations on a good season and keep it up next year and beyond!

Nathan Tudhope:  I was told to insert a little bio about myself, and I guess if you got this far, you might like to know a bit about me.  I am an undergrad student at UC Berkeley studying Business Administration.  I am a transfer student and I have loved every minute at Haas.  I have never written publicly before, but writing about sports (Talia, and now Nico) has made it fun and enjoyable.

I play basketball and soccer in my free time, and I like to cook.  I play club water polo here at Cal as well.  Seeing as it is finals week (and I should be studying) I will keep it short, and for the same reason, please excuse any typos.  Until next time—Nathan.

Encouragement Roulette

When I walk into my Business classes, I always feel like I’m entering a model United Nations Convention.  All the leaders and players of major Berkeley student groups collide and conspire in Haas. That’s one of the things that makes UGBA such an interesting major – Haas tries to hone and chisel at the raw skills and abilities of natural born leaders and investment bankers; teaching is just the happy byproduct.  In this way, our experience at Haas is really a symbiotic relationship between our extra-curriculars and classes. Sometimes, what we learn in our classes seeps into our leadership, and sometimes it’s the other way around.

Last year, I was the manager of the Cal Band and I got to see that symbiotic relationship in action.  There are many things that I learned from my classes that came in handy in the field as a student leader: Accounting? Check. We have books to keep track of. Economics? Supply and demand, baby. Definitely useful when figuring out how many Cal Band track suits to order. Organizational Behavior? Heck yes. Working in any capacity involves daily motivating, empowering, and negotiating. Every day, I felt like I could take what I learned in class and directly apply it to my experience.

And the reverse functioned as well. The things I learned while leading, I brought into my classes at Haas. While there were a lot of practical things that I learned from being manager, the most important things are not easily translated into skills or knowledge.  The first thing I gained on the job was an incredible amount of respect for everyone around me. Especially in Haas, everyone is really involved deeply in a multitude of activities – it’s amazing to think how experienced and talented all my peers are. Daily, I get to be surrounded by so many people like that, and I have gained so much respect for everything they’ve done and are doing.

The other thing I learned was every day is a struggle for someone. Everyone is fighting their own battle.  In each one of your interactions, you can be either an ally or an adversary. Your choice. Some people call the ensuing behavior random acts of kindness; I call it encouragement roulette – it makes me feel like I’m living dangerously.  The idea is that you act kindly all the time to every person, with the hope that sometimes, kindness will land on someone who is riding the struggle bus, discouraged and disheartened. I really try to implement this in my life, to be overly generous, overly kind, and overly sympathetic.

So often, the world gives this impression that there is only room for one on the top and that each person has to compete to reach that point. However, from what I learned through experience and classes, it is much easier to get to the top if you can work with others, with respect and kindness. This may seem like common sense, and, truth be told, it should be! And yet, there are plenty of people who fall short and end up being enemies when they could have been allies. I feel all the more empowered by that – we get to be in touch with the people who will be leading in the world tomorrow, and we can start making the difference now.  That’s what I’ve learned in Haas and as a student leader; the important thing in day to day life is to be an ally to all those around you.

Haas Sponsored Fun: P4 Brings Students And Alumni Together

Every month the Haas Undergraduate Blog and Haas Sponsored organizations will bring you new insights about the social atmosphere at the Haas School. You’ll hear about what it’s like to be part of the many organizations on campus and what great events they host.

This week’s article is brought to you by Robin Roxas of The Partnership for Pre-Professional Pilipinos (P4).

The Partnership for Pre-Professional Pilipinos is a collaborative community that focuses on pre-professional development and provides networks, resources, and opportunities to students interested in the fields of business and law. We aid in the advancement of students to graduate and professional programs, and we encourage career paths in all sectors – private, public, and non-profit – while working towards social justice. On April 6^th, 2013, through the coordination of our Philanthropy and Community Service (PACS) component, we hosted our 4^th annual golf tournament.

The tournament, which took place at Tilden golf course, was a fundraiser for our beneficiary, Pinay Aspirations – a non-profit organization created to promote the aspirations of Filipino youth in education, the community, personal growth, and career development. Pinay Aspirations achieves these goals through scholarships, mentorship programs, community service, and other activities, as well as through resources aimed at enhancing their personal development and advancement in life.

This year, with the aid of 28 players and 20 sponsors, P4 raised $2,100 for our beneficiary. The players actively participated and showed their enthusiasm despite the gloomy weather that day. The teams were comprised of family members and friends, which made the tournament a great bonding experience. This also created a competitive yet friendly environment among the players. Participant Shyla Walson recalled her experience, “It was really fun going against my fellow students and their families. There was an added pressure on the tee box when you knew everyone was watching. The father of our executive director, Melanie Manibo, made sure I remembered that our scores were neck and neck. I definitely let out a sigh of relief on the 9th tee after somehow getting that tiny white ball to go straight. Overall, it was a blast!”

Some Berkeley alumni also became involved in this fundraising event and showed their support, which gave them an opportunity to reminisce Cal experiences. At the end of the day, the winners were awarded and a raffle promo was held. The representative of Pinay Aspirations expressed her gratitude towards the people who donated, helped, and supported the group’s cause. The night ended with a great buffet dinner served by the Tilden Golf Course bar and grill.

Both the partners and associates of P4 were able to contribute to the overall success of the tournament by carrying out several tasks, such as signing in and greeting players as they arrive at the golf course, selling mulligans and raffle tickets to players throughout the day, and helping to delegate the pace of the tournament, all the while practicing and honing professional and communication skills.

As an associate of P4, I have had the opportunity to help organize and participate in events like the annual golf tournament. Examples include Professional Saturday, during which students were able to participate in mock interviews and receive advice from professionals in fields of business and law, and Associate Development Day, which allowed associates to receive critique and guidance regarding their resumés.

P4 hopes to continue to give back to the community by organizing events that benefit non-profit organizations like Pinay Aspirations and by giving students the opportunity to improve and apply their professional skills.

Haas Sponsored Fun: Berkeley Investment Group Makes Its Pitch

 The Berkeley Investment Group, founded in 1997 is the largest undergraduate investment club at UC Berkeley. Our goal is to educate the broader campus about investing through the “Intro to Wall Street” DeCal, our internship program, and our weekly general meetings. We also host consulting projects and recruiting events with local investment management firms. Every Tuesday, we provide an informational presentation or a stock pitch for the $65,000 student-run fund. Last week, four officers pitched NxStage Medical (NASDAQ: NXTM) to add to the portfolio.

NxStage is a medical device company in the field of hemodialysis whose stock has fallen drastically over the previous year. However, the company has many unique future prospects in the industry that intrigued these officers. The company is the only provider of home hemodialysis in the United States, a therapy that allows a patient with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) to avoid traveling to a center three times a week to receive 4-hour dialysis treatments. Instead, an eligible patient is trained to use a small, portable machine called the System One, and then performs the treatment at home on their own! Not only is the therapy far more convenient than in-center dialysis, but it has also been proven to be clinically superior to in-center dialysis by multiple studies.

Since Nxstage debuted the System One five years ago, it has placed at least 6,000 patients on the product, and has grown revenues in that field at over 15% a year. In spite of its convenience and proven benefits, however, it still controls less than 2% of the hemodialysis market, as over 400,000 patients currently use in-center dialysis. An uptake barrier exists, because dialysis centers who provide NxStage’s product have no incentive to market home hemodialysis due to the current Medicare reimbursement structure. Because of this, NxStage’s growth has disappointed Wall Street for several quarters, and the price has fallen from very bullish highs.

By looking through multiple sources, including company transcripts and analyst reports, the officers concluded that the reimbursement structure is very likely to change in the near future due to company pressure, political pressure, and other developments. Because many hemodialysis patients still don’t know about the option of home dialysis, it is only a matter of time until the business begins to grow. Given the current price and street growth expectations, the officers realized that the street is significantly undervaluing Nxstage’s growth potential. They conducted a valuation that targeted the company at $15.11 per share by the end of 2013, 40% above its current price of $10.70.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop by one of our meetings held every Tuesday in 220 Wheeler 7-8pm. Please contact our email below if you could like to receive a copy of the pitch.

Email: BerkeleyInvestmentGroup@gmail.com
Website: http://invest.berkeley.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BerkeleyInvestmentGroup
Twitter: @invest_berkeley

Doodels: enhancing creativity and social responsibility

Jayson Poon, Haas B.S. 2013

Jayson Poon is an international student from Malaysia, and he will be graduating from the Haas School of Business this May 2013. Growing up, Poon had always enjoyed drawing doodles and using it as a learning tool. However, he oftentimes felt daunted from utilizing doodles in the academia and the workplace as this was something often deemed as unintellectual and as a form of inefficiency in society. Nonetheless, he still believed that there should be a way for individuals to exercise artistic creativity through doodling—in our attempts to more easily communicate and retain ideas—without being judged as being impractical.

Poon’s call-to-action was validated when he saw Sunni Brown‘s TED Talk entitled “Doodlers, unite!” While Poon never doubted the effectiveness of doodling in improving performance for various endeavors, he did not have the data and facts to back up his stance. Hence, Brown’s talk really spoke to him and inspired him to pursue his vision of incorporating art into everyday activities for enhanced productivity.

Kevin Tan, Haas B.S. 2012

In mid-2012, he began brainstorming startup ideas with his friend, recent Haas alum, Kevin Tan, B.S. 2012. While Poon was very interested in promoting the message of the usefulness of doodling, he was also very passionate about instilling one of Haas’s most prominent defining principles: Beyond Yourself. In addition to simply sharing his love for creating stories and conveying ideas through doodles, Tan and Poon both saw founding a startup as a great opportunity for giving back to communities that they cared about. Thus, Doodels was born.

What is “Doodels“?

Doodels is a mobile social application aimed at encouraging users to practice creativity while making a difference for children in underserved nations across the globe.

There are three simple steps.

1. Download the free Doodels app
2. Doodle!
3. Add #crayon on your drawing’s caption/label

Similar to the world renowned TOMS’s social responsibility model, Doodels will be donating a crayon per doodle submitted. Doodels has already connected with a number of companies, both local and abroad, that have confirmed their support—of up to 1 million crayons—to Doodels‘s cause. Crayon collected will be distributed to underprivileged children through Doodels‘s partnership with a non-profit organization which they will be announcing on the app’s official launch scheduled on June 1st, 2013.

At present, Doodels is only available in the Apple Store. The Doodels team of 11 employees, including Tan and Poon, is currently working on its Android version to reach a larger market. Doodels is hopeful that their app can eventually garner the support of culture icons and influential people as so to better promote Doodels‘s mission.

For any questions or feedback about the app, please feel free to contact Jayson Poon and the Doodels team at info@doodels.com. Doodels.com is currently under construction in preparation for their big campaign launch in two months. Nevertheless, please feel free to download Doodels now and check back for updates. Doodels will keep its users up-to-date via online social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Denice Sy and Jayson Poon

Like Doodels on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/DoodelsInc
Follow @DoodelsInc on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Doodelsinc

I had such a great time speaking with Jayson about this venture. As Jayson’s friend, fellow Haas Business and international student, I am very excited to see his team make their mark in the startup industry, starting with Doodels.

Denice Sy
Class of 2014

Cashify: a fun, social platform for financial enlightenment

Financial literacy has become an increasingly alarming concern for current college students. The thought of having to make important financial decisions after graduation or even during our college careers can be intimidating if we lack adequate financial knowledge to make informed financial choices. Students accumulate unnecessary debt, and are thus unable to develop a progressive savings plan due to expensive loans that we have to pay back after graduation.

A team of Berkeley students, namely Virginia Chung, Shuonan Chen, and Justin Chu, have recognized the need to address this issue, and have thus developed a startup project called Cashify to encourage financial literacy in a fun and engaging manner. Chen, Chu, and Chung began building on their initiative early in the Fall of 2012.

Cashify Team (L-R): Virginia Chung, Shuonan Chen, Justin Chu

Cashify founders believe that the younger and earlier that students are educated in financial literacy, the higher their chances of avoiding debt and loan burdens in the future. According to the market research conducted by Cashify execs, more than 76% of college students admit that they need assistance with making intelligent financial decisions for complicated financial challenges. Nonetheless, only four U.S. states require personal finance classes in their K-12 education systems. California is not one of them. The Cashify team found this lack of student financial empowerment as an opportunity to make a difference. They are kicking off their financial literacy campaign by first creating an online presence in the Berkeley area.

Cashify interface is campus-specific to make the game more interactive and relatable

Cashify provides a cartoon game interface that engages young adults to develop financial literacy in a fun way—because it doesn’t have to be boring! Players start with a central baby cub character that they can educate and grow through 15 different financial literacy levels. Its goal is to empower users to gain the relevant skills involved in making important financial decisions in real life.

The game character grows up as it advances in financial education.

Additionally, Cashify also serves as a social platform that allows users to participate in financial Q&A forums for any unanswered financial questions. Young adults can consult Cashify‘s tips of the day, and interact with each other by sharing random financial advice as well. Overall, Cashify is a sustainable business model for instilling students with more-than-sufficient financial knowledge to avoid costly mistakes in the future.

Cashify’s central game character, a bear cub avatar, grows up as you level up your financial knowledge!

Cashify‘s efforts to improve financial literacy is being supported by:

Alex Filippenko – UC Berkeley Professor of Astronomy, US Professor of the Year
Matthew & Jason Goldman, G2 Insurance Founder & Cal Alum
Mike Hannigan, Give Something Back, President
Marty Glick, Golden State Warriors, CFO
George Zimmer, Men’s Warehouse, Founder & Executive Chairman
David Williams, UC Berkeley Assistant Director of Financial Aid Office

Read more about why financial literacy matters here.

Vote for Cashify on Big Ideas @ Berkeley’s Facebook page here.

Cashify is an entry to the Big Ideas @ Berkeley Video Contest. Support financial literacy by voting for their video now! Learn more about Cashify from its founders on Thursday, April the 25th!

Denice Sy
Class of 2014