4 job offers + 1 marriage proposal: Shilpy Gupta ’14

I was already impressed with Shilpy Gupta by her FEMBAssador leadership and her GAP team’s final presentation. But then, when I learned that she had 4 job offers AND was engaged to a classmate, it was almost too much. I hope you enjoy this story below. –Dylan

Shilpy Gupta ’14. Transformed her career AND her life during UCLA FEMBA.

 

During FEMBA, Shilpy Gupta, ’14, (formerly Sr. Systems Engineer at Boston Scientific, now choosing between multiple job offers) has been a student leader, done an internship, received four job offers, and is now engaged to her classmate from Section 3, Nitin Saharan ’14, Lead Cross-Functional Project Manager at Cisco Systems…

Shilpy Gupta and Nitin Saharan. Both in Section 3. Both in the class of 2014. Now engaged! This photo was taken in Singapore during a FEMBA International Study trip.

Shilpy: FEMBA has changed my life!  I wanted to go to business school because I felt that my career was stationary and I wanted more opportunities for career growth.  For this reason, one of my biggest fears was that I would end up in the same job after graduating.  3 years later, I am pleased to say that my life has changed more than I expected, in a GREAT way.

During Leadership Foundations, my whole view of my leadership skills shifted and I started to better understand my weaknesses.  Risk taking was one of my biggest weaknesses.  I feared taking a risk when the outcome was unknown… 

Shilpy:  When presented with a summer internship for a large medical device company in Product Management, I knew that the opportunity was one that I could not pass up.  It was going to give me a push in the direction that I was hoping to take my career.  While I feared taking the risk of quitting my job for a summer internship that was not certain to lead to employment, thanks to Leadership Foundations I understood that all great leaders take big risks.  I decided to take the leap. 

My internship was one of the best experiences of my life.  It truly made a significant impact to my career.  After my internship I received a full-time offer for after graduation.  Because I had time off, I decided to try out Healthcare Consulting and now hold additional offers from 3 consulting companies.  I could not be more pleased with the outcome of how FEMBA impacted my career…

Shilpy and Nitin in Singapore on a FEMBA International Study trip.

Shilpy: …I never thought there would be so much opportunity to learn about myself in FEMBA – both in terms of the type of career I am looking for and the type of leader and person I was to be.  From the first day of FEMBA, I met a variety of individuals with different backgrounds and started to grow my network and understand more about different companies and industries I have never heard of or knew nothing about.  This made me curious to explore other careers and industries and has made me better understand the type of career that gives me satisfaction…

…Because everyone has a full time job, I expected people to be busy and caught up in their own jobs and lives.  I was wrong!!!!  FEMBA is a family, and it feels like a family.  FEMBA students put FEMBA classmates has a high priority and make efforts to help others in any way they can.  No matter what the event, there is a FEMBA student there.  Our class even had 50 FEMBA students go to Cabo to celebrate the end of our first year – this is truly amazing to see in a part-time program…

Oh the places we’ll go…

(Dylan: And now, the best part of the story…)

Shilpy:  Oddly enough, even though Nitin and I spent a whole week together in Leadership Foundations, we didn’t actually meet until school started in September.  During our first year in FEMBA, we were friends and would mostly see each other during class and FEMBA outings (namely our weekly section happy hours). 

Things changed during the 2014 End of First Year trip to Cabo.  In spite of there being 50 FEMBAs around for 4 days straight, we got the opportunity to spend more time together and got to know each other.  After a conversation at the beach one afternoon where we spoke about our family beliefs and goals in life, we somehow found a connection and knew things between us would be different. 

After returning to LA, we started dating.  It took a few months for our section to realize this because we still valued the networking opportunities that came with going to class and FEMBA events, so we would never even sit together.  In spite of this, things were going great. 

About 15 months later, I was seeking a career change through on campus recruiting.  It was a very stressful time with many highs and lows.  One weekend, I was feeling more pressure than I felt I could handle.  To help calm me down, Nitin took me to Lake Shrine, located beside the beach off Sunset Blvd.  We went to service and walked around the mediation garden which was absolutely stunning.  Our visit helped put me at ease and I was able to complete all of my interviews, landing multiple offers. 

Two weeks later, after the stress of recruiting vanished, Nitin proposed at Lake Shrine.  We will be getting married this summer after graduation.

Lunch with a legend: Jack McDonough

I started at UCLA Anderson in 2002, and one of the first faculty members I worked with was Jack McDonough. Today, we had lunch at Palomino’s in Westwood.

In 2002, Jack was stepping down from overseeing all three MBA programs–FEMBA, EMBA and the full-time MBA–but he was still very active, running Leadership Foundations with Tony Raia and Bill Broesamle (former President and CEO of GMAC) for all three programs, as well as teaching in Executive Education.

Over lunch today, we talked about Jack’s appreciation of how Anderson makes management education practical–applicable right-here, right-now, to a person’s career trajectory. He championed for field study, for ropes courses, for all the interpersonal-savvy/EQ components of an Anderson MBA that help our graduates be effective in their careers.

My favorite memory from working with Jack was hearing him talk about getting his own MBA at Dartmouth. Very pragmatically, during his Dartmouth orientation, he found a “buddy” and together they decided that they’d “have each other’s back” during the blur of the MBA experience. That advice always stuck with me, “Don’t go it alone. Forge partnerships, in school and in life, and things go much better.”

 

 

The Most Interesting MBA in the World

…A UCLA Anderson MBA is a master of persuasion, an innovative strategist and an overall showstopper. Crowds part at the very thought of a crisp, Bruin business card. With our Dos Equis parody, Team “Polished by Diamonds” sought to illustrate the extraordinary potential that an MBA from UCLA Anderson unlocks, through the awe-inspiring life of the Most Interesting MBA in the World… from the award-winning video.

I still love this work. Thanks Anastasia Ali ’14, Melissa Astete ’14, Ryan Gutterson ’14, Timothy Hui ’14, Khoa Le ’14, Dianna Moore ’14, Dania Shaheen ’14, Linda Tran ’14 and Rose Zhu ’14.

2 years to President, Kris Farris 2009

What do you call a FEMBA two years after graduation? If it’s Kris Farris, FEMBA 2009, you could use the title of President and COO of Crest Steel.

I was in the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame last week and I looked up and saw this photo montage, which happened to feature Kris, during his UCLA Football days. I called him to catch up and learned he’d been promoted to President two years after FEMBA.

Kris Farris, FEMBA 2009, as displayed at the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, the Morgan Center, from his undergraduate football days.

 

Kris Farris was a consensus All-American football player at UCLA and winner of the 1998 Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s top collegiate lineman.  He majored in English as an undergrad and returned to UCLA to the FEMBA program in 2006.  Kris retired from football in 2003 and joined Crest Steel, a steel service center in California and Arizona, as a sales representative.   When he started the FEMBA program in 2006, Kris was the inside sales manager at his company.  Halfway through the program he was promoted to Vice President.  In 2011, just two years after completing his MBA, he was named President & COO of Crest Steel.  Crest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RSAC), a Fortune 500 Company.

Career success, and a healthy tan, Jason Mulherin ’14

I went to the Wooden Center to workout today at lunch and I ran into Jason Mulherin ’14. He was telling me about his FEMBA experience and a fresh new consulting job offer he just landed.

Jason Mulherin, FEMBA 2014, enjoying a workout at the North Pool, and also celebrating a new career in consulting.

 

“Can I blog about you Jason?” I asked.

“Sure Dylan.” he said. “You can tell them that I’ve transitioned into consulting, after 12 years in engineering. I just got my job offer, and it’s a smaller firm that’s taking on business like crazy. They can’t wait for me to begin, even though I’m living the good life now as a FUMBA.”

“You can also tell them that I turned 40 during my Global Access Program consulting with the Brazilian company JExperts Tecnologia.“

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yea. Everyone else knew I turned 40. It’s fine…”

Friends don’t let friends skip happy hour

Two of my favorite FEMBAs, Ben Larson ’13 and Alex Valente ’13 tell a cautionary tale for your Friday viewing pleasure.

Kidding aside, check out their LinkedIn profiles. Both made major career changes during FEMBA: Ben from Technicolor to Electronic Arts to HP, and Alex from being an actor and tennis pro to a real estate career for Trammell Crow Company.

Happiness = Reality – Expectations

Some afternoon perspective on Happiness from UCLA Anderson Rakesh Sarin, Professor in Decisions, Operations, and Technology Management and Paine Chair in Management, speaking here at our UCLA Anderson TED Talk in 2013.

Common Sense Media, Yalda Uhls MBA, PhD

I just spent an hour listening to an Yalda T. Uhls, Anderson MBA, UCLA PhD, and regional director of Common Sense Media. Yalda was presenting on “Parenting in the Digital Age.” After her Anderson MBA, she had an entertainment career in film making. Later, she decided it was time for a next chapter and went back to UCLA to earn her PhD in Developmental Psychology.

Some of her advice today, which I can use in my own parenting included:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ a resource-rich website.  Also tips like: Model Responsible Media Use (not too much cell phone daddy), Read During the Day Too, Balance Media (one hour on, one hour off), Keep Media Out of the Bedroom, Teach Digital Literacy, Set Device Guidelines.

Just another great day of progressive thinking at UCLA.

 

LOVE: the most powerful four-letter word

How do you bring love into your professional life? In honor of Valentine’s day, let’s ask Coach. Coach Wooden taught about love, the most powerful four-letter word, and he used it to coach his UCLA players to 10 National Championships, becoming the man ESPN hails as “the greatest coach of the 20th century.” (And in his personal life, he was married to his childhood sweetheart for 53 years. See video below, but bring a tissue.)

Coach said this about love:

I will not like you all the same, but I will love you all the same. Furthermore, I will try very hard not to let my feelings interfere with my judgment of your performance. You receive the treatment you earn and deserve…

…Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. The individuals on our UCLA teams became true members of my extended family.

I once bailed a player out of jail for a driving violation even though it went against conference rules. These and other acts of kindness and concern were small gestures, but a direct result of the feeling—the love—I had for those under my supervision. It’s vital to let those you lead know you care. First, of course, you must have that care in your heart for those you lead.

And while I could have great love in my heart for those under my supervision, I would not tolerate behaviors from anyone that was detrimental, or potentially detrimental, to the welfare of our group.

For me, it is possible to have the greatest care and concern for someone and bench, suspend, or even remove him from the team.

–Coach Wooden’s Leadership Game Plan for Success. pp 110-111.

Polar vortex? Nope. 70 degrees? Yup

Lunchtime workout. 5x up and down UCLA’s Janss steps. Nice.