JOHN McCLAIN

Pay it Forward

From our school final school newspaper for the Spring of 2007.

First I’d like to say a big Big thank you to Annie, Cheri, Julia, and everyone who helped put out the last RB, without your hard work I couldn’t go on my last tangent.  You know the movie Pay it Forward with Haley Joel Osment, a young boy figures out a simple but powerful concept, by helping others you create an environment of giving that becomes contagious and a simple concept can change the world. While the movie didn’t win any Academy Awards it did have a great concept.

At Tepper, I see the Pay it Forward mentality really becoming engrained in the culture.  A big reason for this is the hard work of so many graduating students.  We experienced a new concept with the mentorship program, some worked some didn’t.  But for those of us who liked the experience we wanted to augment it and for those of us who didn’t like it we want to take initiative and make a change or fill in the white space as Dr. K would say.  Regardless, so many of my classmates took charge of clubs and student government and delivered an amazing 07.  In a few days the class of 07 won’t be here anymore, I am getting more and more nostalgic every day.  It’s now the class of 08’s time to shine. 

Soon to be second years, you have a huge amount of power in shaping where this school will be in several years.  I am sure many of you really figured this out this past weekend as over 100 admitted students came to see you and hear your thoughts about the program, networking, job searches, etc.  They don’t care about guys like me who won’t be around in 08.  I was extremely impressed by the weekend’s events, from the scale of international festival with wonderful cultural presentations and delicious food booths to a very impressive banquet dinner that included 3 articulate powerful messages delivered by Carisa, Jeremy, and Keenan.  You are going to step back on campus in August, feeling refreshed, everyone will look years younger it’s a crazy phenomenon.  You will have excelled in your internships and will then be thrust into the frenzy that is Game and full-time recruiting.  Just make sure that during this time you pay it forward. 

I came in to Tepper a little (ok very) nervous about what exactly was I going to experience and I was only coming from 400 miles away not several thousand like many of our foreign students.  I was immediately taken under several wings so to speak and because of that I was able to get adjusted to the madness much quicker.  Next year, when the COC or a club wants you to be on an internship panel or GBA comes calling for help on a project, remember who helpful or not we were last year.  I heard so many of the class of 08 talk about the tight knit community at Tepper over the weekend, which is our competitive advantage.  In order to maintain this advantage, it’s now up to each of you to keep the tradition going.  If you weren’t involved in something this year there is still time.  A big reason I enjoyed being at Tepper so much was being able to have an impact on something.  There are too many outlets for creativity and initiative here to pass up.  This is the time to take risks; whether you fail or succeed they pay off.

Well it’s that time in the MBA process, the last mini of year 2.  I have been spending time reflecting on the last two years, all the memories and well getting ready for the next step in life.  I thought maybe the last mini would be easy but it’s presenting many challenges both with course work and with working with the administration on improving the program.  These few months are shaping up to be the best of my life. 

As I have mentioned many times before the social life at Tepper is great.  I just got back from Spring Break in the Dominican Republic with 11 other classmates which was amazing.  This was followed up by an arepa bake-off at my house.  Arepa’s are a tasty breakfast dish that is popular in Venezuela.  Luckily, one of my roommates is an excellent chef and he competed with another classmate.  12 classmates and I were the beneficiaries of the best breakfast I have ever had, complete with blanco queso shipped directly from Venezuela and other homemade dishes, thanks Daniela! 

The last few weeks have also been very intellectually stimulating.  I have read two life changing books.  The first was given as a gift from our class president (thanks Colin) called Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.  I have spent the vast majority of my time at Tepper bolstering my technical skills to be successful in the Finance field.  This book has sent me on the track to becoming a more holistically complete business person.  It talks about SUCCES an acronym for how to be a successful presenter and make people understand and more importantly remember the message I am trying to illustrate.  While I was turning the pages I realized that Tepper is an emersion in SUCCES.  The quantitative classes give you the understanding of difficult business concepts and the qualitative classes provide you with the SUCCES tools to share your knowledge with others.  The other book I read, the best $1.50 I have spent, recently was How to be a Star at Work by Robert Kelley, one of our best professors.  Dr. K outlines a Star Performer model that illustrates how to truly standout and succeed in any working environment.  After reading the book, I have become more aware of the true “Stars” in our class.  These two books are a must read for prospective students, having this knowledge prior to your experience will be very beneficial. 

So now I am on to the future which includes a trip to Singapore for the Graduate Business Conference, which should be another life enhancing experience.  The last one was held in Copenhagen Denmark and included 50+ top business schools from across the world.  This conference gave me a true international prospective of business and B-school.  Again, I realize that at Tepper our students are asked to do more than other schools and respond well to the challenge.  After that I am completing my yearly pilgrimage to the KY. Derby with 15-20 classmates, then graduation, and finally Greece with a number of classmates to celebrate the culmination of 2 years of hard work.  As I leave Tepper, I realize that the class of 09 will be in a better position than my class.  The building has received major upgrades during my time, the program has continually been retooling the curriculum adding impressive faculty like Marvin Goodfriend, the Career Opportunities Center has bolstered there staff and many new companies are coming to campus to recruit.  These are just a few of the improvements that are continually occurring.  I hope that all of you prospective students make the most of your time in B-school.  Tepper provides many unique and amazing opportunities to learn about business and more importantly about yourself.

JOB

Well I guess in my last few posts I failed to mention one of the most important events that has occurred recently.  I accepted a full-time offer from Nationwide Financial Services in Columbus Ohio.  My interview process was pretty straightforward this year, as I have mentioned before I was lucky enough to have an amazing internship with a company and mentor that I hold in high regard so I wasn’t really going to extend myself during the full-time job search. I ended up applying to only 3 companies and pulled out of one.  Nationwide was a company on my radar since my internship search the previous year.  They have a dynamic, extremely positive leader of the program that I will be entering and after listening to her speak on campus I was intrigued. 

After learning about the rotational opportunities and meeting members of the program I was sold.  Lots of people get great jobs after B-school, I was lucky enough to land what I consider to be an ideal job.  I wanted to stay in the Midwest and will also have the opportunity to move throughout the company for 18 months learning the ins and outs of the Insurance industry and Nationwide.  Just like CMU, the people at Nationwide were the biggest selling point, in fact a 2006 CMU alum at Nationwide provided a lot of guidance.  I guess the only downside is I can’t enjoy those Gieco commercials anymore.

Now that I finished my job search, I can fully devote my time to learning (improving on my weaknesses) and enjoying the final few months of the best two years of my life.  Classes like Managing Intellectual Capital have taken me out of my comfort zone of Wall St. related topics and have really broadened my horizons.  I can say that for all of you who find yourself in my position in two years, enjoy this time.  For me, I am seeing new parts of the world.  I went to China and Thailand and will now go visit the Dominican Republic.  After that, I am off to Singapore and Malaysia and will finish this whirl wind adventure by enjoying some summer sun in the Greek Islands

and who knows where else. 

   

A few people have mentioned that I should include some of the photo’s from the events that I have mentioned over the past few months on the website, it’s definitely difficult picking the best ones.  These photos illustrate what Tepper really is.  This month the website is geared towards the “character of a B-school”, for me I didn’t have to think a minute as to exactly what Tepper’s character is.  Everyone com es here for different reasons but we all have similar goals, to leave the program a better person than when we entered.  It’s simple but it encompasses both academics and personal experiences.  While I’ve been at Tepper I certainly have busted myself in the classroom to take advantage of the plethora of knowledge around me from my fellow classmates and professors.  More importantly to me, I have seen and done so many things that I most likely would have never thought possible at the time.  I have learned so much about so many different cultures and have been able to share these experiences with many close friends.  I don’t toss that last word around lightly, it’s amazing how many lifelong friends you can make in the program because of the “character of our business school”.  To me Tepper is all about challenging yourself in every aspect of life.  These photos serve as just a brief look at what I have been able to experience while here. 

The first picture shows the class of 2008 standing guard over a fence they painted in the middle of campus during QSRP.  The next was taken for the Poker Club, we have 1 event per semester with the goal of helping local charities.  This time we raised money for the Animal Rescue League.  The next shows Tepper students using our “quantitative” skills at Casino Night, an annual social event in the fall.  The next is from Thailand where, 5 other classmates and I road a water buffalo.  The next is the group from China at Beijing University, followed by the Summer Palace in Beijing, followed by the Great Wall (relaxing after a long hike).  We then go to Shanghai and the Stock Exchange, followed by my “hotel” in Phuket, Thailand (really roughing it here).  Then Brian Cole, a second year student, feeding the elephant that carried him around for awhile in Phuket.  Followed by Tepper students and partners at our Dean’s house for a Wine Club event.  Where else do you have a Dean who openly invites students into his house?  The next may be a personal favorite, this followed our inaugural Poker Charity Event that benefited a local women’s shelter.  You can’t live in Pittsburgh without routing for the Steelers.  Here’s a Superbowl celebration, hopefully you are lucky enough to be here when they win number 6.  Finally, we have Groundhog Day part 2.  This was the second time up there and this year Phil said spring is coming soon, although it’s hard to tell right now.

Groundhog Day

14 Tepper students made a pilgrimage over the weekend to visit the prognosticator of prognosticators Punxsutawney Phil for the 101st Groundhog Day. For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition here’s a refresher. A bunch of 50 year old men, the inner circle, dress in suits and top hats, wake up early on the morning of February 2nd and pull a groundhog out of a fake tree stump atop Gobbler’s Knob.

This event is absolutely amazing because thousands of people stand in the freezing cold through the night eagerly anticipating Phil’s prediction. We were treated to a fireworks show, dancing, and of course some snow. When it was all said and done, Phil said Spring was soon to come and I was ready to head back to the RV, as I had lost feeling in my appendages several hours prior. Groundhog Day serves as another opportunity for us to step back from the serious and frantic world of business and really enjoy a unique event with classmates and friends.