I spent the Summer of 2012 as an editorial intern for the communications department at UT’s McCombs Business School. There I gained valuable experience covering business news for McCombs’ OPEN Magazine. I also reported on news relevant to the school and alum through McCombs’ TODAY Blog. In addition to my educational background in business, this internship strengthened my interest in covering business news.
Below are just a few samples of my work there.
Personal Branding Primer
In the age of Twitter and LinkedIn (and their offline counterparts, happy hours and networking mixers), many people are rising above the resume, carefully crafting a personal brand to promote themselves to the world. Our experts share tips on how to make your image shine
“You gotta ask for that J-O-B!”
As his fist pounds the podium and his eyes bulge, Herb Miller warns more than 100 undergraduates in his Foundations of Marketing class that if they aren’t “bodacious” enough, they may just find themselves jobless after graduation.
“A person is just like any other product,” says Stacey Rudnick, director of MBA career management. “That means you have to apply the 4 P’s of marketing”–product, price, place, promotion–“as you aim to enter whatever job market you choose.”And for Miller, senior lecturer in marketing, nothing says “bodacious” less than a standard resume. He says it has become a bland representation of “statistical data and text” that an interviewer must legally keep on file. That’s why his students must instead create a brochure that projects their “brand.” Complete with a photo, statement of short- and long-term goals, core interests and a list of strengths the student will bring to a company, a brochure “brings the student to life—they suddenly become a viable entity,” Miller says…
Click for full, published version of Branding Primer
The Cowboy Collector
Legendary American Airlines CEO C.R. Smith was also a serious art collector
C.R. Smith, BBA ’25, grew up in tiny Minerva, Texas, formerly known as Midway—as in, midway between Rockdale and Cameron, about 50 miles northeast of Austin. Surrounded by rolling hills and little else, he spent his youth hunting and fishing. He earned his first paycheck at the age of nine working for a cattleman.
After graduating from UT, Smith became an accountant and then in 1928 joined Texas Air Transport as secretary and treasurer. In 1930, he was appointed vice president of the southern division of American Airways. He was elected president of American Airlines in 1934, dispatched to its New York City headquarters, more than 1,000 miles from his bucolic hometown. It was then—perhaps in an attempt to reclaim a bit of home—that the country boy–turned-executive began collecting Western art.
“Paintings should be acquired, owned and preserved by those who have a deep affection for them,” Smith once wrote. “(The painting) has to bring back some pleasant memory, it has to rekindle some earlier ambition, or it has to tell about a time and a people dear to you”…
Click for full, published version of Cowboy Collector
Learning the Rules of International Business
Deirdre Mendez is trying to explain American cultural nuances to 47 students from nine different countries when a student from Austria pipes up and says that Americans seem disingenuous to strangers. To that, the entire room explodes in agreement.
“Let me clear the confusion,” Mendez responds. “Americans are pretty friendly. We ask acquaintances and strangers alike how they’re doing when we see them. And the answer is always, ‘Great, how are you?’ And that’s the end of it. We’re all great. It would be strange to say anything other than that. It’s not that we don’t care to have a conversation with you. It’s just that for us, friendly inquiry isn’t reserved exclusively for deep relationships.”
It’s just one of the small but illuminating lessons Mendez shares in her Studies in Intercultural Management course, which is part of the BBA Global program, a global adaptability initiative hosted by the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). For more than 10 summers, the program has brought students from top international business schools together with McCombs undergraduates for a six-credit international business boot camp that teaches how to solve problems, manage intercultural conflict and operate in a global marketplace…
shawna reding 