Omar K

TEDxWestlake: Where ideas flourish

As I was making my way out of Deloitte University in Dallas after TED conference has concluded, I was speaking to a partner and she said with utter excitement: “You know what? This was a real spa for the mind!”, and that was indeed a simple yet profound thought. Speakers at the conference gave extraordinary talks and inspirational ideas, from mind-controlled skateboards (photo below if you don’t believe me!), novel risk-intelligence notion, to kinetic sculpture entrepreneurship. The conference concluded with a mind-blowing Texas band called Seryn, it would be hard to explain what type of music they play, but I would say it is a mix of rock, folk with intimate acoustics. It was a brilliant way to end the conference with an extraordinary performance right at the point where sheer enthusiasm ramped up to its peak among the crowd. Band members were music prodigies and polymaths, each circulating around music instruments playing almost every music instrument that I know.

It was a fabulous week. Deloitte has invited all summer associates across the country in Grapevine, TX (has lots of good wineries), and we listened to a remarkable speech by the CEO, learned more about the essence of the firm and met more partners, managers, alumni, and associates that I can possibly remember!  One remarkable event was a plenary session with two partners who ran the Sahara ultra-marathon (140+ miles I think) over 5 days. Both of them told us horror stories about how they lost most of their feet skin because of sand getting into their shoes, and losing toe nails, gruesome! The dogged determination the partners had to run this marathon is just exceptional, and I think the firm was trying to send us a message by featuring these two inspiring individuals; the will is everything. 

In the Ballpark? Maybe.

On Friday, the firm invited all students, counselors, and ‘buddies’ to go and watch the Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros game at Wrigley Field in Chicago (and of course the Cubs won!). Wrigley Field is an old ballpark and it was interesting for me to see how people can watch the game from 'rooftops'. These rooftops are technically buildings outside the ballpark and one can just pay entry fees then have all-you-can-get Chicago dogs, brats, burgers, and drinks. This was kind of a new experience for me as an international student and I thought it would make a great day-out to hang out at those rooftops. This is a view of what you see when you are there. Mind you, behind me there was a full-fledged restaurant/bar!

A Chicago Get Together

Last weekend, the Georgetown MBA crew in Chicago gathered for sushi and drinks in Wicker Park; a lively and up-and-coming neighborhood which somehow reminds of Columbia Heights in Washington DC; neighborhoody and hip type of restaurants. It was great to see fellow classmates interning in Chicago and hear about their summer experiences. The diversity of jobs each one is having is remarkable, ranging from consulting, marketing, banking and general management.  Everyone is also working alongside top Chicago-based business school students (Chicago’s MBA job market is to a certain extent dominated by those MBA students and other Mid-West schools as well). However, Georgetown’s presence is definitely on the rise in Chicago with numbers growing year over year, which is a testimony of the strong reputation the school has all over the country.

These get-togethers will hopefully become a weekly trend during the summer, and I am working with the student government organization to organize a happy hour for all summer interns and alumni in Chicago. This happy hour will take place in all major cities on the same day, at the same time. Stay tuned for that blog post!

 

First Internship Week: Consulting and Community

The first week at my Deloitte internship has been very exciting. The program was kicked off by a 3-day orientation in Atlanta, where Deloitte interns from across the country were assembled to network and learn about the tools Deloitte offers for consultants to excel. The room was full of top notch students from top tier business schools, and the quality of all students who managed to pass Deloitte’s stringent criteria is one reason why the program is considered one of the best in the consulting avenue.

Going through the program and after doing a few consulting case studies, I realized how much Georgetown has been life-changing. The first year at Georgetown has been transformational, and I could feel this when I was in a team settings doing case studies and consulting-style slide decks. Professor Pinkowitz class’ “Measuring and Creating Value” was the perfect capstone for the first MBA year; we learned how to build executive-level slide decks and improved our strategic thought process to understand where value lies within firms and how to improve it. It connected competitive strategy with finance, marketing, operations, and other business disciplines that would affect intrinsic value. Being at that level of readiness has definitely given me a higher career trajectory and confidence to shine at my internship.

It is not only business acumen that Georgetown has instilled in me. Giving back to the community is one of Georgetown’s core values, as well as Deloitte’s. At the end of the orientation in Atlanta, we headed back to our Chicago base and have participated in my first "Impact Day." Thousands of employees take a day away from work to give back to the community and make an impact. We made benches and painted classrooms for an elementary school. Just imagine the scale when thousands are deployed to make a change. Incredible.