Tag: millenials

At the end of the year, I like to look back at our analytics to see which of our blog posts were the most popular with readers throughout the year. It’s an interesting exercise in reflection—particularly because the 2016-2017 year commemorated our Centennial, which we celebrated this March.

In 2016, we said goodbye to a beloved dean and welcomed a new one, celebrated a #1 ranking and kicked off our Centennial. What did 2017 have in store?

Take a look back at 2017 through our 10 most popular blog posts:

10. Managing the Millennial Wave

As a millennial, the enormous interest in learning about managing millennials (and my favorite, communicating with us—“Millennials, we’re just like you!”) is both fascinating and, I will say, a little amusing. But intergenerational communication and collaboration are important. And because millennials are increasingly entering the workforce, questions about retention, job satisfaction, and what makes us tick are (or should be) important to management.

Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior Andrew Knight presented his research on the topic in August—including some of the misconceptions about the oft-cited “narcissistic” and “entitled” generation.

Laura and Adam Stumpf

9. Stumpy’s Spirits: A grain to glass startup

Adam Stumpf, PMBA ’14, has defined a unique niche within the small-batch spirits category of the distilling industry. The ingredients for his brand, Stumpy’s Spirits, are sourced from the Illinois farm surrounding his craft distillery. And the farm has been in his family for eight generations.

Adam answered some of our questions about his PMBA experience, securing funding for his small-batch spirits venture, and the not-so-glamorous side of entrepreneurship.

8. Lacob Speaker Series opens with Cardinals v. Cubs

The Joseph S. Lacob Business of Sports Speaker Series provides students opportunities to network and interact with sports insiders working at all levels of industry. Kicking off the 2017 series (and Opening Day) was an exciting matchup of owners of baseball rivals the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, Bill DeWitt III and Tom Ricketts.

7. Are you ready to fail? 

Raisaa dutifully chronicled her first year in the United States and as an MBA student at Olin—including the not-so-wonderful parts, in the form of internship and job rejections.

In “Are you ready to fail?” Raisaa perfectly captures the necessary grit and can-do attitude needed to survive a rigorous MBA program—or life, for that matter. As it landed on our list of most popular blog posts of 2017, our readers obviously felt the same.

6. Poets & Quants ranks Olin Undergrad Program #2

This time last year, we were celebrating Olin’s #1 undergraduate ranking in Poets & Quants. In 2017, Poets & Quants ranked Olin’s undergraduate program #2 nationally—second only to Wharton—after the ranking experienced an influx of participating institutions, from 50 in its inaugural year to 82 in 2017.

“We are very proud to be at the top of Poets & Quants’ undergraduate rankings for the second year in a row. It’s a testament to Olin’s academic excellence and student satisfaction, particularly in a much larger field of top business schools,” said Dean Mark Taylor.

5. Our lunch with Warren Buffett

What’s a trip to Omaha without a business lunch with Warren Buffett? A group of 20 students met the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for lunch and an intimate Q&A session, where Buffett commented on the pressing issues of the day, from nuclear weapons to income inequality.

He also did not shy away from reflecting on his personal life, emphasizing the importance of family and true friendship: “You don’t feel bad about your life if you feel good about your family,” he told students.

4. Gear up for Meet the Firms on 9/13 and 9/19

Meet the Firms, Olin’s largest networking and recruiting event of the year, is always a topic of intense interest for students. The event offers students a chance to rub elbows with representatives from hundreds of national and global companies seeking interns and full-time employees.

Firms that attended this year’s event include Emerson, Equifax, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, RubinBrown LLP, Walmart, and World Wide Technology, among others.

3.  Olin welcomes new faculty

2017 was a record-breaking year for Olin faculty. We welcomed five tenure-track female professors, as well as a female visiting professor in economics from Carnegie Mellon.

In addition, the MBA Class of 2019 reported an uptick in gender equity, with 39 percent women.

Among the newcomers:

• Ashley Hardin, assistant professor of organizational behavioral
• Xing Huang, assistant professor of finance
• Karam Kang, visiting professor of economics
• Zhenyu Liao, postdoc for organizational behavior
• Hannah Perfecto, assistant professor of marketing
• Rachel Ruttan, assistant professor of organizational behavior
• Sydney Scott, assistant professor of marketing

2. Richa’s story: From Bollywood to Olin MBA 

Bollywood star Richa Gangopadhyay is a recent alumna of the Olin Full-Time MBA Program. Richa walked away from fame and a five-year film career in India to pursue a career in business.

Richa shared her exceptional journey from suburban Indo-American girl to A-list actress to Olin with Poets & Quants in March, which we excerpted on the Olin Blog:

“There is something to be said about the Olin community. It’s incredibly close-knit and there’s just this sense of camaraderie among the students and the faculty that really appealed to me. It has a real eclectic blend of students from different backgrounds. It wasn’t just different professional backgrounds, but different thought leaders as well. For me, an appeal was being able to share my unique experiences in a business realm as a film actress. I have a really divergent perspective to share through the practical learning opportunities that I had.”

1. Fashion startup aims to ‘romp up’ men’s fashion

Wherever you land on the issue of rompers for men (and according to your social media feedback, many of you are decidedly against the trend), there was a lot of shared community pride surrounding the fact that Olin alumnus Daniel Webster-Clark, BSBA ’11 and MSF ’11, and three friends were the brains behind the fashion startup that “broke the internet.”

Daniel’s RompHim garnered attention from GQ, Vogue, and Buzzfeed—not to mention a lot of spirited feedback on #RompHim. He spoke to the Olin Blog about how RompHim came to be, making the move from finance to fashion, and life as an entrepreneur.

“Millennials in the workplace” is a big topic among non-millennials—both in the media and at work. So we tapped Andrew Knight, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, to shed some light on his research regarding this intriguing generation. He presented his findings in a recent webinar, identifying three trends that organizations are facing:

1. Millennials are difficult to retain.

2. Millennials prize their personal lives over their work lives.

3. Millennials want opportunities to grow and develop.

I don’t think that anyone would argue that #2 and #3 aren’t positive or even natural from generation to generation. So let’s focus on the “difficult to retain” trend. Why? First off, millennials identify less and less with institutions, religion, and even voting. So they certainly aren’t going to drink the company Kool-Aid easily! They are always open to new endeavors and don’t readily choose to stay with a current employer for long. They want opportunities and they want to “work to live” (not necessarily the other way around). And when millennials work, they want to work in a less rigid environment, with plenty of mentoring and coaching along the way.

Millennials are often accused of being “entitled”  and “narcissistic.” However, as Professor Knight pointed out, every American generation has been called the “most narcissistic” to date. And many of the measures which ladder up to the label of narcissistic—”self-esteem,” “drive,” and “persistence”—also build up to being a leader, which isn’t a bad thing.

So how do we best embrace and nurture the Millennial generation? Professor Knight shared some key thoughts to this point:

1. Avoid stereotyping millennials as “entitled.”

2. Recognize that this generation is the most diverse generation in history.

3. Offer career opportunities within an organization, even if a promotion is not available or appropriate. Consider a geographic, functional, or divisional change.

4. Redefine rigid roles and rules to address the fact that millennials value their personal lives more than their work lives. Consider flexible time, flexible roles, or a flexible location policy.

5. Give the “annual” review more often than once a year. Millennials are hungry to grow and develop; they want coaching, ongoing feedback and opportunities.

Millennials are here to stay, and managers need to think about how to better structure positions and policies to better attract, develop, and keep this pool of talent.

Be sure to check out the “Managing the Millennial Wave” seminar scheduled for February 2018, as well as our other management and leadership offerings. 

How millennial are you? Check out the Pew Center’s 14-question quiz.

The workforce is changing. Gallup estimates millennial turnover costs the U.S. economy $30.5 billion a year. But, is it really a millennial issue or simply a generational issue? And, regardless, as leaders, what we can do about it? How are companies “bridging the gap” in recruitment, employee engagement, and community engagement? These were issues vetted to a standing room only audience at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center for the kick-off the of 2017 Leadership Perspectives series.

The forum was moderated by Yemi Akande-Bartsch, Ph.D., president & CEO of FOCUS St. Louis, and panelists included David Karandish, co-founder and chairman, Equity.com; Ann Marr, vice president, Global Human Resources, World Wide Technology, Inc.; Mike Koehler vice president, Human Resources, Express Scripts; and Billie Bright, corporate consultant with Dale Carnegie Training.

“It’s not just the millennial mindset, it’s generational,” shared Koehler.  “Each generation has its share of young go-getters who are high achievers. What’s slightly different about this group of go-getters is the access to senior leadership they want, so creating internal forums where senior leaders are present and accessible has provided that opportunity.”

Billie Bright and Ann Marr concurred. And, Marr noted creating internal groups led by senior leaders has proven successful for World Wide Technology. “I chair the women’s group and through the outreach efforts, we’ve seen several women promoted to senior positions. The internal networks provide access to senior leaders and the opportunity to share across the business,” she shared.

Companies, too, are looking to urban areas to recruit and in some cases opening satellite offices. With technology today, working remotely is easier to more acceptable.

David Karandish, a millennial himself, shared millennials want to feel connected, they want meaning. At Answers.com the company he co-founded and successfully sold, millennials were not employees, but team members. “The feeling of belonging, of being part of something is important,” he noted. Now, he’s doing it again with Equity.com.

Join Olin’s Executive MBA program on April 4 for a discussion on the myths and realities of Managing Millennials, with a focus on practical principles for bridging generational divides.

Deans and directors, marketing and admissions managers for Executive MBA programs are gathering at Olin Business School this week for the 2014 Midwest Regional Meeting of the Executive MBA Council. The two day gathering is taking place at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education and Conference Center on the Washington University in St. Louis campus.

“Our industry is looking to change itself,” said Michael Desiderio, Executive Director of the EMBA Council at the opening session of the St. Louis meeting. “We need to continue to understand what businesses are doing to retain and attract talent and continue to
see how we can connect. We need to rethink our curriculum and continue to
expand our scope with our research.”

Record attendance is expected with representatives from some of the top business schools in the country, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, The Ohio State University and other outstanding Midwestern schools.

“Will Millenials Today Want an EMBA Tomorrow?” panel participants from left: Ann Carrel, Northern Illinois Univ.;Toby Cortelyou, Univ. of Chicago Booth School of Business; Suzanne Waller, Univ. of Notre Dame; Zach Odem; Univ. of Missouri; Sarah Gibbs, Olin Business School.

In addition to presentations on market research, there will be several panel discussions covering topics such as curriculum, global residencies, and recruiting strategies. Olin Business School faculty will also present research on current management topics.

Ginger Imster, Executive Director of Arch Grants, will discuss the “EMBA value proposition and how entrepreneurship plays a role.”

Conference attendees will take in a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium during their visit and tour Olin Business School’s recently completed 175,000 square foot expansion project that includes Knight Hall and Bauer Hall, adjacent to the Knight Center.

Olin Business School’s Executive MBA program was launched 30 years ago in St. Louis. It was one of the first officially recognized western schools to offer a program in China with its partner Fudan University in Shanghai in 2002. A new partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay was announced last week and will launch the first U.S.-Indian dual degree Executive MBA in Mumbai in 2015. Olin’s EMBA program is also offered in Kansas City and Denver.