Description of the video:
Dan Pickering, Corporate Strategy Manager at 3M:
The common denominator between golf and business is the determination to succeed. In golf the practice that you put in is at the range. It's a repetitive motion, it's time-consuming, you're putting in the work. And you're eager to step out onto the course and perform and see what you have. I think the exact same thing applies to the internship programs. It's a great opportunity to be able to showcase a lot of the skills that I've developed at Kelley and develop my career to the next level. I'd be lying if I didn't say there's anxiety coming in. Expectations are high. And you're with a lot of smart people that are asking you to solve some of their toughest business problems. And the internship is really a chance to showcase everything that you've learned before school, everything you've learned during school, and put a lot of that stuff into practice.
The marketing frameworks that I learned through the Core, and also through the business Academy, I use those to solve all my projects here at my internship. The nature of these consulting projects is there's a lot of ambiguity to them. There's a million different directions that you could go, but you need to be able to focus in to what's the most important things, structure those problems, and then execute on how to solve it, and then communicate what you've proposed as a solution.
At Kelley, we had such a great exposure to these types of projects. Kelley's preparing you a number of ways. There's the schoolwork, but then it's also everything else that's part of being a member of the Full-Time MBA class. So it's all the time pressure that they put on you, all the opportunities to take on extra work, the group work, the nature of the consulting projects, the case competitions. Through the experience here at 3M, I've been able to build on what I learned and experienced at Kelley and further my understanding of the corporate world, but then also develop and put into practice a lot of the critical thinking skills, the consulting skills, and the marketing frameworks that I learned at Kelley.
The Kelley interns here in the Twin Cities, we've got together a number of times, just for social events. It's great to be somewhere that's completely new, but to feel like you're already connected. So I have three great networks already. All the Kelleys that are interning here with me, all the other interns here at 3M with me, and then also the alumni at 3M, the Kelley alumni. Where...you feel completely at home in a place so far from home.
The internship is difficult. You're asked to do a lot of things. It's a very short time period. You're eager to prove yourself and that you belong. The experience has been phenomenal, though, in terms of growth. I feel like I'll be such a stronger person going back into school.
