Looking back on LGO

I can’t believe two years have passed so quickly. 

I gained a tremendous amount personally, academically, and professionally from my time in the LGO program.  I don’t think I can summarize everything in a single blog post, although my classmate Leo did a great job with his.

As I sat at graduation I had a lot of time to think while they called what seemed like 10,000 names.  I looked at the people around me and read through the program and I realized an important lesson that holds true for LGO:

Surround yourself with role models. 

The classmates, faculty, and alumni brought together by this program all became life coaches for me in one way or another.  I am amazed at the intelligence of some, the personal sacrifice of others, the commitment to family, integrity, humility, service, drive, and many other countless examples.  There is no substitute to surrounding yourself with role models.  I am incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend two years with this group, and it is that environment that I will miss the most. 

System Problems

First things first, to all of you potential 2013s who got the call from Don recently I hope to see you during admit weekend.  Coming to LGO is a very complex decision and I urge you to reach out to current students, alumni, faculty, or anyone else to get all of your questions answered.  I speak for everyone when I say we are all happy to help.

Now I want to talk about how organizations respond to problems. 

My wife Kerin, son Sean and I took a trip to Dallas recently and, as would be expected anytime you leave the house, we encountered some trouble.  It started with the subway trip from our place in Davis Square to the airport.  MIT provides subsidized unlimited transit passes for students making it very cost effective to get around.  The morning we left for the airport I tried the pass that I had been using for the past few months only to find out it had stopped working.  We were in a rush to get to the airport so I just paid the fare and planned to deal with it when we got back.  When we landed in Dallas we collected our checked bag from the conveyor and found it had been damaged and no longer stood up by itself.  Most if not all airlines have a policy that they aren’t responsible for any damage to bags so we carried it to the rental car and headed to the hotel.  On our flight home the same airline sent Sean’s car seat to Pittsburgh instead of Boston.  And finally my subway pass still wasn’t working when I tried it on the way home. 

None of these problems were major and we were able to resolve them in some fashion without much monetary damage or frustration (Kerin might disagree about my level of frustration) but every time I talked to a customer service type person I got a similar story.  “We’re sorry, these things happen.”  I’m sure this is true but it left me thinking about a response I would have been happier with.  I know that all systems have problems and I understand statistics.  Sometimes it’s my turn to be the unlucky one that gets to deal with a defect.  What would make it better from my perspective is some sort of information about how the company is responding to the type of problem.  I’d like to know if they are working on it.  How many bags have been damaged this year?  How does that compare to last year?  How common is it for subway passes to stop working?  Is anyone actively trying to fix it?  I think if I knew what kind of response a company was taking to reduce the likelihood of me or anyone else experiencing a similar problem in the future I would be happier.  I also think if I was a customer service agent who had to deal with a dissatisfied customer having that kind of information could be helpful.  Maybe the information takes the form of a pamphlet or newsletter or something available at the time of the problem.  Everyone hates that helpless feeling of being the unlucky guy or gal who has to deal with a process that didn’t work.  Maybe it would be a little easier to swallow if you knew someone was doing something to keep it from happening next time.

The home stretch

With precious few months left for me in LGO I still have a few things left on the to do list:

• Decide where to work after the program (easier said than done)
• Write a thesis
• Take my spring classes
• Live it up for one more semester with everyone back on campus

At this point in the LGO program there are a few things on my mind that prospective students may find helpful. 

Balancing the program – The first semester schedule is set in stone and can be quite busy.  After getting through the summer you get to decide how many credits you want to take and the difficulty of your courses for the other three semesters.  This gives you plenty of options for balancing the other things in your life.  Knowing that Kerin and I were planning on a baby I kept my second and third semester heavy so this spring I only need three classes to graduate.  (I’m taking more but it’s nice to know I don’t have to)

Life events during LGO – I’ve mentioned it before in the blog but having a baby during this program has worked out very well for us.  I was fortunate enough to land a local internship with a flexible schedule that allowed for me to spend time at home after Sean was born.  The medical insurance through MIT was great and covered almost all of our expenses.  The Boston area hospitals are also some of the best in the world and we were very well taken care of. 

Finding a job after graduation – Being a part of MIT, Sloan, and LGO opens some incredible doors.  A great benefit specific to LGO students is the partner company relationships.  Most of them offer excellent opportunities for LGO graduates with high potential career paths.  The job situation is obviously affected by the economy, but our class seems to be doing quite well and recent classes didn’t have any trouble either.

The decision to come to LGO – Leaving my job, moving across the country, disrupting Kerin’s career, and living like a grad student for two years was a big decision that Kerin and I made.  Now that I’m 75% done with the program and have a pretty good idea of what I’ll be doing after graduation I can honestly say I’ve been happy with the decision from day 1.  

LGO Delivers