Current Fuqua Student Blogs This discussion is a repository for all of the current student blogs. If you know any, or if you are a current student and would like your blog listed here, PM me. Thanks!

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Current Fuqua Student Blogs

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

22 May 2015, 14:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): The Summer Before the MBA

One question I get a lot from prospective students is what to do in the summer before the MBA program. Like a lot of folks from non traditional backgrounds, I contemplated if I needed to take some classes to prepare for the MBA curriculum. I'll share my thoughts on this question and offer some advice as a recent graduate of the Duke MBA program.
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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

04 Jul 2015, 11:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): How the Duke MBA Changed Me

A lot of readers have asked me how I thought the Duke MBA has improved me. The MBA is a huge upfront investment and the opportunity cost is high. Most applicants have decent jobs and 2 years is a long time. Any savvy investor would want to know what return they will be getting from the time and money devoted to completing an MBA.
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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

05 Jul 2015, 17:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Benefits of Getting an MBA

A lot of readers have asked me what benefits the Duke MBA has brought me. The MBA is a huge upfront investment and the opportunity cost is high. Most applicants have decent jobs and 2 years is a long time. Any savvy investor would want to know what return they will be getting from the time and money devoted to completing an MBA.
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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

17 Jul 2015, 21:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): MBA Internship Final Presentation Tips

Last year at this time I was an MBA intern preparing for my final internship presentation. The internship was the first time I ever worked in a real business setting and I had never given a real business presentation before (the Duke MBA did give me tons of practice, though!). After my presentation I wrote this blog post to highlight some of my key learnings so future MBA interns can benefit. These tips are based on my experience during the final project presentations and hope they will help as you plan yours.
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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

11 Sep 2015, 19:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): How the Duke MBA Makes Leaders - Collaboration

A Duke MBA alum – this is a new title that is going to take some time getting used to. I’m happy to be finally back in the workforce and it’s been interesting seeing how the Duke MBA has changed my approach to things. With the MBA application season starting up soon – Fuqua’s early admission round interviews should be starting – I wanted to get back to blogging and supporting the MBA applicant community.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

05 Oct 2015, 19:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): How the Duke MBA Makes Leaders - Communication

I’ll start off with a quote from another blog post I’ve written: “not all great communicators are great leaders, but all great leaders are great communicators.” Being able to clearly articulate what’s on your mind is necessary for – in the most simple of words – getting people to agree to do things. But how does the Duke MBA prepare its future leaders for communication in the business world, and what is it looking for in its applicants?

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

25 Oct 2015, 12:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): How the Duke MBA Makes Leaders - Entrepreneurship

Every leading MBA is talking about its entrepreneurship initiatives right now. It’s a new area of post-MBA opportunity as you start seeing more and more MBAs start companies themselves or join companies that are starting to scale after graduation. I’ve been involved in startups in both years during my MBA at Duke Fuqua, but that’s not what I’m talking about when I mean leaders are entrepreneurial.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

08 Nov 2015, 19:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): How the Duke MBA Makes Leaders - Strategic Mindset

There was a post in Forbes that asserted the MBA is a waste of time (OK, I can't find it anymore since this post was written a few weeks agod). Sure, I can agree with some of its points. However, there was one that I strongly disagreed with. It said that MBAs were trained to think big picture and this hampered their executional skills. This is bogus.

A company will never pay big bucks to hire MBA talent because they can execute at the entry or middle management level. A company pays for MBA talent to fill future leadership roles – and for that, big picture, strategic thinking is a must. In fact, it’s important to always have this big picture in mind even early on, as without it, you wouldn’t understand how your work is impactful.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

15 Nov 2015, 09:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Tips for MBA Admission (Guest Post)

There's a lot of debate about the value and nature of an MBA program. Skepticism about initial investments and ROI is certainly warranted on a broad scale, but I'm still in the camp that firmly agrees with the assertion that the benefits of an MBA often outweigh the risks or negatives.

Unfortunately, for potential students who are asking themselves questions about this topic, making the decision of whether an MBA is worth the investment is only the first hurdle.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

03 Feb 2016, 22:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Quick 2016 Update

Hey everyone! Hope that you had a great start to 2016. To kick things off for the year, I thought I'd share this quick update. The end of 2015 was a big transitional time for me as I started full time at Bristol-Myers Squibb and switching gears from being a student. Adjusting my lifestyle and mindset took up a lot more time than I had liked though I'm happy to announce that I'm now ready to get back into blogging.

My blogging goal for 2016 and beyond is to write more about my professional developmental journey in Corporate America. There will be more book reviews as I now need to rely on books (rather than professors) to continue learning. The heavy focus will be on my experiences transitioning from my MBA to my first few roles after school.

Again, traffic to this blog has continued its steady increase over the past few months. Thank you - my readers - for your support over the years with comments, emails, and shares over social media.

stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

25 Mar 2016, 21:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): The Difference Between Science and Business

I’ve had the fortune of meeting with a lot of talented first year MBA students over the past few months. As a recent graduate myself, I enjoyed learning about peoples’ backgrounds and their career ambitions. Sitting here on the plane returning from a recruiting event in North Carolina (I wrote this post in fall 2015), I’ve been reflecting on the exceptional talent that currently exists at the top MBA programs.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

02 Apr 2016, 19:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Career Development 101: Choosing a Post-MBA Company

My MBA journey at Duke Fuqua came to a close in 2015. During those 2 years I’ve written a lot of content on my thoughts on the MBA and the admissions process with a lens from my experience at Duke, and I feel this blog has pretty robust content on that. Prospective students and current students alike should find the content useful and the feedback I’ve gotten from readers reflects this.

Now that I’m done, I want to shift the content of my blog to more general post-MBA career development and leadership, since this is what I’m currently going through right now.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

09 Apr 2016, 11:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Career Development 101: Networking, MBA Style

Relationships, relationships, relationships. As someone who came from a science background – after doing the MBA and working in a Fortune 100 company – I’ve come to realize that networking is key to success in business.

I also know that there are a lot of books, videos, podcasts, etc on networking, but none of them are tailored toward MBAs. I will not repeat the basics of networking, but will assume that folks reading this have graduated from an MBA program or have read some books or articles and know them already. This is more of an add-on, as opposed to an intro into networking.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

09 Apr 2016, 19:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Career Development 101: Taking Networking to the Next Level, MBA Style

stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

17 Apr 2016, 10:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Career Development 101: Manage your Leadership Development

Ah yes, the perpetual question: how much of a person's career progression depends on the institution, and how much depends on the individual? It may come as no surprise to my readers, but I am strongly in the latter camp. Leadership development is very personal and I would say begins with the individual.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

07 May 2016, 20:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Career Development 101: Communicate Effectively

When I was a kid I was actually pretty extroverted. However, after multiple instances of culture shock growing up I became increasingly introverted. It allowed me to be somewhat successful in science, and made me observant, reflective, and analytical. These are great traits to have in a business setting. However, they would also mean absolutely nothing I if I could not communicate and influence others externally.

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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

22 Sep 2016, 19:01

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Is the Master of Business Administration Right for Me? (Guest Post)

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, aspiring business leader, or you just think that you may want to learn more about business, the thought of getting your Masters in Business Administration may cross your mind. But while an MBA can be extremely beneficial for achieving career and life goals for many people, for others, it is a waste of time and money. So, how do you know whether or not getting your MBA would be worth the time and expense?
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stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

25 Sep 2016, 20:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Is the Master's in Business Administration Right for Me? (Guest Post)

stevenfuqua

Joined: 24 Nov 2013

Last visit: 07 Oct 2016

Posts: 95

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 9

Concentration: Healthcare

Schools: Duke '15 (M)

Posts: 95

Kudos: 31

07 Oct 2016, 18:00

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FROM From Bench to Board (Fuqua Current Student): Love the Industry you're in and Be an Expert

There is without a doubt a stereotype for recent MBA grads – folks who are ambitious, smart, hard-working, but oftentimes lack experience or domain knowledge. Looking around and at myself, I think this is somewhat true, but there are steps to take to quickly be treated as a peer among veterans in the industry of your post-MBA career.

Here’s what you gotta do.

This is the 5th and final post in my series, Career Development 101, tailored specifically for professionals with MBAs, doing their MBA, or thinking of doing an MBA.
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