The first quarter of Kellogg is over

Today marks the end of my 14th week at Kellogg.

The initial excitement that I felt during orientation has been replaced with the nervousness about exams. The strangers that I met during KWEST and CIM have turned into close friends that I have gotten to know very well and share this incredible experience with. More than anything else, my initial questioning of whether business school was the right thing for me has been replaced with a greater confidence Kellogg will provide me with net growth versus anything else I could have done.

Here are some of my thoughts about the quarter that was.

Three positive lessons

There are a lot of incredible things going on at Kellogg

I hadn't appreciated the amount of incredible opportunities that going to a school like Kellogg (and Northwestern would provide). Through various initiatives, I have been able to sit next to Carlos Brito (CEO AB InBev) at a student lunch, where he discussed his approach to building a the world's largest brewer by first building a strong company culture. I had the chance to hear Jason Spero (VP Performance Media at Google) tell us his honest thoughts about work and life - a lot of it comes down to luck. Beyond that, I've listened to a former UN Ambassador, journalists from the New Yorker and NY Times, as well as an interactive musical performance from Peter Buffett.

On a personal level, I've had the opportunity to put together a small group of people who meet to discuss interesting ideas and also start improving the leadership and personal development process at Kellogg.

All of these experiences have allowed me to learn from people who are far more successful than me and who have completely different world views to mine. While it takes a lot of proactivity, there are a lot of amazing things to do at Kellogg.

The educational experience is phenomenal

I was a bit worried about what the educational experience at Kellogg would be like. So far, it has been nothing short of phenomenal.

I've found that the coursework has significantly pushed me beyond what I learned in undergrad commerce and consulting. My personal favourite is Professor Hennessy's intro marketing class. Not only have I learnt about the basics of marketing in a practical, team-based environment, but I have also learned a lot about effective teaching. Professor Hennessy teaches through stories that often made no sense right up until the end, when she ties it into the theory she mentioned earlier. and everything is revealed. It's one of the few classes where I am completely transfixed and shocked when it ends. Her last class revised the entire course but, instead of just going through the content, was all about how we can use the marketing principles we learnt and apply them to recruiting process and life.

Beyond this, Professor Garthwaite’s class was a literal and intellectual challenge where we were forced to question and defend our own assumptions. It was the closes that I have come to the Plato’s School model of learning that I have always wanted to experience. I also had the pleasure of learning from Professor Deserranno, who was able to make econometrics fun and exciting.

Business school changes the way you view the world

Being in America has changed my perspective on opportunity and success. I’ve come to view opportunities as being abundant, something that is not as apparent in a smaller economy like Australia. This has helped me have a much more patient and deliberate view of my career future. I know that I can be more discerning about choosing opportunities and that I need to think more about my career in the medium term. Having classmates and friends who are a few years older than me has also helped me come to this view.

Three areas for development

I need to be more focused on my goals

Earlier this quarter, I shared a list of goals that I wanted to achieve during my time at Kellogg. My progress on these has been relatively poor. 

I've ended up going with the flow of business school and succumbed to a degree of apathy, especially as the weather has gotten colder and school has gotten more intense. Next quarter, I need to be more deliberate around getting what I want from by MBA. Part of this will come from better accountability and better tracking. Part of this will also come from more structure and explicit decisions around the trade offs I am making. 

I need to explore Chicago and go beyond Evanston

I ventured into the city and some of the suburbs during my first month but not much since then. The Evanston bubble is too easy to stay inside, especially when you have the excuses of cost and other commitments. I need to make a list of things I want to do in Chicago and work through them every week.

I need to be better at blogging

While I have been relatively consistent around my blogging, I don’t think the wuality of my output has been great. In the next quarter, I am going to focus the theme and purpose of my blog. I’m not sure exactly what this will look like but it will most likely be related to personal development. Additionally, I need to get better at planning and drafting ideas throughout the week, instead of starting at 10:30pm on a Sunday

I can't wait for next quarter!