Top 10 List: What LEAD Teaches You About Navigating Booth

Your first “real” experiences at Booth come from the LEAD program. LEAD stands for Leadership Effectiveness and Development, and it is the only required class you’ll take at Booth. The class starts during orientation and lasts about six weeks into your first quarter.  It’s composed of various modules designed to prepare you for leadership roles. Modules range from learning about your personality traits and how that impacts your conflict resolution skills to practicing your presentation skills. It’s also where you meet many of your friends. In honor of the ten LEAD cohorts, here are the Top 10 things LEAD can teach you navigating life at Booth:

1. LOR (the Leadership Orientation Retreat) is a microcosm of your life at Booth. LEAD starts with a three-day retreat in Lake Geneva, WI. The days you spend at the retreat mirror what you can expect from life at Booth – you’ll be challenged during the three days, but you’ll also get personalized and reflective training through the LEAD programming. By the time night falls, you’ll be relaxing and partying with 600 of your closest friends across the resort.

2. Your Cohort and Squad from LEAD will be where you find the first of many friends you meet at Booth. Through LEAD, you’re divided into one of ten cohorts. You’ll attend LEAD programming in these cohorts. Even after your formal class time ends, you’ll still have events organized in/by the cohort throughout the year. To get more personal attention, you’ll be divided into 7 or 8 person squads. Since much of LEAD becomes very personal and intimate, you’ll get to know the members of your squad better than anyone else you meet at Booth.

3. Cohorts give you a sense for the uniqueness of Booth students. Knowing that Booth has a flexible curriculum, you’d expect a diversity of interests among students and your experience in LEAD really showcases that.  Unlike some other schools, your cohort isn't determined by an intended concentration or future function/industry. This ends up being a great benefit, because you’ll end up meeting people with the same interests through classes, student groups and recruiting events. But by mixing things up in the cohort system, you’ll already have a great start on a diverse network for when you graduate.

4. Culture of giving back. One of the greatest attributes of the Booth community is the prevalence of second-year students ready, willing and able to help first-year students succeed. While first-year students see this happening in a multitude of ways, your first taste of this culture comes from LEAD, where, instead of a professor, 40 second-year students design and run the course and make the various modules relevant to you.

5. Booth (and LEAD) are all about taking risks. As Dean Kole likes to say, business school is your off-season, and there’s no better time to take risks. Through LEAD you’ll give a speech in front of your cohort, participate in the high-ropes course at LOR and be asked to at least try things that you wouldn't normally do with your job on the line. These will all help make you a more effective leader after graduation. For example, business school is probably the best time to bomb while giving a presentation, especially compared to the final presentation nearly all internships will require!

6. LEAD (and B-School in general) mark a transition point. While your classmates come from a variety of backgrounds, everyone here is a high performer. By the time you graduate and have your first post-MBA job, it’ll no longer be enough to do well on whatever you’re assigned. Instead, you’ll have to accomplish goals by leading teams and working with others. LEAD will teach you that great leaders are made and not born, and that we all have individual areas to work on to make us better leaders. Through the introspective approach to development, you’ll learn exactly what those areas are for you.

7. To succeed at Booth, you have to be humble. Aspects of LEAD are intentionally uncomfortable, especially as you learn how others see you. The key to the LEAD program is your ability to take what you learn constructively and to not become overly defensive. If you can’t force yourself to listen, these programs become very difficult. For example, one LEAD module looks at how you are initially perceived by your colleagues. I learned I am initially perceived as being direct, candid and tough (as opposed to being warm and non-judgmental), likely because I often rely on sarcasm. Getting feedback like this can initially be unsettling, but it’s also important information to learn. Knowing this, I can try to avoid sarcasm when meeting new people and try to make myself more approachable.

8. But humility doesn't mean we don’t compete. LEAD helps foster a sense of healthy competition. From Fall Frolics (a field day-like competition) to the Golden Gargoyles (the Oscars, but for Cohort-produced videos), your cohort will be competing against the other nine. Eventually, these competitions build into the year-long cohort cup sponsored by the Graduate Business Council. There are also opportunities to compete as an individual through LEAD, with things like day-long leadership and/or public speaking competitions. While we’re not allowed to disclose what actually happens at these competitions, the thing that surprised me most was the school’s ability to bring in incredible alumni judges (including top partners at some of the best-known consulting firms), which indicates how the culture and community built at Booth doesn't end with graduation.

9. The diversity at Booth means you can always learn something from your classmates. In the Class of 2015, 36% are international students and 49% were born outside the United States. With the huge multi-cultural community, LEAD devotes an entire session to living and working in a country other than your own. For U.S.-born students, you get a sense of how your actions can easily be misinterpreted in other cultures and how you can help make the transition for your international peers easier. For international students, the session demonstrates some of the cultural norms of working in the United States and how these may differ from other countries.

10. LEAD creates a shared experience with Booth Alumni. Just as LEAD starts to wind down, recruiting will kick into high gear (for those recruiting on-campus, at least). Since LEAD is the only required class at Booth, and since the experience is pretty unforgettable, you’ll instantly have something in common with the many Booth Alumni who come back to campus to recruit. It’s not uncommon to hear them talking about how much fun they had at the ropes course during LOR, how they've ended up using  what they learned in the presentation workshop  in their new jobs and/or how they’re still in touch with the people in their cohort. 

Bringing the Harvest Home: A Pre-MBA Internship at a Food Startup

Emily Wang is a first year MBA student from Detroit, Michigan. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Emily worked at Deloitte Consulting in the Strategy & Operations practice prior to coming to Booth. Her professional interests center around food and healthcare, and she plans to pursue concentrations in Strategic Management, Finance, and Entrepreneurship at Booth. Her hobbies include playing ukulele, running, and cooking.

Below, Emily shares her pre-MBA internship experience with a Bay area food delivery startup. While pre-MBA internships are neither coordinated by Booth nor necessary to successfully make a big career shift, Emily took advantage of some free time this summer to get some entrepreneurship experience to help her refine her goals for professional development at Booth.

--Matt

A few years ago, I came across a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Reading it made me realize that I was deeply passionate about the interaction between health and the environment. I decided that bringing positive change to the food industry would be one of my long-term goals.

I kept this goal in mind when choosing which business schools to apply to. When I learned that Booth students had recently started a Food, Environment, Agribusiness, and Development(FEAD) group, I knew that I would find a community of people here with similar professional interests to build a strong network of colleagues during and after my MBA. Upon my acceptance, I decided to use the summer to gain some experience in the food industry, so that I could make the most of my time at Booth.  

Through my own network, I was able to secure an internship at LolaBee’s Harvest, an online farmer’s market startup in the Bay Area. LolaBee’s Harvest aims to connect local and organic producers with consumers through its online platform and home delivery system. During my internship, I was responsible for all of the company's marketing and supported the CEO in her fundraising efforts. Through this experience, I gained a good understanding of the competitive landscape around the grocery delivery business, as well as the ecosystem of entrepreneurs in the Bay Area at large.

Now, having spent almost two months at Booth, I greatly appreciate the experience of having worked at a startup in the food sector before coming to school. For one, having a deeper level of focus has allowed me to better utilize the excellent resources provided by Booth Career Services, such as the Industry Immersion program during Orientation and ongoing Corporate Conversations which bring a wide variety of companies to campus. Secondly, I am better at articulating my interests to my classmates and Booth alumni, who are deeply involved in entrepreneurial communities and have done an amazing job connecting me with people who share my passion. Because of these two factors, I feel prepared and incredibly excited to kick off my search for startup internships in the coming months!  

“Sleep”? What’s That?? Two Days in My Life. Uncut.

Life at Booth can be busy, exciting, and inspiring all at once. This week on The Booth Experience, first-year student Matt Tracey does an excellent job of providing a glimpse into two of his action-packed days.

Dana
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I’m often asked what business school is like. As a prospective student and applicant, I routinely asked this question... I wanted details! This post is my attempt to provide details. All of them. I give you an unfiltered look at two highly representative days I’ve enjoyed here as a first-year at Booth: one during Orientation in September and one during regular classes in November.

First, some very quick background about me. Born/raised in Colorado. College at Vassar in New York. Worked in public infrastructure finance in California for about 4 years prior to Booth. Love macroeconomics...and Booth is the epicenter of all things macro. Post-MBA career interest: macro investing.

Let’s begin with Friday, September 7, the third day of first-year-student Orientation (a day that would prove quite characteristic of the Orientation experience!).
6:45am: Alarm sounds. About time to go work out. Sit up in bed. Nope, on second thought, no way I’m going anywhere. Last night with Booth friends was...umm...late.
7:30am: Wake up for real. Shower, throw down some eggs, and pack into the Millennium Park Plaza elevator along with a host of other eager first-years en route to the 8:20am Metra train down to Hyde Park.
8:50am: Walk into Harper Center in awe of the building’s energy; as I move about the bustling mass of students in the Winter Garden I hear echoes of conversations ranging from how awesome the dining hall’s chicken sandwiches are to how stimulating Erik Hurst’s Macroeconomics class is. (Do I really go here? Do I deserve to be here? Unreal.)
9:00am: Become reacquainted with just how much business school costs (yikes!) during a helpful presentation on financial aid. (Don’t worry, by this point I’m already convinced that Booth is worth every last penny...and then some.)
10:00am: Faculty panel. Booth professors present on courses and concentrations. At this point, I’ve never been so pumped to be here. Can’t wait for classes to start. Booth rocks. Best faculty on earth. (And they’re more than researchers—they’re unbelievable teachers too. I was pleasantly stunned by Alan Bester’s introductory statistics course. My friends think my newfound love of regression is a bit creepy.)
12 Noon: Grab food at Harper Center...informal lunch with faculty in the Winter Garden. Between professors and classmates, I’ve never been in a room with so much brain power…ever. I’m realizing that there is a lot more here than mere brains, however. People are surprisingly open…they really “let you in”. I like.
1:45pm-4:00pm: Miscellaneous orientation activities (academic advising, Chicago public transit primer, down time for socializing). Reconnect with an Admit Weekend friend who was a fighter pilot prior to Booth (...the amazing range of backgrounds at Booth is both humbling and mesmerizing, all at once).
4:00pm: Walk to the train (Metra). Scramble home. Throw on swimsuit. Hop on bus. Head to North Avenue Beach for football and beach volleyball with classmates. Glorious day! Who knew Chicago has beaches like this?! Where am I...Miami??
6:15pm: Bus back to apartment. Shower, slam down a PB&J and a protein shake, and head out to pregame at a friend’s apartment...ultimately en route to one of the most memorable social events during Orientation...neon party! That’s me in the skinny pink tie (...no, I didn’t own the tie before the event...but on the contrary I must confess that the sailboat shorts were not an ad hoc purchase).

8:00pm: What happens at neon party stays at neon party. Come here and you’ll find out.
2:45am: Ibuprofen and then sleep...at last.

Once classes started in late September, the fun only intensified—but changed form a bit. Perhaps my day on Wednesday, November 28 will paint a picture for you.
6:30am: Wake up, turn on CNBC, make/eat breakfast (green smoothie, eggs, quinoa with chipotle salsa).
7:30am: Make final revisions to “macro investing” pitch to be presented to my peers in the Investment Management Group later in the morning. Spend 15 minutes updating myself on the EU’s latest efforts to resolve the ongoing Greek debt crisis.
8:30am: Shower. Suit up. Do some last-minute online prep for my 10am informational interview with an investment-management professional. (Thrilled that I’ve found so many alums to speak with about my niche interest, “macro investing”.)
9:50am: Leave apartment—running behind. Jog-walk down Michigan Ave and over to La Salle St. to meet a corporate contact for an informal talk about my career goals.
10:00am: Informational interview. Love how generous Booth alums are with their time and insights.
10:50am: Scramble to Millennium Station for the 11:15am train to Hyde Park. Read The Economist on train. (Here’s to hoping that the French relax their labor-market rigidities...).
11:40am: Arrive at Harper Center. Run quick errand to mail folder, then bolt to the Investment Management Group meeting. Deliver macro presentation and listen to peers’ “stock pitches” for an hour and a half or so. My peers’ sharpness challenges me routinely...in a very motivating and non-threatening way. They’re awesome.
1:30pm: Grab lunch. Salad bar today: Asian chicken, green peas, artichoke hearts, beets, mushrooms, lentil salad, a pineapple slice and two strawberries (...no, that doesn’t all come in one premade dish; I’m weird).
1:50pm: Read my case assignment for Competitive Strategy (Nintendo). Interesting read. I have a ton of thoughts, but—if history is any guide—I know my thinking will be revolutionized come Friday’s class discussion...amazing things happen when you put about 60 tremendously insightful people in a room together and say “Go”.
4:30pm: Meet with Microeconomics study group (4 others) in Harper Center to work on our final paper; topic: U.S. labor-market dynamics.
5:30pm: Walk down the hall to listen to a Booth-sponsored talk on the current state of the economy, given by Raghuram Rajan (a Booth economics legend). Seems like every other day there’s a free talk featuring a prominent Booth thought-leader. We are so, so spoiled.
6:30pm: Work for another hour or so on group Microeconomics paper; group then parts ways. I’m actually momentarily caught up on schoolwork (keyword = momentarily), so I head off to Booth Wine Club tasting event.
7:30pm: Attend wine-tasting event in the downtown area. Awesome wines and cheeses, but sure to kill my productivity for the night.
9:30pm: Head home. Call my sisters for a quick hello on the way. Upon arrival at my apartment building, stop by a friend’s place for a 15-minute chat.
10:15pm: Catch up on emails (there are many, per the usual deluge). Read The Wall Street Journal until my brain no longer functions, then turn on Sportscenter for a few minutes before I become too useless even to follow the TV. Sleep.
2:15am: Pop out of bed, startled, as somehow I’ve miraculously remembered that I’d forgotten to respond to a time-sensitive, job-related email. (If it’s not one thing, it’s surely another!)

There you have it. The average day is about this packed with stuff. I’m always flying around doing something—but life is a very, very, very good, interesting, enlightening, and energizing type of “busy”. In fact, I’ve never been happier to be so busy. With three months in the books, I’ve realized not only how right I was about all the great things I came to believe about Booth during the application phase but also just how much richness exists here that cannot be conveyed and must, instead, be experienced firsthand. I realize, in writing this post, that there really isn’t anything about my life here that I don’t like. Occasionally I have trouble sleeping at night because I am so excited to get up and get going the next morning; other times, I’m so exhausted that I fall asleep in seconds.

Wishing you all happy holidays,
Matt Tracey