Author Archives: liz wetterhahn

The Moments That Define

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I’ve been putting off writing this, my final McCombs blog entry, for some time now. As my fellow bloggers have turned in their final posts, full of photos and reflections and memories of their amazing experiences over the past year(s), I have found it difficult to get to the point where I’m ready to put such reflections down on paper. It seems so final – writing a post that sums up my time here at McCombs – and in all honesty, the end is something I’m having terrible difficulty coming to terms with.

Even today, more than a week after I donned my cap and gown (made out of recycled bottles nonetheless!) and walked across the stage at graduation, it just doesn’t seem real. How did I get from Orientation to Graduation in the blink of an eye? It seems like yesterday that I was attending info sessions about McCombs, listening to alums talk about McCombs as the best two years of their lives. I hoped I could have an experience to match theirs. And now, two years later, I look back at my time at McCombs and know that my expectations were far exceeded by this program. I am leaving McCombs (and Austin) with knowledge, experiences, connections, and most importantly a group of friends who I know I will be friends with forever.

When I look back at my time at McCombs, I know that there are certain classes, trips, experiences, competitions and milestones that define this experience on paper. But when I look back – when ten years down the road I think back to the things that will still have an impact on me after the case studies and words of wisdom have escaped my mind – it will be moments that I remember. Those things that happen that you know will remain in your memories…and that change you, even in the slightest bit, when they occur. Below is a list of my favorite moments, in no particular order:

- Dean Hirst (Dean of the MBA program and also my accounting professor) standing up and shaking hands with each student in his class as we turned in our core accounting finals.
- Standing in front of my classmates and professors and presenting mentionables, a company brainchild of four of my best friends and mine that we presented at Texas Moot Corp (and again in Winnipeg, Canada)
- Running the selection of the next class of CCIMS Marketing Fellows and being so proud of the group of people I worked with and the one that we selected
- Running out of breakfast tacos at Preview Weekend, and having my Preview Weekend co-chair Dan Salas calm me down while Tina Mabley ordered more tacos…the whole time keeping it from event organizer Angela Zerda because we didn’t want her to worry.
- Panicking at a table in Carpenter Center (the MBA lounge) when 6 weeks into the semester, and just prior to my accounting midterm, I still didn’t understand debits and credits (and one of my best friends talking me through it as I had tears in my eyes)
- Football games, and the trail of orange that led from the MBA tailgate all the way to the stadium
- Assisting in handing over lapdesks to underprivileged children in a township in South Africa with 29 other McCombs students
- The winning moment at the 2009 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl that three friends and I attended in Phoenix, Arizona
- When I found out that not one, but TWO McCombs students were selected to intern at General Mills this summer (where I’ll be working full-time)
- The many times at McCombs that called for costumes (holiday not necessary)
- Seeing Bevo up close at a house party before the Texas/OU game in Dallas
- Getting to talk to prospective students about how I made my decision to come here and why I know it was the absolute right decision for me
- That feeling that no matter how much I loved being with family in Maryland, being at my summer internship, being with other friends…I was always SO excited to come home to Austin
- Buying my first pair of cowboy boots
- Listening to Warren Buffett’s amazing words of wisdom in Omaha, Nebraska
- When my study teammate Matt brought my entire team bottles of wine on the day of our last final exam first semester. Our team went from dysfunctionally functional to friends in 12 weeks.
- Professor Christopher Meakin ending every Law for Entrepreneurs class with the phrase “Questions? Comments? Go change the world.”
- The river barge at Disorientation, where after all of the exams and papers and before the craziness of graduation, the McCombs Class of 2010 was able to spend a day of relaxation on the water
- Putting on my cap and gown and standing with my closest group of friends in front of a paparazzi of family photographers all proud and excited to share in this one final moment

Graduation

There are more moments – so many more – that can’t fit into this blog post, but will remain with me for years to come. If you’ve been reading my moment-by-moment blog posts over the last two years, you’ve probably observed a common theme – every positive experience I have had at McCombs is due to the people that I’ve been lucky enough to experience it with. The Class of 2010 is made up of all kinds of people. When we came in, we were CFAs, CPAs, online marketers, engineers, rocket scientists, athletes, lawyers, entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, graphic designers, real estate agents, analysts, teachers, sales reps, non-profit leaders, military officials, and account executives. We were from Texas, US states other than Texas, and many countries outside of the US. We came in wanting to learn, to grow, to make friends and meet future business partners and leaders. We came in as individuals and leave part of a new family that I know will serve me well in the years to come.

There’s an absurdly cheesy song by Carole King that has a lyric that has suited me many times (through many a teary goodbye) over the years, but perhaps has never been more appropriate than this final blog post. It goes, “We had a moment. Just one moment. That will last beyond a dream, beyond a lifetime. We are the lucky ones. Some people never get to do all we got to do. Now and forever, I will always think of you.”

Goodbye McCombs. Thanks for the memories. Thanks for the friends, the best friends. Thanks for the moments. Hook ‘Em.

Hook Em

South African Adventure

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One of the things I was most excited about when I came to McCombs was the possibility of going on more than one Global Connection trip. Last year, I went to four cities in China with my class, and I knew exactly where I wanted to go this year – South Africa. It’s an extremely popular trip, in fact the only one this year that filled up entirely with second year students, so I felt extremely fortunate to be able to go. I knew from the second I stepped foot at McCombs that I wanted to go on the trip to South Africa. When I came to business school, there were few things that I knew more about than my extremely intelligent (and well-versed in all things business) classmates. But as an Anthropology major, I spent several years of college studying Africa, taking such classes as Africa: Peoples and Culture. Finally, something I had knowledge about. This would be a piece of cake. My college experiences and knowledge were front of mind when I boarded that first plane in Austin.

What I hadn’t taken into account, however, was the difference in the Africa I had spent so many years learning about and “business” Africa. In fact, it was a few days before I even felt like I was in Africa at all. But as our free days at the beginning (full of shark diving expeditions and leisurely lunches at the Cape Town beaches) gave way to our actual study tour of business visits and cultural activities, I began to see and appreciate the unique South African culture and lifestyle.

Our professor had made an effort to pave the way to something new for the South African Global trip. He wanted to make sure that we truly experienced township life, and that we got off the bus and immersed ourselves in the experience to truly get an idea of what life was like. We visited several townships during our time in South Africa, in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, and I honestly can’t imagine having gone to South Africa and not experienced these. We walked around, talked to people that lived there, and perhaps having the biggest impact on me, spent a lot of time playing and visiting with children. Parts of these visits were difficult – seeing unsanitary conditions and poverty so extensive, and just minutes outside of wealthy areas of the cities.

At the same time, though, there was something so incredibly refreshing about the township visit. I melted seeing those little kids light up when singing and dancing for us. My heart warmed when I learned that the kids’ gesture of touching thumbs with me meant “we are blood,” or “we’re connected” or “I know you’re ok.” I felt humbled when I listened to people like Thando speak about the culture and living situation within townships, and his optimism for the future. And finally, when I heard the phrase “Umntu Gumntu Gabantu,” meaning “A person is a person by virtue of other people,” I was wholeheartedly inspired.

Children at Township

I think I went through almost every emotion possible while in South Africa. At times I felt exhilarated, depressed, guilty, inspired, proud, happy, compassionate, sad, angry, surprised, scared, helpless, optimistic…and very, very lucky. Regardless of what I had expected coming into the trip, I came out with a love for Africa so much deeper than I could have predicted. It wasn’t Table Mountain or Robben Island or Camps Bay or the World Cup stadiums or the Cape of Good Hope or South African Wine Country or the safari that had such a dramatic impact on me (although all of those places were incredible). Instead, it was the pure optimism of the South African people in the face of poverty, segregation and incredibly high HIV rates. It was their hope for the future and their belief in the good of people that gave me perspective on the life I am lucky to have and the way in which I may go about leading it from now on.

Africa was different than I expected. In fact, it far exceeded my highest expectations. And by the end, it definitely felt like Africa.

McCombs with Zakumi, World Cup Mascot

McCombs, Meet Warren Buffett

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On Thursday, 26 of my classmates and I boarded a plane to Omaha, Nebraska. I had been super excited about this trip for months, and not just because Nebraska was one of the 6 states I had yet to cross off my list (for the record, those still unvisited are Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada (yes, I know…) and Hawaii). There was another far more important reason I was psyched to head to The Cornhusker State…and his name is Warren Buffett.

My classmates and I were on what is called the Warren Buffett Trek – an opportunity for a small group of McCombs students to head to Omaha to join other schools in a Q&A session and lunch with the main man himself. I’m not sure what my expectations were leading up to the trip, but I can tell you they were far exceeded. I was so amazed and impressed by Warren’s down-to-earth attitude and generous spirit. I could tell he had so many nuggets of wisdom to share, and it was hard not to be completely star struck. Some of my favorite tidbits from the Q&A include:

- On what he’d do differently: “I’d start younger…I mean, I didn’t buy my first stock until I was eleven.”
- On wealth: “It doesn’t matter how many zeroes you get…although it’s kind of fun to have them!”
- On happiness: “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
- On whether you’d choose to live your life over again if you had the chance to switch: “You are in the luckiest 1% of humanity.”
- On management teams: “Buy a business that an idiot can run, because sooner or later, one will.”
- On career choice: “Choose a job that you’ll be enthusiastic about – where you’re smarter at the end of the day than you were at the start of the day.”

After the Q&A, he said, “I’ve got room for four in my car.” And so Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world, drove four students (one from four schools, including McCombs!) in his Cadillac to lunch at Piccolo Pete’s. I was so amazed and so utterly impressed.

After lunch, we headed to Borsheim’s, one of the largest independent jewelry stores in the country, and a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. The CEO, a woman originally from Zimbabwe named Susan Jacques, spent time with us, explaining the Borsheim’s history and how she came to be the CEO. I was completely inspired by her and her story, and it was clear that she had taken a number of lessons from Warren Buffett’s leadership – including the idea that everyone in the chain, no matter what their position in the company, deserves the utmost respect. After her talk, I spoke to her about my upcoming trip to South Africa with McCombs Global Connections and she gave me many tips about where to go and what to see. The trip overall was a complete success. I feel so lucky to have gotten to meet Warren (and Susan!) and it was yet another great experience to add to my McCombs list.

There was one particular story that Warren told that really had an impact on me. He told a story about an old woman who befriended him several years ago who took a while to open up to him. She had escaped the Holocaust, but before coming to the United States and settling in Omaha, she had been in a concentration camp in Auschwitz with her sister. Unfortunately, her sister didn’t make it out alive, but this woman had been one of the lucky ones. As Warren told us this story, he described how at some point the woman had said to him, “I’m sorry I have been slow to open up. It is hard for me to get close to people, because when I evaluate my relationships with them, I always ask myself, ‘Would they hide me?’” In jest, he remarked that there were several people in his life whose cover he’d intentionally blow (“HE’S IN THE ATTIC!!”)….But Warren went on to equate this to how you measure success…not by how much money you have, or how many letters are after your name. Warren paused (for emphasis), and asked us simply, “How many people would hide you?”

At McCombs, I have been so lucky to have met so many amazing people and to have formed such close, life-changing relationships with my friends here. I’d hide them in a heartbeat, and I know they’d hide me. According to Warren, my time here at McCombs has been a success.

Liz and Warren
McCombs and Warren

Making Texas Moot Corp “mentionable”

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There are many things about business school that I never imagined before arriving in Austin: the degree at which I would be challenged academically, the pure intelligence of my classmates, the amount of time I would spend at one bar on football days, climbing the Great Wall and Table Mountain with classmates turned close friends. Another thing on the list of unimagined business school activities: dragging a plus-size mannequin through the business school into a room full of 80+ students, teachers, potential investors and judges to talk about lingerie. That’s where I found myself last week – standing with four close friends in front of that room presenting our business plan for mentionables, a high-quality, everyday undergarment line for the average woman.

mentionables

But first, let me back up a little. I’ve mentioned many times on this blog why I chose to come to McCombs, but one of the things I loved about this school from the start was its entrepreneurial spirit. It was for that reason that I chose to take a class last semester called New Venture Creation with Rob Adams, which asked students to form groups and come up with ideas for new businesses, using the remainder of the semester to select an idea, form the business plan and present the idea to potential investors. The formation of my group was easy – I looked around at the four women seated all around me on the first day of class (who also happen to be four of my closest friends at McCombs) and our group was complete. It was coming up with the idea for the business that was the hard part, but after some group discussions and some amazing information that arose out of market validation, we came up with our business plan: lingerie for the underserved plus-size market. And just like that, mentionables was born.

We had several chances throughout the semester to present our idea to investors and entrepreneurs who could give us feedback about our plan, presentation and overall idea. We received a lot of really great constructive criticism, and by the end of the semester we were ready to submit our completed plan that we would present to a panel of judges, emulating the class’ final exam. Having received extremely positive feedback from all of the judges, we knew that mentionables was something with which we’d like to move forward. We all decided to take the Advanced Venture Practicum to further develop our idea and work on our entrance into Texas Moot Corp and other business plan competitions.

We started the business competition season competing in the semifinal round of Texas Moot Corp, nervously presenting to a conference room full of venture capitalists and local entrepreneurs. You can read more about the mentionables team and our semifinal presentation here. We came out of that presentation aware of things in our plan and presentation that we’d need to fix, and were advanced to the final round, which would take place two weeks later.

The days leading up to Texas Moot Corp Finals were full of preparation, practice and power point editing. Since we went last, we weren’t permitted to sit in the room as any of the groups before us presented their plans, so we spent the hours leading up to our presentation sitting in the MBA lounge and reassuring ourselves that we knew exactly what we were doing. Little by little the nerves crept up, especially after one of our friends came in to tell us that the Legacy Events Room was standing room only. When we finally were able to enter the room to set up, I was amazed at the size of the crowd and slightly intimidated by what we were about to do. And then, almost without warning, our introduction started.

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And Then There Was One…

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One semester. Only one semester. One semester of home Longhorn games (Final Four here we come!). One semester of walking around downtown Austin, finding new food trailers to try on a daily basis. One semester with the wonderful people who I’ve come to know and love over the last year and a half. One semester separating me from (dun dun DUNNN) the “real world.” Coming off of six weeks of vacation, this realization is pretty brutal.

That’s right, I said it. Six weeks of vacation. I’d like to say that I’m one of those people that gets restless and needs something to do after having absolutely nothing to do for weeks. I’d like to say that, but it would be an outright lie – I had six weeks off and I absolutely loved it. Travels brought me to Maryland where I spent two full weeks with my family and friends. The end of my time there had me back in Austin just in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my school friends before spending a week doing the things in and around Austin that I haven’t gotten to do while being busy with school. Barbeque in Lockhart, TX, a trip to the Midnight Rodeo, skeet shooting, new restaurants – it was great to finally spend some quality time with Austin.

And then, at week four, in case I hadn’t had enough adventure – I started on Vacation Part III – an extravaganza that had me traveling with my best friends from school to San Francisco (where we watched the National Championship game with the first years on the San Francisco Trek) and then to Aspen, Colorado. And then we returned to Austin – tired but happy about all of the things we got to do over break. And then they expected me to go back to class (the nerve!). Starting class last week made me realize just how close I’m coming to the end. It’s exciting, yes. But it’s also scary, intimidating and really, really sad.

Hook Em San Fran

But don’t get me wrong. There are some really exciting things I have coming up in the next few months. In exactly one week, I’ll be competing on a team with four of my classmates (and best friends!) in the Texas Moot Corp competition, presenting a business plan we created in our New Venture Creation class last semester. In five weeks, I’ll be heading to South Africa with 29 classmates as part of my McCombs Global Connections course. My friends and I are slowly and steadily continuing to cross things off of our Austin bucket list. And then, of course, there’s graduation.

While I know that May will be here before I know it (and I’m dragging my feet a little thinking about how soon the end will come), I’m determined to enjoy every single day of this last semester. I’m going to do as much as I can, learn as much as I can and enjoy the remaining time I get to spend with my amazing friends here. And luckily, I still have a semester left. One whole semester.

Meet Bevo

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If you are a loyal reader of this blog (all three of you), you may remember how bitter I was when I couldn’t attend last year’s Red River Rivalry (Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas) because of first year midterms. When the second years came back and raved about how amazing the game and the corresponding Texas State Fair were, I knew I’d make it my mission to attend this year. My fellow blogger Kalin described her fantastic experience, and I echo all of her sentiments about the game, the Fair and fried butter.

Although the entire weekend (and especially the State Fair) exceeded my expectations, nothing could top my experience prior to the game. My friend Jen interned in Dallas over the summer, and her coworker’s friend (an ex-Silver Spur) invited us to attend a party in Dallas on Thursday night where Bevo would be in attendance. If you don’t know of Bevo, he’s the live mascot that represents the University of Texas and stands on the football field during games (and is present at other important University events). I was so excited to meet him, and was thrilled as we walked up to the house and saw the Bevo-mobile parked up front (and Bevo standing on the front lawn). We took our picture with him (but avoided getting too close – those horns are BIG) and enjoyed the chatter of projected winners and point spreads for the weekend’s game. I felt like a true part of the University of Texas community, and felt that much more excited to see Bevo on the field during Saturday’s game. The game itself was close (and a little too nerve-wracking for my liking) but Texas prevailed, and we walked away with calmed nerves and increased hopes of a Rose Bowl appearance.

Bevo-mobileBevo

I topped off my experience with the purchase of my first pair of authentic cowboy boots and all of the fried food I could eat (butter, smores, oreos, corn dogs and peanut butter and jelly!). I left Dallas with a full stomach (and clogged arteries!) and the satisfaction of both UT winning a huge game and having met the esteemed Bevo. It was another one of those fantastic McCombs weekends for the books – and an experience I wish I could replicate for years to come.

Texas State Fair