Are big and small different?

One dilemma often encountered in the MBA internship and job search is whether to work for a large or small company. The standard advice I have heard is to work for the big company first, to learn best practices in a mature organization, and then take these skills to a small/young company second. But I think there is a counterpoint in the breadth of vision gained at a small company. For example, consider the question of staffing.

As a general manager of a small company (approx. 20 employees), I made the mistake of managing staff levels too tightly in order to minimize cost. By the time I realized the need to hire, it had become very difficult to find the time to do a quality job of the search and selection. Having lived through this experience, I can now see the exact same thing playing out in very large companies. Shell makes a conscious effort to invest in HR capacity in order to maintain high quality staffing decision. The HR folks at another large energy company are stretched too thin and are having difficulty maintaining quality in their recruitment process. This will inevitably lead to difficulty in attracting the best candidates, which can exacerbate a vicious cycle. I know from my GM experience at a small company that this is a difficult hole to climb out of even for a large company. You start to accept warm bodies rather than matching skills to roles, which will reduce the effectiveness of the whole organization.

The point: small organizations are not so different from large organizations and working for a small one can allow you to get involved in a broader range of managerial activities.

Thinking like HR/Recruiting

As the end of my internship approaches, I am focused on turning it into a job offer. A final presentation on my activities to a panel of evaluators is meant to cover the skills and traits Shell values - capacity, achievement, and relationships. I am finding it remarkably natural to demonstrate these three criteria. I am a smart guy with academic credentials (capacity) who is goal oriented and results driven (achievement) and build lasting relationships over a long period of time (relationships). My conclusion: Shell and I are a good match. The importance of this statement can't be overstated because these same three criteria will form the basis for performance evaluations and promotions throughout my career at Shell (If I succeed in landing the job offer). In contrast, went through several rounds of interviews with a consulting firm before failing to get an offer for summer internship. Their feedback on why I didn't get an offer? They valued charisma and assertiveness and weren't sure I could "own the room" the minute I entered. In hindsight, I now see that they would not have been a good match for me. To succeed in that company, I would have had to change myself into an assertive personality with confidence over dialog... not who I am in my core. So one lesson I am learning from this internship is the importance of finding a match between the person and the "culture" (an over-used buzzword), and how to search for this match: think like an HR recruiter for the company and ask what they are scanning the crowd to find. Is it you?

Demographics in who's hiring

The following is based on no empirical research.

Tough economy got your job search down? Having trouble finding companies who are hiring? You might try looking for a work force knocking on the door of retirement. Shell is in this situation and they know it. Looking around my floor, I see a lot of people my parent's age with 25+ years with the company. There's one guy younger than me and a couple others in my decade. That's it. Seems like a good chance of needing some new hires in the next few years and good chance for some upward mobility.

Now just don't blow it (my final presentation is in three weeks... more on that later).

Moving up the WalMart supply chain

Many case studies have been written about WalMart's business model and you'll likely digest several in any business school program. Is it the efficient hub-and-spoke distribution, investment in POS data collection, dominance in small rural markets with big stores, subsidy with public road and energy infrastructure, etc. etc.? What is WalMart's sustainable competitive advantage? You'll struggle with this question in Professor Lacey's Organizational Structure and Strategy class (and get his views on the question), but the discussion takes on new meaning when working for a WalMart supplier.

The Shell lubricants and car care business is one of those suppliers to whom WalMart is supplying data, and asking for cost reduction and market analysis in return. Just like a good manager pushing work out into the divisions of her company (with encouragement and support for success), WalMart is pushing work back up the supply chain (with support). A strategy of everyday low price (not unique to WalMart - that's not the answer for Lacey's class) requires everyday low cost from suppliers. So WalMart works with Shell to make use of backhaul trucks returning to the distribution centers. They require no stock-outs with efficient inventory management but provide Shell the POS data to do the careful market-by-market forecast which, by the way, helps Shell plan for offering the products WalMart customers will ask for next year. Standing here in the eye of the WalMart hurricane (a metaphor shout-out to H-town), it's quite peaceful.

What qualifies as innovation?

This is the case of Rain-X Wipers. In professor Lacey's Management of Innovation course you'll learn about recombinant innovation (and a whole lot more). Rain-X Wipers might be the epitome... or might not even qualify. You be the judge.

What do you think of when you hear "Rain-X"? Maybe water whisked off the windshield, clear view of the road, almost magical results. Wow, pretty powerful brand identity. I wonder what we else we could do with it? Well, so did others at Shell. They looked for other products where people would value magical results for whisking water away and, no big surprise here, came up with the logical next step of a super-duper wiper blade. This begs the question: is it recombinant innovation to spread these feelings, this brand itentiy across other products? From an academic perspective I'm not sure, but that's how the Rain-X Wiper was born.

Empathy

I am a firm believer in the power of empathy for good in this world. But it's a skill that takes work to develop and practice to maintain. (I certainly struggle to do so). Turns out it's valuable in business as well. As a supplier, the tendency is to focus on looking at our customers, analyzing, trying to understand our relationship, trying to find ways to increase business. But the range of insights gained from considering how the customer sees us, having the empathy to put on their shoes for a bit, is astounding.

Now, do this all the way up and down the value chain. Our customer is someone's supplier and so on. It's quite revealing if you're honest and fully embracing the empathy, really trying to see the world from their points of view.

The language of business

I am beginning to appreciate the value of business school as a language academy. The fundamentals of business are really not complicated - products, revenues, costs, etc. - but the vernacular can be a barrier. POS and the four-Ps seem like great mysteries until you learn that we're talking about the point-of-sale where a customer takes the product off the shelf. These are the basics. But then - and here's the key - developing skill in business (or at least the appearance) depends on refining the use of this language. Listening to a skilled orator deliver carefully chosen words full of connotation is a pleasure whereas common words laced with fillers can be painful. The same is true in business. Knowing the definition of margin from accounting class becomes more powerful when we understand the numerous variants and links with product turns, payment terms, and overall corporate strategy. It takes time to develop thorough understanding of the language of business but, like the skilled orator, listening to a person with this expertise is wonderful. I aspire to develop this ability.

Insights as an Intern

As MBA interns, we are in a unique position my friends. We are training in the skills and art of management, and are likely to rise into management roles quickly. But for now, we are interns, down in the trenches, surrounded by people creating actual work product... and welcomed openly into these conversations. Take advantage of the insights.

In my case, Shell is going through a major top-down reorganization, with a new CEO emphasizing speedy execution with fewer levels of decision-making and an 80-20 approach (the speed will produce a few mistakes, which we'll fix). In the morning I'm in meetings where we're talking abou the 2nd-tier assignments that have been made - who's on the lists and who isn't - managers talking politics. Then back in my cubicle, my mates are whispering about who's taking early retirement, which departments are going to see cuts, and how the work load is going to shift and get done. Overall I would say the reorganization is going well and behind handled exceptionally well. Top management is open and clear about their plans, the benefits we are trying to achieve, and everyone's role in helping to achieve them. And the Shell culture has a reputation for treating people well and fairly. But the tone of my morning and afternoon conversations is different. In the morning we have optimism, vision, and discuss opportunity. Who has a chance of moving up? What good will this do for the organization and future? My afternoon conversations are more pessimistic, with more uncertainty breeding more rumors and speculation.

The point I'm trying to make is this: this is a great opportunity as an intern to get a true view of the thoughts and feelings and conversations that occur during a top-down reorganization. These are censored from the real managers, but for now I'm just the intern.

Wow, this place is global

OK, here's another plug for a GSM class: Teams and Technology. That class has basically single-handedly iced my reputation and good name at Shell. You see, I had never worked for a large corporation before, let alone one with headquarters in Houston, The Hage/Rotterdam, Singapore and everywhere in between. And I'm calling people in all these places to conduct interviews about their experience with complex contracts, customer relationship management software (another of my assignments), sales channel selection... truth be told, asking them to take time away from their busy and important work to talk with the intern. Understanding how to conduct a meeting, what to look out for in group and team dynamics, and how a virtual interaction differs from a face-to-face interaction - these insights from Prof. Bechky's class have helped me convince people that I am legit, trustworthy, intelligent, diligent, reliable... all without ever meeting face to face. Sure, spreadsheets and finance are important, but skill in these basics is the ground floor. Building relationships is the elevator to the upper floors and that takes skill.

Networking baby... and other corporate culture tidbits

Networking is a big deal for success in Shell. It's a big, global company (you knew that, right?) which means getting things done often requires knowing the right people, even internally. And the company recognizes this and is explicit in encouraging us to meet each other, to broaden our networks.

It's also a fascinating time to be at Shell because the new direction from new CEO Vosser (officially took charge July 1) are beginning to trickle down. Oh, there's some musical chairs due to head count reductions, but mostly people are talking about the shift from concensus among super smart people to an edict to make decisions more quickly, with fewer people doing business with each other internally. Just read a few of the soundbites in the media these days: The strategy of "More upstream and more profitable downstream" continues but with new emphasis on execution through organizational simplicity and increased accountability. This is the stuff of corporate strategy - clear and concise statements of vision that will convey consistent meaning and direction throughout all levels of the organization. (Take Prof. Lacey's course on Org. Structure and Strategy to learn more, I highly recommend it). Everyone in Shell has a pretty good idea of what the new direction means for them; the only question is how far the change will go. Anyway, super cool to check in with the water cooler gossip.

OK, back to networking. I'm not a "natural networker" in the sense that it's not my first instinct. When I enter a crowded room, I'm not looking to find people I don't know or identify the person who looks the most powerful or flit from conversation to conversation to accumulate the most business cards. I'm more of a "natural networker" in the sense that I like to let networking occur naturally, during the flow of normal conversation and interaction. I don't like to push it. Perhaps that's why McKinsey and Co. shed me after the second round of interviews, saying they were sure I would be good at building long-term relationships but weren't sure I could "own the room" the instant I walked in. Maybe, but that's not networking and I can be an assertive leader oozing confidence when the time calls for it. But that's another story.

So my networking began before I got to Houston. Long story short, my wife is good friends with a guy's daughter and the guy works for Shell in Houston. So I ask my wife's friend whether her dad could help me find an apartment and her dad says I should just come live in their garage apartment. Well, turns out the house is in a phenomenal part of town, right on the light rail line, we work two offices away from each other, and the guy is basically one level below the top executive management echelons. So for the first month I ate breakfast with him every morning and we rode the light rail to work, with me soaking up knowledge all along the way. Now he's on assignment in Europe but we're still learning to kite board on the weekends when he comes home.

How, why Commercial Excellence?

So what are my assignments for the summer and how did I land in Commercial Excellence? Shell has such an over-developed HR system (I mean that in a nice way) that they take care of the placement. An eager intern-to-be like me applies to a general pool rather than to some specific jop posting (e.g., global supply chain finance) and then HR works their magic to find a suitable placement.

For me, I had worked on some major oil and gas tax legislation and natural gas pipeline deals before coming back to school. I think it's that background that landed me in Commercial Excellence, with a primary task of compiling case studies of differentiated (complex) contracts into a course to be offered internally to Shell commercial teams. OK, let that sink in. My job is to talk with people who did really cool/interesting/disastrous deals, learn from them, and then distill it all down into case studies so the people making the next round of deals are smarter about how they put them together. Awesome. And, from talking with other interns, typical for Shell. This is meaningful work that will contribute to Shell's future success, but it's also designed to facilitate networking broadly within Shell... so I can get a good feel for them and they can get a good feel for me. It's like an extended meet-and-greet. Or a three-month interview if you want to be more stressed out about it.

Oh, you're a hi-po

Ok, just realized I forgot to tell you how I'm different from the other interns. Turns out I'm a hi-po. That's short for "High-potential MBA" (Shell loves acronyms, LOVES them). Being a hi-po basically means I've been pegged as having higher ultimate potential, which puts me on a slightly different track. It's one way Shell tries to avoid the trap of promotion to incompetence. They use a variety of means to assess a person's likely ultimate potential (e.g., middle management) as one of many elements in the decision for promotion trajectory.

Anyway, there's three of us hi-pos here in Houston. Me in Commercial Excellence, one in Lubes, and the third in divestitures (I'm forgetting the real title there). We get together for lunch every couple weeks, compare notes. One guy did his exit presentation this week (more on that later), the other does his next week, so I'm the straggler of the group staying until Sept. 15.

First post and already I'm behind...

Hello strategy fans. My first blog post and the summer's more than half gone. My mid-summer review went well, projects are in full tilt... but I'm tripping in my rush to catch up. Breathe. Now let's start from the beginning.

(Note, I'm mostly irrelevant here - me, my background, resume, blah, blah, blah - because if anyone is actually reading this thing, you're reading it to hear about the internship experience. If you're dying to know more about me, try Google. Or check out my website: http://steps.ucdavis.edu/People/wwleighty. Or read the hurriedly prepared bio for this blog).

June 15: onboarding day at One Shell Plaza in Houston, Texas. It's hot; the AC is cold. I'm an intern with the Commercial Excellence group in Shell Chemical, but am soon to discover that I am not quite like the others. The hiring process with Shell has been slick, sleek, smooth... especially compared to my experiences with some other companies who, in their defense, were scrambling just to make sense of how to handle themselves in an economic freefall.

I had met two guys from Shell through my PhD program and applied for an internship through the Shell website. Good luck, right? Many of these websites are black holes for applications (ah yes, the value of networking revealed once again). But the Shell difference was immediately apparent. I paraphrase: "If you have applied within the last year, stop, take some more time to develop yourself, and then apply again a little later. If it has been more than a year since your last application, we will decide whether to interview you within 2 weeks, conduct the interview within 2 weeks after that, and decide whether to make an offer within 2 weeks after that." And they did, like clockwork. Two weeks after the application I got a phone call: we'd like to interview you, how's tomorrow. Then two weeks later another call: we would like you to intern with us, with a very nice salary, an official letter is in the mail.

Back to June 15th: I had been in contact with my supervisor in the weeks leading up to this day and had a clear view of my assignments for the summer. But I had only a vague notion of what Commercial Excellence meant and had spent the last 6 years thinking about the upstream energy side of Shell's business, not the downstream chemicals side. Boy was I going to learn fast...