i just got back from a 4-day trip to playa del carmen, a resort-y town south of cancun, for the
prophet employee retreat. we stayed at a
beautiful resort (which unfortunately is owned by a large corporation with some rather inflexible policies that tended to prohibit good customer service, but it was no matter, the company was excellent) as a new hire, i was pretty honored and flattered to be invited to come - it was the first time in several years that the entire firm had gotten together in an informal setting to celebrate its people, clients, and successes -- what a way to kick off a new relationship!
let me start by saying that i'm really happy about the decision i made to work here. on an x/y plane of work and play, prophet is clearly out in the upper right (but still on the 45-degree line of "balance," which is a really important value within the firm) -- these are motivated, smart people who work smart and hard, but they can party with the best of 'em...an example clearly set at the top (in a good way of course!). there was a lot of celebration of friendship, a great tribute to dave's contributions to the industry and to the firm, and some amazing stories that were told. it reminded me of the culture that sibson always wanted to have, but could never quite muster up because of the fractious internal issues with the segal merger.
the executive committee handed out "
aaker" (oscar) awards for the top performers in certain areas, and one of these was rookie of the year. of course, i immediately began thinking about what it would take for me to apply my interest in brand, client service experience, analytical skills, cultural fit, and work ethic to our clients in order to be considered for this award next year. though i of course don't have the final answer right now, 90 days before i start work, i have a pretty good sense of the type and magnitude of efforts that it will take to get me there. i identified a couple of people that i'd really love to have as coaches in SF, and i'm going to stay in touch with them as the summer unfolds to try to gather as many tips and tricks as i can early on. the class of senior associates above me is also a great resource for everything and can't wait to bring the next generation of colleagues (and leverage!) aboard.
and as a side note...if there was a "z" axis on the x/y plane of work and play above, it would be Hotness. are there any unattractive people that work for this company? none that i saw. great dancers, strong runners, healthy eaters...wow, maybe this is mecca after all.
i learned a couple of cool things about myself on the trip. one, i'm more creative than i think when i get around a group of really motivated people. this ties back to my very first post on surrounding myself with really good people -- but not just for portfolio reasons. it's because my own thoughts, and thinking process, become so much deeper and more valuable when others are there to challenge and help develop my ideas. a fun example is the sandcastle building contest we had on the beach -- i never thought i'd stand a chance of doing well at this...a very qualitative, engineering-related challenge. but i thought about the project in ways that others didn't. for instance, i asked this question: what will other teams NOT be doing? how can we use that knowledge to differentiate our castle? so we started talking, and decided that no one else was likely to build a main castle with a series of smaller guardian castles, and we settled on that as our base design. then i got the idea of creating a moat in the shape of the prophet logo, to appeal to the judges. by being strategic about our decision-making, i was able to help our team focus on quality and differentaition rather than spinning our wheels on putting sand together to create a random structure. and guess what - we won the competition, beating out even teams that had buried people in the sand and attempted to "humanize" their castles. the crowning achievement? we called the series of forts "Aaker Wat" after the famous Angkor Wat. i had come up with the name and some cool ideas, thanks to the presence of a group that really paved the way for creative contributions.
two, i need to speak up sooner rather than later. the second day, we were put into teams to do a consulting exercise for a fictitious client to test our analysis and presentation skills. i decided to join the data analysis team in order to get acquiated with the type of dataset i might encounter in a typical prophet project. but i was on a team with a guy from the cr&a team, which is basically a group of stats gurus that handles big data management. i knew he was taking us down far too detailed a path given the limited time we had to look at the data, analyze the results, and develop a presentation, but i also knew that he was new to the strategic thinking arena, and i didn't want to really pipe up much as a new hire. our presentation ended up being too focused on data and not enough on story, which is exactly the opposite of what was needed for this contest. other teams that had literally sketched out possible exhibits on a whiteboard, but who were detailed in their "approach" sections, won dave's approval as the winners. i realized that, even though i was initially focused on understanding the types of data and analysis we look at at prophet, i needed to push harder on the storyboarding, because as a former consultant i just knew that would be a much bigger win for us. new hire or not, i had the right idea and could have made a bigger impression in that instance.
all in all, i learned a good bit about my analysis and creative skills, and also realized that it's really darn hot in mexico in may. it was great to get back home to such awesome weather on the weekend and get working on the house again!
creates happiness for a wider circle of people. so while i am often frustrated that a friend might outline an enture 10-page paper with nothing but breeze and scenery in front of her while i need my laptop to do so, i actually wouldn't have it any other way.
