MBA 1st Term Industry Project Perspective & Instructions

Hi folks, it's Dr. CJ Meadows, and I'm making this video to share with you my perspective and some instructions on your first-term industry research project. Basically, my approach to this is it should be an opportunity for you to do two things. Number one, get to the leading edge of some particular topic that you're passionate about and that's really important to industry right now. And it's your opportunity to network. So yes, you'll do secondary research, but you should also do some— well, secondary research, I particularly like consulting reports, white papers, industry reports of all kinds, reputable journal articles. You don't have to make it overly academic. For primary research, this is your chance to network. So go out and on LinkedIn or otherwise find experts in the field who can share with you what's happening today and what they're working on for tomorrow so you're not just trapped in the past. And it's a great chance to network for your career. So first of all, I want your LinkedIn profile to be fabulous, not only because you're going to need that in a year's time when you're applying for jobs, but also I would like to inter— introduce you to experts in the field who are relevant to you, especially those working for organizations you'd like to work for. And I can introduce you on LinkedIn or Or if you're wanting to reach out on your own and if it's a topic I'm not that familiar with, then yeah, you may need to do a lot of networking on your own. Thing is, when people see your LinkedIn profile, especially in an introduction LinkedIn over email, they can look at your background and see how professionally you've done it and say, "Oh, Yeah, this is somebody I would like to talk to, so I want to go through that LinkedIn process first. So number one, I should have sent you already, and if I haven't, please request it, the LinkedIn, my LinkedIn guidelines. You should schedule a meeting on Calendly to go through your LinkedIn profile together because I usually have a lot to say, and, and there's some interactive bits like your tags tagline where I need your feedback. Once you've made that round of edits, then usually you can just WhatsApp me, "Hey, I'm done," and I'll give you a final audio on WhatsApp with some final suggestions for your profile. And at that point in time, I can begin introducing you, and you should begin reaching out to people. And they can see how wonderful you are because you've marketed yourself appropriately. Now, whatever the topic it is, I generally, I generally put more weight in your presentation and your PowerPoint than in your link, than in your document, your Word document. Why? Because as a consultant, I had too many Word documents go on the shelf properly paid for, but they go on the shelf. Nobody wants to read these days. But if you have someone in a meeting, you do have a chance to engage them, to present your information, your recommendations, do Q&A, and they really get the message then. So I think the presentation is more important than the document. Don't make the document or the presentation like a research, an academic research report. I think the guidelines are kind of structured that way, but the presentation I look upon as a consulting presentation, and the whole research project I look on as a consulting project. So you get yourself to the leading edge on some issue, which as consultants we never walk into a situation with all the knowledge and skills you need. You have to build them up, and you also have to collaborate. You build those up on the way. So you're gonna do your secondary research. Do reach out to experts before you have completely done your secondary research, because these are busy people and they will need to schedule a little in advance. If you wait to the last minute, you're not going to get 4, 5, 6, or more expert interviews and networking opportunities. You're just going to be stuck with nothing. So I do expect at least 4, 5, or 6 expert interviews. Now, one thing you can do when you're doing that, reaching out and so forth, is say, okay, may I May I get a brief expert interview with you? And usually this is no more than a half an hour or so. And I am happy— and you tell them why, what you're doing— and say you're happy to touch base with them again at the end. So that's a second opportunity to be in touch with them to share what you have found in your industry research. Now normally we these projects, yes, you're going to look at some issue, but I also want you to apply it to a company situation. So this company is going to be your pretend client. So you're going to go through all of the, you know, I did all this research, I talked to these people, here's all the insights from the research, Here's the company that I chose for a pretend client. Here's where they are, where they want to go, and how I recommend they get there. Here's kind of the cost that they would have— wait a minute, before cost you always look at the opportunity. So here's how much you— here's how much they are wasting or spending or How much opportunity they're not getting, grabbing a hold of, and here's the cost to them. So then at the end, of course, most business people will say, "Oh yeah, I do want to do that. This, this is great. Thank you." So another thing that I want you to go through, and there's a link on my website on the educator page, The Pyramid Principle and Barbara Minto. When I joined Accenture in 1987— yes, you don't need to calculate how old I am— one of the very first things that I learned was the Pyramid Principle because it became the foundation for every consulting report that I did, and it was the foundation for every consulting report pretty much everybody does. Your slide should tell a story. Whatever you see graphically on the slide should be supported with whatever information, etc., is on that slide. So this story from slide to slide to slide to slide, um, you're gonna have one key message at the top, and whatever graphics, text, or tables you have in the slide supports that headline at the top. Someone should be able to go through your consulting report, your consulting presentation, the PowerPoint, and read it like a story. This headline to that one to that one to that one. Now for proposals, for example, it would often be You have this big problem. You can't— it would be put diplomatically, but here's a big problem or a big opportunity. You can't fix the problem or capture the opportunity, but we can, and we have all this experience and this and that and so forth. Here's how much you gain. Here's how little you spend. Hire us to do it. Okay, so don't say it as crass and horrible as I just did. But basically, that's it, and that's the kind of stuff that I want to see in this first-term project. Now, your academic manager will be fielding questions and helping you day-to-day and with the formats that you have to comply with and the deadlines and Lord knows what else. Use me as a resource if you want to talk through what sort of topic do you want to pursue, what's of interest to you, is this of interest to anybody else, um, what sort of a company should you choose for your case company. If you're in Singapore, it has to be in Singapore. You can do a global issue, but focus on a case for a Singapore company using publicly available data. If you have a chance and you're interested in the company, then yes, go ahead and make some contacts at the company and start networking. So you can use me for— what do you want to do with your career? What topic would be good for you to work on? Case company? Do I have any particular people to connect you with, or etc., or if you have any particular problems. Okay, I look forward to meeting with you, and I look forward to the wonderful things you're gonna produce in this great industry project. I like learning from you and working with you. Thank you.