BBA ’99

I almost lost it today.

Have you ever been so mad, you’re ready to go off on anyone, regardless of the consequences? That was me today.

Actually, this was the capstone in a couple weeks of really frustrating occurrences.

• I left my phone charger at home (again) and only had my car charger so I had to come outside and sit in the parking lot for two hours every time I needed to charge my phone.
• I’m not adjusting well to switching to a Blackberry (you’ve probably read my rants on Facebook).
• Several of my talks have been flat. I’ve gotten great reviews but I personally know I can do so much better. I take this very personally.
• Every time I try to sit down to get some work done, I fall asleep because I’m so tired from flying, driving or speaking every day.

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People, Stephen Covey talks about the concept of having an emotional bank account. Mine was on Insufficient Funds. Even the slightest thing was liable to set me off.

I don’t know why people think that because of what I do, I’m somehow exempt from experiencing Yuck Days or having an attitude. Perhaps it’s my name. It’s hard to imagine taking someone seriously when they’re cursing you out, knowing their name is Sprinkles. Well trust me, when I start to lose it, there are no traces of anything “sprinkley.” Mr. Motivator looks more like Mr. Moody!

And now, by five minutes, I had just missed my flight home. It was my fault. I flat out lost track of time earlier that morning. I ended up having to stay in New Jersey for another three hours before the next flight. On top of that, the next connecting flight didn’t leave for another. . . SEVEN hours!

If I told you more details, you would think I was trying to make you feel sorry for me. I’m not. As with all things, I accept total responsibility for my actions and my attitude in response to my actions. I do, however, want to share with you some things that helped get me through. I know I’m not the only one who has ever been close to snapping, so I’m sure you can take away some new strategies for dealing with your Yuck when it comes your way.

1. Make A Decision – I was hot…steaming…livid! I couldn’t believe that I was about to, in essence, waste one of my precious days off. I’m really not an emotional guy, but when I get to the height of my anger, I start to tear up. If I ever actually shed a tear, run fast because I’ve totally lost it! I swear I could’ve knocked out the UFC heavyweight champion. After a few minutes of reveling in my pity party, I realized I could complain and whine and feel sorry for myself all I wanted, but what was done was done. At that point, I made myself say, “I choose…I choose.” At first, my statement was, “I choose to be pissed. I choose to feel like elbowing someone in the forehead.” Then I realized I was being really dumb and needed to choose something more constructive. Reinforcing my ability to choose my attitude was the first step to overcoming the overwhelm of the moment. After that, I could begin the process of figuring out how I could solve my problem instead of wallowing in it.

2. Make A Statement – As my mom used to say, “Don’t let your mouth write a check that your behind can’t cash.” I say, “Watch your words!” Be very careful about what you allow to slip out of your mouth, especially in highly-emotional moments. Statements made in anger and frustration [i.e. “This sucks,” or “This is some (you fill in the blank)”] will cause you to stagnate in the same emotional state. Trust me, I know it’s difficult when you’re ticked off, but choose to use your Winning Words. Say something that diffuses the emotion of the situation. Blurt out, “This is great, just great. Perfect!” or “I can’t wait to tweet about this.” I know this sounds like some stupid motivational speaker crap (I hate that stuff too), but this time, there’s some real meat here.

Dr. Lewis Baxter, a psychiatrist from UCLA, has documented that carefully chosen words have the same effect on the brain as a highly-prescribed drug. Science has proven that the connection between what you say and how you feel. Thus, when you allow yourself to spout off an explicative-laced soliloquy, you are triggering the portion of your brain that is responsible for melancholy emotions. But simply saying something more constructive (whether you really mean it or not!) will numb the effects of the moment and slowly bring you back to normal. Cussin’ and fussin’ feels good at the moment, but like sugar, gives you a temporary rush then leaves you crashing in the end.

3. Make Someone’s Day - One of the highest times in my leadership retreats is when we discuss how great we feel when we make a conscious effort to be a blessing to the people around us. The fastest way to turn a Yuck Day into a good day is to commit a random act of kindness. Pay the toll for the car behind you, grab a few mints at the restaurant at lunch and arrange them in a smiley face on someone’s desk, compliment three people, handwrite a thank you note to someone who deserves it. There is a “boomerang effect” that happens when you send love to others. It is impossible to give without simultaneously receiving.

My buddy, Beaux Wellborn (who was recently featured as a life coach on MTV’s Made), always has the best sayings on his Facebook page. Most recently, he said, “If you want to have a good day, have one. You want to have a bad day, you can have one too. But regardless of what happens in the day, it is ultimately our choice how we see it. I like good days!” Well said, Beaux! Even the best of us get down sometimes. But we don’t have to stay down.

I like good days, too.

———————-

Jonathan Sprinkles was voted National Speaker of the Year, Mentor of the Year and Pinnacle Award winner for business excellence. He is an expert in coaching Peak Performance, Persuasion and Presentation Skills, but it his “down-home” style that has made his name known nationwide. After a few minutes with Jonathan, you will feel like you have known him your entire life. Visit http://www.jonathansprinkles.com/home.html to learn more.

Along with the three Hall of Fame inductees, the school acknowledged two alumni with the Rising Star Award: M. Christina Clayton, BBA ’02 (below left) and Gregory H. Johnson, MBA ’05 (below right). This award is presented to alumni no further than ten years from graduation who have been successful professionally and have helped strengthen the McCombs Alumni Network. Read more.

  

Gary Hoover
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, the Herb Kelleher Center

Upcoming Presentations:
5:30PM - complimentary appetizers and cash bar
6:00PM - lecture followed by discussion

Wednesday, December 2
Big Screen: How a handful of immigrants created the movie industry.

Wednesday, January 27
Flying High: The creation and development of the modern airline industry by visionary pioneers.

Wednesday, February 24
Lessons from Detroit: What every technology leader can learn from the founders of the “Big Three” US automakers.

Wednesday, March 31
Ringing Registers: The story of American retailing and its innovators.

This event is free and open to the public.

Where:
AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at the corner of MLK and Lavaca Street, Room 201.
For directions, please click here!

Parking:
Underground garage parking available off of 20th Street.
$7 garage parking passes sold in Gabriel’s Café at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center after 4PM.

RSVP:
Please RSVP to Holly Marino or call (512) 471.8611.

Click here to learn more about Gary Hoover.

Click here to RSVP.

Each semester Dean Tom Gilligan hosts an informal conversation with 3-4 keynote “C-Level” speakers from major U.S. corporations. Guest speakers discuss their background, career, corporation, and give advice to students to help them succeed in their future careers. The event consists of an informal interview session followed by an open floor question and answer. The average audience is 200-400 students, primarily undergraduate business students. This event is open to all University of Texas at Austin students and staff, as well as the general public. The series is organized and sponsored by the Undergraduate Business Council.

Click here for more information on Michael Dell and save the date for future VIP speakers:

• Doug Ulman, President, Lance Armstrong Foundation, February 4
• Roy Spence Founder, GSD&M Idea City, February 23

Click here for additional details and information on upcoming speakers.

“A felony is forever. That’s not a legacy to leave to anybody.”

Harvin C. Moore III (right) gave a speech on ethics Nov. 4 to Urton Anderson and Janet Dukerich’s undergraduate studies class, Organizational Corruption and Organizational Control.

At first glance, Moore looks like the picture of success. He earned a law degree from UT Austin and went to work for a law firm in Houston, where he had a “Midas touch” for putting together lucrative business deals. His real estate developments were valued at $250 million and he co-owned a savings and loan business with more than $400 million in assets.

It wasn’t until Moore took off his jacket and put on the prison badge he wore during his 2-year sentence in federal prison that students realized that this wasn’t going to be like any ethics speech they had heard before.

Moore was in business during the collapse of both the oil and gas industry and the real estate market in the four oil and gas states - Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Louisiana. That collapse caused all of his personal business to fail and left him with only the savings and loan institution, which he believed to be in excellent health.

However, the savings and loan institution was hit by defaults on the loans it had made to people in Houston and under the rules the partners could not declare a dividend for themselves under those circumstances. That meant that they could not pay back their debts and lenders were threatening to foreclose on their stock in the institution, thereby forcing both parties into bankruptcy.

It was the pressure and fear of being without a job that caused Moore to make three loans to his friends. Those friends would then use part of the money they were lent to “buy” miscellaneous assets from Moore’s personal holdings so that he could use the money to pay his debts.

Moore said he knew that this type of lending was illegal but that he rationalized his actions by convincing himself that he needed to do it to survive. He also told himself that he and his partner were the only ones at risk since they had made the original loan and would be the only ones hurt if the borrower defaulted. He tied it all up by reminding himself that “everybody’s doing it,” and that they were doing far worse things than what he had done.

Things continued to get worse at the institution, however, and by the end of 1988 the company had been taken over by the Resolution Trust Corps (RTC), which mean that Moore lost ownership of the company to the government and had to file for bankruptcy anyway. It was then that his 27-year marriage ended in divorce.

During the investigation of his bankruptcy filings the RTC found those illegal loans and filed a criminal suit against Moore. While he was planning how to defend himself, he suddenly realized that he had no defense.

“It didn’t matter that the institution was solvent when I made that loan,” said Moore. “Did I get the money out correctly? The answer is no. That is a federal crime, and I realized I could not go into a courtroom and plead not-guilty.”

As a result of his conviction, Moore spent 601 days in federal prison and three years on parole in Houston. He was forced to pay $500,000 in restitution and he lost his licenses to practice law and to issue property, casualty and life insurance. He also lost the right to vote or to own or possess a gun.

He said that the toughest thing was getting a job after his release. He went through five jobs in five years before he found one that gave him a platform from which to rebuild his life and his career.

Moore ended his talk by reinforcing the consequences of one bad decision.

“When you make the right choice, most of the time there is a short-term cost associated with it,” said Moore. “But the potential of taking the other side is a long-term liability.

“A felony is forever,” he continued. ”That’s not a legacy to leave to anybody.”

Some of the best business students from around the world convened in Austin October 27-31 for the 16th McCombs International Business Competition (MIBC), one of the top annual undergraduate business competitions in the world. In total, 20 schools from North America, Asia and Europe competed in this year’s MIBC, which was sponsored by Motorola, the Undergraduate Business Council and the Office of Student Life.

Motorola put together an open-ended case that challenged the four-member teams to present an innovative global business strategy for the company. The winner was the University of Hong Kong, which became the MIBC’s first repeat winner.

“It was a fantastic event,” said Gautam Shah, MIBC chair. “We had a great, involved company with Motorola. The University of Hong Kong team presented a thorough solution that impressed all of the Motorola judges. It was airtight.”

McCombs’ John Doggett, one of the competition’s faculty advisors, said that what makes the MIBC special is that it uses only real cases.

“We give them a three-page ‘engagement letter’ from senior management and ask them to spend two days researching the challenges mentioned in the letter,” Doggett said. “And they have the opportunity to engage with the senior executives during a Q&A session a day before they make their recommendations.”

As for the winning team, Doggett said that Hong Kong was “simply amazing.” He said, “In 48 hours they produced a new product development and launch strategy for two new mobile devices for the China market that was so detailed that they even had chipset specifications for the two new phones. What those ‘undergraduates’ did during the finals was truly something to behold.”

Doggett continued, “ Motorola sent four executives to be judges, and their former acting CFO and current board member, Tom Meredith, sat in on the presentations. It says volumes about what Motorola thought about the value of this competition that they would send so many senior managers to see what undergraduates from 20 universities from 9 countries had to say.”

“The students were outstanding,” said Elizabeth Altman, vice president of business development in Motorola’s Mobile Devices business. “They showed great skill and professionalism in both their analyses and presentations, and a few of the groups developed creative ideas that we will explore further. Additionally, the team of undergraduates that organized the competition was equally impressive. We thoroughly enjoyed our involvement and commend the organizers and competitors for an exceptional event.”

In addition to the University of Hong Kong, the other three finalists were FGV from Sao Paulo, Brazil, the University of Washington and Georgetown University.

Trophy Skin develops and sells home-use medical aesthetic devices that treat common skin conditions, and currently markets the BlueMD acne light therapy device. Future products will include devices that treat wrinkles, rosacea, skin tightening, and sun damage.

Visit http://www.inc.com/newpreneur/vote.html to vote for Imran by Nov. 6 or click here to read more about Imran and the competition!

Dr. Ronn will provide an overview of the financial markets’ forward-looking metrics: what they are, how they are obtained and the message they are conveying by focusing his talk on:

• Measuring the nervousness/uncertainty of equity, credit and commodity markets
• Assessing the status of credit markets
• Quantifying future inflation rates
• Forecasting crude-oil prices

“Equity, Credit and Commodity Markets: The Market’s Assessment of Where We Are Headed”

When: October 29, 6:00 p.m.
Where: CityPlace
2711 N. Haskell Ave.
Dallas, TX 75204
Cost: Today - $25, cash bar available.
After 10/27/09 online registration will be closed. Please pay $30 at the door.

Click here to RSVP.

Background on Dr. Ronn:

Dr. Ehud Ronn is a professor of finance and director of the Center for Energy Finance at the McCombs School of Business.

Dr. Ronn obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University and has published articles on investments and energy derivatives in both academic and practitioner literature.

Prior to joining the University of Texas at Austin in July 1988, Dr. Ronn was a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. While on a two-year 1991-93 leave of absence, Dr. Ronn served as vice president, Trading Research Group at Merrill Lynch & Co. Dr. Ronn has been the founding director of the Center for Energy Finance since 1997.

Since 1993, he has served as a consultant on interest rates and energy-commodities. In November 2004, Dr. Ronn was selected by Energy Risk to the “Energy Risk Hall of Fame.”

The McCombs School of Business has a commitment to honor and ethics. It is apparent to me, judging from comments and inquiries I have received recently, that our students, faculty, staff and alumni believe strongly in these principles as well.

We derive this high standard from the university of which we are a part. Our purpose is to prepare the next generation of individuals who will act responsibly; improve quality of life for themselves and others; and serve the communities in which they live and work. This foundation of ethical behavior is essential to the disciplined culture of excellence that exemplifies our students, our faculty and our alumni.

The undergraduate program takes specific steps to expose each student to these principles and to emphasize their importance.

Every undergraduate student takes BA 101, a course which emphasizes integrity, fair treatment, and honesty, in the context of academic studies, career, and life in general. Topics of discussion include:

• Definition of ethical and moral principles
• The high costs of ethical lapses
• Real life scenarios in business and recruiting
• Ethical Code of Conduct
• Five-Step Decision-Making Process
• The McCombs Recruiting Code of Ethics

Additionally, all students take at least one other course encompassing ethics and leadership. Read more.

A team of McCombs undergraduate students were selected to be one of three finalists for the Net Impact Resource Challenge.

Bijal Mehta, Elaine Hsu and Zoe Gabbard were the only undergraduate students to enter, and they beat out more than 30 MBA teams for a spot in the finals. The Resource Challenge is a mini-case competition that challenged students to submit a plan for boosting on-campus recycling rates.

Based on their submission, the team earned an all-expense paid trip to Ithaca in November for the Net Impact National Conference, where they will compete to win $5,000 in prize money and the opportunity to implement their business plan at UT.

Congratulations to Bijal, Elaine and Zoe, and good luck in the finals!