Tag: Technology

It’s not easy being green. Especially when you’re constructing large buildings like Knight Hall and Bauer Hall. But the architects, designers, construction workers, and managers on Olin’s newest buildings have included environmentally friendly materials and practices at every stage of the construction project. One of the goals of all this green activity is to earn Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council by meeting standards set in the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) System.

From reducing the amount of debris taken to landfills to using locally sourced wood and hardware made from recycled metals, the construction process was carefully planned to reduce the impact and maximize the efficiency of the new buildings. Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are also designed to meet high standards of sustainability.

Washington University currently has 15 LEED certified buildings: seven at the gold level, six at the silver level and two certified.

Harry Bolson, BSBA’14, has been a member of the Olin building committee since his freshman year and is a LEED Green Associate. He guides us through the six categories of sustainable features required to earn the USGBC Gold certification in this video.

Images: WUSTL’s Office of Sustainability website and U.S. Green Building Council website

It was a not-so-usual beginning to the sunny Sunday morning of April 6 in the hallowed portals of the newly commissioned Bauer Hall building of Olin Business School. By 8:00am, 20-25 sports enthusiasts had filled the Frick Forum with slogans and cheering:  “Come on”  and  “ Go big today,” in support of their most favorite team and players.

No, you guessed it wrong; neither were they hooting for the Cardinals nor for the Rams. This one was for the Indian Cricket Team that was battling against the Sri Lankans in the World Cup T20 Finals!

As the game gained momentum, the foyer was filled with more supporters, not only from Olin’s Indian community, but also from a few domestic and non-Indian Asians trying to understand why the game of cricket was not just a game, but a mere religion in the other parts of the world.

The event, hosted and organized by the Olin India Club (OIC), witnessed a grand enthusiasm, support and encouragement from both the student community and Olin’s administrative leadership. The OIC leadership also left no stones unturned by ensuring a variety of food and drink options for the audience.

Although the Indian team lost the match due to many reasons beyond the scope of this blog, the spirit of respect for cultural diversity, team work and prompt leadership, which form the building blocks of the larger Olin community, won the hearts of one and all involved in this historic feat. Team OIC looks forward to more collaboration and encouragement from the school’s management and the student body.

Signing off.

Vishwas Arora

MBA’15 & President, Olin India Club

 Cricket Image by Dexter Mixwith, Flickr Creative Commons

“Why did I start ChangeCasting? Communications, to me, is really the Achilles’ heel of any organization. You look at whatever problem any organization has, it always somehow relates to effective communication  So I am looking at all ways to improve communications in my organization.”

-Rear Admiral Christopher J. Tomney, Assistant Commandant for Intelligence & Criminal Investigations, U.S. Coast Guard

ChangeCasting is a new approach for leaders to manage change within their organization whether private, public, or a nonprofit.  Web 2.0 technology provides the opportunity to not only lead change but accelerate it. This web-based video communications process can be a key way for building trust and creating understanding in your organization.  It is this trust and understanding that can help facilitate successful organizational change.

Rear Admiral Tomney recently addressed an audience of federal agencies employees attending Brookings Executive Education’s course Vision and Leading Change. He spoke of the achievements and challenges in using ChangeCasting as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“If you don’t get your message out there, you are seceding ground.” Each week Rear Admiral Tomney sends a three minute video to the organization, approximately 1,600 people.  “Here’s a quick update of what is going on, what’s crossing my desk, what’s on my mind, who am I engaging with as the head of the enterprise?” He considers ChangeCasting to be a perpetual, ongoing, all hands on deck meeting between himself and his workforce.

Rear Admiral Tomney closes out each video with a question and an opportunity for anonymous feedback and response. The goal is to establish a virtual network and a two-way dialogue. He is always looking for ways to get new ideas and he wants to hear from the boots on the ground.

The responses to Rear Admiral Tomney’s use of ChangeCasting have been positive with staff stating they enjoy the weekly videos. Most of the comments come from the junior staff as this is a unique opportunity to connect with Rear Admiral Tomney. Everyone’s viewpoint is gathered and valued. ChangeCasting has proven to be an effective method of communication with all levels of Intelligence & Criminal Investigations, U.S. Coast Guard for Rear Admiral Tomney.

Rear Admiral Tomney completed a federal executive fellowship at the Brookings Institution and earned the Brookings Executive Education Certificate in Public Leadership

Learn more about ChangeCasting from Jackson Nickerson, Associate Dean and Director of the Brookings Executive Education.

Image: video screens by Steve Woolf, Flickr, Creative Commons

Olin students have been participating in a research project to test the usefulness of wearable technology that gathers data on how they engage with team members and in interviews. Karren Watkins, MBA’13, is a research associate and director of Project Sense at Olin and explains the project in an article (pages 72-73) in the March/April issue of Biz Ed magazine.

Andrew Knight, assistant professor of organizational behavior, conceptualized and initiated Project Sense and talked about it in this Meet the Professor video. The Center for Experiential Learning is supporting the project.

Image: Prof. Knight with Sociometers

Ashish Mehrotra, Chief Operating Officer & Head of IT Managed Services at Ericsson, traveled from Texas to meet and connect with Olin students. After a luncheon with a smaller group of students and faculty at the Whittemore House, Mr. Mehrotra gave a riveting speech to a larger group of students and faculty gathered at the Knight Center.

He shared insights on his career path and keys to success in the operations management field. Mr. Mehrotra also talked about challenges and opportunities confronted by today’s IT industry professionals and offered advice to students interested in pursuing careers with tech companies.

I wanted to use this post to discuss something that has been a special part of my experience at Olin. I currently serve as the President of the Washington University Real Estate Club, to which I devote a large percentage of my extracurricular efforts. I believe my experience speaks to the sheer number of opportunities Olin has to offer.

As President of Real Estate club, I have been able to apply my Olin education outside the classroom by confronting the challenges of leading an organization and managing people. I have also been able to foster relationships with students and faculty members whom I would not have met otherwise. Working with and learning from these individuals has been a truly rewarding experience. Due to the diverse backgrounds and interests of our members, Real Estate club provides a forum for an exchange of knowledge and new perspectives on a subject for which we all have passion. As a result, our members learn to converse fluently about the industry and provide potential employers with innovative, original proposals. This dynamic has benefitted me on a personal level. For example, I have been able to study and learn about the architectural component of many real estate projects, a critical subject to which I had not been exposed previously.

An additional benefit of leading Real Estate club has been my exposure to the St. Louis area and its surrounding communities. Even though students spend time off campus, their plans often revolve around only the Central West End and The Loop. While Real Estate Club is not the only student organization that explores St. Louis, I do believe it is the one organization where one can examine St. Louis on economic, social, and creative fronts simultaneously. Many of our tours have been of projects that were transformational for different neighborhoods of the city. Each visit adds to our education about the characteristics of the city in which we live as well as to our appreciation of an oft-ignored urban landscape.

This experience has also made me more confident in regards to my future in the industry and the business world in general. For example, I was hired for my internship this past summer because of my proficiency in certain software that I had been introduced to at a Real Estate club event. The real estate club is not alone in giving students new opportunities. Two of my close friends partially attributed their attainment of positions in equity research firms due to the experience they gained as part of the Student Investment Fund. They also believe this experience is one of the reasons they succeeded on the job. All of this speaks to the tremendous opportunities for learning outside the classroom Olin has created. Dean Malter and Dean Gupta have done a tremendous job of ensuring students have as much practical, hands on experience as possible.

The last point I want to make is particularly important, and one it took me a while to appreciate. Students at Olin are extremely fortunate to spend their college years in St. Louis. While we have access to opportunities that only exist in city-environments., we also do not suffer from competing in an overwhelming market like New York or Chicago where the demand for undergraduates is quite low. For this reason WashU students stand out and have the ability to get in contact with industry leaders.

As President, I have been lucky enough to get in touch with almost any real estate executive in St. Louis that I have wanted to talk to. Interacting with and learning from these leaders is an extraordinary opportunity that no one should take for granted. Furthermore, members of our club have been able to acquire fascinating internships, working on complex and multi-phase projects that involve various business sectors from government and community relations to construction and finance. It is hard to imagine that other students our age, no matter where they attend school, can say they’ve had these opportunities.