Blonde MBADocumenting the life of a blonde MBA student in sunny California. Maybe some blondes DO have brains!

So to keep being Blonde MBA (even natural blondes have to maintain a little & to get ready for the holidays, I’m getting my hair done for the first time since going back to school. This normally dreaded experience has proven to be some much needed time for myself…

I don’t think it’s the hair styling due to the embarrassing amount of foil on my head. It probably has more to do with the stack of non-business magazines I’ve gone through…or just not thinking of schoolwork & mellowing out to wierd salon music…or the fact that us MBA students have been working nonstop for 14 weeks and need a break before finals!

Either way, I’ll enjoy this and Thansgiving break so I can hit books as needed again! I think it’s a good time management strategy!

Social networks really have become the “wave” (I don’t know if of the future or not) these last few years…and they have definitely influenced MBA life! When I was in undergrad, Friendster was vaguely around, Blackboard just started, and we communicated by cell phones only…crazy, I know!

Today’s college students, and now graduate students, do everything via Facebook…attend or RSVP for events, become fans or members of student groups, talk to our group members, compare articles, network with alumni, you name it! Who came up with this??

Jason Feffer, CEO of Sodahead.com

Answer: Jason Feffer, one of the co-founders of MySpace.com, has set up a new networking site called Sodahead.com, and came to talk to Argyros School of Business and Economics students last night for the first ever Global Entrepreneurship Week. Beyond the entrepreneurial feel of “thinking big,” he gave us insight into how the social networking industry came about and just BLEW UP in a very short time…

• Friendster evidently came about first, but as “My Facebook” was at the beginning, was a closed network with little to no customization by users. MySpace, Feffer’s company, was started in 2003 as an alternative to Friendster and open to pretty much anything - any user name, any “glitter,” and any background the user wanted to hack in. Ugly, yes, but from there, MySpace simply followed and built on what the users were doing most - checking out each other’s pictures, adding music, etc. - and what times/places of the world were doing what. This simple market research (and collaboration with advertisers) caused it be sold within three years for approximately $580 million. Nice cut…
• That said, now Facebook has become an alternative to MySpace, for those users who precisely do NOT want the glitter and glamour, and as us MBA students, allow us to connect to our schools and even now, business professionals and company pages.

Where will these sites go? It’s safe to say I think I’ve grown out of MySpace…those tweens can have it…but I don’t think I’m making a complete jump to the STRICTLY professional LinkedIn. Wherever you go, these sites have allowed many to connect to old classmates, friends, and even family in more ways than ever before…I (and Jason Feffer) thinks they’re here to stay (with ongoing adjustments in a never before established industry)!

For more on how start-up Sodahead got started, check out this interview with Jason Feffer…

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, most of the semester’s MBA group projects are due either just before or just after the break. What this means? Hours of group meetings!

With a multitude of meetings & projects, many with the same people, how do you coordinate your efforts?

1. Come up with an action plan -
By deciding how to attack the project in advance, you can save yourself and your fellow group members huge amounts of time and limit your wasted effort. Sticking to the plan and figuring out what needs to be done to accomplish your goal will keep you on track, and any needed adjustments can more easily be made along the way.

2. Divide and conquer -
MBA group projects tend to be rather large in scope…the reason? The professors want us to cover as much material as possible, so just the sheer quantity of material to be covered requires a divide-and-conquer approach. Of course, each of the group members needs to pull their wait, or you’re going to have a gap in the material…so while giving up your complete control of the project, you do need to make sure that group expectations are clear up front!

3. Find a balance between agreement & conflict (in a good way)
A cohesive group (which most of mine are) is great…less emotional conflict and more agreement, which definitely speeds things up. On the flip side, we purposely try to promote more intellectual conflict, playing “devil’s advocate” where needed or presenting a different view of things. Without this conflict, we could all very well be stuck on the wrong idea, but none of us would say anything different! Make sure you are seeing all sides of the story, to see if there is anything you can do better, without disturbing the peace!

4. Employ your strengths
One of the struggles when it comes time to pull an MBA group project together is pulling together 3-4 different styles…one for each group member! Not everyone can write the paper, so figure out a good role for each person…either one that you know they’re good at (which you probably WON’T know in the beginning), one they want to try or practice on, or whatever each can do the quickest & best! You get the picture…while everyone is the “best writer,” not everyone can write. Judge your comparative advantages and employ them accordingly…

So, I am DEFINITELY not an expert on MBA group projects, and we’ll see how the finished projects come out (I’ll let you know how this week goes!), but these are definitely lessons I’ve learned so far this semester…

I’m sure I will have more insights as the semester and program progresses…what have been your group experiences, for better or worse? What have you learned from them?

Being in an MBA program what with all that is going on in the economy, some classmates and I are kind of wishing that our professors would give more insight into the economy and how it affects the realities of business.  We feel that, in the shelter of the program, the MBA professors can offer insights from the real-world or even academic explanations for some of the current events, so that we can better understand what is going on & effectively lead when we get out!

Of course while my management & statistics instructors may not have much to offer & it would take all of our courses off track, why does my accounting professor talk more about it the current state of things than my economics professor… hmm?? I do have one project of “Fed watching” but as the economy seems to be doing everything in reverse, things it has never done before, this hasn’t led to much explanation or insight into the economic events.

That being said, regardless of course content, an MBA program is supposed to be about reality-based education…what better reality is there than an unstable economic system (wait, did that come out wrong?)

I hope that in the course of our time in the program (& with the dollars we are spending), we can get a little more insight as our economy (hopefully) progresses!

The waiting (& year-&-a-half campaigning) is finally over…Senator Barack Obama has been elected the next President for the United States! No matter who you voted for, this was a historical election for our country, with the first African American U.S. president ever!

As a historical election with record turnout, this election said a lot about a new, younger generation of voters who are generally not afraid to question the status quo, make an effort to vote, and are generally not afraid of change.

Explanations that once were set in stone changed today, and no matter what party you voted with, hopefully this shows the progress that Americans can make given the freedom & rights that we have. Hopefully this will not simply be a change of party, but a change towards nonpartisanship and cooperation.

Oh, & hopefully this change in leadership will effect a positive change in our economy!