Let’s see, Easter, Spring, DST, and a little vacation in the Arkansas Mountains and WHAM!!!!, we are finished with the Business Strategy Course and into week 3 of the Analytical Business Research Course.  Okay, seriously, when I looked at the program at first I said, wow, MBA in two years.  Then I looked at the schedule and said, WOW, when will I have time to breath.  Now that I am officially at the half-way point, I can honestly say, it hasn’t been that bad.  Now, I’m not going to tell you it has been easy, but it hasn’t been unbearable.  As far as our cohort is concerned, we have only lost 1 and he transferred with the USPS to DC so, that really shouldn’t count.

Okay, about this class.  Are you ready to learn how to dig, dig, dig?  Are you ready to learn how to frame a question, establish a hypothesis, collect data, and prove or disprove a point.  Well, this is the class for you.  Sound boring, it did to me at first but now this is my seventh “favorite” class.  Yes, all the others were my favorites while working through them as well.  The really cool thing is that you get to use the tools you learn in class immediately.  There is no waiting on graduation so you can start applying what you learn.

Me, I have seen my value in my clients eyes increase as I am able to bring more and more ideas, opportunities, and suggestions to them during our meetings.  In addition, the quality of my work has increased and therefore their satisfaction has also.

Here is an example of the work we have completed in this class:

As many of you know, I am currently working on my MBA at Christian Brothers University.  As part of our Analytical Business Research Project, my team has been commissioned by a local Business Consulting Firm to gather primary research on the general attitudes of business leaders toward the consulting process.

My team and I have prepared a brief survey that we would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete.  In test market conditions, it has taken an average of 4 to 5 minutes to complete this survey.  It consists of a few simple questions with check the box, or pull down menu answers.

While I know your time is highly valuable and your positions are very demanding, that is the very reason I am reaching out to you to request that you assist us in completing this survey.  Your education, knowledge, and experience in your chosen field represent the quality responses we need to provide meaningful data to our client.  Your responses are and will remain confidential.  While the results of the survey will be summarized and a full report presented to our client, in no way will your individual responses be made available to our client.  As each of you are either family, friends, business associates and/or colleagues that I have had and will continue to have interactions with, I can assure you that even our team members do not have access to your individual responses.

Again, I appreciate you assisting my team and me with this portion of our Research Project.  As we are in an accelerated program (our semesters are only 8 weeks long), time is of the essence; therefore, as soon as you can complete this survey it would  be most beneficial to us and certainly most appreciated.

Simply click on the below link and follow the directions in Survey Monkey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MCLHNND

If any of you want to take this survey, please do so soon, we will be shutting it down in a few days.

Until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011

Another week and another run after the elusive Athletic Shoe Merchandising Goal.  We’re making headway.  Our team has moved up again this week, but not as much as we had hoped.  Man, the guys in this class are OUTRAGEOUSLY aggressive!  I mean, they are dropping prices, raising advertising, and going crazy – but can their balance sheet keep up?  Who knows?  Maybe they can at least last ’til the end of the competition this week.  We have one more week to try to make the target numbers and keep moving forward.  It is so hard with two world class teams in our group!  Anyone got a little cheese to go with that WHINE?!!

It’s just another week in the life of an MBA student.  Do a little BSG, work the team Final Presentation, go to your regular job, take some time to go hiking with the family, work in the yard, etc.  Yes, you do have time to have a life while in an advanced MBA program if you learn to schedule, prioritize and focus.  (Getting by on 3 hours of sleep each night doesn’t hurt either).  Just kidding, you can get at least 4 hours if you get to sleep quickly.

We are finishing up Strategic Management, we’ll have a week off and then we’ll start our Research Class.  I understand this is primarily an individual effort class as opposed to the team projects we have been working on.  I think I’m going to like the individual class but will certainly miss my teammates.

So, what have I learned this week to make my life more interesting and prepare me to be a better leader?  Where do I start?!  First, let’s start with the effects that mark-to-market accounting has had on the economy.  In most cases, you are going to sit on one side of the accounting fence or the other; either you are historical accounting minded or you are market accounting minded.  Now, there is room for both, but where to draw the line?  Who gets to decide?  Historical based accounting has been the standard but allows for companies to “sit” on a known impaired asset while mark-to-market accounting requires the asset to be valued at its current value.  As we all know, this directly affects the profitability of the company and ultimately the share price.  Remember, Assets (things you own) – Liabilities (things you owe) =  Equity (how much you get to keep).  So, if your asset value goes down, your company value goes down, but nothing actually happened to your asset.  It is still there and in the same condition you left it when it was worth 20-30% more than it is now.

Great – but who gets to decide the new value of your asset?  If you think my 2005 Yukon is worth $10,000.00 and you want to buy it, and I say it is worth $15,000.00 and I want to sell it, then what is the truck worth?  The answer is always, “whatever someone is willing to pay for it” and thus my friend, the nature of the market.  It is an “it depends” market.  It also depends on which side of the negotiation you are on and so goes the controversy over historical verses market accounting.  More questions.  I thought we were here to get answers.  Nope, just new ways to look at the questions…Until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011

Okay, I am the CEO of my organization in this crazy Business Strategy Game and my team has taken it on the chin for the last two weeks!  So what did I do?  I acted as any respectable CEO would, blamed my CMO for having faulty market intelligence, I blamed my CIO for having terrible system and information infrastructure and I blamed my COO for deciding to go on maternity leave in the middle of our game! Right?  Wrong!  This is not Enron, this is Hayley’s Comets.  As acting CEO, I thought back to my first job 37 years ago and asked myself, “what did I do when I faced obstacles?”  What I remembered was that I assessed obstacles and found a way to adapt and overcome.  This is a theme that has permeated my life through a devastating motorcycle crash, football, baseball, Marine Corps, and multiple years in construction from field installation to divisional Vice President.  So what did I do back in 1973 that transformed my thinking process?

I was in the 3rd grade and I wanted to make some money, so I went around the neighborhood and convinced several home owners to allow me to mow their lawn.  One problem, my parents would not allow me to operate the lawnmower by myself.  So here I was, a successful salesman at the ripe old age of 8 ½ and I had a production problem.  I soon found out that if you have sales, you can solve almost anything.  I networked with some of the older kids in the neighborhood and discovered they also wanted to make money but did not want to ask for the business.  So, we pooled our resources and we were in business. The end result, I was a business owner at the age of 8 ½ with two part-time employees (1099 of course) and I had the opportunity to sit on the porch and solidify my relationships with our customer base while my production crew did a fantastic job of delivering the services as promised.

So, fast forward 37 years and now I am faced with another issue that needs to be resolved – we have to get our BSG numbers up!  We have not one but TWO world class ranked teams in our cohort we are competing with and we are struggling.  So what is the solution?  I can’t let you in on that one completely but I do know one thing, when you are down and need a hand sometimes the best thing to do is find someone who is struggling with things of their own, reach out, and help them.  It just may make your situation better as well.  So, my team and I are looking for someone to help and hopefully in the process discover the advantage we need to increase our performance.  If not, at least we did the right thing.

I can honestly say this, our strategy is solid, our execution is getting better, and our results will demonstrate an understanding and application of business strategy.  Now, two bad business weeks in a row is very difficult for a Competitive person like myself to deal with.  But then again, the strategy is not always apparent when you first look at it.  With that being said, stay tuned for the Paul Harvey (for you youngsters, that means…”The rest of the story.”)

This again is the very reason I am pursuing my MBA at the ripe old age of 45, to enhance my skills and effectiveness at the craft I have chosen.  The proverbial icing on the cake is the opportunity to work side by side with some of the smartest and most strategic-minded individuals I have ever had the pleasure to encounter.

If you’re on the fence about pursuing your MBA, get off and get into the game. I once asked a dear friend of mine if he felt it was good at my age to go back to school and finish my undergraduate degree, something I had wanted to do for several years.  He paused, stared deeply in my eyes, (you know the way only a real close friend who knows how goofy you really are can) and replied rather boldly, “Kevin, how old will you be in four years if you finish your degree?”  I replied sort of smugly, “43”, (he knew how old I would be then).  He then asked me the most profound question I could have ever heard at that time, he spoke slowly, deliberately, and softly, “Kevin, how old will you be in four years if you don’t finish your degree?”  I replied sheepishly, “43”.  He then said, “So, the question is not whether you will be 43 in four years, the question is will you have completed your degree when you are 43?”  I graduated Summa Cum Laude, four years later.  Now I am 45 and finishing my MBA…..until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011

Since our last discussion, we have actually had two result weeks (years in the life of the game) of the BSG and the competition is firing up. First, you have to understand how the game is scored. You get a maximum point value of 20 points each for reaching a specified target in EPS (Earnings Per Share); ROE (Return on Equity); Stock Price; Credit Score; and Image Rating. After that, you can earn an additional 4 points per target by exceeding your goal in each category for that week. This gives each team the opportunity to achieve a maximum of 120 points per week. So it is good to exceed your targets, however, if you blow way past them, as a couple of the teams did, you only get 24 points for that category. With that in mind, we were able to snag the most points at 116 for the week even though we were clearly outperformed in some areas.  Then there was week two.

Ouch is the word that comes to mind for week two.  I believe there are a few movies out there that sort of describes our second week (year in the life of the game), Blind Side; Jaws; Nightmare on Elm Street. We really took one on the chin. We were out-foxed by our competition and wound up right back in the middle of the pack for the game-to-date score. Never fear, we are Hayle’s Comets and we will be charging back this week. Here is our strategy…on second thought, maybe not, I’ll wait until the game is over and then I’ll share the strategy. Until then, you’ll just have to keep wondering.

Now, as far as the actual class is going, this past week was one of the most enjoyable. Dr. Scarboro arranged for a Strategic Management Panel with the following high-powered executives:

• Darrell Cobbins, Founder, Universal Commercial Real Estate, LLC
• Eric Mathews, co-founder, Mercury Technology Labs, LLC
• Sally Pace, Senior Vice President, FTN Financial
• John Pontius, President, Pittco Management
• Luke Yancy, Officer, SunTrust Bank, Commercial Banking Division

Talk about gleaning from the wisdom of others! I can’t begin to describe how exciting it was to have the opportunity to meet, discuss ideas, ask questions, and hear the stories of these executives. Stories of their successes and how it affected them and their failures and what they learned from them. Their stories were interesting, motivating, and sobering. With such a diverse group, I found a few common traits they all seemed to share:

• Risk Tolerant – Albeit their risk tolerances were obviously different, they all had varying degree of high risk tolerance.
• A Plan – They all described in general the plans they had, where they were along the lines of that plan, how it had changed over time and how important it was to at least have a plan to work from.
• Humble – Each one of the panel members, although highly esteemed and accomplished individuals and community leaders, were approachable and encouraging even to the old gray haired men in the group.
• PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) – Each member of the panel spoke with conviction when discussing their failures and pointed out how important it is to remain positive in times of adversity.
• Execution – Even though Mr. Pontius actually articulated this important attribute, the resounding theme of the panel reinforced the importance of being able to execute your plan (and not your team).

How fitting for Dr. Scarboro to arrange for this panel discussion the week before we were to focus on Strategic Leadership. I guess you could say, “This ain’t his first rodeo.”

This week’s nugget of truth…Emotional Intelligence is the single most important quality that will separate the smart from the successful. Understanding the need to not only have a respectable IQ (intelligence quotient) but also a respectable EQ (emotional quotient) is paramount to a successful career that entails leading others. The capacity to recognize one’s own emotions and the emotions of others while maintaining the ability to make the tough choices and decisions is a foundational prescription for a successful career…until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011

The second practice week of the Business Strategy Game (BSG) went pretty well for our team.   We were able to improve upon last week’s (AKA “Year’s”) simulation enough to move us into first place; however, it is VERY competitive.  No bragging here, just thankful to be alive in the competition. Matching intellectual swords with the other members of our cohort is a complete thrill.  My kids are now accusing me being a “business geek.”  Hey, they’ve got that “Us” game, or is it “We?” Or “Wii?”  I’m not sure but they bounce all over the place with it.  Me, I just sit at my computer, review report after report after report and try to figure out what the other teams are going to do and try to shuck when they jive, a little head fake and then go for the end zone.

Okay, I may be re-living my younger “Glory Days” of the 1980’s (nevermind that most of you weren’t even born back then), but I really get juiced with this Strategies Class.  It is a great opportunity to combine what we have already studied in our Economics, Accounting, and Finance classes and apply it to a simulated “real – life” scenario.  I guess the key things I really like about the game are that it is very realistic.

• The decisions you make have risk and reward.
• The outcome of your decisions are directly affected by the decisions made by your competition.
• You don’t get a chance to go back and “undo” the decisions.
• You have to take what you get, learn from it, and try to make better decisions next week (year).
• YOU NEED A STRATEGY.  If you make “fly by the seat of your pants” decisions, it will be obvious.
• You get to take chances…and in this case it doesn’t cost you your job.
• Your strategy does not have to be perfect.
• You have the opportunity to practice what you have learned.
• TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such thing As A Free Lunch) – you have to work at this game.
• Even the good decisions you make can be trumped by someone else’s better decisions.

Lectures, papers, quizzes and exams have their place in the learning process but they culminate in the opportunity to put those tools to use in some sort of practical application.

On another note, I want to talk a bit about my cohort and how impressed I am with them.  Being in the corporate world, owning my own business and having a few years of experience under my belt gives me a greater appreciation of what is being taught in the MBA program here at CBU.  The tools being developed will undoubtedly prepare all of us for great and mighty things in the business world.  I only hope that when my classmates are soaring the corporate ladder, starting their own business or teaching other young students the tools of the trade that they remember the old gray haired man in their class who enjoyed their company and appreciated seeing them grow their abilities and talents.

Whatever their choice, I hope to remain close to them and continue to be a part of their success in some way.  As I stated in a recent presentation, “People buy from people, they don’t buy from companies.”  Everyone wants to be successful; some people make goals, wake up early and work hard to obtain those goals…until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011

Another week, another trip to the knowledge Doctor – this time it is Dr. Scarboro.  We have just finished our first practice week of the BSG (Business Strategy Game) in his Strategic Management course.  Now, if you have not tried this, it is AWESOME.  As a corporate executive, I really appreciate the honing of my skills through the activities associated with the BSG as well as the challenges my teammates and cohort members put before me each week.  I would certainly be a better manager and leader just by hanging out with these high quality professionals, not to mention matching intellectual swords with them on a weekly basis.  Stimulating does not properly describe the CBU MBA experience.

Decisions we make on a weekly basis (each week represents a year in the life of the company) include corporate environment decisions, production, marketing, distribution, and corporate infrastructure.  Our industry happens to be footwear and the decisions range from what price you are going to charge for internet sales; wholesale; and private label to where these are going to be manufactured and shipped (don’t forget the dollar exchange rate and the shipping costs to get the products from the plant in Asia-Pacific to the retailers in Latin America).  All-in-all, there are about 174 decisions that have to be made each week.  This is challenging enough but without a Strategic Plan it would be disastrous.

What a week –  the guiding principles and strategic decision exercises only help to heighten our learning experience.  It is one thing to read a text, listen to a lecture, and write a paper; it is something totally different to sit in a conference room with your three teammates realizing the decisions you personally make this week compared to the decisions your competitors are making will directly affect not only your grade but also your teammates grade.  Hum….sounds a bit like the corporate boardroom.

Thankfully we are not alone – with a class size of 15, we have a unique opportunity to be more engaged with Dr. Scarboro.  That is one of the many attributes of the CBU MBA experience.  Limited class sizes along with quality cohorts make for a robust learning experience.

The great part of the classroom preparation for me is that as I am preparing for class, I am interweaving the principles I am learning with my day to day management responsibilities.  I’ve even had one of my managers tell me he was interested in pursuing his MBA since he has seen the impact it has had not only on me but also on our team at work.  I call it “Education in Action”.  If you are looking for an MBA to hang on the wall – you can get one online for about $399.00.  If you are looking for an MBA with shoe leather, this is the place.

Well, back to my planning session, I have a staff meeting with my teammates and I have to be prepared….until next time.

Kevin Fleming
Owner of KTF Consulting
MBA Concentration: Undecided
Graduating: May 2011