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08 Mar 2019, 07:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Doris Kearns Goodwin on extraordinary leaders |
 “Are these the worst of times?” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s answer is an unequivocal “No.” As a presidential scholar and successful author, Goodwin was a credible source, to say the least, at the annual Weatherspoon Lecture on Feb. 27, 2019. She cited the Civil War Abraham Lincoln faced, the Industrial Revolution for Theodore Roosevelt, the economic crash for Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the unexpected presidential role in the midst of the Civil Rights movement for Lyndon B. Johnson. Each situation cried out for leadership and these influential leaders answered. What made them so great? How did they prevail in the worst of times? Goodwin identified traits that made them extraordinary. Connection Great leaders connect to their people and make efforts to get to know them. Lincoln went to the battlefield to rally the troops. Teddy Roosevelt spent the most time on the road. He talked, listened and waved to the people of America. Johnson reached out to Congress. He met with each member and their spouses, and got to know them on a personal level. He followed up about their conversations and made each member feel known. Clear and concise communication Goodwin stressed the importance of successful communication using the platform of the time. Lincoln thought it best to speak in stories because people remember them. Teddy Roosevelt capitalized on the birth of newspapers by using colorful language that captivated readers’ attention. FDR invited himself into the home of Americans through his fireside chats on the radio and many citizens came to refer to him as their friend. Conquered themselves Another crucial ability is knowing when to call yourself out. Lincoln wrote “hot letters” when he was angry with someone. He wrote what he wanted to say in the moment, put the letter in an envelope, and then set it aside, never to send it. FDR faced anxiety and fear after his bout with polio and fell into a serious depression. However, he did not let that defeat him – he worked hard every day with exercises by crawling across the floor. He did not let his pride get in the way and expanded his mind and capabilities. Rest This is a concept we often ignore, but these leaders made it a priority. They took time to be themselves and to do what they loved. Lincoln escaped by diving into the world of Shakespeare and other great playwrights, attending the theater upwards of 100 times. Teddy Roosevelt loved to exercise, and had a very specific hike route that he called “point to point,” meaning if there was an obstacle he did not go around it. If there was a rock he climbed over it, if there was a puddle he walked through it. FDR started hosting a nightly cocktail party in the White House during World War II. These parties had one rule: No war talk. It was these acts of relaxation and rest that allowed them to persevere in hard times. Risk takers At the end of the day, the presidents knew when to risk it all. They were not cautious or timid in their endeavors. Lincoln saved the union and ended slavery, a feat that no one believed he would achieve. Johnson had only 11 months to serve in the presidency and passed three civil rights bills that no one thought would be passed. Johnson made them his priority, despite constant criticism. The Weatherspoon Lecture is a great tradition at UNC Kenan-Flagler, and there is no better time to look to our past in order to move forward. Leadership, a core value of our school, is deeply rooted in our nation, as Goodwin so eloquently reminded us. By Caroline Alessandro (BA ’20) Click here to view lecture. Goodwin’s speech “Leadership in Turbulent Times” is the same title of her newest book. The Weatherspoon Lecture was created with a generous gift from Van and Kay Weatherspoon, longtime UNC Chapel-Hill and UNC Kenan-Flagler supporters. Outstanding visiting scholars and world leaders from the fields of politics, education, business and government enrich the professional lives of members our community and provoke interesting discussion and debate. |
11 Mar 2019, 12:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Real-world problems spark the research of Sreedhari Desai |
 Don’t show up for SreedhariDesai’s classes expecting to listen passively to lectures. Leadership, negotiations and ethics are serious courses, but Desai uses a variety of approaches to actively engage with her students. “In this day and age, you have to be both an effective educator and something of an entertainer,” says Desai, associate professor of organizational behavior and Crist W. Blackwell Scholar at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. For instance, she might ask a student if he’s dating someone and where he expects the relationship to go. She isn’t just asking to get a reaction – she segues into tips that show decision-making in action and how it’s used in business. On other occasions, she trades in the dreaded “cold call” for what she describes as a “warm call.” Instead of calling on students in using a technique that can embarrass or make them uncomfortable, she launches a dialogue. “Education is a two-way path,” says Desai. “Students don’t need to just see me lecturing. They could simply watch a YouTube video or read a book for that.” Another method she uses is breaking the class into teams to play games involving real money. Students polish their teamwork skills, and the interactions bring the class alive, Desai says. “They have experiences, which are memorable,” she adds. “What they learn this way is hard to forget.” Desai teaches the core Leading and Managing decision-making course and the Managerial Negotiations elective for MBA students, Leadership Skills for Masterof Accounting Program students and Ethical Leadership for online MBA students when they come to Chapel Hill.  She shares real-life stories to illustrate key lessons. For instance, she describes the life of luxury experienced by an MBA graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. The woman had it all, says Desai. She was making millions and lived in a seven-bedroom mansion. “The students are thinking, ‘I want to be this person,’” says Desai. “Then, I hold up a picture of her prison ID and they’re thinking, ‘Oh God – prison!’” Ultimately, Desai is demonstrating the slippery slope of a path driven by greed. “I try,” she says, “to keep things very real.” Indeed, herresearch informs these discussions about ethics. Some of her best-known work is in the area of ethical nudges. Desai describes how these nudgescan produce better behavior. She also has shown that anxiety can lead to unethical behavior. Diversity is another issue she covers in her research. She tries to understand how gender norms and social structures influence whether women are accepted at work and what they experience there. In one study, Desai and her colleagues looked at how married men viewed women at work. The research demonstrated that men with stay-at-home wives saw themselves as the CEO and their wives as a subordinate. They found it difficult to view women as equals and were less likely to promote women or see them in leadership positions. Even those men who saw themselves as egalitarian or had more progressive views would change over time if their wife stayed at home; they would begin to see her as a subordinate and it would change their view in general. Married conservative men with a wife who worked outside the home also changed over time, according to the findings. They would begin to see women as able to have more power. “We are influenced by our surroundings,” says Desai. “It’s kind of like getting an accent.” Desai believes that by enlightening people and making them more self-aware, they will change their behavior and society will experience progress, she says. Now, she is working on research about how men and women are treated differently at the bargaining table. “Most of my work is done out of a deep sense of curiosity,” says Desai. “It tends to come out of real-world problems. My hope is to make the human condition better.” She is married to Roman Shcherbakov, a Harvard trained astrophysicist who develops software for the communications industry. “He keeps data in his head and observes patterns in everything,” says Desai. Their young son Max is following in his dad’s footsteps. He solved math problems on a blackboard visit during a weekend visit to UNC Kenan-Flagler with his mom. A YouTube video of hisperformance shows his prowess, says Desai. “He’s ridiculously good at math,” she says. “My one regret is he knows more about math than psychology. I should teach him more.” But that’s not the only talent Desai might want to pass on to Max. She is an accomplishedartist. Her devotion to painting dates back to her childhood in India. Her teacher secretly submitted Desai’s artwork for a contest and she won. At the time, her family could not afford expensive oil paints, which were the award. It motivated her to continue nurturing her talent. “I see life in colors,” says Desai. “Nothing is a single color. If you have a white vase, it is not really white. It will have shades of reflected light, tints of blue, for example.” While Desai also enjoys reading and taking long walks in the fresh air, she faces every mother’s dilemma. How much “me time” is appropriate when you feel the pull of your child, who is little for only so long? Still, she is balancing it all, and she’s right where she is supposed to be, she says. When Desai was on the job market after she earned her PhD, she evaluated offers. UNC Kenan-Flagler leadership had a unique message: The School was determined to see her flourish. “It spoke volumes about the culture,” says Desai. In fact, she says this identity of teamwork extends to the students. “Here,” says Desai, “the culture is about helping each other succeed, and that makes my job as a professor better.” |
12 Mar 2019, 14:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Determination drives Soraya Alivandi to beat the odds |
 Soraya Alivandi’s brand is resilience. Alivandi (MBA ’19) had to learn to walk and talk again in the year before applying to the Full-TimeMBA Program. Her presence at UNC Kenan-Flagler – her vitality – is something of a miracle. Life took a devastating turn for Alivandi on March 20, 2015. She was driving to work from the gym. Stopped at a red light, a car hit her from behind and set off a domino effect that caused another car to hit a pedestrian, a teenager. But Alivandi doesn’t remember any of that. In fact, she lost the next four days of her life. The last thing she remembers is getting in the car on the way to her workout. When the other driver’s car crashed into hers, Alivandi lost consciousness and her car caught fire. A good Samaritan, Ronaldo Freitas, was taking his son to school when he witnessed the crash and went to the rescue. He broke a window and dragged Alivandi out of the car, which was engulfed in flames. She did not get burned at all. Freitas rarely took his son to school, but did that day because his wife was not feeling well. “There was a really wonderful series of fortunate consequences – the paramedics, who quickly recognized my traumatic brain injury, getting to Massachusetts General Hospital, where my neurosurgeon was at the ready,” says Alivandi. “It was one of the fastest turnarounds in the hospital’s history.” Still, she had a long recovery ahead of her. In total, Alivandi sustained a subdural hematoma, four broken ribs and a tear in her retina that left her blind in one eye for six months. While she was in the hospital, doctors asked her to complete a simple task – make a cup of instant coffee – as part of her occupational therapy. As she read the directions over and over again without understanding what to do, Alivandi realized what challenges lay ahead. “I felt my brain was my most valuable resource,” she says. “Losing that and having to relearn the most basic task was indescribably challenging.” Yet, she persisted. “I resigned myself to be the best brain injury patient ever,” says Alivandi. Always a high achiever, she decided to beat the odds. Her doctors told her it would take three to four months to leave the hospital with months more of therapy ahead of her. They suggested it would take at least a year before she could return to work. Instead, Alivandi left the hospital one week after her surgery. Her family rallied around her. Her mother retired early, and they moved in with her brother and his family. They stuck by her until she regained her autonomy. Just as she would have done in her professional life, Alivandi created a project management plan. Every exercise the doctors suggested doing one time, she did twice. She drafted key milestones and day-to-day tasks she needed to achieve her six-month recovery goal. Once in a while, however, she allowed herself a bit of grief and thought about potential outcomes. “It was scary to think about the possibility that I would not be as witty or as smart,” she says. The thought only motivated her more. Alivandi was back at work within six months of the accident, and had completed her first triathlon within a year. She also began applying to business schools. “Once I felt better, I wanted to keep going on with my life,” she adds. As a college student, she had interned in the U.S. Senate. She went on to work as an acquisitions research fellow with the U.S. Department of Defense and in business development for a defense contractor. While trying to win business for the company, Alivandi realized she didn’t want to continue the work for the rest of her career. So, she returned to her alma mater, Tufts, where she helped craft technology solutions to connect alumni and donors with the university. When seeking an MBA program, Alivandi wanted something completely different from her undergraduate experience at a small liberal arts college, Tufts University, in Massachusetts. A double major in international relations and the Arabic language, Alivandi also was not the typical MBA candidate. As a result, she wanted a big university that would be welcoming to a non-traditional applicant. Then it came time to gain more business skills, and she chose UNC Kenan-Flagler because of its culture. “I really love the core values,” says Alivandi. “I’m competitive, but I want to be competitive with myself, not my classmates.” Throughout her time at UNC Kenan-Flagler, Alivandi has been involved in a variety of clubs. She’s vice president of two career clubs – NetImpact and OperationsManagement. As a vice president for CommunityService, Alivandi organizes service days throughout the year where students can give back to non-profits in the area. She also served as a career mentor for first-year MBA students, and will participate in the Hodges Leadership Capstone course. Now, she’s looking to a future beyond her brain injury and earning her MBA. Her summer internship was in global procurement at PepsiCo in Purchase, New York, and she accepted a full-time role in tech strategy for E&J Gallo Winery in the Bay Area, California. Ultimately, Alivandi hopes her career trajectory leads her to a place where she can help people and have a social impact. For now, she’s excited to experience a new industry and take on a more strategic position. While Alivandi is a hard worker, she also makes time for her passions. For 25 years she practiced classical ballet. With a passion for health, Alivandi also ran a volunteer program for girls in which she taught them about nutrition and wellness. A foodie, she enjoys conceptualizing recipes, including one for spicy shrimp tacos with cilantro crema and whipped avocado. She also makes a mean chocolate cake. As a lover of travel, Alivandi has been to over 30 countries. During her time at UNC Kenan-Flagler, she studied in Chile and Peru on the Sustainability and General Management GlobalImmersion Elective, and visited Thailand, Singapore, Denmark and Germany. A favorite trip was meeting up with friends in Berlin. To commemorate her accident – what Alivandi calls a “lifeaversary” – she celebrates with a new adventure every spring. Once she dyed her hair. This year, over spring break, she is visiting Spain and Portugal with a group of MBA classmates. “I try to appreciate life,” she says. Indeed, she does not want anyone feeling sorry for her. “People can become so focused on my story and struggle. But this accident does not define who I am,” says Alivandi. “Yes, it’s one bad thing that happened to me. And this one bad experience has led to a host of other incredibly positive experiences. That’s what I choose to focus on.” |
13 Mar 2019, 13:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Building diverse and inclusive cultures for success |
 Technological, demographic, economic and geopolitical changes are dramatically transforming the workforce, workplaces and consumer markets. Those forces mean that the importance of a diverse and inclusive culture to business success has never been greater. “These issues are core to our future – as a business school and in our role in equipping students with the understanding and skills to lead in this turbulent era,” said Doug Shackelford (BSBA ’80), dean and Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation at UNC Kenan-Flagler. “Because corporate America is at the forefront of addressing diversity and inclusion in their organizations, we created a new board to help us prepare our students to lead in increasingly diverse workplaces at a time of unprecedented change.” UNC Kenan-Flagler convened its new Corporate Advisory Board on Diversity and Inclusion for its inaugural meeting – a day of conversations with students, faculty and staff and a community Town Hall – on Feb. 26, 2019. Leading the board are Shackelford and JimJohnson, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center. Members are:
“The meeting was just the beginning of our conversations with this powerhouse of corporate leaders, who already have made a difference at UNC Kenan-Flagler by sharing their expertise, insights and time with us and we,” said Shackelford. “I also value the leadership of Jim Johnson and Rumay Alexander in making UNC a more diverse and inclusive organization.” “We asked our board members to discuss the roles that diversity, inclusion and belonging play in talent development, acquisition and retention in their firms,” said Johnson, who moderated the Town Hall. “We also asked them about the changes we need to make – as business educators – to ensure our graduates are fully prepared for the new world of work.” The wide-ranging and frank conversation on “How Diverse and Inclusive Cultures Drive Success.”showcased key insights. It starts at the top Success in creating a diverse and inclusive organization starts with leadership and requires a sustainable strategy. Some companies are intentional, but not strategic. Some are intentional and strategic, but haven’t developed a sense of belonging for diverse employees. Many have diversity in their workforce but not in top leadership roles or on their boards. In the end, every aspect of the corporation needs to be inclusive. Make the business case Research and data have long demonstrated the business case for diversity. Companies with diverse leadership outperform their competitors. Simply put, it’s about attracting, developing and retaining talent to drive growth and success for the company. Organizations need diverse perspectives to solve business – and to harness that talent, they need to create cultures in which everyone can bring their whole selves to work. It’s a way of operating, not a budget item Diversity is about talent. Inclusion is about a culture where people feel they have a voice – and their ideas and opinions are valued. Both drive corporate growth. And for retention, executives need to advocate for and sponsor their diverse workforce. Also critical are transparent, clear and consistent processes and access to information. Look like the world we live in Companies want to reflect and represent the customers and communities – locally, nationally and globally – they serve at all levels of leadership. With diverse teams come different experiences, backgrounds and cultures that lead to different ways of thinking and innovative approaches. If you ask questions and have conversations to learn about those differences, you can leverage those differences for innovation and growth. It’s personal Diversity and inclusion is about relationships, not about numbers. Get to know people who are different, and seek their insights and opinions. Building relationships leads to trust, and with trust you can talk about anything. And with that learning, change and innovation can occur. Everyone might not agree, but it’s “really hard to hate up close.” Be part of the solution The corner office doesn’t have all the answers – answers can come from all levels of the organization. Everyone needs to advocate for change and a more inclusive environment. Ask questions and make it possible for others to have a voice. Be an advocate for others. Think about every issue in terms of how it affects someone you care about. Why wouldn’t you advocate for something you would want for a family member? It’s not a zero-sum game – everyone benefits. Leadership is not about you, it is about others. You need to be an inclusive leader to succeed in corporations – at all levels and throughout your career. To succeed in a global corporation, you don’t have to understand every culture. You do have to understand how to ask the right questions so that you understand how to get out of every culture – from its workforce to consumer markets. Engage in courageous conversations We need to engage with people who are different to understand their perspectives and learn from them. Yet even in diverse cities such as New York, Americans live in segregated neighborhoods. Corporate America can create opportunities for employees to come together for important conversations that can create empathy and understanding about differences. Societal issues and concerns don’t stop at the entrance to the office. When tragic events occur, people in your organization are affected and look to their leaders, so companies have convened conversations through “days of understanding” and webinars, for instance, to talk about and understand different viewpoints. Business imperative for business education Faculty need to create and manage an inclusive classroom, and students need to bring issues of diversity and inclusion to the attention of their professors. During the process, we must honor and preserve each other’s dignity – to attack issues, not people. Organizationally, we can change systems and processes. Just as diverse and inclusive cultures aren’t built by a single office or role, everyone needs to do their part. A single class can’t prepare students; diversity and inclusion needs to be threaded through the curriculum. We need to allow people to be human and make mistakes, and then have courageous dialogues to clear up misunderstandings and understand differences. It’s an exchange, not a one-way process. |
14 Mar 2019, 13:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Changing of the guard |
 Adam Gerdts (BA ’00, MBA ’14) is headed back to New York for the next step in his career and another double Tar Heel – Shontel Grumhaus (BSBA ’97, MAC ’99) – is succeeding him as associate dean of advancement at UNC Kenan-Flagler. “Adam has done a terrific job for the School and leaves us prepared to continue our fundraising momentum for the Campaign for Carolina without missing a step,” said Doug Shackelford (BSBA ’80), dean and the Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation. Grumhaus has been serving as associate dean and senior director of development for the Arts & Sciences Foundation since April 2013. “Shontel’s successful experience in fundraising, campaign strategy, team building and collaboration across campus makes her the ideal candidate to lead the advancement team to a new level of success,” Shackelford said. “Her deep understanding of the mission, vision and value of UNC Kenan-Flagler and her leadership experience at UNC’s largest academic unit uniquely prepare her to successfully direct the future of our advancement work.” Gerdts will become vice president for institutional advancement at Yeshiva University. He is returning to his fundraising roots in New York which started in 2002 at Manhattan Theatre Club when he worked on annual-fund campaigns and a capital campaign to restore Broadway’s Biltmore Theater, then moved to higher education fundraising at American Friends of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2006.  He came back to Carolina in 2007 as director of Young Alumni Programs for the Carolina Annual Fund in the University Development Office, and joined UNC Kenan-Flagler as a major gifts officer in 2008. He was named as executive director of development in 2010 and associate dean of advancement at UNC Kenan-Flagler in 2014. “Adam built a great advancement team of development, alumni relations, annual giving, advancement services and corporate relations professionals,” said Shackelford. “He created strong working partnerships across the School and the University, and helped bring fundraising from its depths of $10 million after the recession to more than $50 million projected this year. Carolina will remain his home and he’ll continue to be one of our greatest advocates.” Grumhaus didn’t just earn two degrees from UNC Kenan-Flagler – she also worked on the advancement team. She was a director of development from 2007 to 2012. Based in New York, she managed relationships for many of our most generous donors in the northeast area. She went on to serve as principal at a healthcare recruiting firm, Oxeon Partners, until she returned to Chapel Hill in 2013.  As associate dean for the Arts & Sciences Foundation, Grumhaus helped drive strategy across annual giving, alumni engagement, donor relations, corporate and foundation relations, and campaign planning platforms. She led her team of principal and major gift officers to record-breaking performance, raising over $400 million for the College of Arts & Sciences towards a goal of $750 million in the Campaign for Carolina. Gerdts and Grumhaus take on their new roles effective April 1, 2019 |
18 Mar 2019, 11:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How to ace your remote interview |
 If you’re interviewing for a remote role, your interviewer is going to be trying to answer several questions about you: Can you perform the tasks required for the job? Will you fit with the company culture? Can you survive and thrive as a remote worker? While this article won’t help you with the first two points, it will most definitely help you nail the last one. Take it seriously As you get ready for your interview, keep in mind that the basics are the same. This is a “real” interview. Do your research on the company. Have your talking points and examples ready to go. As a faculty manager for Kaplan Test Prep, I spent many years interviewing people via video call. I had a small window to figure out if the person staring at me through the screen was worth the time, money, and training I would invest in them. I never once hired someone who didn’t take the interview seriously. Your interviewer won’t either. While virtual interviews share the same basic components of an in-person interview, the medium adds a layer of complexity that can trip up the unwary. Get wired and check your tech Starbucks Wi-Fi isn’t going to cut it for this. There are a lot of different video conferencing apps out there, and with few exceptions, they require a lot of bandwidth. Your favorite coffee shop is in the business of selling you delicious beverages, not strong Wi-Fi signal. Murphy’s Law also dictates that the barista will fire up the blender at the exact moment you start talking. Human ears are wonderful things: If we’re sitting together in a coffee shop, we can tune out the blender and still have a great conversation. Your device’s speakers can’t do the same thing. You want your interviewer to remember you—not the blender and the background music that overpowered your voice. Find a quiet place with a router that you can plug into. If you don’t have access to a router in your home, ask a friend or family member if you can come over and use theirs. Libraries and shared workspaces are also great places to find a quiet room with a wired connection. Book the space ahead of time and test out the connection to make sure it’s strong enough for your needs. If you like the space and you land the job, this will be a good location to visit when you need a change of scenery. Taking time to test out your internet connection also allows you to test out the video conferencing platform you will be using. You will likely need to register to use the video service. You will also probably need to download an app or even download a different browser. Enlist a friend or family member and use the platform to make a call. Play with the volume, mute buttons, and camera to make sure you know how to use them smoothly. Taking the time to perform these steps well ahead of your interview will help you feel calm and in control. The movie of you: background, lighting, and camera angle Once you get your internet and video platform sorted, it’s time to take things to the next level. Think of this as the difference between a Hollywood production and someone’s home movie. Professionals spend time curating their background, lighting, and ambient noise. This is a critical part of looking polished and professional. Above all, your background shouldn’t be distracting. Sitting with your back against a blank wall is perfectly acceptable. Remove pictures or knickknacks if your background is cluttered. Get your device, turn on your camera, and really look at the things behind you. Pretend you are creating a movie set. Are those last night’s dishes in the sink? Can you see your bed? Don’t be afraid to let some of your personality shine through – if you have a tasteful display of running medals, a vase full of flowers from your garden or a replica of a World War II fighter plane, by all means, put it behind you as a statement piece. Just make sure the statement you’re making isn’t “I haven’t done laundry for two weeks.” It is entirely possible to spend hours trying to find the perfect light setup. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes to find good enough light if you remember a few key points. Don’t sit with a window behind you. It will make you look like you’ve joined the witness protection program. Don’t point a task light directly at your face. While an interview may feel like an interrogation, you don’t want yours to look like one. Indirect light is best. Face a window, if you have one. If your image looks washed out, try turning off your overhead light. The rule of thumb is to position your camera so it is at your eye level as you look straight ahead. Angle the camera so you can see the top of your head, all the way down to your shoulders. You may need to set your device on a stack of books or on a nearby shelf to achieve this. If your camera is too low, you will be looking down your nose at your interviewer. If it is too high, the interviewer will be looking down on you. If you use a prop to raise the angle of your camera, make sure it’s stable. You don’t want it falling down because you pressed the unmute button too hard. Noise Dogs. Kids. Errant significant others. They all have the capacity to make noise at the most inconvenient times. There are two things to keep in mind when it comes to noises in the home. The first is that veteran remote employees know they will occasionally see or hear your family members. Most take these video bombings in stride. The second is that you should work hard to keep your household from intruding on your interview. You don’t know if the person interviewing you is a remote employee. They could be the national recruiter working from the home office and have little to no experience with the way home life can sometimes seep into your work life. Err on the side of conservatism. Once you get a proper feel for the company culture, you can dial down the formality. Look into the camera Fair warning: This last piece of advice is Western specific. If you are doing business in a culture where looking directly at someone when they speak to you is disrespectful, feel free to ignore what I’m about to say. In fact, do the opposite, and look at the screen the entire time. If you want to look someone in the eye during a video call, you have to look into the camera. Doing so will feel counterintuitive. The person you’re talking to is right there on the screen, not in the little aperture on your phone or laptop. Block out some time well ahead of the interview to work through any glitches that might arise. It’s also surprisingly hard to remember your talking points and anecdotes when you’re staring at the camera instead of looking at someone’s face. If you want the person on the other end to feel you are listening to them and are engaged in the conversation, then you have to look at the camera most of the time. It’s fine to glance down at the screen during the course of the conversation to gauge the other person’s reaction to what you’re saying. Make those glances brief. This is an important skill to cultivate as you work remotely. While you may not look into the camera as much in a group video meeting, you will find that difficult or emotionally charged conversations are easier if you look into the other person’s eyes. Start building that skill now. Don’t panic Getting ready for a video interview may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Block out some time well ahead of the interview to work through any glitches that might arise. As an added bonus, you can use everything you learned to make a great impression on your first day in your new role. By TeresaDouglas (MBA ’14), author of the book “Secrets of the Remote Workforce: By Employees, For Employees” |
18 Mar 2019, 12:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Divergence: Redefining the status quo at UNC Kenan-Flagler |
 Diversity is a hot topic at any university or workplace. College brochures are plastered with statistics about minority representation on campus and company recruiters are eager fire off all the things that make their firms diverse. But what about these facts and statistics really help to build an inclusive community? The Undergraduate Business Program’s diversity and inclusion board tackled some of these important issues with its forum “Divergence: Redefining the status quo at Kenan-Flagler.” The event featured three speakers each discussing a different aspect of inclusion and community building. UNC graduate Herrison Chicas, a social entrepreneur and storyteller kicked off the event with a spoken-word performance. He used a story about his morning visit to the gym as a vehicle to deliver a message about bringing people from different backgrounds together to foster respect and acceptance. One of the most powerful lines of his performance related lifting weights in the gym to working to bring communities together: “I begin pushing and pulling weights hoping that these muscles will one day be strong enough to uplift my community, strong enough to bridge two different worlds together.” Chicas spoke about struggling to find a community at UNC and the constant pressure of comparing himself to high-performing peers. But he gave students some advice: “Once you come to the conclusion that you are uniquely you, that your DNA has never existed and will never ever exist again, that the right combination of talent, flaws and insecurities make you you – once you realize that, the same daunting Carolina can become the best petri dish to explore the world.” Allison Schlobohm, clinical assistant professor of management and corporate communication at UNC Kenan-Flagler, explored imposter syndrome or imposter phenomenon as she prefers to call it. At a place like UNC, and more specifically UNC Kenan-Flagler, everyone is so accomplished and it can be easy to feel like an imposter. To cope people put on masks and try to fit in and become more like their community. “The idea that we all want to be the same is detrimental to our community and it will not make us better, it will only hold us down,” said Schlobohm. To overcome this imposter phenomenon you have to become vulnerable, so there needs to be an inclusive and safe space for people to feel comfortable sharing their flaws, she said. In the end, overcoming imposter phenomenon can help empower others. “Our masks aren’t actually that great. When we lift them up, we’re doing everyone a favor by saying I know that I’m flawed so it’s okay that you are, too,” said Schlobohm. So how do we create these safe spaces for people to feel comfortable taking off their masks? Tim Salau, a product manager at Microsoft and community builder, shared his successful model for developing inclusive communities. After identifying a need for a place for professionals and students to share stories, ask for advice, and find mentors, Salau created the Facebook group called Mentors and Mentees in 2017. Now over 6,000 members strong, the group has become a place for members to empower each other. Salau has developed what he calls the CSA model for creating other inclusive communities. CSA stands for create, share and amplify. In the create stage the main purpose is to identify the community you want to create. Once you’ve found the purpose for your community you move on to the share stage. Salau emphasized that every community starts small, and it’s not going to be built overnight. The first members in his Mentors and Mentees group were his mom, dad and high school English teacher. Share is the hardest stage, says Salau. “At the share stage is when people are most scared, face the most challenges and carry the notion of imposter syndrome, so they are not able to bring their ideas into the world and involve other people.” The best way to overcome that fear is to be selective about who joins initially. Find other people who share the same passion and are “down for the cause.” Amplify is the final stage of the CSA model. During this stage you have to think about how you want the community to grow and what things you can do to empower members and strengthen bonds. For his Facebook group, Salau asked the most active members to create Facebook live workshops about their passions in the professional sphere. These workshops received thousands of impressions and led more people to find his Facebook group. In this case, Salau “leveraged the core purpose of the community to help people take control of their careers.” As a final piece of advice, Salau used what both Chicas and Schlobohm built toward: “Break through your imposter syndrome, and ask ‘How can I create share and amplify to build my tribe?” By Kelly McNeil (BSBA ’19) |
20 Mar 2019, 12:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: It’s all about the kids – and their families – for Marissa Devine |
 Marissa Devine (BSBA ’19) wants nothing more than to make a difference in the world. Her heart swells for programs that help children and their families facing enormous challenges. The experience is personal: When she was a kid, her 9-year-old cousin was diagnosed with brain cancer, and she saw the devastation experienced by the family. When Devine arrived on the UNC campus as a first-year student, she searched for a way to contribute and make her mark. She found it in Carolina For The Kids (CFTK), which provides major emotional, medical and financial support for the patients and families served by UNC Children’s. “The mission of Carolina For The Kids aligned perfectly with what I wanted to do,” says Devine. The organization raises money to help families afford gas cards, food and other bills while caring for their children. It also provides free meals to the families on Tuesday night at N.C. Children’s Hospital so parents don’t have to leave their children’s bedside to eat. The focus is to relieve some of the stressors experienced by families with a child in the hospital. Devine signed up for the CFTK community relations committee, which spreads awareness in the community through encouraging middle schools and high schools to host their own mini marathons, create CFTK clubs and organize fundraisers to support UNC Children’s. In her sophomore year, Devine wanted to make more of a commitment, so she applied for a subchair position and became the middle schools subchair. Even though, she spent her spring semester junior year abroad, Devine held a subchair position on the publicity committee and maintained her active role and passion for CFTK. In her final year at Carolina, however, she was determined to have a greater impact. She serves on the executive board – one of 16 students – and as the PR chair. In this role, she is flexing her business muscles. She has led a group of 25 students, improved her communication skills and reached out to media and other sectors of the community to promote CFTK and its work.  Marissa Devine with the Carolina For The Kids executive board. In finding her place with CFTK, Devine also connected more deeply with the UNC Kenan-Flagler community. For starters, she talked about her experience with CFTK during her marketing class taught by Claudia Kubowicz Malhotra, who suggested Devine ask Dean Doug Shackelford (BSBA ’80) to send a message about an upcoming CFTK event. He agreed and met with Devine to learn more about her work. His school-wide email raised awareness about CFTK in the UNC Kenan-Flagler family. Brad Hendricks, assistant professor of accounting, sits on the CFTK board of directors. He and his colleagues act as a sounding board for the students. They help them make decisions, get in contact with those inside and outside the University who can help the cause, and occasionally push back on some ideas, says Hendricks. Hendricks came to CFTK as a result of his firsthand experience with the doctors in the organization. Hendricks’ daughter, who is now 12, has a complex medical history. While he has lost count, Hendricks estimates that he and his family have spent a total of 500 nights living out of four different hospitals across the U.S.  Scott, Debra and their oldest child Scott visit Michael at UNC Children’s Hospital. “I bring the patient side to the board,” he says. “I try to narrow their focus. The organization’s mission is so broad, but organizations really excel when they clearly define a specific issue that needs to be improved.” In fact, his daughter’s doctor invited him to join the board because it lacked a member with business expertise. But Hendricks doesn’t want this organization to be fixated on fundraising. While that is important, the students improve lives of patients and their families without spending a dollar, he says. For example, a student might stop in to play with a sick child or take the sick child’s sibling to the Pediatric Playroom for a little while. “If CFTK raises less money, but students spend more time in the hospital with patients and families, then the organization has likely made a greater difference,” says Hendricks. It is hard to overstate the importance of resources that help with the emotional aspect of a child’s hospital stay, he says. “A child’s negative experience at the hospital can mean they’ll fight caregivers and medical providers in the future about the treatments they need.” Hendricks references a CNN story that features several families of children with special needs. These families hold up a chart which illustrates all the people involved in the care of their child. The charts are overflowing and point to the number of resources and stresses each family confronts. “It’s exhausting,” he says. “As soon as families get a diagnosis, they immediately recognize the medical problem they are facing. But it is easy to overlook how that single event then ripples through every aspect of their lives.” Parents with kids who have chronic medical conditions often can’t go to work, for example. Or one goes to work and the other stays with the child, he says. Considering more than three-fourths of parents with children under the age of 18 years old are employed, the diagnosis rapidly creates a major strain on the family as income is reduced and medical expenses increase. “The medical problem becomes a financial problem which then often turns into a relationship problem,” says Hendricks. He recalls feeling like a worse spouse, employee, son and friend after his own daughter’s diagnosis. In his view, CFTK makes an impact by helping the problem remain a medical issue rather than spiraling into strains on the rest of the family’s life. For Hendricks, Devine and other students who make the success of CFTK a top priority are inspiring. “The people in the foundation are exceptional,” he says. “The students deserve all the credit for the organization’s impact. They are genuinely passionate about what they’re doing, and they are making a far bigger difference in their community than I did at their age.” Devine never tires of hearing how CFTK makes a difference in the lives of patients and their families. That’s why she was especially gratified to hear from ScottDotson (MBA ’19), whose son Michael (twin brother of Thomas) was in the UNC Children’s Neonatal Critical Care Center (NCCC) since his birth on Dec. 20, 2018, until he died on March 7, 2019, after battling liver failure and thrombocytopenia (severely low platelet count). Dotson and his wife, Debra, have five other children under the age of six at home, and counted on UNC’s medical expertise and loving support. “The Newborn Critical Care Center Family Advisory Board has been very helpful, with support groups, discounted meals for mothers who are breastfeeding, the Ronald McDonald Family Room and everything else that UNC Children’s offers the precious patients and families who spend so much time in that building,” Dotson wrote to Devine “From a fellow Kenan-Flagler student and grateful father of a child fighting for his life, I thank you for all that you do.” As Devine prepares for graduation and a job in marketing and communications at Deloitte in New York, she is hopeful about the future of CFTK. As an alumna, she plans to keep in touch, and attend the UNC Dance Marathon and much more. “This organization has stolen my heart,” says Devine, “and I love it with everything I have.” |
25 Mar 2019, 02:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How-to Publish a Discursive Article |
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Article writing the finest way to handle pressure. It is nearly not possible to create an excellent essay without apparent thesis. Aussiessay gives the very best article writing service at the bottom costs. Compose a superb expository composition. If you guess that the article creating software you have just bought will takeover your composing burdenthink again! Composing a written report should, above all be a satisfying experience for the individual composing it. paper help.us Below are a few manuals which could assist you to amusing process essay notions began. Put simply, rather than composing the essay, consider talking the essay. Where the nature of poetry can do you great, this really is. You’ll likely have a dissertation title that you’re operating towards. Every screenwriter has to format her or his own script before posting it for review. It provides index-card scene planning and screenwriting steers and documents. Here again, don’t forget that the application of the software is restricted. ColorPix’ I like this miniature helpful post of applications. Although it enables you to” tag” components of your own script for exporting to picture arranging program Ultimate Write doesn’t contain the true creation resources including breakdowns, schedules and storyboards within the application program. Writing Features The most reliable creative composing software produces a large number of practical tools. No body may read an essay- sized review. Ch 4, (2 edc, ch 2, 3 edc) in band, switch. Don’t shed your mark by signifies of place your order with firms that aren’t reorganized in the area of academic writing. Scrivener’s attributes were created to revolve across the business necessities of an extended writing job, plus it’s amazingly strong. Our crew of professionals probably will assist you to write composition for college or university. Fairly simply, you will want additional software to do the other components of your movie manufacturing planning in addition to your prolonged production team requirements. And therefore, if you’re attempting to obtain some aid in the application that you simply’ve simply obtained, make sure that you’re conscious of its own limitations and advantages. Read different folks’s reviews. In several businesses reference checking proceeds after you’re employed. Writing for the internet can present you with a shock at any given flip. Writing a blog along with your website is among the utmost successful methods to encourage your company. I have already cheated on you. See the item page to learn more. Again a author may be creative about it within specific limitations in addition to the typical syntax, subject-verb-object (SVO), might be flexible. To begin with, you will need to be online to utilize the book and thesaurus. I’ve distinguished spelling and poems since I do think they’ll be medicated otherwise, right spelling must be anticipated even though it’s imaginative composing. Further, writing phrases is tough to read. This sort of document was written for a course over at the net American global College. Additional, let’s just take a try the tactics you must choose when composing different types of posts. It ought to be routed for editing and proof reading after the assignment is organized. Included in my own impending about how you can compose a research document project, I’ve chosen to publish numerous documents I’ve written for previous courses. Yes, it might not recognise every write. however, it is quite great particularly if you have nice hand writing. Org presents specialist educational examination and writing services in just about any specialization study. It genuinely is through our composing services thousands of pupils have been able to acquire top ranks inside their academic writing tasks. |
25 Mar 2019, 04:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Werewolf Facts |
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The simple opinion here would be to write an essay that’s important. It really is wise to really proceed through sites which are connected with article writing. Analyze what you’d like to write within the article and how do you want the visitors to react to your own composition. First, let’s take a look at the start of the article. The very starting stage in creating a descriptive composition is consistently to select your subject. Composing the authentic essay. An exceptional communication essay must additionally have the job of delivering information whenever needed. By abiding By these 3 actions it is easy to create a superior high quality article, as well as in the process, improve your study and composition writing skills. Gummed pieces split from a free paper are perfect for healing leaks, holes, and holes. This form of essay permits one to develop your composing skills without anxiety. The kind of people who read your illustrative article might have various skills in regards to knowhow and vulnerability. Following are several excellent bigotry article issues that will surely let you come up alongside an excellent written piece. Meeting essays make it possible that you use individuals as your own sources instead of books. The more passion you’ve got for a writing theme, the simpler it may really be to share that emotion to your own audience and make a great illustrative composition. To begin with, quit composing stories within your papers. In reality, among the crucial reasons which were blamed on reduced standards with reference to writing illustration documents might be the absence of the requisite knowledge in exemplification article writing. Story essay issues aren’t simple and it’s a really detail focused and incredibly specific style of creating. Nonetheless it is than sleeping around the streets themselves better. In reference to illustrations in exemplification essays, they are often special or standard. Feel of your own introduction for a guide of your own article, or perhaps for a guide. An excellent article is interesting. When you begin writing the next bunch of breezes which you will obtain a clearer picture of the essay. During writing this kind of article it’s crucial that you consider a small. So, it might prove useless if a author attempts to illustrate a specific theory to their own readers when utilizing illustrations the audience may fully be oblivious about. The sentence is actually not a overview of what it’s https://www.paper-helper.org/ you’re authoring, instead, it’s to get what it really is which you’re authoring. A defined article won’t supply you with a tricky period knowing what you’re reading. Rock said that if companies may be allocated privileges, thus should trees. The test article has to help you to reveal good regular syntax. In case the readers or marker isn’t fascinated within the first two or three phrases, odds are they won’t examine in to what it really is you are saying for the remainder of the composition both. Thus, the easy thing of creating an assessment essay may be to understand your own capacities for assessing a specific matter in your private words that’s possibly the most important problem. The following step in determining how to write crucial essays is constantly to summarize in your words the key points or arguments you’ve read or heard. It really is the kind of papers you’d write before writing a solution paper. The students find it challenging to write various sorts of story documents because they don’t hold the appropriate abilities. He should have the ability reveal their emotions nicely when composing the papers. |
25 Mar 2019, 11:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How to prepare for your EMBA interview |
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The interview is a key component of your overall executive MBA application. It provides you with another channel to demonstrate your candidacy for entry to the program and allows you to share much more information than your resume and essays. So, what things should you consider? Arrive prepared. While the interviewers won’t expect you to be an expert on minute details of the program, you should be knowledgeable about the general information. In addition, review your resume and essays because you are likely to receive questions about the contents of your application. Business professional attire is recommended – wear a suit! Emphasize teamwork. Executive MBA programs have many team-based activities, so the interviewer will want to ensure you can integrate effectively to this environment. Demonstrate your ability to succeed with others who may have diversity of thought, experience, background, culture, and nationality. Manage weaknesses. If you can self-identify a weakness (e.g. fewer years of work experience, low test scores, etc.), think about your action plan to enter the program as prepared as possible. You may want to consider things such as shadowing a senior leader for a few days or taking self-study courses in specific areas. Show school pride. Although the interviewer is evaluating you on your potential in the classroom, they are also evaluating you as a contributor to the UNC Kenan-Flagler community. Think about how you can demonstrate your commitment to the program and how you can add value to the overall mission. Top 3 things. A typical interview can be 45 – 60 minutes with multiple topics discussed. Before you depart, be sure to highlight the most important aspects of your candidacy. Think about the top three things you think are most relevant for the committee to know as they evaluate your overall application. Lastly, relax! The interviewer will want to learn about your background, but they’ll also seek to know you as a person. Be formal, but comfortable. |
25 Mar 2019, 11:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How to refine your resume for the EMBA application |
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Although most Executive MBA (EMBA) programs don’t require you to create a new resume for the application process, making a few modifications to your current resume can strengthen your candidacy. Your resume should:
Ready to get started? Check out our EMBA admissions team’s tips for refining your resume for your application: Illustrate career progression. EMBA programs place a significant emphasis on the career progression of candidates. Use your resume to share your career progression through a variety of roles and responsibilities. Using time progression is generally the preferred format. Include time spent in each position. If you have changed roles frequently, use months/years so the review team can understand the actual time spent in each position – this will help the committee understand the promotion timelines. If there is significant length (5+ years) in one position, use the bullets to outline increased responsibility during the time period. Outline the skills built in the role. Committee members are evaluating candidates based on what the candidates will bring to the program. While everyone has areas of opportunity, use your resume to focus on your strengths and how those will benefit your classmates and the program. Quantify results. To provide relative context to your impact on the organization, use quantifiable examples for results. You can consider things such as % increase, $K new business, or 1% error rate. Even things that seem unquantifiable can be re-packaged. Consider 100% project completion rate if you accomplished everything required. Include leadership outside your current employer. This may seem obvious, but many candidates neglect to include outstanding civic organizations and community groups. If you have multiple affiliations, begin with well-known national organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or the Susan G. Komen Foundation. |
27 Mar 2019, 07:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Tax professionals have input on EVERY business decision. |
 Imagine the work week ahead of you, not too far in the future: One of your clients is acquiring another company and wants to know how to structure the transaction to minimize tax liabilities. Another client needs to understand the income tax and property tax implications for several states being considered for new distribution centers. And a third — a big tech company — is planning a data center in Europe, but wants to understand how EU and individual country tax laws would affect the finances. You’re just starting to handle more international work and have joined the team handling the technology giant’s tax analysis. And all your clients also want to know how new tax laws will affect their tax liability, and how that might change their financial statements. They need your tax analysis skills to understand their options and make the right call. The right decision, backed by insightful tax analysis, can mean more profits and higher stock values. The wrong decision, however, might mean lower profits and a sinking stock price. “There’s not a decision a business makes that doesn’t have tax implications,” says Courtney Edwards, a clinical associate professor of accounting who focuses on tax in UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Master of Accounting program. “It is all about decision-making.” Most day-to-day tax work is focused on understanding the intricacies of tax law and figuring out how that applies to a client’s business. >> Smart decision maker? Learn five practical applications where accounting skills can make you even smarter around the office. Tax pros in demand Tax accountants are highly sought after. They most commonly work for accounting firms and corporations. Tax pros at public accounting firms often work with multiple clients over the course of the day. Unlike auditing, another accounting career path, tax accountants can take sides for their clients. “You are their advocate,” Edwards says. “You’re actually saying ‘We’re going to pick the best choice for you within the bounds of the tax law and we’re going to support it and defend it.’” On the corporate side, tax pros focus on a single business, mastering the tax issues that company and its industry faces. The scope of their responsibilities often depends on the size of the company’s tax department. In a big multinational, individual tax accountants might focus on specific areas, such as state and local sales and use taxes, while working as part of a bigger tax team. In smaller companies, a handful of people, or even a single individual, might handle all state and federal taxes. Tax accountants have plenty of career opportunities. Because they understand taxes, which factor in every business decision a company makes, they’re well positioned to advance senior ranks in a company, becoming CFO or leading mergers and acquisitions efforts, for example. “Regardless of what you want to do, having some understanding and appreciation for tax is going to make you better for it,” Edwards says. Tax traits How do you know if tax is right for you? Analyzing tax questions requires the ability to do research, understand how the law applies, and analyze the financial effects. Tax professionals need to know the client’s business and industry, so they understand how tax rules apply in that setting. “Doing a tax return, answering a research question —it’s a satisfying exercise for a lot of people who like to do puzzles,” she says. “The work is intellectually challenging and stimulating.” Solving a tax problem, Edwards says, provides the same kind of satisfaction that many people get from solving a tricky crossword puzzle or sudoku board. Tax professionals figure out how to apply the rules to benefit the client, within the bounds of the law. Strong written and verbal communication skills are also important. “By definition you are working with people,” Edwards says. Tax pros collaborate other accountants, usually as part of a team, and regularly communicate with people throughout the company they’re working with. Taking the next step It takes serious skills and know-how to become a tax professional. Fortunately, you can get the necessary education and credentials to start a tax career in as little as one year through a Master of Accounting degree (MAC) program. UNC’s MAC can be earned through a traditional, on-campus program or a flexible, online program that allows students to learn on their schedule. Many online MAC graduates stay with their current employer, but shift direction or shoot up the career ladder faster because of their new finance, accounting, and tax knowledge. Regardless of the format you choose, you’ll earn the same top-ranked degree, join the powerful UNC alumni network, and access career services to tune-up your résumé, sharpen your interview skills, and put you in front of potential employers. How to make smarter decisions Interested in learning more about how taking accounting classes will make improve your business savvy and fiscal intelligence? Download this free learning guide about some of the other financial insights you’ll receive as you earn a MAC degree.  What’s your next career move? The online Master of Accounting (MAC) degree from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School can give your career the boost it needs.
>> Learn more about the program>> View a demo of our live classes >> Join our next webinar |
09 Apr 2019, 07:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Even if you don’t shop at Lidl, you benefit from its lower prices |
 The arrival of low-price European grocers in the U.S. could mean hundreds of dollars per year in savings for consumers – even if they don’t shop at the new stores. The impact on grocery prices when Lidl entered selected U.S. markets is a subject of study for Katrijn Gielens, associate professor of marketing and Sarah Graham Kenan Scholar at UNC Kenan-Flagler. She wanted to know what impact of Germany’s low-price-focused grocers, such as Lidl and Aldi, might have on the already competitive U.S. market. Lidl’s strategy focuses on providing low prices across a narrow selection of grocery staples. It entered the U.S. market in mid-2017, opening 10 stores in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. That was just the beginning for the company, which has since opened over 50 additional stores. In fall 2018, it announced plans to purchase 27 supermarkets in New York and New Jersey to expand its footprint. Lidl primarily stocks private-label products rather than groceries from other suppliers, making its business model substantially different from competitors. Gielens wanted to know if the company’s entry would have any measurable effect on prices in places where, for example, other low-cost sellers such as Walmart already operate. And would it affect prices at grocery stores that often try to differentiate themselves in other ways, such as offering prepared foods, hard-to-find specialty products or an especially comprehensive selection of groceries? Lidl’s entry, she discovered, offered substantial savings for consumers whether or not they shopped at the German chain. It presents new challenges for existing grocers facing highly competitive environments. Lidl funded Gielens’ study with the caveat that she would report whatever the research showed, even if it wasn’t positive for Lidl. Price check To discover the true impact on Lidl’s entry into U.S. grocery markets, Gielens selected a dozen towns in Virginia and the Carolinas. She chose six communities where Lidl had opened new stores and paired each with demographically similar towns to act as controls. She identified a market basket of 48 common grocery items: ice cream, bacon, whole milk, canned tuna and more. And she dispatched researchers to collect price data on each item from the grocery stores in the markets she was studying, an expensive process. “It needs to be done very, very professionally,” she says. “What you usually need is a professional agency that has a lot of experience with field research.” Product comparisons have to be very specific – not just what yogurt costs, but the cost of a certain flavor of yogurt in a certain size container. While it’s not surprising that grocery prices dropped after a Lidl store entered a market, the magnitude of the decrease surprised Gielens. She expected to see price drops similar to those seen when Walmart entered the grocery business – generally 1 to 5 percent. Instead, she found that Lidl’s overall impact was almost twice as big. On average, competing retailers set their prices 9.3 percent lower in markets where they faced competition from Lidl compared to markets where they didn’t. Comparisons for specific products and against specific competitors were even more dramatic. For example, the price drops for a half-gallon of milk in markets where Lidl was present was 55 percent lower than in markets where it wasn’t. Some food categories, such as avocados and bread products, saw price reductions of more than 30 percent. More frequently purchased goods, including ice cream, bananas and cheese, saw their prices go down more than 15 percent. For individual shoppers, she found savings of up to $22 on the entire basket of 48 goods. On an annual basis, consumers might save hundreds of dollars per year. Beyond pricing The study has important implications for grocery retailers assessing the potential impact of low-cost competitors. First, it suggests that some concession on prices is almost certainly necessary, no matter how stores brand themselves. Grocery chains that have historically branded themselves as “low-price leaders” might face the most difficult challenge, as their core positioning is directly challenged by Lidl’s ability to deliver lower prices on high-quality staples. “The more you are alike the less you can afford to sit back and do nothing back,” Gielens says. For these and other grocers, figuring out how to differentiate themselves – through services such as prepared food, a larger range of products or a more attractive in-store experience – will be essential. U.S. grocers might consider their peers’ experience in the U.K. as a warning. “In the U.K., a lot of the competition was virtually destroyed by Aldi and Lidl a couple years ago,” she says. “They become very aggressive.There are really no reasons why you should assume the U.S. market will be different.” While some news reports suggest that Lidl’s entry into the U.S. might not have gone as well as the company hoped, Gielens says the company is well-capitalized and privately held, and so doesn’t have to answer to impatient financial markets hungry for the next quarterly earnings report. |
09 Apr 2019, 13:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Research by PhD student is already making an impact |
 2019 Impact Award recipient Travis Howell poses in front of Kenan-Flagler Business School. Even though Travis Howell (PhD ’20) has not yet earned his PhD, his research is already making an impact. His research interests include entrepreneurship, founders, coworking spaces and strategic management. His focus is on how to build and sustain a good founding team, and how increasingly popular coworking spaces are changing entrepreneurship. Howell’s study “Coworking’s Rapid Rise and Its Implications for Workers, Policies” received a 2019 Graduate Education Advancement Board ImpactAward from the UNC Graduate School. The award recognizes graduate students’ powerful discoveries that contribute to a better future for people and communities in North Carolina. UNC’s Horizon/Impact Awards Selection Committee, comprised of faculty members from across campus, selected his work for the honor, which included a $500 award. “Travis has generated key insights regarding the advantages and disadvantages of coworking. Importantly, he sheds needed light on the nature and impact of founder communities and provides guidance about how individuals can effectively work alone, together,” said his doctoral adviser ChrisBingham, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, Phillip Hettleman Distinguished Scholar and area chair of strategy and entrepreneurship. Howell’s robust agenda includes studies with Bingham to examine how cofounders can work together effectively as well as what solo founders can do to succeed. They also are working with Brad Hendricks, an accounting professor, on two studies: the impact of founders’ top-management-teams on firm performance, and how founders of large firms structure their top management teams to maintain control. In addition, he is exploring how firms develop internationalization capabilities with Bingham and Tim Ott, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship. Howell graduated from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management where he earned a master’s and BS in accounting. He went on to work as a consultant at PwC focusing on the valuation of intangible assets – technology, customer relationships, trademarks, technology – for mergers and acquisitions and management planning purposes. He performed valuations of both equity and debt securities for private equity firms. Clients ranged from Fortune 500 companies to small VC startup companies. He also worked in finance at IMSAR, a startup company in Utah developing advanced radar technology. Support for doctoral students and education is critical to developing future faculty and research with impact. Howell has received the Strategy Research Foundation Dissertation Scholar grant in support of dissertation research in strategic management, and a Kenan Institute ofPrivate Enterprise research grant. He was named a Kauffman KnowledgeChallenge Fellow in 2018. The Kauffman Foundation seeks innovative approaches to address the biggest problems facing entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders. Howell won in the category that recognizes projects that show how policy outcomes affect entrepreneurs. Read moreabout Howell’s research here. |
12 Apr 2019, 10:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Kenan-Flagler Day is a record-breaking success |
 Kenan-Flagler Day was a historic success, raising more money in one day than all of our previous giving days combined. The final total was $1.77 million raised from more than 1,600 donors, making April 9 the greatest single day of giving in the Business School’s 100-year-old history. Donors participated from across the globe, with gifts coming from more than 10 countries and a record 43 states. In addition to giving, alumni, parents and students attended 16 regional events, from Charlotte to Taipei. Not to be outdone, faculty, staff and students on campus participated in events and activities including a dunk tank, food trucks and a champagne toast for graduating students. These members of the UNC Kenan-Flagler community accounted for more than 400 gifts on Kenan-Flagler Day. Kenan-Flagler Day also featured a partnership with University-wide GiveUNC efforts, including a challenge against the College of Arts & Science – Battle for Carolina – that UNC Kenan-Flagler won handily. The Business School had more donors than any other school or unit on campus, accounting for more than a quarter of the University’s donor total. All told, the university raised an impressive $6.1 million from 5,994 donors on April 9. Thank you for making a gift on Kenan-Flagler Day by making a gift, thank you. Your dollars will go to directly supporting this School – from new scholarships to vital annual support for our programs – and everything that makes us great. |
15 Apr 2019, 09:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: Learning about real estate in the Queen City |
 The Undergraduate Real Estate Club headed to the major financial hub of Charlotte to learn about commercial real estate. Our March 2019 trek focused on all asset classes. Each firm we visited had its own unique strategic advantage, so we learned about the different approaches to real estate investment and development opportunities. Nuveen, one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world, looks to the future to predict what is next for retail and caters to the trends of consumer preferences in real estate, including the younger generations’ preference for a new type of office atmosphere. It believes the eco-friendly building trend will soon fill cities in the U.S. Beacon Partners, a full service commercial real estate investment company, emphasized the importance of accounting for the trends in all real estate asset classes. The Railyard, one of its current mixed-use projects featuring ground-level retail and office, is an example retail strategy to attract various customers to one place, a common trend in new retail properties. We saw retail trends at Asana Partners, a real estate investment firm that focuses on reinventing retail as an experience. It redevelops properties to create a trendy boutique retail experience. Asana focuses on attracting customers through interesting entrances, painted murals, and unique retail offerings. For example, Asana successfully redeveloped the Design Center into a prime millennial hangout spot. The trend of attracting individuals through interesting experiences and amenities also is found at Greystar. We explored its cutting-edge apartment development, Ascent Uptown. Touring Greystar’s luxury development was an eye-opening visit for many students, as the cosmopolitan feel of a building in North Carolina was a new experience for many participants. Although Uptown Charlotte is experiencing hyper-supply of apartments and condos near the Bank of America Stadium, Ascent still achieved a quick lease-up due to their success in targeting the ultra-luxury consumer base. We rounded out the day with a visit to HFF, a boutique real estate brokerage firm. HFF employees work at a fast pace to close as many deals as possible for commercial real estate companies like those we visited earlier in the day. Each deal they process is unique and requires different skills and techniques. Through the variety of deals they work with, they learn about all types of trends within the commercial real estate industry. Overall, the Undergraduate Real Estate Club members gained exposure to a variety of trends in Charlotte’s commercial real estate market. We were fascinated with the thought process behind each firm’s unique strategy for investment and development. Not only did this trek allow us to learn about commercial real estate in Charlotte, but it also gave us insights into a variety of potential careers in the industry. By Suzanne Nevant (BSBA ’21) and Jennie Vo (BSBA ’19) |
17 Apr 2019, 08:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How to keep your remote job from taking over your life |
 Remote jobs are wonderful. Remote jobs are horrible. At any point during the work week, either or both sentiments could be true. While some of your happiness is dictated by the people you work with, much of your happiness will stem from your ability to draw lines between your work and your personal life. This may sound counterintuitive. For some, remote work provides a way to spend more time doing things they love. Others work remotely because their personal circumstances demand it. In many cases, the ability to blend the professional with the personal is what makes the arrangement work at all. However, there is such a thing as too much work life blend. Only you can say when things are too intermixed. One person’s successful blend is another person’s train wreck. Bring back the commute There might be things you miss about working in the company office. Commuting to work probably isn’t one of them. That said, commuting to and from work provides a transition you don’t get moving from your kitchen table to your office. This is particularly true if your kitchen table is your office. You can answer work emails and texts while making dinner, and it’s hard not to if there is a looming deadline or a project is unfinished. If you’re a parent, your home life can run screaming into your work space, blurring the line between personal time and work time still further. I’m not suggesting that you need to leave your house and travel to a new place (unless you want to). Rather, build a mental commute that helps you move into or out of your work day. Build rituals Rituals provide that small pause between what came before and the next activity. These rituals need not take a lot of time. I would love to run before work or take a walk afterward, but my kids are home for the first and last hours of my workday, and they are usually clamoring for food or attention. It’s still possible to build in transitional rituals even when you have demands on your time. A colleague of mine performs a 10-minute mindfulness exercise before opening his laptop for the day. I make a cup of chai from scratch. Granted, I make chai daily, but on work days I make my tea and drink it while I skim email and check my calendar. I also feed Mike, my Betta fish, at the beginning and end of my work day. Neither of these is as cool as a mindfulness exercise, but they work for me. You don’t need to invent exotic rituals. Feeding Mike isn’t my idea of a transcendent experience. However, you can take mundane activities and perform them in a certain order to help your mind shift gears. Dress for work Working remotely means never (or hardly ever) having to wear uncomfortable business clothes. Depending on how often you interact face to face with clients and colleagues, and your company’s prevailing culture, you can wear anything you want. The Internet is full of stories about working in your pajamas. I loved ditching the high heels. If I never see another pair of those torture devices, it will be too soon. I will still recommend you get dressed for work. Remote workers do not have the same physical separation between their place of employment and their place of rest. Dressing for work can be one of the easiest ways to transition from home life to work life. One of my colleagues has a suit jacket made of T-shirt material. She slips it on when she is in work mode. I own three collared, button down work shirts. Putting them on signals that I’m going to work. At the end of the day I change into a t-shirt to show I’ve “left” work. I’m like Mr. Rogers in reverse. Build a soundtrack Many of us have songs we associate with different memories or feelings. Use this to your advantage and create a soundtrack to transition into or out of work. I discovered this tip by accident. I’m a runner. My running playlist of a dozen songs worked just fine until I trained for a 10k. I was out 3–4 days a week, listening to the same songs over and over and over again. The result is that I can’t listen to any Lady Gaga or the song ‘Titanium’ without experiencing a nearly uncontrollable desire to run. On the days I don’t want to run, I turn on these songs and I’m practically propelled out the door. You can use this same strategy to get into your work groove – or to pull you out of work if you have a tough time turning it off. This strategy takes time. If you pair the same playlist with leaving work, your mind will eventually shift gears when those songs play. As a bonus, you can tell your partner or children that until they hear James Brown, you’re still at work. Carve out a distinct work space One of the easiest ways to compartmentalize your job is to keep it in a separate home office. If you can afford this option, take advantage of it. I have spent my entire professional life in some of the least affordable places to live in the world. My office is usually in my bedroom. Fortunately creating a distinct workspace has more to do with your creativity than it does with actual walls. A physical office is great, but keep in mind that those walls won’t save you from getting sucked back into work all by themselves. How to build an office when you don’t have a separate room You can still create a physical office even if you don’t have a separate room. Buy a desk if you can and do most of your work there. A folding screen can wall you off from the rest of your home. Screens are also handy for hiding your bedroom when you are on video calls. A few office specific decorations can create the outlines of a separate work space. Mike the beta fish lives in a tank on my desk. My running medals hang on the holder I’ve attached to the wall behind me. Even putting a cup of pens and a photo of your family on your kitchen table/desk can help you distinguish between work time and off-the-clock time. Create a healthy distance Ideally, you would have a work computer and a personal computer, a work phone and a personal phone, and the two would only mix when you want them to. People who commute to a physical office also struggle with this sort of separation. However, the issue is magnified for remote workers, who live in their office. You don’t have to take work home – you’re already there. Successful remote workers think about the amount of purely personal time they need to thrive and take steps to wall off that time. Some people require more distance than others. Some might want to take calls during dinner so they can catch an issue in its early stages. Others need a “no work zone” so they can return to work fully charged. Only you can decide if there is enough distance between your job and your personal life. Are your choices harming your relationships or health? If not, then this likely isn’t a problem for you. It’s only a problem if you need time to unplug and work plugs you back in. Some companies or industries expect you to be available at all hours. Unless you are a first responder or on call, you can usually ignore a message for a set amount of time, or let the person know you’re in the middle of dinner and will look at whatever it is later. Your strategy may need to vary person by person. In these types of work environments, it pays to figure out exactly how long you can unplug before there are consequences you can’t live with. Many remote employees can choose to turn off work outside of work hours. We don’t because we see that notification on our screen and we think “I’ll just answer that really quickly so I don’t have it hanging over my head tomorrow” and next thing you know it’s two hours later and you’ve missed the meetup with your run group. Again. Or maybe that’s just me. I used to think I would have a better blend of work and life if my company gave me a work phone that I could shove into a drawer. As a veteran remote worker, I now know that I am only as balanced as my notification settings. I set my company Slack to “do not disturb” between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. on my laptop. I don’t have Slack on my phone at all unless I’m working outside my home. My company laptop gets turned off at the end of the day and I use my iPad or iPhone to surf the web. Few work people have my personal cell number. I do not forward my work email to my phone. This doesn’t mean that I never work after hours. The beauty of a remote job is that you can put in a few hours late in the evening or early in the morning and then use the daylight hours to go do something else. The goal is to make working after hours just hard enough that doing so becomes a conscious decision. Use your words Once you build your commute and set up your mental barriers between work and home, talk as if there is a physical distance between you and your job. In the morning I grab my cup of chai, announce I’m going to work and say goodbye to my family. Everyone says goodbye back even though I’m just moving into the next room. This might not work for you if you live alone. Adapt it to fit your situation. Tell colleagues you are away from your desk even if you can see your desk from the dinner table. The more you talk about work as something you have to go to or come back from, the easier it is to turn on and off. Remote jobs offer an amazing opportunity to work productively and do more of the things you love. Remote jobs can also take over your life. Take steps to develop a healthy distance between work and home. If you do, you’ll develop a work life blend that pushes you closer to your work-life goals. By TeresaDouglas (MBA ’14), author of the book “Secrets of the Remote Workforce: By Employees, For Employees” |
25 Apr 2019, 14:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: More than profits, student store provides real-world experience |
 Matt Bartsch and Zach Stone co-ran the student store during their second year of the Full-Time MBA Program. Getting into the school of your choice is an exciting time. There’s a sense of pride and a desire to celebrate it with others by buying and wearing garb from your new school. That’s how the concept and creation of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Student Store came about. Most universities’ student stores provide a plethora of gear to accommodate anyone and everyone, including specialized gear for students in specific schools. But when Tim Ryan and Kyle Pinheiro (both MBA ’17) tried buying UNC Kenan-Flagler gear, there was little to choose from. That’s when they came up with the idea of theBusiness School’s student store. “It was really their vision. Other business schools had a student store to sell branded gear to their students and alumni and UNC Kenan-Flagler did not,” says Matt Bartsch (MBA ’19), who began co-running the student store with classmate Zach Stone (MBA ’19) as second-year MBA students in fall 2018. Ryan and Pinheiro realized there was a market for Business School branded gear and they formed the small business thanks to funding from theMBA Student Association (MBASA). “They received a grant and went out and purchased a couple of items: hoodies, sweatshirts and T-shirts. That’s how the store began, primarily selling to students,” Bartsch says. Three years later, the store has grown from just two MBA students to a staff varying from five to seven students. In addition to expanding their staff, Bartsch and Stone have expanded the store’s products. They’ve moved into more high-end clothing like Patagonia sweatshirts and Nike polos as well as drinkware. “Decals socks, you name it,” Bartsch says. “We’re really trying to cover the gamut of workout apparel to, eventually, dog collars and tote bags.” Originally the store sold primarily to students at lunchtime at Café McColl. But beginning in 2017-18, the store also began selling at events to target alumni and online students, which together now makes up 80 percent of their total annual sales. “This year’s goal was to grow sales at events by selling are more events and adding products to our inventory,” says Bartsch. “We get emails all the time from alumni and students who study off-campus and can’t get to the School but want to buy and wear UNC Kenan-Flagler branded clothing. We’re hoping next year’s growth comes from ouronline store.” The MBA students developed a marketing website for customers to browse products. It also includes contact information and how to order online. The priority for next year is to get the online store up and running with a standardized shipping process. For now, the marketing website is available to check out what’s in stock. And when you order online, Bartsch and Stone ask for a little patience with delivery. And with any store, there are items that have broad appeal and others that might sell to niche customers. But how do they determine what to sell? A lot of their decision-making comes from listening to customers. “Every time we’re selling and a customer says, ‘Do you have this shirt in this color?’, we make a mental note,” says Stone. “Or they’ll ask, ‘I see you have coffee mugs but do you have pint glasses?’” Stone says one of the reasons they began selling pint glasses was to have items that could be versatile.  Some of the merchandise sold through the UNC Kenan-Flagler Student Store. “What might sell well to students might be different for alums,” says Stone. “They’re looking for different types of things. Something like a pint glass straddles both groups and is also nice to give to guest speakers.” Most career clubs host conferences and bring in speakers or judges and they want to give them a keepsake as a thank you for coming to the School. With items like glasses, mugs or water bottles, they don’t have to worry about different clothing sizes. And where do all the profits go? The goal is to have the profits go back to the School and help students pay their MBA activity fees. “We’re still in the growth phase, but the vision is once we get this online store up and running, the profits will go back to the School,” Bartsch says. Right now, the profits are going back into the store for new products and the store’s expansion. The store also provides hands-on experience for its managers. It’s not a paying job; it’s really about gaining the experience of running a small business say Bartsch and Stone. They are learning about at supply and demand, as well as managing inventory. “We look at what sells well from our current stock,” says Bartsch. If they carry something that’s not selling well, they determine whether to keep selling that item and what to replace it with. “For example, this year we sold Patagonia items withNet Impact and we completely sold out in one weekend with the online MBA students. It was incredible, so we plan on expanding it next year,” Bartsch says. They’ll look at adding different colors and new styles. For Stone, the skills he’s learned while co-running the store have been extremely applicable to his school work and will be valuable at McKinsey where he’ll work as an associate in Charlotte. Although he concentrated in consulting, during his summer internship at McKinsey his first project was a retail project. Stone says managing the store forced him out of his comfort zone. “We just had to be versatile,” he says. “I didn’t come to business school thinking I would get to practice designing T-shirt logos,” says Bartsch, who focused on technology at UNC Kenan-Flagler. “In our jobs after school, we’re not just doing finance and marketing; we might get weird, wacky tasks that are outside of our wheelhouse.” And he’ll be more equipped to tackle them head-on as he moves to Sunnyvale, California, to work as a project manager for Facebook’s safety group. And for future students wanting to gain start-up experience, they recruit every fall. |
26 Apr 2019, 06:00
| FROM Kenan- Flagler Admissions Blog: How to know if your remote employee is really working |
 If you read the comments section on articles about working remotely, someone inevitably asks, “How do I know if my remote employees are working?” The concern is that employees will loaf without a manager to watch them. I’ve managed remote teams as small as 20 and as large as 100, spread across California. Most of my people did their jobs and did them well. Identifying the shirkers didn’t require fancy monitoring systems. You don’t need them, either. There are cheaper, more effective ways to prove that your remote people are working. Hire the right people Screen out the loafers. There are people who want to do a good job and fulfill their commitments. But be warned, you will not find these people if you assume everyone is a money-motivated shirker. Check for evidence that your interviewee has completed tasks even if that meant doing things outside her job description. Ask about projects that have gone wrong or changed in scope. How did the person handle the situation? Can she accept fault? Look for people who do good work despite challenges. Look for people you can trust. A lack of trust can damage any office, but it is particularly poisonous to the remote workforce. I once had a boss we’ll call “Stan.” Stan lived in perpetual fear that his team was loafing instead of working. To “prove” that I was working, I had to answer all of his emails within minutes of receipt or Stan would call me to find out what I was doing. It made me miserable. Worse, it made me inefficient at the job I loved. I explained the effect Stan was having on my ability to do my work, and his answer was to send me a $10 gift card to a local coffee shop. Otherwise his behavior remained unchanged. So then I was miserable AND offended that he thought he could buy me so cheaply. Stan didn’t understand what motivated his team. Stan didn’t last long. You might think you don’t have time to figure out someone’s motivation. In reality, the time you spend on this task up front will save you from performance problems in the future. Remote employees have a degree of autonomy that in-office employees do not share. Any of them could shirk. Hire people who don’t want to. No amount of surveillance can take the place of hiring trustworthy people. Hiring the right remote workers is a necessary first step if you want people who work, but it isn’t the only one. Weed out the wrong ones Not everyone thrives in the remote workforce. When Kaplan Test Prep transitioned from a brick and mortar business to one where 90 percent of full-time employees worked remotely, some employees left. For some, home held too many distractions. Others couldn’t turn the work off, and they burned out. Whether you are hiring someone new or assessing members of an existing team, weed out those who can’t succeed in the remote environment. The employees that thrive have some commonalities.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of qualities that make a great remote worker, but you will be hard pressed to find a successful candidate who lacks any of them. In a perfect world, managers would weed out unsuccessful candidates before they get hired. In reality, this doesn’t always happen. I If your direct report truly lacks the discipline, communication skills or initiative to work in this way, then it is better to identify that as early as possible. Use the time you would have spent cleaning up performance problems to help your employee find a different role. Set up smart checkpoints While micromanaging can smother a direct report, a completely hands-off approach can also damage efficiency. Some solutions require more authority than others. Depending on the company, decisions to spend money, to change a deadline, or to redirect the course of a project fall to you. A standing meeting is an efficient way to plow through these items. Experiment with meeting cadence to find what works best. I’ve found that monthly meetings worked well for my part-time staff. All other business happened through email and one-off calls. My director and I meet once a week for 15–30 minutes, and the entire team meets for an hour every other week. These meetings keep everyone on track. They are also great opportunities to update everyone on wider company news. It’s important to note the difference between regular check-in meetings and the check-ins that Stan the micromanager arranged. Stan did the remote equivalent of jumping out of the bushes and yelling ‘Gotcha!’ In contrast, holding a regular, scheduled check-in to clear away obstacles helps your report do her best work. Your employees will notice the difference. Focus on outcomes Once you’ve scheduled regular check-ins, focus on outcomes. This is what you are measured against anyway — the volume and quality of work your people produce. It doesn’t matter if your remote employee answers all of your text messages within five minutes. He could do so from a bar. Or from the beach. There is nothing wrong with working from a bar or the beach (or a bar on the beach) if the employee is actually working (and not intoxicated). Does the employee meet his deadlines? Is he delivering quality work? Is he on time to scheduled meetings? If colleagues and clients know when and how to reach him, then it shouldn’t matter if he works from 8-10 p.m. on Monday so he can take two hours on Tuesday to go to a doctor’s appointment. Employees work harder when they have flexibility. It’s a perk they wish to keep. By Teresa Douglas (MBA ’14), author of the book “Secrets of the Remote Workforce: By Employees, For Employees” |
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