| Nick Rauer Nicholas 2007 |
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| Procter & Gamble |
Nick Rauer had the unique experience of participating in Procter & Gamble's North American finance Seminar (NAFS). This seminar is opened to top first-year MBA students from around the world and exposes them to a case study prepared by P&G based on a real company problem.
Tell me a little about the NAFS.
First of all, I had never heard about it before because the details of the seminar are kept under lock and key. The first exposure I had to NAFS was thanks to Nicholas Director Cindie Adams, who suggested that I look into it because she thought it would be good fit for me. I attended an on-campus information session hosted by Vipul Soni, a UW graduate, and spoke with a Nicholas alumnus about the seminar. It sounded like a great opportunity and I was very excited about it. I applied online and was interviewed on campus by Nicholas board member Ann Schwister. Finally, I flew to P&G's corporate headquarters for four more intense interviews before I ultimately found out I had secured a place at the seminar.
The seminar itself was extremely challenging and fun. In January, 26 other first-year MBA students and I traveled to Cincinnati for the weeklong seminar. We were charged with running a multinational business and presented with real challenges faced by P&G everyday. We developed our management and financial skills through teamwork while working on this very dynamic problem. Every day we were faced with new challenges we had to overcome and then, just when we thought we had figured out how to approach the situation, the project leaders would throw another curve ball at us!
In the process, we were treated with respect and felt as if our contributions were valuable to the company. We went to dinner and networked with P&G employees, who were charged with answering any questions we might have about the company. To top things off, upper management was intimately involved in providing incredible exposure to top executives, such as CEO A.G. Lafley and CFO Clayt Daley.
There were students there from other top schools. Do you feel that your first semester in the Nicholas program prepared you for this experience?
I was confident in my education, but honestly I was a little intimidated at first. These students are from top-ranked schools! That feeling didn't last long, however. After I met the students, it was clear that we were all of the same caliber. I was prepared for the seminar and had a considerable amount of knowledge to bring to the table. The intense focus of the NIcholas program and my experience as a CPA provided me with strong analytical skills that were valuable to my new team throughout the seminar.
What was the most important thing that you took away from this experience?
Strategic thinking, no question. That was by far the number one thing that we learned. It isn't enough to understand your strategy; you need to be thinking one step ahead at all times. We needed to incorporate the reactions of several different vested parties into our plans and think through how we would address each of those issues. It was truly an eye- opening and amazing experience that I will recommend to all of our students next year.
As a result of his work during the seminar, Nick was offered an internship with P&G for the summer of 2006.
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