Supply Chain Management Degree

Hello again Kelley world! I do not know most of you, but if any of you have been following the Kelley Indianapolis Biz Blog since its origin then you might remember me. I was an undergrad student/athlete from 2003-2008 when the Kelley School of Business-Indianapolis started the Biz Blog. I have a Marketing Degree and Supply Chain Management Degree;  I also played soccer at IUPUI. I have found my way back to Indianapolis via my career path and I have been asked to rejoin the Biz Blog team.

I am very excited to be a part of this team again. WOW, The Kelley School here in Indianapolis has grown tremendously in the few short years since I graduated.

I have had some pretty amazing jobs in my young career (Manager of event marketing tours for PlayStation, EA Sports, LG, and Sony). These jobs along with my passion for fitness have  led me to becoming a business owner here in Indianapolis. Jared Byczko (another Kelley alum) and myself opened CrossFit NapTown back in October of 2011 at 609 N. Delaware St. Indianapolis, IN 46203. www.crossfitnaptown.com

I never truly thought I would become a business owner while sitting through all of my Marketing courses, but my various career choices led me in the direction of becoming an entrepreneur.

Over my next few weeks/post I will talk about the trials and tribulations that my business partner and I encountered while opening CrossFit NapTown and how the Kelley school prepared us for our endeavor. I can say with 100% honesty that we both felt very prepared for our venture due to our course structure as undergrads. We talked many times how our I-core project became real and how the steps we took during that semester in college become real over the course of 6-8 months while we prepared our new business.

As with any new business there have been a few speed bumps in our path, but for the most part our planning and preperation has paid off. Jared has a management background and I have a marketing background; when we combine our skill sets we have a pretty well oiled business machine.

Until next time stay warm and stay healthy.

I enjoy helping students to find ways to study abroad to meet their international studies programs requirement.  I thoroughly enjoy meeting with students who were admitted into a program and then help them navigate the confusing documentation process.  What are the “barriers” to studying abroad?

That is a good question…

Myth 1:  “Studying abroad costs more money.”

• Truth:  Students who participate in Kelley programs register through Bloomington and pay Bloomington rates.   If you register for 16 credits for the London Internship program, you pay the Bloomington rate for 16 credits ($5,000).  16 credits at IUPUI $4,300.  ALSO you can get business scholarships to study!!
  • Some programs do require additional fees

Myth 2:  “Studying abroad will set back my graduation.”

• Truth:  Some Kelley abroad programs offer courses that count towards the human resources management degree, the supply chain management degree, international studies degree, the accounting degree, the marketing degree, and the finance degree.  This does not include any general education classes offered at each program.  THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO NOT CONSIDER STUDYING ABROAD.

Myth 3:  “I don’t have a world language.”

• Truth:  Do you need a language to study in London?  No.  Do you need a language to study in Australia?  No.  China?  Yes.  Hong Kong?  Maybe not.  If you are going to Spain and completing an internship, should you know some Spanish?  Yes.  Not all programs require a world language.

Search programs (iabroad.iu.edu) you would like and meet with an advisor.  What could it hurt?  If you cannot meet with an advisor, why not meet one online on November 17th from 5:00-7:00pm.  Just log into http://breeze.iu.edu/ksbiabroad.  I look forward to virtually meeting you!  

I read a fascinating article in the Financial Times today (on.ft.com/n1vjS8) about Ted Weschler, a hedge fund manager who spent $5 million in charity auctions to secure lunch with Warren Buffet.  On Monday, Berkshire Hathaway announced that Mr. Weschler will be brought into the company next year in a management role.  More impressively, Mr. Weschler will be one of the two or three people who will manage the firm's more than $66 billion equity and debt portfolio after Mr. Buffett, who is now over 80, leaves the company.

$5 million for lunch seems like an extraordinary amount of money for lunch.  Heck, it IS an extraordinary amount of money for lunch...but compared with the earnings potential of a Berkshire Hathaway executive, it's a drop in the diamond-studded platinum bucket.

What, one might ask, does any of this have to do with us -- members of the Kelley community who likely don't have $5 million, or a track record of managing billions of dollars in assets, to bring to a lunch with the world's most famous investor?

Whether it's a $5 million lunch or a five minute conversation at "Meet the Recruiter," opportunities for networking rely on the same principles: be prepared, be enthusiastic, and, when opportunities don't present themselves, make them.

Be prepared.  Have your "elevator pitch" ready.  If you meet someone at a campus networking event who works in the industry you want to enter, what are you going to say? If you had five minutes with a recruiter for your dream job, what would you tell her?  As one of the top 10 business schools, Kelley provides regular opportunities to interact with industry.  You could meet the CEO of a local company at the annual golf scramble; don't let that be the first time you've thought about what to say.

Be enthusiastic.  You are your greatest champion.  You don't have to be a raging narcissist to enjoy talking about yourself.  Focus on the things that excite you.  Networking gives you the opportunity to speak to someone in a related field about your passions.  That's pretty amazing, so enjoy it.

Make opportunities where you need them.  The Kelley community is vast and represents many nations, states, industries, sectors, companies, and positions.  If no formal networking event matches your interests, leverage the reach of the Kelley brand.  Speak to your professors about their colleagues, their past work experience, and their contacts.  Kelley places many students each semester in undergraduate business internships; has someone on campus done an internship at a company where you'd like to meet someone? Make that connection, and you can forge your own contacts with the organization.   Our faculty have worked in a myriad of industries and positions; has a lecturer worked at the firm you'd like to join?  Make an appointment to have an informational interview with them. 

Every day at Kelley, we meet people - recruiters, speakers, visiting lecturers, fellow students, and more.  Every meeting is an opportunity to build our brand, to prostleytize, to lay the foundation for future reward (personal, professional, financial, etc.).  Whether you're pursuing an undergraduate finance degree or a supply chain MBA, opportunities to network are everywhere on campus.

Even without a million dollar lunch.

 In response to Prof. Kim Saxton's excitement for the beginning of school, I would have to say that I too heavily anticipate the beginning of my last fall semester in pursuit of my Marketing and Supply Chain Management degree. The last month of my life has been really exciting with the 3rd annual Indiana Innovation Showcase and getting hired at Indiana's foremost Search Engine Optimization company, Slingshot SEO . 

The Innovation Showcase was a great showing of some really cool startup companies locally and even nationally. Amongst the booths of super Indiana startups stood a stage for elevator style pitches of companies aspiring to join them in next year's showcase. If you've never tested the waters of this environment I highly suggest it, because of its high potiential for networking and the ability to share your passions on an open stage. Some of my top highlights of the showcase include learning more about up and coming ebook solution provider CourseLoad LLC, listening to a really cool pitch from James Paden on his new side project Emaillium, and chatting it up with my favorite Chief Research Officer/Future Boss Jeremy Dearringer from Slingshot SEO. 

I have to blame my recent internship offer from Slingshot SEO on the experiential learning and tremendous educators here at Kelley Indy (a sponsor of the Showcase). I really have some of the best business professors. I look forward to learning as a part of the Slingshot family, after all the best way to learn the science of marketing is to experiment and actually do it. I really can’t wait to return to the excitement that is Kelley Indianapolis during the school year. 

"Focus on the Journey, not the destination. Joy is not found in finishing an activity but in doing it!" 
Follow my journey on twitter @jckilgore 

  

So being that this is my first post, I thought it might be best if I introduce myself. Obviously my name is Claire and I began the Kelley MBA program in Indianapolis in Fall of 2008. I received an undergrad in Journalism with minors in Business and Spanish from IU Bloomington. Since then I have spent my career in advertising and pr agencies.

 

I recently began a new job with a communications agency as the Account Manager for Rolls Royce. And I will be the first one to tell you that I am so grateful to be in my first operations class, ever. As with any new job, there is always a learning curve. But with this one in particular, never having worked in engineering, operations or manufacturing, I had/have so much to learn.

 

Here I am in a manufacturing environment every single day with people that are speaking in terms that seem like a foreign language to me. I cannot tell you how great it is and how much I look forward to attending my Tuesday night operations class. Everything I learn in class is also a lot of what I am learning at work every day. Every day I see what we discuss in class, like Process Excellence and Smooth Even Flow, constantly being discussed and applied at Rolls.

 

I have always known that I could never leave the workforce for two years in order to enter a full-time program, just based on the amount of real-world experience that I would have to forgo. But now, I am experiencing the best that education has to offer. I am applying what I learn every day. This has been so enlightening and has sparked my curiosity to learn as much as possible. In fact, I began this program with a plan to get a marketing degree. Yes, I still plan to do that, as I want to continue to grow in the marketing and communications industry. But I have also decided to take on the Global Supply Chain major as well. Because it is so exciting to learn about a new industry and be able to see the big picture through both educational training and real-world experience, I am going to continue learning as much as I can in that field as well.