The Fabled Darden Cup

In theory, the title of Darden Student Association President is the highest pressure position there is for a student.  There are others, though, who believe that social chairs in varying clubs and sections have it the worst.  Or perhaps the president of the Darden Capital Management Club feels the most heat, responsible for managing a chunk of Darden’s all-important endowment.

I, however, humbly submit a fourth option, that the highest pressure position on grounds is Athletics Representative for Section E.

It sounds crazy, unless you know about the legendary Darden Cup.  The Cup (yes, I’m capitalizing it for the rest of the blog entry) is awarded to the section that earns the most points during a series of athletic and community competitions held throughout the school year.   Sports include softball, basketball, dodge ball, a 5k race, and cricket.  Sections also can rack up points by volunteering in events like the Boys and Girls Club Bike Race.

All the sections take great pride in competing for the Cup, but none more than Section E.  Coming into the 2011-2012 year, Section E had taken home the trophy three consecutive years.  As the newly elected Athletics Representative, it was my job to motivate the section on to an unprecedented four-peat.

It wasn’t easy—Sections B and C quickly showed their superior athletic prowess.  They were bigger, faster, stronger.  Section D leveraged its close-knit bond to come up big in several community events.

Section E, though, stayed in the mix with its unbeatable ground game.  Time and time again, my classmates answered the bell. 

Can everyone pitch a few bucks in to buy a bat for softball?  Done.

Are you able to stop by the game to sign in for participation points?  It’s out of my way, but I’ll do it with a smile.

Second years, can you take some time to participate in the cup for us, even though you’re busy looking for jobs and enjoying your last months at Darden?  Absolutely.

As the year progressed, we stayed at or near the top of the standings with pure heart and organizational grit.

That wasn’t to say we didn’t have our great feats of “athletic” heroism.  A thrilling, last-second “Final Jeopardy” style question catapulted us to victory in trivia.  Sublime performances by two second year students carried us to a dominant win in bowling.  And, an improbable rally in dodge ball saw us rise from last to first in a true underdog story that rivals Vince Vaughn’s.

This year’s competition was the closest in recent memory, with four of the five sections still in striking distance with just two events to go.  After a rousing cricket tournament, Section B pulled ahead of Section E by the slimmest of margins.

The last event was the Darden Cares 5k race—an all too perfect time to shine for the section with the unbeatable ground game.  Section E mates Lauren Byrne, Chris Short, Caroline Burns and I spent hours planning out a comprehensive game plan to maximize our point intake. 

 

It paid off.  Everyone had a hand in it, from winning a costume bonus to bringing out students and faculty (thanks, Professors Weiss, Snell and Wicks!) in droves to run the event.  John Cote led a pack of Section E runners to the finish (earning the top 5 times) and it was enough to push us to the victory.

The cup was ours again.  Oops, I meant The Cup.

And while I’m obviously joking about my job being the highest pressure one at Darden, the victory took the weight of the world off my shoulders.

 I know this may feel like a one-sided view of the Darden Cup, but I believe it carries takeaways for all of us.  At Darden, we all want to win and we want to be the best.  In some ways, the Cup is an outlet for our competitive spirits.  However, I’ve also been extremely impressed with the sportsmanship and class the vast majority of my classmates showed throughout the year.  We’re not whiny 15 year olds sitting in the dugout crying about playing time anymore.  I hope we learned that we can still compete at 100% effort while having great attitudes and affinity towards each other.  Even better, we raised thousands of dollars for great causes in the process.

The Cup also taught me values and challenges of leadership, organization and motivation.  Bringing 64 people together for a common cause involves loads of hard work, lots of collaboration, an extra heavy dose of humility, a positive and enthusiastic culture, and most importantly a great group of colleagues.

I don’t know how, but Section E has been blessed with all of those elements four years running.  Being a part of such a wonderful group has been a total joy.

That being said, I don’t envy my replacement for next year—the pressure is already on to continue the legacy.

Leap Year, Leap of Faith

I’m a pretty risk-averse person at heart.   That typically means I don’t take a chance on something without doing the calculations first.  I’ll do everything I can to maximize the probability of a positive outcome—work a little longer on a project, or pay a couple bucks more for the right gift.  Give me surefire bloop single over a chance at a homer any day.  The simple phrase “roll the dice” kind of freaks me out.

But obviously, there are times in life where you have to take a leap.  That’s how this former TV reporter ended up at Darden.  I saw that my industry was changing, my development was slowing, my ambition waning.  It was time for a change. 

I wasn’t the only one seeking new opportunities.  Almost all of my classmates gave up good jobs to return to school—it was a gamble that we believed was worth it, so we jumped at the chance to come to Charlottesville.

Now, the Class of 2013 is about to leap again.  The first chapter of our Darden experience is nearing an end.  We have just one more week of core classes in our sections, one more week of learning team meetings, and we’re currently choosing our electives for the spring.  This is kind of a sad time.  I’m going to miss meeting in room 293B every night, where intense and remarkable collaboration meshed with surprise birthday celebrations and impromptu dance lessons.  And, I’m incredibly attached to Section E— room 120 is where we witnessed Drew Barrett’s wolf shirt howl, where Leo Hergenroeder and I took opposing sides on countless class debates, where unsuspecting prospective students became sketch-a-scholars, and where 62 of the smartest people I know dominated during simulation competitions.

After exams, spring break and electives we’re on to our summer internships, where many of us will be dipping our toe into completely new waters.  We’ll have new job responsibilities, new cities to live in, new colleagues to work with and learn from, and a new career trajectory.  It’s extremely exciting, and yes, a little bit scary.

These are the thoughts that cross my mind on leap day of leap year—where strangely enough, it feels like we’re moments away from actually making our own leaps of faith.  The skies are beautiful, the wind is at our backs and the sun is shining joyfully down on us.

Now, all that’s left to do is fly.

Mountaintop or Valley?

During the winter, heavy fog often rolls into Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.  In some ways, it symbolizes what our futures looks like as MBA First Years—cloudy and uncertain.

Over the past two months, most of us have thrown ourselves headfirst into internship recruiting.  It is a hectic, time-consuming and extremely difficult process.  Consultants practice dozens of case interview questions.  Marketers mow through mock behavioral interviews.  And bankers are blitzed all at one time during a week where candidates can have interviews with as many as five companies in a single day!

Our noses are stuck in books and online research.  We build spreadsheets listing our strengths and weaknesses, teamwork and leadership stories, favorite and least favorite marketing campaigns.  Some days, the only person you see is yourself—in the mirror as you practice your two minute pitch.

This, my friends, is being in the fog.  Will the hard work pay off?  Will a company see and value your abilities?  Will you convince them you are a fit for their culture?  Where are you?  Headed towards the top of the mountain or still wandering through the valley?

When you’re in the thick of things, it’s  almost impossible to tell.

Even more challenging, you don’t have long to break through— interviews last between 30 minutes and an hour.  And, almost immediately after you shake the interviewer’s hand, the fog thickens.  It takes days, sometimes weeks to know if you’ve moved on to final rounds, where the process repeats itself again.

And then… it’s over.  The fog clears, and you’re on top of the world, offer in hand, looking down on the horizon that is the rest of your first year at Darden.  That’s scenario #1.

Scenario #2 isn’t so rosy.  Sometimes it’s a “thanks for your interest in us, but we’ve decided to go in a different direction” phone call.  Other times it’s a stock mass rejection e-mail.  Worse still, some other recruiters are never heard from again.

These moments shake your confidence to the core.  They crush your self-esteem.

All you can do is get back up and jump back in.  Admit your faults and correct them.  Fine tune your stories.  Get help from the Career Development Center or a Second Year.

We are told constantly that all works out, but that can be hard to see when things are so hazy.

This is an interesting time for First Years at Darden: are we at the mountaintop or in the depths of the valley?

That depends on the day, who you’re asking… and what the weather’s like.

Adversity.

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.

 -Arthur Golden

Interview like a Yoga Instructor

If life is a cycle of breath, we currently find ourselves mid-exhale at Darden.  Exams are over.  Winter Break is here.

And yet, the next inhale is just upon the horizon—interviews.  We’re still dropping resumes, and the invite lists are starting to trickle in from companies.  That means there’s no real rest during the holidays.  Students must find time to practice and prepare for interviews in between shopping for (and opening) presents, job treks and family time.

I’m dialed in, back in Charlottesville after an awesome job trek to the Bay Area.  The goal? Concentrate on landing a great internship.  It won’t be the first time I’ll be working instead of playing this time of year—reporters have to work most holidays, and I’ve spent many a Christmas Day hunting down stories instead of drinking eggnog.  This time, though, it’s different.

The truth is interviews are intimidating, even though I’ve been a broadcaster for my entire career.  And so I’m reading every possible marketing website, scouring the Darden company Wiki, and building elaborate interview spreadsheets.  I’ll also be doing a number of mock interviews with second year students, CDC faculty, and prospective companies. 

That being said, I’m taking this time to regain my balance.  It’s no secret that hobbies go on hiatus during first year at Darden.  I used to rock climb three or four times a week: I’ve probably climbed that many times the entire semester.

One of my other favorite forms of fitness is yoga.  Climbing is my favorite activity, but yoga is my most necessary one.  It helps me breathe.  It improves my flexibility.  It brings me peace and balance.

In Nashville, I did Vinyasa Flow Yoga weekly.  I’ve yet to do it a single time in Charlottesville.  However, break has given me time to Bikram Yoga four days in a row, and I’m loving it.

So there I am, in 105 degree heat, locked into triangle pose, drenched in sweat.  In the background I hear the instructor’s calm, steady voice.

“Bend until your right knee is at a 90 degree angle… eyes gazing over your thumb… good… gently push your elbow against your knee… breathe through your nose… hold… and hold… and hold.”

I listened, I followed, I acted.  That’s when I realized something: I want to interview like a yoga instructor.  Allow me to explain:

1. Practice, practice practice- You didn’t become a yoga instructor without being good at yoga.  Similarly, you don’t become an interview expert overnight.   Practice case questions, learn more about your field, and research the companies. 

2. Cool, calm and collected- If you pull someone off the street, put them in a room that’s hotter than the Sahara, bend them up like a pretzel and tell them not to move they’ll probably freak out.  And yet, the key to yoga is calm.  Students pick the calm vibes up from the instructor.  Likewise, calmness equals confidence in that interview room, and companies need to know that you’ll be calm in high pressure situations.

3. Rehearsed, but genuine- Instructors often repeat the same lines.  Go back, way back, fall back… etc.  But to some extent, that’s okay.  Students need to know which foot to pick up, or how their weight should be distributed.  That stuff needs to be right every time.  Your “tell me about yourself” pitch needs to be the same way.  However, you still have to be passionate and care about your story, much like an instructor must genuinely care about his or her class.

4. Be flexible- This one is a double meaning.  Ha!  Sorry.  The skill level of yoga students varies with each session, and invariably a student will need specific help from an instructor.  And so, mid-class, mid-pose, mid-sentence, an instructor must be able to call out guidance on the fly to that student.  The same goes in interviewing.  You’re gonna get hit with a question you didn’t prepare for.  How well can you adapt what you’ve practiced to this unexpected challenge?

5. Have fun- Let’s be honest: not too many folks would practice yoga unless it was a.) good for them and b.) enjoyable.  The best instructors aren’t afraid to laugh, flash a smile, and engage their students.  Great interviewees must do the same.  Why would a company want to bring you in to their family if you don’t have a personality?  There are a million other candidates out there with great resumes gunning for the same job, and I bet a bunch of them are pretty cool people.  They’ll win the tiebreaker every time.

So there you have it.  Interview like a yoga instructor.

Darden, finish that exhale and then take a deep breath—we’re not done yet.

From the Foxhole

High pressure events have a way of knocking us out of rhythm, and I'd classify exams and resume drops as high pressure events.

Darden first years are squarely in the middle of exams and the job hunt.  As a result, my faithful bi-weekly blog entry rhythm went out the window two weeks ago.  It's not that I didn't have any spare time, it's just that I had WAY less of it.

So, here's the update: we've begun submitting our resumes and cover letters to the companies we'd like to intern with.  The networking is over, but the interview preparation process is just around the corner.  That means hours of industry research, hours of structuring responses to likely questions, hours practicing in front of the mirror, and hours of mock interviews.

This is where we lean on our incredible second years, like my SY Coach Devin.  Devin is an absolute rockstar.  In the midst of her own constantly changing, busy life, Devin found time to leave massive amounts of ink on my resume and cover letter, helped connect me with folks who can help with my internship search, and offered honest criticism of my two minute pitch.  Most importantly, my coach is a master of motivation.  She's positive, encouraging, understanding.  Her confidence in me gives me confidence in me.

Devin doing an all important task: Darden tailgate setup.

Devin's not alone.  SYs are always willing to sit down during First Coffee to talk about their internship experience.  They share their insight on how they made it through interview season.  It is this kind of selflessness that separates Darden: we are truly here to help one another succeed, and I treasure that spirit.

Lastly, I'm in the middle of exams.  Like right now.  My left side brain is yelling, "the finance exam won't take itself!"  My right side brain, though, needs a moment to write something fun (although I'm enjoying finance way more than I thought I would).

This is by far the most daunting exam period we've had- five tests in six days.  And, they're not fluff exams either: strategy, operations, accounting, finance, econ.  Fortunately, I feel prepared for most of them, thanks to an awesome group of professors and the patience of my learning team.

LT 54, Hillary you should have eaten pizza with us that night!

OK, time's up. Right brain wins.  It's back to my foxhole (aka my desk) and my new rhythm- the exam rhythm- one driven by the cadence of laptop keys and page flipping.

Letter to Last Year’s Me (and to this Year’s Applicants)

Dear Jeff (Insert your name here if you hope to be part of Darden’s class of 2014),

It’s Thursday evening and you’ve just finished another tough day of running and gunning at work.  You’re tired and frustrated.  I know the feeling, because I am you.

(Okay, applicants, I’m not you, but you get the point.)

Anyways, I’m writing to remind you that not long ago, you realized it was time for a change.  Remember the day the light switch flipped on?

You knew it was time for the next stage of your journey.  Sure, you’ve been successful at your current career.  You might even have some trophies on your shelf, some fancy documents in frames on the wall, and some accolades on your resume (which will be SERIOUSLY reformatted one year from now, by the way).

But deep in your heart, you know you’re capable of even more.  You can have a bigger impact.  You can take on more responsibility.  You can be a leader.

Obviously, that stuff doesn’t happen overnight.  There is so much to learn, from people who’ve done it and from people who can teach it.  You’ve got to give it a try in a safe environment, where you can afford to make mistakes.  This has to be a place that welcomes new ideas, doesn’t push you down, and doesn’t restrict what you’re capable of.   It helps if this place surrounds you with smart, successful people who have the same goals.  These folks want to get to the top, but they want you to get there too.  As such, they’ll take their own spare time to help you, and they won’t grab opportunities at the cost of your success.  They’ll be your friends and your teammates.

These people are your classmates, and this place is the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

I know it’s the right place because I’m here right now, and believe me, life is awesome.  Granted, class is HARD.  Case method involves continuous class participation, constant thinking, lots of reading and lots of learning team time.  In fact, you’ll work harder at school than you currently work at work.  But trust me, it’ll be interesting stuff and you’ll learn a ton (WACC isn’t just a football conference (sic), Five Forces isn’t a Star Wars reference, and Crystal Ball really can help you understand the future).

On top of class and homework, there is something going on every night.  There are sporting events, social events and charity events (FYI you’ll end up taking the Darden Cup entirely too seriously).  And, there’s a networking event every day.  There are on grounds companies to talk to and off grounds companies to reach out to.  There are brand challenges and consulting competitions.  You’ll still want to rock climb and write songs on the piano (good luck scheduling that stuff in!).  Also, your mom, your college buddies, and the guy who currently occupies the adjacent cubicle will want to call and chat (always call your mom back first).

There won’t be time for everything, but that’s the point.  Great leaders strike the right balance, and Darden is here to help you become a great leader.

So, keep up the good work at the office, but be sure to crush the GMAT and get that application in on time. 

Darden won’t be easy.  You will be exhausted.  You will be tested.  You will be shaken.  It will be worth every minute.

You’re getting better, getting stronger.

And, you have a future- one both of us should be excited about.

Best,

Jeff

P.S. In all seriousness, drop me an e-mail if you're interested in finding out more about Darden.  TangJ13@Darden.Virginia.edu

                                       Me, in another lifetime, during the Nashville Flood in 2010