A Pivot to Operations

Maria Dangles interned at McDonald’s Corp., first in marketing, where she worked on a strategy for new markets, and then in operations, which she found required creativity as well as number crunching. She is an art lover who previously worked at the global auction house Christie’s as a senior proposals administrator.

Why did you choose this opportunity?

I was interested in working for a large company in the food and beverage industry, where I could potentially pivot among multiple functions.

How did Booth prepare you?

I had taken Competitive Strategy in the spring before my internship, where we learned that there are five elements in every strategy. I used those elements—staging, arenas, vehicles, differentiators, and economic logic—to frame the biggest deliverable of my internship: a strategy for how McDonald’s might enter a new market.

What were the big takeaways, or lessons learned?

I started in marketing, but operations solidified for me as a career choice. I like statistical analysis, but to finesse the problems, you have to be creative. I like that in operations there’s the creative piece: you have to assess the situation and not just look at the numbers.

What was the most challenging part?

Everybody on the operations team is required to work a couple of days in a restaurant, and I worked in a store in a Chicago suburb. Watching the order-takers cemented the realization that even if you have a bunch of orders stacking up, you must pay attention to the customer above all. The customer is always right.

Were there any surprises?

Halfway through my internship, I let my boss know I was interested in operations. That’s what I really loved about the internship—they let me pivot in the middle of it. I started working with the operations manager for US operations, menu innovation. We worked on a series of operations tests with suppliers and had to think of innovative ways to receive products just in time. It was fascinating.

Did you work crazy hours?

Not really. I worked with people in the supply chain and operations, and then customer insights and analytics, all during regular working hours.

How did it influence your career path?

I’m looking mainly at operations and program manager roles now in the food and beverage industry. I also recently had a conversation with my old boss at Christie’s. For one of the company’s big projects, they’ll need an ops person, so returning to a familiar environment in a very different role might also be an option. I might go back into operations there.

Why the Film Industry Needs MBAs 

Eric Jeng interned with the global sales and analytics team at Walt Disney Co. analyzing revenue models for movies and other projects. Before enrolling at Booth, Jeng managed the accounting and finance functions of a San Francisco big-data startup. He also has directed a couple of personal short films. 

Why did you choose this opportunity? 

I was targeting movie studios and entertainment companies. I knew this internship would give me deeper insights into the way films are made and distributed, and let me use my analytical and financial skills. 

How did Booth prepare you? 

It provided me the intellectual tools to better understand various situations I faced. For example, in Economics and Policy in the Telecom, Media, and Technology Industries, we reviewed the freemium model, in which subscribers have limited free access and have to pay for extra services. In my first week at Disney, we looked at the same sort of revenue model for one of Disney’s media platforms. The class provided context for knowing what questions to ask and where to look for the answers. 

What were the big takeaways, or lessons learned? 

I am now intimately familiar with how the distribution team at a film studio works, and how movies are green-lit. It’s interesting to see how the industry has evolved into a welloiled movie-making blockbuster machine. 

What was the most challenging part? 

I did a lot of analyses of different data points: box office multiples, analyzing if the marketing spend led to more admissions. It was challenging because, surprisingly, the data doesn’t exist or you have to scrub it. There was a lot of hunting down data and cleaning it up. 

Were there any surprises? 

It hit me that where the film industry needs MBAs is not on the creative side but in trying to figure out the future of the industry, how shifting consumer preferences and the increasing opportunity cost of time are going to affect the consumption of movies. 

Did you work crazy hours? 

No, the hours were very reasonable. During the day I worked on movies and when I got home, I tried to write my own. 

How did it influence your career path? 

One of the teams I discovered at Disney was the production finance team, which provides insight into how films are budgeted, scheduled, managed, and produced, and ultimately works to ensure that quality movies are delivered on time and within budget. That kind of work seems like a great fit for me, combining my professional background and MBA with my passion for film. 

Learning to Become an Amazing Investor

Sachin Kashyap worked as an analyst covering international equities at investment firm Janus Capital Group in Denver. He researched and pitched his investment thesis on two different stocks to the Janus investment team. Kashyap started his career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denver and later moved to the accounting giant’s capital markets practice. 

Why did you choose this opportunity? 

At PwC, I worked on IPOs, debt offerings, and M&A, and that whet my appetite for investing. I came to Booth in order to become a world-class investor. At Janus I had the advantage of incredible resources: unconstrained budgets for primary research, access to industry experts, and direct lines into company CEOs and CFOs. 

How did Booth prepare you? 

Classes in microeconomics, competitive strategy, and portfolio management helped me understand and quantify the critical factors driving value. As an analyst for the Student Managed Investment Fund, I learned to focus on the most important questions that could impact my investment thesis and attack problems when there is incomplete information. 

What were the big takeaways, or lessons learned? 

I learned a lot of tools of the trade, such as how to run meetings with a CEO or CFO, how to leverage research from sell-side firms, how the best analysts generate original ideas, and how to generate powerful primary research. 

What was the most challenging part? 

To be efficient with nearly unlimited resources and information, it is critical to understand the questions related to your thesis and the critical factors that drive value. 

Were there any surprises? 

There were so many different investment styles at Janus. The firm encourages differing opinions, which drive a rich decision-making process and ultimately generate greater riskadjusted returns. 

Did you work crazy hours? 

For a while I was getting to the office at 6 a.m. and leaving at 10 p.m., so that was exhausting. Most of the people working there have a decent work-life balance— there’s a huge ramp-up in the skill set that you need to be effective at this job. 

How did it influence your career path? 

The internship moved me closer to my goal of being a world-class investor. It also confirmed my faith in active management—that it is possible to beat market benchmarks, although that takes a lot of hard work and independent, contrarian thinking. 

Closer to an Entrepreneurial Dream

Theodora Rodman worked for a Chicago start-up, Interior Define, which sources and delivers high-quality sofas. Before enrolling at Booth, Rodman worked at the World Bank, where she focused on helping developing nations attract private investment. She decided to switch to an entrepreneurial career, thinking that she could make an impact at a smaller organization.

Why did you choose this opportunity?

I wanted a smaller start-up where I could learn the entire business. I’m interested in consumer-facing businesses, especially e-commerce and retail. I love fashion and welldesigned goods, and appreciated that the company is making high-quality, well-designed furniture accessible to more people because the prices are reasonable.

How did Booth prepare you?

I went on three career treks; all three were useful. In the start-up treks, we visited a variety of start-ups at different stages, and we got to ask the founders and managers direct, blunt questions, such as the specifics of their business model. You learn on the venture capital trek why some companies attract investment while others don’t. And the Chicago Approach teaches rigorous thinking—to question assumptions and to consider what can go wrong as you develop a strategy.

What were the big takeaways, or lessons learned?

You have to evaluate the people you will be working with as much as the business model when deciding on where to work.

What was the most challenging part?

The business wasn’t as organized as it could have been, but this is typical of small start-ups. The managers had a lot of information in their heads that we wanted to document for the benefit of future hires. Resources were constrained so small things such as updating a website took time.

Were there any surprises?

I liked the idea of a small start-up in theory because you get to do a little bit of everything. But I hadn’t considered that I would be spending so much time doing nitty-gritty stuff like cutting fabric swatches and sending them to customers, selling sofas to people in our showroom, or filing a claim when a sofa was damaged in shipment.

Did you work crazy hours?

I worked six days a week—weekends are our busiest time.

How did it influence your career path?

It was exciting to live my dream; I feel like I’m closer to it than I’ve ever been. Now, I have to pick a specialty, such as marketing or e-commerce. A more established start-up may be appealing, where I can take on a more specific role rather than be a jack-of-all-trades.

The Challenge of Huge Datasets

Darren Spicer, a former professional soccer player and coach, spent the summer in Chicago at The Cambridge Group, a consulting firm that is part of the Nielsen Company and specializes in consumer packaged goods. Spicer worked on a project with the beverage unit of a large consumer goods client.

Why did you choose this opportunity?

I knew I wanted to pursue consulting as a career because you’re exposed to different companies every few months. For my internship, I was attracted to The Cambridge Group because of its smaller size, and its focus on growth strategy. I also wanted to get an understanding of the primary research and data analysis that goes into consulting.

How did Booth prepare you?

Booth helps me think about tackling big, nebulous problems where the answers are never clear cut. You need to break down a problem and have a framework for approaching it. In the case of consumer products, that requires considering consumer interests and attitudes, competitors’ potential moves, and macro trends.

What were the big takeaways, or lessons learned?

It’s so important to be organized in how you attack a problem. When you have that organization, it makes things easier if the plan changes, because you know what you’ve already looked at and what else you need to consider. You have a hypothesis, but can adjust it based on where the data takes you. It’s an iterative process.

What was the most challenging part?

We worked with a huge dataset that required detailed, time-consuming analysis. Sometimes, after interaction with the client, we would undertake an entirely new line of analysis.

Were there any surprises?

I knew it would be hard work, but I was surprised how interesting it was every day. I found myself thinking about the product, or consumer attitudes in a certain way, and then was surprised that things weren’t the way I thought they would be.

Did you work crazy hours?

There were some days when we were preparing presentations for the client that we worked from 7:30 a.m. until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. the next day.

How did it influence your career path?

I became convinced that I would pursue consulting. I love that it’s so different every day and it’s so different from one project to the next. I like the variety in the work, and working with different teams each time as well. I accepted an offer from Cambridge to start at the end of the summer after graduation.