Project Firenze

The School of Art and design at University of Michigan went all out to support the calls of the Ross School of Business at the university to encourage their students to join the MBAs in participating at Firenze BXT 2010!

Ofcourse knowing that they are competing with some top univs in the country on innovation only fuels their passion, and this is great support from the career center at the design school.

Fantastic and exciting :) Drew Kull is the Microsoft Program Manager managing this relationship.

How do you participate?

• Form your team
• Teams will have atleast 3 members (4 max).
• Teams will have one student each full enrolled from the Fine Art/Design School/program, Business school/program, Engineering/Science school/program
• The 4th optional member of the team can be from any program at the university.
• Undergraduates and graduate students are eligible to participate
• Email your student contact about your team and start getting to know each other for some great fun!

The Microsoft Student Contact for the different universities are:

1. Carnegie Mellon: Lauren Edelmeier
2. Cornell: Kristin Miller
3. Michigan: Drew Kull
4. NYU: Susan Mings
5. Univ of Washington: Laura Garrity

Microsoft Firenze Case Competition has been created as a facebook group!  Add yourself to see previous competition pics, communicate with other Universities and Microsoft, share your thoughts on our wall, get info, . . .

Announcing the FY2010 Microsoft Firenze I BXT University Participants (in no particular order):

MICHIGAN       

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY        

CORNELL       

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY               

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Going to be an exciting year for this competition!

Over the last 3 years every instance of Firenze has dialed up a notch on what it has been about. After the finals in Firenze|China in Beijing earlier this year, we have had lots of great feedback, excitement and afterglow that it was quite difficult to figure out where the next big transformation for Firenze would be. Guess what, we figured that one out!

WHile we keep the usual things viz. having students work on real life Microsoft problem areas/spaces and have executive connections for hte students - we wanted to push the envelope on scope.

 Announcing for 2009/2010 - Firenze BXT: The Student Innovation Competition.

BXT represents Business, eXperience (Art and Design) and Technology coming together for solving some real-life Microsoft problems. Unlike last years where the problem area was a business/strategy statement sent forth to MBA students in bschools, this year we are sharing an broader innovation problem in specific Microsoft areas and inviting multi disciplinary teams from the business schools, design/art schools and engineering/science schools of universities to come together. Needless to say the deliverables of such multi discplinary teams on broader solutions will also be differnt from last year as will the scope of the work. THe impact will be higher, as will be the level of Fun!

Welcome to Firenze BXT 2010. As with previous years, this post will be followed by a torrent of posts which will unfold the launch, operation and results of the program!

It has been one month since the Case Challenge ended, but I still remember it clearly as it just happened yesterday! The two days I spent in Beijing were wonderful. I worked with great people and experienced great things.

It's my first time to take part in a competition like this. I was honored to represent ZJU with my classmates as Zhe Da Team 2. We did come across difficulties during the 'Compete' phase. Not only the limit of budget in the case, but also the language we use in the competition - none of us are native English speakers, and we are taught in Chinese at school. So it really took us much time to translate some theoretical terms we used in ppt from Chinese into English. I don't think it's a easy job. But anyway we learned something new after we did that.

Hard work with a little luck can lead to something beyond your expectation! Our presentation was selected as the top 3 of school teams in China. It's a good reward to us though it's not that juicy. However, we know we can still improve our presentation a lot to make it better. That's the most important thing to us, I think. You know, people can not make progress if they do not know where to improve.

Then I faced the 'Collaborate' phase. I was lucky to be assigned to Team Red. Not because we won the finals, but because all my teammates are awesome people! They have talents and passion. It seemed 8 people per team did not always lead to conflict and low-efficiency. We were divided into smaller groups and each group was assigned a part of the task. I though it really worked and came out a great job. Maybe next time, you, Mr CRO, should assign more people into one team in order to generate some conflicts.

You hoped the event could be a pivotal moment in our life. I would like to say 'yes'. The experience I gained from the event will be helpful in my life. It's a great chance to meet people from all over the world and build relationships with them through such a fascinating event. People from different countries have their unique culture background. Taking with them always give you some new flash ideas and expand your vision. I enjoy doing it. Besides, I  wanted to see the disparity between my school and these top class business schools in the world. It was my purpose to attend the program, and I was so glad I had learned something from my competitors.

I would like to thank Microsoft and CKGSB for bringing us such a wonderful program! I really enjoyed the competition and the one night at Grand Hyatt!

Zhiwei Xu Zhiwei Xu, a first year MBA student, received his bachelor degree from Zhejiang University in Management & Economics of Agriculture. He had been working in a government department for three years as an assistant of human resource management. He is familiar with recruitment, employee training and salary design. Now he is pursuing his master degree at Zhejiang University in order to perfect his knowledge structure. He plans to pursue a career in a management consulting firm in the future.

 

On the "YouTube Box" application on the Cornell|Johnson Facebook application - Firenze USA has been featured.

Very cool!

From the time our team got selected to represent NUS, I had been very excited about the competition and was looking forward to it every day.  And the two days at the competition was worth the anticipation.  I’d say I am lucky enough to have taken part in the competition.   Our team had worked pretty hard on the ‘Compete’ phase with all the ‘curveballs’ from your side! All four of us were sitting on different locations within and outside India throughout the preparation phase and made full use of teleconferencing via Skype (Netmeeting aint free lah J).

For me the highlight of the competition was the ‘Collaborate’ phase.  It really was great to interact with individuals from different parts of the world and working towards a common project.  Its amazing to see people gel so quickly when they are working towards a common goal with tight deadlines.  Thanks to your curveballs again!

Lots of takeaways.. To be frank, I did not know Microsoft would be so cool!  I had imagined Microsoft execs to be all serious guys, with grey suits and straight faces. But hey, as you said, Microsoft IS FUN!  I was really amazed by the time and effort that had been put in by each and every one of you in this.  It really was fantastic.  The personalized feedback from Friedbert is really very helpful and I have started applying it to my projects in the courses.  This has been a real value add for me and surely has made me quite a lot to ponder over and improve in myself.

All in all, it was a great great experience. Thank you for all the time spent together. Thank you Microsoft.

Kirti Chopra Kirti is a first year MBA student with concentration in Finance and Strategy.  He is a Chartered Accountant and received his undergraduate degree in commerce from University of Delhi, India.  Prior to his MBA, he was working with Ernst & Young in the Assurance & Advisory Business Services division for three years. He has worked on assignments in various industries such as oil & gas, telecom, automotive ancillary manufacturing, etc. He holds the post of Director - Finance & Administration in the MBA Students Council and is actively involved in the Finance Club.

On Experiences:  It was interesting to work with 8 people and build consensus among them.  We were fortunate enough to have a good mix of industry and functional backgrounds, which helped provide our project with more concrete ideas and expectations.  If I did not have finals pending, I would have enjoyed the interactions that much more. 

On Learnings: The impossible can happen in 24 hours with talented people and a common goal.  One of the things I believe our team did well was to continually poke holes in the idea and determine how to solve them.  That really helped us during the Q&A session.  Of course, I would also say that perhaps we looked for too many holes and did not spend enough time on the metrics and detailed executables.

Working in a mixed team required a lot more clear communication of specific to-do's.  Cross culturally, I think assumptions each individual team member makes really affects the final outcome.  Therefore, I would aim to have future team members communicate and confirm assumptions in my global career. 

On What it means to me:  I didn't know the meaning of "Expect Great Things" until the competition was over.  Honestly, I came in with no expectations, just curiosity on what this case competition would be about and a yearning to meet more like-minded business school students.  The great things that were most meaningful were the caliber of talent among the Microsoft judges, the overall planning and execution of the competition, and the support and buzz that Microsoft created in China.  I am especially happy that Tsinghua will be positioned better on the map for prospective MBA students.

On How it will make me a better leader:  This event was another reminder that continuous self-improvement is a must in the competitive landscape.  Without this mindset, it would be extremely difficult to influence and lead others, who may also need this extra ounce of motivation to drive forward and make the impossible possible.

Raymond Cheng Raymond Cheng is a first year MBA student at Tsinghua University. Over the past 7 years, he has held various positions in marketing and business development for mid-sized and Fortune 100 companies. Raymond holds a bachelors degree from the University of Michigan. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, snowboarding and golf.

Microsoft is still real to me – looking back on the experience over the holiday break.

I jad joined Microsoft Japan as a new graduate in 2003.  I had worked there for 5 years before coming to Tuck.  I loved the people, and the work was very interesting.  I never thought my relationship with Microsoft would be this close.  But because I enjoyed working at Microsoft Japan, I decided to compete in Firenze|USA - Microsoft Case competition 2008. 

The case was very interesting.  It was in the field I never knew before, so my experience of working at Microsoft didn’t help me much. But it allowed me to see another perspective and another business within the organization.  There is a real customer behind the case, there can be real impact to the partners with our decision, and it had a potential for Microsoft to take action based on our ideas.  I saw a delicate art in the business which connected customers, partners, and Microsoft.  It is a real business problem – like everyone says – and discussion with the Microsoft executives challenged our mind and stretched our expectations, their commitment was amazing.

Was it different than what I had done in Microsoft before?  Of course yes.  I was in finance looking at the numbers, wasn’t able to get a feel about who Microsoft the customer really was.

Was it different from what we are learning in school?  Yes and No.  Theory can be applied and used, but it needs to be feasible, and needs to be executed at the end.

But was the people solving issues different?  Maybe not.

They are friendly, intelligent, smart, but fun.  Nice people to work with, and nice people to spend time with.

So in all, the case competition itself was tough, everything was on top of all the work we had to do in school.  But this opportunity gave me a great chance to get to know my teammates more, meet some great people from different MBAs, and also get to know Microsoft more.  I also got a chance to know myself more in a new working environment with a new people, which I will be facing throughout my career, yet you don’t usually get feedback on. 

Your passion has brought out our potential – Your potential, Our passionJ

Thank you to Hareesh, Prashant, and Eric for the great team!

And, thank you to the Microsoft team for making it happen.

Yoko Warita - Tuck MBA 2010

Jeff Osborn was one of the student leaders who collaborated with the Firenze Team to extend the Firenze|USA experience to the campuses. He did everything from exciting the students, doing all the logistics work, helping our videographer have a super experience at Cornell and working past midnight at Redmond to set it all up the day before the RLE.

With finals, holiday travel, and the rest of 2008 behind us, now is a good time to stop and reflect upon this past year and the decisions that have gotten us to where we are now.  After some deep introspection, I can confidently say the following:

"Attending the Redmond Leadership Experience was the second best decision I made in 2008!" *

I say this because I re-learned a great life lesson, and that is to give everyone and everything the benefit of the doubt.  Not just old friends, classmates, or coworkers, but even that company you once viewed as the "Evil Empire".  Give everything the benefit of the doubt, and allow it to excite and surprise you.

I came into RLE as an outsider, and left as a teammate.  I came barely knowing my classmates, and left with lifetime friends.  I came to Microsoft as a Linux guy, and left knowing someone named Mac who is a PC.  Most importantly, within the course of 24 hours, I saw a culture form, enjoyed a great experience with wonderful people, and saw how important a sense of teamwork and mutual success is to Microsoft.

Through Firenze, and ultimately RLE, my perception of Microsoft changed.  Before Firenze, in my mind, Microsoft was a place I would never consider working, where I thought I could never "fit with the culture".  Now, I see Microsoft as a company I am honored to have been able to work with, and would hope to work with again some day soon.  It is no wonder Microsoft is as successful as it is, given the passion and character possessed by its employees.

I would like to thank everyone at Microsoft who made Firenze possible, especially Pradeep, Dusko and Mac.  Without Firenze and RLE, I would never have had the opportunity to step up, grab the reins, and learn so much.  An extra special thanks to everyone who gave their personal time over the weekend to make RLE possible. I would also like to thank Gerard Edwards for all of his help with Firenze at Cornell.  Through the whole process he has supported me, acting as my sounding board, emergency back up, and great friend.  Thank you Gerard.

Finally, thank you to everyone I met through Firenze and the RLE.  I very much value the time we spent together and the lessons we have learned. Happy New Year everyone!  All the best in 2009

*For everyone still wondering, my best decision of 2008 was proposing to my fiancé Leslie.  HI HONEY! :-)
(Congrats Leslie/Jeff)