NYC/Estee Lauder

Three weeks down, 101 to go before graduation. Not that I’m looking forward to the experience ending, in fact, quite the opposite. The first few weeks have been a whirlwind. I first heard about the Lauder program at Wharton in 2002 and hoped/planned on attending ever since. Because I spent so many years anticipating the experience, I began Lauder with extremely high expectations. At this point I can say that the experience has exceeded my expectations (which is saying something)!

We are taking three classes this month before beginning the Summer Immersion - INTS 712 (Latin American Area Survey), INTS 670 (Spanish) and MGMT 654/655 (Global Strategic Management). The two Lauder classes are not incredibly time consuming, which is good, because our strategy class is a mind melter. Our professor, Mary O’Sullivan, is from Ireland and educated at Harvard (MBA and Doctorate degree). She also taught at INSEAD for about 10 years. She most definitely ranks among the best professors I've ever had.

Yesterday was a nice change from the typical 12-16 hr day of class/reading/studying/etc. We woke up around 5am and met on campus at 6am to head up to NYC to visit Estee Lauder Companies (as you may have guessed, the Lauder program at Wharton was named after the Lauder family). We visited their executive office on the 40th floor of the GM building with a stunning view of Central Park. We had breakfast, socialized, met some of the Estee Lauder executives and then had the opportunity to meet William Lauder, the CEO of Estee Lauder (grandson of the founders, Joseph and Estee Lauder). He was very bright, articulate and passionate about Estee Lauder and has done an outstanding job of leading the company. He is also a Wharton alum ('83) along with many members of his family. I was fortunate enough be able to ask him to share with us some of the successes and failures Estee Lauder has experienced in the acquisition of other companies. He shared the incredible success story of the acquisition and rise of MAC cosmetics along with a few experiences of failures, such as the acquisition and subsequent sale of Jane cosmetics.

We also had the honor of listening to Ronald Lauder, along with the Senior Vice President of Global Management Strategies, the Global President of Bumble and Bumble and the SVP of Global Marketing. Each of them passionately and eloquently spoke to us about Estee Lauder and their roles in the organization.

After an exciting day in NYC, I returned to Philly to continue my studies and preparations for the final week of class. Finals and group presentations await me this week, followed by 24 hrs at home with my family before heading off to Argentina and Spain!

The Calm Before the Storm

Well, I arrived in Philly on Friday afternoon in preparation for classes which start on Monday (May 11th). I spent Friday and Saturday getting to know my future Lauder classmates and settling into my temporary home (for the month of May). For those who know me, I'm not a big night-life guy, but I've enjoyed spending the evenings getting to know students over a Sprite/beer. Unfortunately, I don't think my Sprites cost any less than their beers. Regardless, it has been fun.

As a married 30 (almost 31) year-old with 2 kids, I find myself in an interesting living arrangement. It didn't make much sense to move my family out to Philly for the whole summer knowing that I would be in Argentina and Spain for 2/3 of it, so they stayed behind and I found myself living with 3 Lauder roommates, eating frozen pizzas and cereal. Oh, the life of a bachelor!

My three roommates are as intriguing as they are intelligent. One of them was admitted to HBS and another to Stanford. Like me, Wharton was their top choice of schools due to the Lauder program. One of my roommates is an American who spent his childhood living in France and is a Johns Hopkins alum. Another is ethnically Chinese, born in the US, raised in Singapore and educated at Stanford. My third roommate is a fellow BYU grad who has been in pharmaceuticals and speaks perfect Japanese. I am an entrepreneur who started a business with ties in China, but am proficient in Spanish, having lived in Latin America for 12 years of my life.

We are just a sampling of what the Lauder class represents. I am anxiously awaiting the adventure that will begin in 12 hours and will end 2 years from now.