In an earlier post, I laid out some of my goals for getting out of my comfort zone during my last year at Fuqua. My first successful achievement was voluntarily taking a 500-level accounting class this past fall. While numerous recruiters stated this was the one class you shouldn’t graduate from Fuqua without, I didn’t take the course to follow their advice. I took the class because the professor, Shane Dikolli, wouldn’t stop bugging me to take it.

Professor Shane Dikolli during the infamous “three-legged stool” lesson.

I showed up on the first day of Shane’s class comforted by the fact that I could drop the course later that day, if need be. Shane gave us an introduction to the class and quickly shared with us that in our classroom of 70 students, there were 4 Michaels, 5 former Deloitte consultants, and one person from Australia (Shane’s home country). He then went on to name every one of the students in the classroom, along with fun facts that he picked up from his independent research. After witnessing this feat in the first 15 minutes of class, I thought, how could I not commit to Shane for a 6-week term when he had already committed to so much on the first day? While the course was a lot of work, Shane’s passion-filled lectures, similar to Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, made it worth the effort.

Like many MBA professors, Shane uses the case method. However, each case is supplemented by acronyms, catch phrases, and theatrical displays — one including a tuxedo, a teddy bear and Gordon Gecko hair — I’ll stop here to avoid spoiling too much for future students. These antics along with his tendency to cold call students in his entertaining Australian accent make it nearly impossible not to be engaged throughout the entire class (think Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society). A case study is due for every class, which requires a lot of outside preparation, but we can’t complain since Shane does his homework as well. He watches recordings of his previous classes to see what his students see and how he can make improvements to his teaching methods.

While his professorial efforts are too numerous to count (accounting pun intended), his lessons and values extend beyond the classroom. After talking to several of my classmates about Shane, all stories, including my own, began with how we each met Shane outside of the classroom. We’ve run into him at Fuqua Friday, Fuqua Idol (he’s a judge for that), Dancing with the Faculty (as a dance participant), and the Association of Women in Business conference. The following are a few additional anecdotes and quotes from fellow classmates about Shane:

• He truly listens, gives thoughtful advice, believes the things he teaches and wants the best for his students. — JC Conover

• Shane participated in the second-year improv [workshop] so that he could understand the types of things that we were all doing in order to understand his students. Shane saw it as an opportunity to see it through our eyes. This in and of itself was remarkable. — Spencer Karney

• Shane’s most valuable Fuqua Friday lesson is to always hold your drink in your left hand so that you can leave your right hand warm, dry, and ready to shake hands and network. — Multiple students

• If I had one word to describe Shane, it would be “accessible.” He encourages his students to incessantly email him and use his office hours. What professor encourages you to over-consume scarce resources? — Benjamin van der Horst

• In an academic world where research competes for priority with time spent teaching, Shane is as selfless as they come. Outside the classroom, Shane lives “team Fuqua” . . . it’s clear that Fuqua is more than just a place of employment to Shane. — Michael Bruno

If you Google Shane, you’ll quickly notice he’s won numerous teaching awards at Fuqua (5 years running), Bloomberg Businessweek recognition, and coveted cameos in many FuquaVision skits. His accounting accolades even led him to meeting his wonderful wife Lynn, 23 years ago (if you get the opportunity, ask Lynn to tell you the whole story of how they met).

So while I could have avoided Managerial Accounting and still met Shane, I would have missed the entire “Shane experience.” His support of his students is not unlike Sean Connery’s in Finding Forrester. His commitment to the entire student experience is what makes him not only a genuinely unique educator, but a vital supporting role in our Fuqua MBA journey.

First-year student Julia Bethune

Hometown: Washington, DC

Undergraduate Degree: History Major at Vanderbilt University

Career before Fuqua: Julia worked in China for three years helping U.S. and European companies enter the Chinese business landscape. For example, some of you may be familiar with Carrie Bradshaw’s famous wedding dress. Julia helped bring the dressmaker, Vivienne Westwood, to China!

Why she chose Fuqua: Julia was drawn to the fact that Fuqua really is a transformational experience rather than a transactional one. She wanted more than just the business classes.

Perk of Fuqua that she didn’t expect: The first-year team experience and training she receives at Fuqua has been great for her marriage and friendships! She’s used the collaboration and discussion techniques she’s learning with her first-year teams in her everyday life.

Favorite Fuqua activity thus far: Julia hosted a group of Fuqua students for a part of the Around the World dinner series. She made beef brisket, roasted butternut squash and potatoes, and both apple and chocolate chess pie.

Desired career after Fuqua: Eventually, Julia wants to translate her experience in China to help American and Chinese companies work together in the U.S.

Random connections: During our chat, we discovered that Julia’s husband and my husband lived on the same hall during their first year of undergrad at the University of Virginia!

I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few takeaways from Shelly Lazarus that struck me:

• Ask questions. Be inquisitive. More often than not, the questions you ask will drive the team to a better, more thoughtful solution.
• Ambition will drive your career. Always ask for challenging work and additional opportunities that will make a difference for your client or your organization. The promotions will follow naturally.
• Be authentic. As a woman ascending the corporate ladder in a time when she had few role models, her only hope was to be authentic. (I would love to read her “25 Random Things”!)
• Today’s leaders must be resilient. In a recent meeting with CEOs of leading companies, many cited “resilience” as the necessary trait to be a successful leader in the current business environment.
• Build your brand. In today’s world, companies and individuals must build their brand. The authenticity and good will built will be essential when facing adversity.
• Great ideas take time to sell. If you truly believe in the idea, keep selling!

Overall, it was a great opportunity to hear from such a successful and dynamic female leader. She shared very personal and tangible insights that gave me a lot to think about as I am in the midst of my second year, debating where I should take my career!

Watch a video of the Shelly Lazarus talk.

1. I love puns and clever jokes and plays on words. I love Scrabble but don’t like Words with Friends because you can use words that don’t really exist.
2. I quote Finding Nemo often. I once started a “Just keep swimming” chant during a UVa football game across the 60,000 person stadium when they were down in the final minute of a big game.
3. I love DIY television shows, blogs, and magazines although I don’t own a house or know how to safely use a power tool.
4. 

   Celebrating Holi in Jaipur, India.

   I participated in Holi in Jaipur, India, this past March. My classmates from India didn’t warn me that my scalp and fingernails would be pink for a whole week!

5. I started reading The Wall Street Journal at age 18 (I had it delivered to my college dorm). However, I still skip the Money and Investing sections more often than not.
6. I organize my cookbooks by color. It’s just prettier that way.
7. I did catering in college and probably cut more than 50 wedding cakes (the secret is to dip the knife in hot water between slices for the cleanest pieces).
8. I met my husband at a leadership conference in high school . . . seriously.
9. I lived in six houses by the time I was 12 (various houses in Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts and Virginia) and my parents were not in the armed forces.
   

   My first childhood home, in Lexington, Kentucky.

10. When I play golf, I sometimes make people turn around so they can’t watch me tee off.
11. Every year we organize a “Generational Celebrational” in the fall and invite our friends from the University of Virginia and their parents for an Olympics between the ages. Then we head to a football game in our orange and navy.
12. I consistently have a pile of books on my nightstand ready for reading, yet I continue to buy new ones to add to the pile.
13. I drove to the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis with 7 other people from Fuqua in an RV and camped outside the stadium for three days. We never made it to the game but we set up a TV outside of the RV with the stadium in the background.
14. I make my own spaghetti sauce that is my grandma’s recipe. Growing up, my sister and I wanted to have an exercise video based on making and rolling meatballs for the sauce.
    

    Making homemade spaghetti and meatballs with my family.

15. I have a ridiculously good penguin dance. It was so good that I wrote my college essay about it and got in.
16. I have a freckle at the end of my nose that is perfectly centered. I have often wondered if people would look at me differently if it wasn’t. It’s also coincidental since my maiden name means “nose” in Italian.
17. I auditioned for the high school talent show singing a Dixie Chicks duet with my best friend. They canceled the show before we found out if we made it in . . .
18. I used to build model cars in high school and tried to bargain with my parents to buy a 1969 Chevelle but instead I got a 1996 Toyota Camry that was not mine but rather the “third family car that only I drove.”
19. My parents were each the first and only ones in their families to earn college degrees. My mom went back to grad school a few years ago to switch careers and go into teaching. She beat me to the first family master’s degree by four years.
    

    At my mom's graduation from grad school.

20. I don’t like shows that make you feel uncomfortable and often have to leave the room when they are playing. This mostly includes anything that has the following actors: Jim Carrey, Dave Chapelle, or Sacha Baron Cohen.
21. I can’t work or read with the television on in the background but love listening to music instead.
22. I lost the second grade spelling bee in extra rounds on the word “friend” to this kid nicknamed “The Brain.” To this day, I am fearful of spelling any words that have “ie” or “ei” unless spellcheck is available.
23. I took a 4-week long cross-country road trip with two of my friends after college (to California and back to the East Coast). We slept in a place called the Border Inn which sat on the border of two time zones so the time changed when you walked between the bedroom and bathroom of the motel room.
24. It took me over two years, but I finally have the courage (and the fitness) to run the Washington Duke “WaDuke” trail.
25. I set my alarm at weird times (e.g., 7:23 am or 6:47 am). Subconsciously, I think it must be like those speed limit signs that are 19 mph in neighborhoods — it’s meant to catch your attention.

• Voluntarily Taking a 500-level Accounting Course: Yes, you read that right. While I never thought I would willingly take an advanced accounting course, there is something about Fuqua that makes you want to challenge yourself in new ways. Having a fantastic, dedicated, and nationally recognized professor like Shane Dikolli doesn’t hurt either (he’s #4 on this list).
• Clubbing: No, not the late night destinations/activities of famous people but rather doing many of the Fuqua club activities that I didn’t have the time to do as a first-year student. This includes but is not limited to: home brewing with the Fuqua Beer Club; learning how to salsa with Fuqua Moves (or maybe even an Irish jig); volunteering with Habitat for Humanity more often; and taking golf lessons with the Fuqua Golf Club at the very nice Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club; and using my student discount while I still have it (after all, I am in business school).
• Coffee, Drinks, and Game Nights — Oh My! Business school is one of those experiences that in the moment, seems like it lasts forever (e.g., if I can just get through this Stats class . . . ). However, after leaving the Fuqua bubble this summer, my classmates and I realized how much we actually like each other and missed each other over the summer holiday. One of my goals this year is to take the time to get know my classmates better.

Social Experiment

I’ll need your help with my last goal — once a month, I’ll ask you (and by this I mean, any of you readers) to comment on a post with just two random letters. I’ll pick someone in the Fuqua email directory, at random, whose initials match the letters, and I’ll ask them to join me for coffee. Then I’ll report on what I learned about my classmate. What do you all think? If you’d like to start this experiment with me, please leave a comment on this post with just two random initials.

My Fuqua journey began in July 2009 when Joe and I married, and as soon as we were legally bound, Joe said he wanted to move from the bustling metropolis of Washington, D.C., to a town near Chapel Hill, NC, called ”Durham.” I said I would “consider it” but after Joe went to Fuqua for an interview, I knew he’d found his second love.

We moved to Durham the following July on our 1^st anniversary. We came in a rented moving truck that not only got a flat tire but also wouldn’t go faster than 35 MPH on 95 South all 270 miles from DC to Durham. Since I’m a hard girl to please, my one wish for our anniversary was to have a BBQ dinner from the infamous Q-Shack. When we finally arrived that night at 9:05 pm to pick up my our long-desired takeout, we learned that the Q-Shack closes at 9:00 pm. Welcome to “Durham.”

Despite the early closing times, Joe and I quickly fell in love with the school and the area, and I even stopped including the quotation marks when I referred to Durham. In fact, I couldn’t believe we only had two years here, so I did what any respectable partner would do — I took the GMAT and started orientation the next August. Beyond the excuse to stay here, I was so impressed with the students, faculty, and staff that I had been exposed to as a Fuqua Partner that I couldn’t imagine how much more I’d get as a Fuqua student.

I enrolled at Fuqua to learn more about healthcare, transition (maybe) out of consulting, and spend two years learning about who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. I interned this summer at CVS Caremark in Chicago and while we love the windy city, we’re excited to return to Durham so Joe, now a Fuqua alumnus, can campaign for Fuqua Partners President. I am also excited to have the opportunity to serve as an Admissions Fellow and COLE Fellow this upcoming year, and I look forward to sharing these experiences and others, as long as it’s still socially and legally acceptable for me and Joe to hang around Fuqua Fridays.