Conor’s rejected campaign slogans for VP of the First Year Class

By Conor | September 14th, 2008 | 7 Comments »

Scorp elections have arrived!

Scorp is the NYU Stern government student body - though the name itself, Scorp, tends to conjure up images of a super-villain.

One imagines Wesley Snipes, in that breathy, tax-evading voice of his, grunting “Scorp… I knew you’d show your undead face around here sooner or later…” and Scorp, who would have some kind of javelin-sized piercing through his lip, would say something unoriginal (“Say your prayers to that ridiculous God of yours, Blaaaade!”) and then throw something pointy at Wesley Snipes.

But that’s not what NYU Stern Scorp is. And I should know. I’m running for VP of the First Year Class and it’s pretty much a prerequisite that I understand that Scorp is in fact Stern’s Student Government and not an undead vampire.
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Self-Assessment Tests and How to Fool Them (and in the process, yourself)

By Conor | September 5th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

As first year students at NYU Stern, we have a course called Teams and Leaders. It is not graded. I believe it is mandatory for all students, meaning nobody placed out of it by virtue of being a kick-ass teammate in their previous employment.

Now, let me say that I think the concept of Teams and Leaders is a good one. It pervades virtually every field that we will find ourselves working in, unless you’re going into a uniquely individualistic position, like Junior Vice President for Swimming the English Channel or that monkey that we launched into space.

And I am sure that we are learning a lot. But it is a different kind of learning, where we are learning about ourselves and life. Which makes it sound like a yoga class, but far more practical (yoga people, don’t even start with me). In fact, I think it may turn out to be one of the more valuable things we do this semester.
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Pre-Term Ends (you may now use the restroom)

By Conor | August 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

Pre-term ended on Thursday, and the mood at Stern during the final gathering in Shimmel Auditorium was jubilant.

Thinking about it now, there was not a whole lot of reason for jubilance. One could even argue such jubilation was, let’s say, slightly irrational. (Three sentences, three iterations of the word jubilant. I’m on fire.) However, because I was amongst the throngs who were jubilantly (that’s four) celebrating, it looks like I am going to have to take a long look at the man in the mirror and come up with an answer/change my ways.

As I see it, there are a few interpretations for the mood.
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Pre-term is kind of like an iceberg…

By Conor | August 26th, 2008 | No Comments »

We are just days away from the end of NYU Stern Pre-Term, and I gotta tell you, it is pretty much a blur at this point. The day is mostly constructed of various presentations. These presentations have, in my opinion, gotten more practical as the days have gone on. Interestingly, however, there may not be a direct correlation between the utility of the presentation and class attendance to these presentations.

Now, I may be speaking out of turn here, but if you ask me, which you didn’t, the secret to ensuring that people show up to these presentations is making them – and I quote – “optional.”
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Pre-term: On cultural differences and four cheese sauce

By Conor | August 21st, 2008 | No Comments »

On the first day of Pre-Term for Stern, we gathered, 400+ of the new class of 2010, in an auditorium named after somebody named Schimmel. Or Kimmel. Both people apparently donated enough to have auditoriums named after them, and I’m pretty sure I am not the only one to confuse them. I’ll tell you this: if I’m ever thinking about dropping a few million to dedicate a new wing on a b-school, I’m sure as hell not doing it if people are going to confuse my wing with that school’s already existing Quonor Drennan Wing.

It was great to see the Class of 2010 in full force. Everybody seemed pretty psyched to be there, there were endless introductions, and those who had met once before were likely meeting for the first time in a venue that did not have “$3 Boilermakers” chalked on a blackboard outside.
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The End of NYU Summer Start

By Conor | August 17th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

NYU Stern’s Summer Start Program is, as they warned us it would be, over before it began. Not literally, of course – it lasted several weeks, and for it to be over before it began would be an impossibility. If anybody ever says anything is over before it began, literally!! I encourage you to hit them in the head with fruit, like plums. Plums will explode on contact and get in their hair. And from that day forth, anytime they are about to use the word “literally” inappropriately, they’ll think back to those plums in their hair and how much that sucked.

Certainly Summer Start went quickly. I guess there are several possibilities why it went so quickly – it was fun, the people were tremendous, the work was intense – but I have a different theory. I think that it went quickly because everything worth doing seems to go quickly. And the NYU Stern Summer Start was definitely, positively, worth doing.
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Five Lessons on Giving a Group Presentation (Lesson 1: Don’t be bad.)

By Conor | August 7th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Some time ago we did a team building exercise called Uncommon Leadership. It was based on the Marine training exercise, and it involved a group of, say, six of you, put before various physical challenges. How do we get this barrel over this eight foot high bar without a.) touching the ground, b.) coming within 900 feet of the bar, or c.) touching, or even thinking, about the barrel. They would give you a set of “tools” to use to complete this task – usually a half a bar of Irish Spring and a Menorah.

Now, it was really cool in itself. But the point of it – to learn how to work in teams – I never really bought into. Not that I don’t think it was hugely useful for the Marines – I have no doubt about it. And not that I have any problem with the Uncommon Leadership itself – I thought it was awesome. (And that has nothing to do with the fact that any of the Marines involved, were they to read a poor review of their program in this blog, would potentially voice their disappointment, maybe by throwing a tree at me.) But I wondered what kind of practical application it may have in business school.

Well, my friends, now we know. We know that the point of performing these tasks with your classmates – tasks such getting six people across a forty foot wide chasm using only a glass of grape juice – was only to prepare you for the significantly more difficult challenge: The Group Presentation.
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PowerPoint for Beginners (Rule #1: Animate EVERYTHING)

By Conor | August 4th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

I challenge anyone working on PowerPoint for the first time – anyone who has been tasked with giving a presentation – to NOT animate the holy bejeezus out of every single element on the page.

It just isn’t possible.

For those of us who are relatively new to PowerPoint, you have to understand: more animation equals better presentation.
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A gift for my international friends

By Conor | August 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments »

One of my favorite things about Stern, already, is the diversity of the group. I read all about how important that was to the school when I applied, and what a high premium they placed on it, but I honestly thought it was lip service.

But no. It was more than that. It was whatever the opposite of lip service is.

The international men and women in our group are a highly intelligent bunch and are fantastic colleagues. Having lived virtually my entire life post-college abroad, I am accustomed to relying on native speakers to help me sound non-idiotic. In Brussels, for example, my French friends encouraged me to put a very heavy emphasis on the second syllable of my first name – CoNOR instead of COnor. The reason being that the way I was saying it, I was introducing myself as whatever the French word for “A**hole” is. (Hint: It’s “Conor.”)
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Who did, and who did not, appear in the WSJ yesterday

By Conor | July 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I believe in a just God. I believe that He knows very well what He is doing, and that His plan is fair and loving. Which is why I am forced to admit that it is no accident that even though I, Conor, am enrolled in a top MBA program at NYU Stern, I was not featured in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.

No, my friends, the member of my family who did, in fact, managed to grace the pages of that hallowed business journal, photo and all, was – and I can’t believe I’m about to say this – our dog.

Oh yes, laugh. Get it all out. So very, very funny. What a hoot it was, reading an email from my beloved wife Liz yesterday afternoon containing only a link to the article with a subject line that, if I recall, was made up solely of a half dozen question marks and exclamation points.
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