My decisiveness is coming back

Since my last post, I’ve made significant strides in my decisiveness. A few quick updates:

 I decided that spending $1500 to retrieve the lost data on my hard drive was not in my budget and therefore was not worth the lost files. So I have a new computer and have been able to manage just fine. Now I can’t believe that I was about to pay that much. This is partly a reflection of my need to hold on to the past, even though it’s clear that I will be just fine moving forward. It’s weird…not only has b-school made me analyze business situations; it’s made me analyze my life as well.

 So I’ve made my decision about my summer internship. I will be working in Brand Management at Kraft outside of Chicago. I started the year pursuing an internship in Brand Management and have been fortunately enough to receive offers from some of the top brand companies including Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Frito-Lay, McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly. I received most of my offers from the National Black MBA Conference, which I attended in October. Attending this conference was key in securing an internship in Brand Management because most of the brand companies do not recruit at Stanford. I realize how important it is to get the word out about the conference to other classmates who are considering Brand Management because now those interested are forced to choose from a small group of companies through On-Campus Recruiting (OCR).

Also, it is so important to stay focused on your interests and not let the “herd mentality” of Consulting and Investment Banking get to you. I came to school very focused on Brand Management and have to admit that I got caught up in the excitement as well. I found myself very close to interviewing with Consulting firms, but decided against it after a few conversations with some classmates. It was pretty silly since I have a consulting background, but hey, that's what happens when you lose focus.

 I also decided on my Spring Break plans. I applied for the Brazil Service Learning trip and was selected to attend the week long journey with 15 other 1st and 2nd years. This is the pilot program of which other Service trips will be developed for next year. The idea of the program came from a GSB alum who provided the funding for it. The purpose of the trip is to meet with social entrepreneurs who are using business skills to help the underprivileged. We will be visiting three entrepreneurs:
1. Rodrigo Baggio (CDI) http://www.cdi.org.br/
2. Fabio Rosa (IDEAAS) http://www.ideaas.org.br/index_eng.htm
3. Ismael Ferreira (APAEB) www.apaeb.com.br
who each are helping their community in different ways. We will be traveling to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo & Bahia. I’m heading down a day early to relax on the beach and get some sun before we get down to business. This trip fulfills a few goals of mine…getting to know a new group of people, understanding social entrepreneurship in practice, and traveling to Brazil. I can’t wait!