Project Firenze : USA 2008

Cornell features Firenze|USA on their Facebook site!

Pradeep U.N. — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:48:00 GMT

On the "YouTube Box" application on the Cornell|Johnson Facebook application - Firenze USA has been featured. Very cool!...(read more)

"I saw a delicate art in the business", says Yoko Warita - Tuck MBA 2010 about her Firenze|USA experience

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:13:00 GMT

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 (Cornell Johnson MBA) - Fresh after his finals writes in his about his Firenze|USA experience

Pradeep U.N. — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:56:00 GMT

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)

Firenze|USA video premiered in Firenze|China in front of 500 ppl! Now releasing to web

Pradeep U.N. — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:08:00 GMT

"I'm a huge fan", says Tyler - of Microsoft after his Firenze|USA Experience

Pradeep U.N. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:34:00 GMT

Tyler Peterson (Tepper MBA 2010) spent a dozen years of his life competing against Microsoft working for HP. So his words on the Microsoft experience were of particular interest to all of us here, and here is what he had to share:

Looking back at the Microsoft Firenze Case Competition after a week of introspection (and finals!), I can see that ultimately it has been a validation of my decision to attend business school. I worked as a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard for several years before deciding to move towards the intersection of business and technology. I chose Tepper because of the intense quantitative focus, and I and the rest of the Tepper team were able to put that emphasis to good use during the competition. Our hard work combined with bursts of creativity paid off, and we victoriously headed to Redmond for the Redmond Leadership Experience.

The RLE exceeded our wildest expectations. The “R” could easily have stood for “real-world” – it turned out to be a live business problem, time-compressed, with on-the-fly teaming and insights from general managers, HR, consultants, you name it. We addressed a situation not unlike what I expect to face in my new career – “five hours, present to the CTO, go!” Our team had to react to on-the-fly changes, new information, reorganizations, intense time pressure, and we reacted with aplomb. It was a great learning experience, and it was definitely fun to put the first semester of business school to work. Everyone has different backgrounds, and our team did a great job of incorporating those backgrounds, synthesizing the information, and coming up with a strategy which we then presented to the CTO of services, Norm Judah.

The best aspect of the experience was the feedback from Rick Maguire (GM of ITAP and our advisor for the day) and Kathy Ramirez, our very own HR representative, although the entire event was astounding! I also loved interacting with the best students from other top business schools – we don’t have many chances to do that at Tepper and I’ll take any opportunity I can get. The case incorporated aspects of the original problem posed to the Tepper teams, and it was definitely exciting to unwind the information and get to the heart of it. We had great support from the ITAP team, thanks Alistair, Gary, Dana and Edytte!

Thanks to everyone who made this event outrageously successful, and thank you for the piles of time spent preparing as well as the weekend at the office. Special thanks to Pradeep and the rest of his team for making the whole case competition work! It definitely improved my impression of Microsoft. As a former competitor, they’ve always had my (grudging) respect, but now I can safely say that I’m a huge fan!

Steven Novick from Tepper writes in: 'It definitely lived up to the slogan, "Expect Great Things" '

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:21:00 GMT

Steven Novick is a 3-2 student at Tepper, who has interned twice at Microsoft during his undergrad at Carnegie Mellon. I remember chatting with him over lunch when he was at admitted into Tepper about his (then) potential journey through bschool immediately upon graduation. He wrote in very excited about his RLE experience, shared below:

As I sit here writing this almost a week after returning from RLE, I suddenly realize how much time and energy has been put into Project Firenze by not only myself, but hundreds of students over the past month and a half.

For my team, this paid off last weekend when we were welcomed to Microsoft by many Microsoft Executives and other leaders who gave up their Sunday to spend time with us. We were immediately thrown into unique situations. We were given a new case and only five hours to come up with a solution to pitch to Norm Judah, the CTO of Microsoft Services.

What was unique about this however, was that each team was given a GM and an HR Manager to help us learn about how to work better as a team. During the day, my team built a great relationship with our GM (Rick) who helped us when it appeared we were stuck. His feedback and suggestions were extremely useful, not only for the event, but for the future team experiences. At the end of the day, we had one-on-one meetings with the GM and HR manager and were given candid feedback about what they saw about us that would be helpful (and what we need to improve) in the future.

As a former intern at Microsoft (Program Manager), I know that the RLE showed the best of what Microsoft had to offer. During my entire summer at Microsoft, I had full access to my GM, and probably met with him for a total of 2.5 hours over the entire summer. To have close to 8 hours of direct contact with a GM was absolutely incredible. Rick definitely exemplified what Microsoft is all about.

The whole experience definitely lived up to the slogan, "Expect Great Things". Every aspect of this competition was GREAT. I made great relationships with my other team members. I learned about GREAT things. Microsoft showed me once again what a GREAT company it is. The best part was coming back from Redmond and telling everyone at Tepper about how GREAT Microsoft is!

"A whirlwind amazing experience", sums up Uma Kakde (Johnson MBA 2010) in her email for the blog.

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:42:00 GMT

Uma in the middle of her finals week sent an email thanking us for her RLE experience which I thought i could share on the blog. She might have more to say in a subsequent blog post...

A whirlwind, amazing experience—that how I’ll remember last weekend. I arrived in Seattle late Saturday night for the next day’s RLE. I wasn’t certain what to expect—I had read the blog and had some ideas, but what awaited my team was a different story.

Instead of the usual case competiton styles, this was different and we were assigned to senior managers who coached us as we broke down a live Microsoft business issue. It was a marathon session of working within new team dynamics, interviewing Microsoft Subject Matter experts, determining which angle to take, and then presenting the case.

Before the presentation, I was a little worried about the point we made on pricing and my Cornell teammate, Christian Duncan, who remained on my team, said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Sure enough, at the lengthy Q&A, pricing came up and Christian’s answer brought it home.

We capped the night with drinks, food and video games. I know, video games!!! but hey, we were at Microsoft.

The biggest takeaway was the unparalleled access to senior managers and their feedback on each person’s leadership style. As Cornell’s Team Zero Footprints hopped the redeye back to Ithaca and onward into a Finance final exam, I reflected back at what an exceptional trip the RLE was.

Uma is shown here on the pic armed with an ExPo Blue whiteboard marker owning that whiteboard - and looking quite pensively at her team for the next big idea. Their team did famously at RLE with a great presentation.

"Naaah! The best Sunday you have ever had…..still cannot be better than mine!!!" - Deepika Venkat Yale SOM describes her RLE experience

Pradeep U.N. — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:24:00 GMT

Deepika was one of the first students to write in that she would love to have a blog post put on this blog that she has been following for half a semester now. Ofcourse when we agreed - we got a rather *ahem* short writeup. There were some edits made to her original writing to keep the operational details of RLE hidden, but for the most part her note is being published intact.

This Sunday, the 7^th December 2008, was the end of a wonderful journey, or should I say the beginning of another? A quick recap…

I had said on November 5^th that “Firenze is in the air” at Yale School of Management! And as the days passed by, the atmosphere got intense with research, strategies, competition, analysis, discussions, arguments (Yes! we did have some major brainstorming that brought the roof down!) to all culminate into a beautiful slide deck “Sharepoint – Roleplay Marketing”! Fingers crossed we waited for the results.

November 18^th: Team Phoenix is into the finals!!! The moments of exhilaration then turned into frantic preparations. We had a day to go and 20^th was our final presentation. Loads of preparation and practice finally gave us the confidence to give a good performance on our D-day.

After a day of nail-biting suspense, we were finally declared the winners! The reward was the “Redmond Leadership Experience”. “Microsoft Firenze” or “Expect Great Things” – use them interchangeably, both mean the same and I can vouch for it!

At that time, I felt like Calvin – “That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!” And euphoria is what I experienced at Bellevue.

I had a very pleasant, no hitches - journey from New Haven to Seattle. When I say pleasant, I mean in every way – not just the journey and the weather, but the people too – warm and nice!

The eve of the final day, we got a wonderful opportunity to meet our alum Paul, who treated us to a fabulous dinner while narrating his amazing journey with Microsoft! And he had only good things to sayJ

The final day – December 7^th! The team was ready by 7:45 am and met Dusko at the Lobby of Lincoln Square, a very beautiful building in the lovely downtown of Bellevue. This was introduction time – as we met our fellow winners from three other schools. Did I say introduction time, no!!! It was the moment we actually sat in the roller coaster – believe me I did not know that then!!!

The ride began with a warm welcome, a delicious breakfast and the sharp Inversion #1! Another case and another team – living up to the claim of diversity – they mixed up schools and formed three teams. Here we were – Team Laura, Team Cheryl and Team Rick!!!

This was a taste of the real world – all of us with equal information, starting at the same point in the race and the clock ticking away. To make it even more real – we could hire consultants! There were the top Microsoft executives from the Services teams, willing to help us all out! Can it get better than this?

Yes it can! A General Manager and HR executive would be with our team all through the day gently guiding us to our destinations.

As we were progressing with our ideas, we had a lunch talk with the CTO of the Services unit – Norm Judah, whose encouraging words gave direction to our thoughts. But this did not prepare us for Inversion #2. Again, all became equal in this war and there was an imbalance in the team. How would we handle this?

Now you would say, this is easy- but with the time flying by, we were already at the tea break, which was the harbinger for Inversion #3- Align your service offering to Collaboration with IT /Customer/Operations. And we just had an hour to prepare a slide deck as well as a creative piece conveying our thoughts. It was a challenge to summarize all the wonderful ideas that the executives had stimulated in our minds and white boardsJ

Presentation time came by and we answered a volley of questions from the amazing judges, directing us at every step of this day. The competition was rounded off with an individual feedback on leadership styles from the GM and the HR of each team.

Anxiety and excitement were now was replaced with unlimited fun! The photo shoot on the skybridge, the award ceremony, the lovely trophies with revolving globes, the raffle (I won a Zune!), Ann’s stunning costumes and the icing on the cake – Xbox 360 Rockband2 party! The ride just got crazierJ

This event gave an opportunity to know Microsoft from the inside, through our interactions with the top executives and a chance to come up with innovative business solutions, think about the relationship with the customer, service offerings that are return for investments, collaboration, methodologies and a combination of technology and business strategies.

I would really like to take a moment and thank each and every one of the Microsoft executives – Norm, John, Laura, Cheryl, Rick, Allistair, Gary, Edytte, Dana, Lisa, Kathy, Jacqui who made our stay there very memorable and extremely enjoyable. Special mention to the organizers – Pradeep, Dusko and Mac, who made the whole event a huge success and my main motivation to write this blog! A big Thank you to all the judges and the executives who supported us all through the day (They were there on a Sunday!).

Now when I think of Microsoft – I say innovation, challenges, fun, friendly and all that I want in a place I want to work at or should I simply say - Dream destination! So call it end or call it beginning, it has been the most memorable experience I have had coming to Yale!

Deepika has also promised to get a little more personal in her next blog post where she reflects on what this really meant to her in terms of any personal transformations/ introspective moments she might have had. With this being exam-week those kinds of thoughts are not on top priority for any student. But we are looking forward to her next post. And thank you for all the kind words Deepika, we loved having you and your team here at Redmond and Bellevue.

Students write in on their RLE experience...

Pradeep U.N. — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:47:00 GMT

The students who participated in RLE last wkend have been very good in emailing us their reactions, feedback - all this mind you when they are in the middle of their finals. There were several Microsoft executives who have been following Firenze who were not at the RLE through our newsletters and a lot of the student emails have been forwarded around through those vehicles.

Here are some samples from the emails that we have received from the students:

"Firenze made me believe that Microsoft is a place I would love to be at, a workplace that embraces my background, values my perspectives & nurtures my ambitions” – Deepika Venkat, Yale

· “The weekend showed some of the best that Microsoft has to offer, and definitely fulfilled and went beyond "Expect great things". I'm sure that this will be a lasting memory from Tepper that I will be talking about for years.” – Steven Novick, Tepper

· Hareesh Chander, Tuck: “Thx for creating such a unique development experience for us. I still can’t get over the huge visibility we had with Microsoft executives, and the valuable feedback I received.”

· “I hope that I can be a part of it again next year, possibly taking over Jeff’s (Student leader’s) role.” - Ben Barrington, Cornell (red jacket in photo on the left)

RLE 2008 Fotos are ready and up.

Pradeep U.N. — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:31:00 GMT

Just managed to get all the pics up on my MSN Spaces/Skydrive accnt. For a slideshow of the pics that help you get a feel for the RLE click here.

With the new interface on the Photos portion of Windows Live - You can tag yourself and others while you scroll through the fotos. Go on - interact, have fun, identify yourself, your classmates and your team mates (from the RLE teams). Ofcourse commenting is completely available as well.

RLE was a total blast on Dec 7th

Pradeep U.N. — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:34:00 GMT

RLE was a phenomenal event last wkend. Coming straight from India late on Friday - I was jetlagged (not to mention the mental angst that I had to go through at the Delhi Airport since they were shooting at the airport when i was there. No not the shooting with the camera kind). Jetlag aside - I got sick. A generous dosage of Nyquil through Saturday and some redbull helped my interactions at RLE a little more preppy than I thought was possible given my health. Ofcourse the success of RLE had a lot to do with the awesome team that runs Firenze, my health condition was a total non-event, as everyone totally pushed the bar on the experience.

The students were asked to "Expect Great Things" right from the onset - after all everyone loves challenges. The students came in looking for a case competition final, what they found was a topsy turve roller coaster ride that changed course throughout the day. What started with speeches ended in beer, cocktails and an open bar. When students thought they would get to Meet Norm Judah (CTO Microsoft Services) over lunch - they got him for an entire day at times as a team member. When was the last time I had that in my work at Microsoft? How about .... NEVER?

It will take me atleast a week to get into the granular details of the events, so I have asked the students who went through the experience to give us their summaries in their own words, after all what better way to get a prospective Microsoft employee to get into the groove than voicing their opinions with substantial reasoning *hint hint*.

While I make all of you wait for the summaries, recaps - I thought it fit to share this photo of our MC for the evening of the RLE. The "Divine" Mason who is looking for a part in SNL but pays her bills with her dayjob at HR@Microsoft .

The Bridge to RLE (Redmond Leadership Experience) passed through Snowflake lane

Pradeep U.N. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:38:00 GMT

RLE - the Redmond Leadership Experience is what the winners win for their efforts in Firenze|USA.

While the details of what happens at the RLE will have to be shrouded in enigma at this point, I thought shots of where the action happens might be blogworthy :). No it is not a post of desperate (really-really!) but a show of my neighborhood, after all RLE happens 2 lights from my home.

RLE happens in Lincoln Square in Bellevue on one of Microsoft's top floors with vista views of the lakes sorrounding Bellevue. Currently the plan is to house the winners of Firenze|USA at the Hyatt in Bellevue from where they can just take this skybridge from the Hyatt hovering over the ridiculous traffic at the corner of NE 8th & Bellevue Way and enter Lincoln Square with ease.... and go back after the RLE after-party back to their hotel rooms, with absolutely no need to drive!

I know what you are thinking - Why is the Redmond Leadership Experience happening in Bellevue and not in Redmond?

Two reasons. This year RLE happens on a solely on a Sunday unlike previous years when it stretched over on the Monday as well, wherein living next to campus in Redmond makes more sense. But more importantly, its a lot more fun to live on "Snowflake Lane" during holiday season than on campus in Redmond, IMHO. A bellevue tradition ... every holiday season (This year's started last wk), the sidewalks of Bellevue Way & NE 8th at The Bellevue Collection transform into a charming Northwest Holiday experience called - Snowflake Lane! Magical snow falls nightly (which is magical, since it rarely ever snows in Seattle)... as live toy soldiers and winter characters take their places and play music, with a charming light show to brighten the night.

Prof Jefferey Williams shares his views on Firenze ...

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:33:00 GMT

Professor of Business Strategy at Tepper, Prof Jeff Williams was one of the professors who held special classes for the 1st year students who were participating in Firenze. When asked on the value that Firenze was having on the participating students he said --
"The biggest value added for the participants of the case competition is their increased ability to structure a live business problem."

Commenting on the real-life business cases that Firenze thrives, he adds "They gain the experience of taking a fuzzy undefined set of problems and creating a systematic structure of recommendations. They also get used to answering problems where you may not have all the data you require or may have too much data - which is in generally the nature of business problems. Strategy, Marketing and Microeconomics classes help students build the necessary frameworks to solve such problems."

Echoing several of the recommendations we give the participating students, as have past year winners in several Firenze panels Prof Williams recommended that, "The best way students can add value is by thinking outside the box and considering creative solutions such as market redefinition, product repositioning and creative sourcing."

The quality of the student submissions clearly reflected the impact of some of the advice that he had to share with the students, and we thank the professor for that.

2008 Cornell|JOhnson champions for Firenze|USA

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:44:00 GMT

The Cornell team within hrs of being crowned as champions turnaround this beautiful photo taken at the entrance of their school at dusk (or lighting that is similar to that time, since you never know this time of the year in the east coast)

Dynamics BG announces Cornell winners

Pradeep U.N. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:19:00 GMT

The Judges from the Dynamics BG came back from Denmark (most of them), while some took the call from Hong Kong and ultimately after a lot of fun and deliberation have announced the winners. The winning team from Cornell is: Team 12:

Christian	Duncan
Uma	Kakde
Benjamin	Barrington
Derek	Robinson

Congrats all!