It feels strange to no longer do group projects with my ILE team. ILE, or Integrated Leadership Experience, is a course that’s conducted at the beginning of the first-year, and then there’s a follow-up at the beginning of your second year. The course, which is actually now called Consequential Leadership, or C-LEAD for short, covers leadership, ethics, team work, etc. We get split into teams, and we stay with our team for the entire first year. That team dynamic is our first introduction to working in a team at Fuqua, and it’s where we really learn what “Team Fuqua” is all about.

Each team goes through some intense and fun team-building exercises that allow us to bond and really get to know each other. We’re even tasked with establishing a team charter to govern our interactions.

I cultivated really strong professional and personal relationships with my five teammates last year. We invested so much time and effort into learning and understanding each other’s preferences, work styles, strengths and weaknesses. This year, we have to start each class making those relationships with new groups, new individual strengths and weaknesses, and new dynamics. While change is good, and it’s great to bond with more classmates, I miss my former teammates!!

We met up recently for a reunion dinner and reminisced about how we all had such great experiences with each other last year. When we’re together, I feel comfortable, like I’m amongst family. So, one thing I hope for anyone in a similar situation, who is working with a consistent group of individuals, is to enjoy the experience! You’ll learn and grow, and successfully working within your teams will undoubtedly make you a stronger leader.