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How Long is Your Resume?

Clear Admit — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:00:05 GMT

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MBA Math Monday: Time Value of Money

MBA Math — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:01:18 GMT

Quantitative finance is built on a foundation of time value of money relationships that allow a single amount of money at one point in time to be converted into an equivalent amount of money at a different point in time given a specified time period and applicable rate.

This rate is typically referred to as an interest rate (when moving forward in time) or discount rate (when moving backward). Sometimes we're wondering how investments will grow over time. Other times we wonder what future cash flows are worth today or how much we should invest today to meet future obligations.

Judgments about applicable rates are at the heart of current debate about the value of illiquid assets on Wall Street and the negotiations with GM's bondholders. It all starts with the time value of money formula that unlocks exercises like this.

Exercise:

A zero-coupon bond is a security that pays no interest, and is therefore bought at a substantial discount from its face value. Using a discount rate of 8%, how much would you pay today for a zero coupon bond with a face value of $2,300 that matures in 7 years?

Solution (with audio commentary): click here

Prof. Peter Regan created the self-paced, online MBA Math quantitative skills course and teaches live MBA courses at Dartmouth (Tuck), Duke (Fuqua), and Cornell (Johnson).

MBA Math Monday: Introduction

MBA Math — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:00:17 GMT

I welcome Dr. Peter Regan of MBA Math as a contributor to Accepted's Admissions Almanac. The self-assesment that Peter writes about is a critical part of the evaluation requred to develop a sound MBA admissions strategy. -- Linda Abraham

This post introduces a new weekly feature intended to help MBA applicants to assess their readiness for the quantitative elements in the first-year MBA curriculum.

Thousands of incoming admitted students each year use the self-paced, online MBA Math quantitative skills course to build a solid quant foundation for the MBA core curriculum. Of greater interest to readers of this blog are the many MBA applicants who complete the course and submit their MBA Math transcript as part of their admissions package. Some applicants do so at the recommendation of admissions officers; others complete the course on their own initiative.

As a complement to the GMAT's aptitude focus, MBA Math's focus is proficiency with the most MBA-relevant quantitative basics of finance, accounting, economics, statistics, and spreadsheets.

Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Peter Regan. I created the MBA Math course based on years of teaching multi-day pre-orientation quant skills courses at Dartmouth's Tuck School and Cornell's Johnson School. I also teach second-year decision consulting courses at Tuck and Duke's Fuqua School.

Each Monday, I'll post a sample exercise and a step-by-step solution with audio commentary. Exercises will cycle through finance, accounting, economics, and statistics, becoming progressively harder with each iteration.

The Halo Effect - ...and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:20:01 GMT

In this summary you will learn:

What the "Halo Effect" is
Why it is so powerful
Why managers believe nine delusions about building high-performance companies
What characteristics make a company an actual top performer

Why you should read The Halo Effect
This serious book will change the way many people think about the pursuit of managerial excellence and, indirectly, about the criteria they use for managing (and coincidentally) investing. Phil Rosenzweig provocatively challenges prevailing concepts about the traits that drive corporate performance. He asks revealing questions about previous research assumptions that labeled companies "excellent." It seems that earlier accolades about "the best" companies - including the claims in some blockbuster books - were based on faulty research techniques that led authors to mistakenly attribute achievements to companies that did not accomplish them or could not sustain them. Rosenzweig distills his compelling ideas clearly, and buttresses his case with specific examples and original research, adding to the book's power. As a result, getAbstract would compare this very readable, focused book to fine brandy: palatable, enjoyable, memorable, a little heavy - and imbued with the potential to change your mind. Highly recommended.

About the Author
Phil Rosenzweig, Ph.D., is a professor at IMD, the International Institute for Management Development, in Lausanne, Switzerland. He holds a Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and taught at the Harvard Business School.

The Innovator's Dilemma - When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:20:01 GMT

In this summary you will learn:

How disruptive innovations can make great companies fail
Why this happens even if they keep doing everything that made them great in the first place
Why it sometimes makes sense to do the wrong things

Why you should read The Innovator's Dilemma
Professor Clayton M. Christensen’s excellent book is a classic of strategy literature. The innovator’s dilemma is that doing the right things can lead to failure. Sometimes it is wrong to listen to customers, invest in the highest return opportunities and do all of the things that made a successful company succeed. Clearly written, amply documented, provocative and challenging, this book is indispensable for anyone in business. If it has a shortcoming, it is that it focuses more on the dilemma than on resolving it and it does not offer specific remedial prescriptions. However, Christensen has authored or co-authored two other books that attempt to remedy that deficiency. getAbstract.com heartily recommends this book, which remains the leader of the three. It has the potential to change the way managers think about business - any business.

About the Author
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration, with joint appointments in Technology, Operations Management and General Management, at Harvard Business School. He holds a doctorate in business administration.

Columbia ODYSSEY, Outrageous Business Plan Competition Winners Announced

Clear Admit — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:00:07 GMT

Following up on two recent blog posts about competitions taking place at Columbia Business School (CBS) in past weeks, we wanted to let you know who won.

Top prize in the first competition, a triathalon of business management contests pitting teams from 15 of the world’s top business schools against one another, went to London Business School.

Called ODYSSEY, the competition was developed by two CBS students who, at a conference in India just months after the Olympics in Beijing, decided that there needed to be an opportunity for students from schools around the world to exchange ideas and compete on more than a single topic.

“Basically, we set out to create an Olympics for MBA students,” explained Peter Novak, MBA ‘09, one of the event’s co-founders. Novak and the event’s other co-founder, Mark Trayling, MBA ’09, identified the ODYSSEY 15, a list of 15 schools deemed to represent the top MBA programs in the United States and around the world. Teams from each of these schools were invited to travel to CBS to participate in ODYSSEY’s three events – the Negotiation, the Pitch and the Case.

“Most definitely the international aspect is what really makes it,” said Trayling. “It couldn’t function nationally, international was the real key component,” he continued.

The roster of winners reflects this claim. A team from Harvard Business School took second place, and a team from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) took third.

For Björn Koertner, a member of the winning LBS team, what stood out most about the competition was the opportunity it provided to go head to head with teams from so many other top schools. “There was really a team from all the top 15 business schools in the world,” he said, compared to other competitions that only draw teams from six or seven schools.

That they were schools from all over the globe also was critical, he added. “For us this was very important because giving people a global education is one of the core elements of LBS and why most of the students are at LBS,” he said.

The speakers the competition drew – including Didier Lombard, chairman and CEO of France Telecom, Orange; Steve Forbes, Forbes chairman and CEO; and Ian Davis, McKinsey & Company managing director – were also a high point, Koertner said. “I don’t know another case competition or b-school competition where you have such a showing of high-level speakers,” he added.

Finally, the fact that the competition consisted of three distinct challenges to be completed under very tight time constraints also made it unique, Koertner said. “In other case competitions it’s sufficient to have one superstar on your team who has the ideas, but in this it was necessary that you have a team of five people who are all very good,” he continued.

Even though CBS didn’t come out on top, Trayling and Novak were thrilled with how the event turned out. “The students, participants, attendees, companies, speakers – from all aspects it was a great success,” Trayling said. “The question for us now is how to make it even better next year,” he added.

Upon winning, the LBS team broke out into a spontaneous performance of “God Save the Queen” on the steps of Columbia’s Low Library. Which country’s anthem will be sung next year remains to be seen.

The More Outrageous, the Better
Also announced this week were the winners of the Tenth Annual A. Lorne Weil Outrageous Business Plan Competition, which also took place at CBS in late March. The competition, open to teams of CBS MBA or EMBA students, challenges budding entrepreneurs to submit a business plan and deliver a two-minute elevator pitch to win the support of a panel of venture capitalist judges.

The title of Most Outrageous Business Venture went to two ventures this year based on their ambition, innovation, creativity and persuasiveness. The first-place winners were Megan Bordi ’09 and her business partner Nate Altschul for Green Panda Games™ (greenpandagames.com), a safe, free-to-play virtual world and game website for kids and tweens in China, and Joshua Hecht ’10 and business partner Darren Molovinsky for Curtain Call, a program book for Off-Broadway theaters and performing arts venues. Each team won $4,000 to help fund the launch of their businesses.

For more on the results of the Outrageous Business Plan Competition, click here.

Fridays From The Frontline

Clear Admit — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:45:04 GMT

Welcome back to another installment of Clear Admit’s Fridays From The Frontline! Last week we looked in on the ever burgeoning MBA blogosphere while simultaneously preparing to announce the nominees for this year’s Best of Blogging competition. This week the nominees have been announced and bloggers are abuzz. Nominees have been quick to congratulate their peers and seem to take the competition with the spirit of fun and lightheartedness that we here at Clear Admit intended.

For those concluding their application cycle for the year, their issues went from how to get a good GMAT score and/or write a compelling essay to matters more logistical in nature. Kellogg ‘11 D.G. had a harrying but ultimately successful day at the US Embassy and had the visa to prove it. Helen was experiencing FAFSA confusion. The.Grey.One. reflected on how America’s banking crisis differs from the banking troubles of India. Samantha, much to her surprise, found herself enjoying networking and outlined a number of useful observations on how to be a successful networker. IIMC ‘11 MyNameIsNeo was sure that his first two weeks at the school were relatively easy compared to what was coming. Goizueta ‘11 Ahembeea was pleased to find himself a BoB nominee, though he still had to walk the line between being lean and mean. Columbia ‘11 Maxwriter was also pleasantly surprised to be a nominee in this year’s competition, but still hadn’t received any news from Columbia about issues related to visas and scholarships. Kellogg ‘11 Mike prepared for his move to Evanston and considered how he improved his application this year. Goizueta ‘11 MissionMBA was another with finance concerns, though he was happy about his BoB nomination as well as his role as judge for a b-school photo contest.

Wake Forest ‘11 Omne had a hard week, having attended two funerals, but congratulated his fellow BoB nominees and found a trace of solace in Easter’s deviled eggs and ham. UC Davis ‘12 Chandara decided that Davis was the school for her and thanked Clear Admit for her BoB nomination. Stanford ‘12 PaloAltoForAwhile met a promising venture capital mentor and saw that person’s journey as inspiration for her own business apsirations. Chicago Booth ‘11 Soni officially had a place to lay his head in Chicago and expressed his appreciation for his BoB nomination. Yet another BoB nominee, Lauren, shared her thoughts on her first day at Fuqua’s Blue Devil Weekend. Fuqua ‘11 Choc Heaven may have missed the recent Devil’s Weekend, but she did solidify her intention to attend the school, promised a detailed account of her time in Ghana and expressed gratitude for her own BoB nomination.

First year students, having finally adapted to the b-school lifestyle, looked forward to all they would achieve this summer and in their second and final years. Marshall ‘10 Andrew discussed how being the President of the school’s Net Impact chapter would help him get out the message that “sustainability is good”. Darden ‘10 JulyDream, a repeat BoB nominee, was excited about her summer sublet and internship in Atlanta. HBS ‘10 Rob weighed the pros and cons of hosting a luncheon instead of a presentation and shared photographs from the recent HBS talent show. McCombs ‘10 Paragon2Pieces missed the first round of bidding for the next semester’s classes because she was on a plane, and suffered for it. Paragon2Pieces wasn’t alone in her frustrations, McCombs ‘10 Metal was also stressed by the bidding system. Darden ‘10 Mechanigal saw Thomas Jefferson on campus. Kellogg ‘10 La Coguette gave her official and unofficial takes on the recent Kellogg GIM trip in which she participated, and went to a Kellogg-subsidized Cubs game.

For those in their final years of b-school, travel and goodbyes were the predominant subjects of the week. Darden ‘09 Anand couldn’t believe he was graduating in a month and was immensely excited about his impending train trip through Europe. Chicago Booth ‘09 MaybeMBA said goodbye to the blogosphere but made sure that the whole of her perspective on the MBA experience was accurately summed up. Darden ‘09 Mandy was going without blogging while in the Bahamas.

There certainly has been a lot going on since we last checked in with MBA bloggers, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. We hope that all bloggers, nominated or not, continue to allow us to read about their experiences in the classroom, during the application process or anywhere in between. We can’t wait until next week and encourage those nominated for the BoBs to get their ballots in as soon as they can!

MBA News: Growing Interest in HBS’s 2+2 Program

MBA Mission — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:41:06 GMT

Harvard University’s undergraduate newspaper, The Crimson, offered some interesting information on HBS’s “2+2” program, which is entering its second year. The program – which despite significantly increased interest from prospective applicants will still only admit 100 students next year – allows undergraduates to apply to HBS after their junior year of college and be admitted to start 2 years after they have graduated.

Contrary to popular assumption, the program is not designed purely for traditional business students, but “as a way to attract students who might not otherwise think of business school as an option. Some of the benefits of 2+2—such as access to an HBS career coach—were meant to appeal to students whose colleges do not have high-caliber career services offices” according to Dee Leopold, HBS Director of Admissions.

Leopold and her staff have visited 58 schools this year, and are focusing on science and engineering undergraduates by showing the relevance of a business degree to those fields.

The Layoff - HBS Case

MizWeb Communities — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 07:33:36 GMT

"If Astrigo Holdings is to remain competitive, 10% of its workforce must be cut. Who goes, and who stays? “Why aren’t layoffs taught as a subject at business school?” Robin Astrigo asked himself....

Oust the SEC as Sole Accounting Watchdog?

MizWeb Communities — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:14:36 GMT

"Are you ready for the FAOB? New House bill would install instead a five-member oversight board made up of heads of Treasury, the Fed, FDIC, and PCAOB, along with the SEC chair... Politics are...

Watching the Crisis from B-School

MizWeb Communities — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:12:51 GMT

"If the business world is changing, there is no better time to be where I am in this educational endeavor... They say that even the gods fear the fates. As the agents of destiny would have it, the...

Fridays from the Frontline

MizWeb Communities — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:28:07 GMT

"Welcome back to another round of b-school revelations courtesy of Clear Admit’s Fridays From The Frontline! Over the past week students and applicants alike have had their fair share of learning...

The Wisdom of Crowds - Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:00:00 GMT

In this summary you will learn:

Why large groups of people seem to be better than experts when it comes to forecasts, valuation and other tasks
How scientists prove that crowds are wise
Why it matters

Why you should read The Wisdom of Crowds
This well-written bestseller explores the apparent anomaly that crowds of nonexperts seem to be collectively smarter than individual experts or even small groups of experts. This basic insight is at the heart of contemporary financial investment theory, with its emphasis on the difficulty of outguessing the market. Beginning with British scientist Francis Galton’s remarkable discovery in 1906 that a crowd of nonexperts proved surprisingly competent at guessing the weight of an ox, financial columnist and author James Surowiecki skillfully recounts experiments, discoveries and anecdotes that demonstrate productive group thinking. The concept does not come as news to anyone reasonably well read in modern financial literature, but getAbstract recommends this comprehensive, fresh presentation.

About the Author
James Surowiecki is a staff writer at The New Yorker, which publishes his popular business column, "The Financial Page".

AIG's Bonuses: A Dangerous Failure of Leadership

Ben W. Heineman, Jr. — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:45:00 GMT

The furor over $165 million in bonus payments to 400 people in AIG's rogue Financial Products Group threatens AIG CEO Edward Liddy, Secretary Treasury Timothy Geithner and the Administration's economic recovery plans.

The reason is simple: the near-complete failure to explain (or even try to explain) the inexplicable. Leaders confront reality. Liddy and Geithner have tried to obfuscate it. In doing so, they have fed popular sentiment against the financial system which has risen from sudden dismay to full-out fury.

What possible reasons could there be to pay bonuses to the very people whose greed and misjudgments created untold liabilities in AIG's credit default swap portfolio that brought down the company--leading to 80 percent government ownership, an injection of $170 billion in taxpayer dollars and a recently announced $60 plus billion quarterly loss?

Liddy and the Administration give two reasons: the bonuses were required by law and the bonuses were needed to retain people key to unwinding the mess they had made.

Both are counter-intuitive and thus incredible--a perilous condition made more so by as inept an attempt to communicate as one could imagine.

The legal argument carries no weight because we haven't seen the contracts or been enlightened about the nature of the negotiation. This building block of a highly controversial action is nothing, at this point, but rhetorical mush. It will be Exhibit A in the case of terrible communication by leaders in a white hot public controversy. (What is the Admistration's senior economic advisor doing on Sunday morning TV defending a legal position he can't explain?)

Moreover, countless legal experts have already suggested numerous reasons why it is likely that there is no ironclad legal obligation to pay the bonuses to the people who caused the problem. These range from legal theories about non-performance to equitable theories of recission or reformation due to fraud or unconscionable terms to the doctrine that governmental take-over excuses bonus payment because the point of the contract has been destroyed.

Were the current AIG and Treasury lawyers so witless that they couldn't come up with a good faith argument that the big bonuses to senior managers need not be paid; that they would force the employees to bring suit; and that they should let a court decide, rather than lay supine as money flies out the door.

If a senior AIG Financial Products Group officer had murdered an employee on the trading floor, would they get the bonus? Of course not. Should the result be different if that person killed the company. Surely the law is not such an ass--and surely it is appropriate, on the likely assumption of a credible theory justifying non-payment, to put the burden on the senior employees to get a court to order payment of bonuses from a company they destroyed.

The second reason for paying the bonuses--retention--is just as incredible. In any responsible corporation, the first question after such dismal performance is whether the individuals responsible should be fired. Clearly, most CEOs would want to clean house as fast as possible after such a disaster, and, according to press reports, AIG current management acknowledges that all the bonus recipients could have been terminated for cause, without bonus payments.

So wouldn't any leader--and this includes the government as dominant shareholder--start immediately to fire or, at a minimum, sideline those responsible and start building a new restructuring team of people who were not culpable.

Given the inevitable furor, wouldn't both AIG and Administration officials be prepared to explain why these particular disastrous individuals were the only ones who could clean up the mess? Instead, they simply asserted that was the case, obfuscating the critical facts of what was required and what skills were needed to get the company on track. Why was this restructuring so unique that new people couldn't take it over? And, of course, the retention argument was ludicrous for the large numbers of employees who took the money and ran.

Finally, there is a basic rule about crisis management for senior leaders: It's your problem the moment you hear about it. But, both Liddy and the Administration seem to have been oblivious to the combustible nature of the bonuses, which have been on their screen for some time. That makes their failure to get rid of the rogue employees and their acquiescence in bonus payments--compounded by their woeful, behind-the-curve communications--even harder to understand. And even more dangerous to the far more important issue of garnering public and political support for future, systemic reforms of the distressed financial system.

Ben W. Heineman, Jr., GE's former Senior Vice president for Law and Public Affairs, is distinguished senior fellow at Harvard Law School's Program on the Legal Profession and senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center. He is the author of "High Performance with High Integrity" (Harvard Business Press 2008).

Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond Elected President of AIGAC

Clear Admit — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:42 GMT

The Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), the largest professional organization for consultants specializing in admissions consulting for graduate and professional schools, this week announced the election of its new officers and board for 2009.

Clear Admit co-founder Graham Richmond was elected president, Anna Ivey of Anna Ivey Consulting was elected vice president, Accepted.com founder Linda Abraham was elected treasurer and Maxx Duffy of Maxx Associates was elected secretary.

AIGAC members also elected Richmond, Abraham, Duffy and Ricardo Betti (of MBA Empresarial) to return as AIGAC board directors. Serving a two-year term, the new board directors will join existing directors Ivey, Jeremy Shinewald (MBA Mission) and Stacy Blackman (Stacy Blackman Consulting).

“I am thrilled to be taking on the role of president during such an exciting time for AIGAC,” Richmond said. During his presidency, Richmond will focus on expanding AIGAC’s offerings to members through conferences, special interest groups and other new means of sharing information. He also will work to grow the association’s membership, promote the long-term value of graduate education to candidates and increase visibility of AIGAC and its mission among graduate admissions officers.

A growing AIGAC membership promises to provide schools with a unique view into the applicant pool and to strengthen relationships with the programs AIGAC candidates target, Richmond said.

To learn more about AIGAC, click here.

HBS MBA 2+2 Program Discussion

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:00:00 GMT

Kerry McLaughlin, an Assistant Director in MBA Admissions, speaks with Andrea Kimmel from the 2+2 Program in HBS MBA Admissions and Mark Michaelman, a recent 2+2 Program admit, about the history of and application process to the 2+2 Program.

How the GMAT is like tennis

skoprince — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:02:55 GMT

That must be a typo, right? The GMAT isn’t anything like tennis. I don’t need to know the Pythagorean Theorem to play tennis. And when I take the GMAT, I’m not even allowed to stand up, let alone run around the room. So what is the title of this post talking about? When I take the [...]

Babson MBA Students Win Mergers & Acquisitions Case Competition

Networking MBA — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:14:40 GMT

WELLESLEY -- A team of MBA students from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College won the ACG CUP (Association for Corporate Growth, Inc.), a regional Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) case competition.

The Babson team -- Joe Faskha, Dan Gay, Sam Vaill, Annabelle Desangles, Tip Olcott -- won the ACG Cup and cash prize competing against Boston College Carroll School of Management, Boston University School of Management, and MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition they gain valuable access to a network of investment banking and finance contacts.

The Babson team will be honored at an ACG meeting in April and will receive national publicity through ACG and co-sponsor Harris-Williams, a large middle-market investment banking firm.

The Association for Corporate Growth is the most significant professional network within the finance and banking, and mergers and acquisitions industries. The ACG CUP is a case study competition designed to give students from leading MBA programs real world experience and invaluable insights into mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity. Each case study provides students with a unique opportunity to present valuation, capital markets and M&A strategic advice to a panel of seasoned M&A professionals from within the ACG community. The competition is carried out through a series of intra-school and regional competitions, with regional winners awarded the ACG Cup title and cash awards.

Check the complete article at dBusinessNews

Why Geithner's Rescue Plan Spooked the Markets

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:30:00 GMT

The stock market dropped sharply after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner described plans to address the financial crisis in vague terms

American Gangster | Business Lessons

johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:01:33 GMT

Over the Holidays I watched AMERICAN GANGSTER again. Great movie. Great story, Great acting. Great cinematography. Great business wisdom.

Yes. Great business wisdom.

I know what you’re thinking … AMERICAN GANGSTER is a film about a drug dealer (portrayed by Denzel Washington) and the New York City cop (portrayed by Russell Crowe) who busted a big-time heroin ring. Business lessons to be learned?

Oh, yeah. Lots of business lessons to be learned, including: Mentors Matter, Launching New Products, Brand Dilution, Leadership Qualities, The Weakest Talk the Loudest, and Winners Can Quit.

[FYI … Long-time Brand Autopsy readers will recall a series of posts from February of 2004 highlighting STREET CORNER SELLING LESSONS from a book called Dealing Crack (Bruce Jacobs). So this isn’t new territory for Brand Autopsy.]

American Gangster synopsis:
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story. [SOURCE]

AMERICAN GANGSTER | BUSINESS LESSONS

LESSON ONE
Mentors Matter (Jan. 8)

LESSON TWO
Launching New Products (Jan. 9)

LESSON THREE
Brand Dilution (Jan. 12)

LESSON FOUR
Leadership Qualities (Jan. 14)

LESSON FIVE
The Loudest is the Weakest (Jan. 15)

LESSON SIX
Winners Can Quit (Jan. 18)