it's not just about having good hair

First off, I recognize the hypocrisy in this post in comparison to prior posts about reducing consumption, doing better by the environment, etc.

Today, in our Business Ethics Through Literature course, we went over the short stories we wrote. The format was to pre-read some stories, but not know the author's name. We discussed them in class, and the author could identify him/herself if they so chose. I had submitted a story halfheartedly, and due to the fact that I'd been staring at it for 4 weeks; I was pretty ambivalent about it.
I expected my classmates to find it laborious. To dislike the way I switched from present to past tense and back again. The imagery I chose.
I was wrong. And it was the strangest feeling. As people talked about the story, my story, I was humbled and honored that they would share their thoughts. The fact that I was anonymous made it all the more poignant.
They were saying how they felt. They weren't trying to spare my feelings because I wrote it. They didn't know. They were just exchanging opinions and sharing vignettes that resonated with them.
When Ed asked if the author wanted to identify themselves, I spoke up. I had intended to remain anonymous, but my courage failed me. My words caught in my throat and I found myself on the verge of tears. I managed something to the effect of...
"As an artist, I have been offering up my work for critique for decades now, but for some reason this session means the most to me. I am honored and grateful for their perspective. I have never cared so much that a group of people would like what I wrote. "
It was strange at the time (especially because I was almost crying), and it's still strange now.
I don't know if I'll ever wrap my head around my near-tear experience. Why, after 30-some years of producing art, do I suddenly place so much weight on the opinions of 20 people? Hmmm.
Perhaps my classmates now think I'm batty. But it is now in the past and I can only hope that they gained a little something from what I shared.
Because I gained so much.

...to do something about my shoe habit!
Last weekend, I loaned some high heels to Kristina to try on with her dress for the SHE Auction. She wanted black. I had black heels. 10 pairs, in fact.
I loaded them into a bag and handed them over. She tried them on. She tottered too much to be sexy, so returned them.
Here are the results of her trials. Black flats from her own closet. Sigh.But I digress.
My shoe habit is neither sustainable (monetarily, aesthetically, environmentally) nor good for the space in my closet.
Redemption may be near...
My gorgeous shopping goddess/friend/partner-in-crime/muse Vika pointed me to this Chicago designer, Mohop. Absolutely lovely!
Mohop shoes are made from sustainably grown wood (mostly sourced in PA) and use patented elastic technology to enable the wearer to fashion her (or his...this is the 21st Century) shoe any way she sees fit. Add a pink ribbon. Tomorrow it's brown and white swiss dots. Friday it's green grossgrain.
You get the picture.
With Vika's vast fashion knowledge (she did work for Oscar de la Renta) and the help of the izzanet, I have been exploring the world of handcrafted and something-conscious clothes and shoes. Sure, I can make a lot of stuff myself when my finicky sewing machine obliges. I have mad skillz. I love to sit in my spare bedroom and create, create, create.
But sometimes, I want to wear someone else's handiwork. Enter sites like Etsy, SuperLuckyCat, and ModCloth.
The talent flowing out there is astounding. I hereby pledge to purchase my work clothing from independent label designers whenever possible.
Is the First Lady an inspiration for this? I guess so. But it's been swimming around inside my fashionista self for a while now. I had just gotten rather lazy with b-skool commitments and resorted to shopping at (gasp!) Marshall's and TJMaxx.
It's a small step (pun intended? sure...). But an important one to honoring the talent of people who live nearby and showing them that good taste still abounds on America's streets.
All altruistic notions aside, I am still a sucker for shoes. I bought some Via Spigas the other day (fittingly named "Vice"). Finally, a pair of high-heeled sandals that minimize the width, ugliness, and hugeness of my feet.

Meow.
My shoe addiction will not go quietly into the night. I acknowledge that this habit is horrific for the planet in terms of materials, labor conditions, shipping, retail, etc. I will try my very best. I promise.

In her article detailing the need for pragmatic vision in our changemakers, The Sustainability Institute's Donella Meadows points out:
"Environmentalists have failed perhaps more than any other set of advocates to project vision. Most people associate environmentalism with restriction, prohibition, regulation, and sacrifice. Though it is rarely articulated directly, the most widely shared picture of a sustainable world is one of tight and probably centralized control, low material standard of living, and no fun. I don't know whether that impression is so common because Puritanism is the actual, unexpressed, maybe subconscious model in the minds of environmental advocates, or whether the public, deeply impacted by advertising, can't imagine a good life that is not based on wild and wasteful consumption. Whatever the reason, hardly anyone envisions a sustainable world as one that would be wonderful to live in."
Meadows goes on to discuss how solving problems (let's say world hunger) demands a thought process that dissects our preconceived notions about systems, feedback loops, and pessimistic thought:
"In my vision of the end of hunger, every child is born into the world wanted, treasured, and lovingly cared for. Because of that, many fewer children are born and not one of them is wasted. Every person can become all that she or he is capable of becoming, in a world that is beautiful, where cultures are diverse and tolerant, where information flows freely, untainted by cynicism. In my vision food is raised and prepared as consciously and lovingly as are children, with profound respect for nature's contribution as well as that of people. In a world without hunger I can take care of my own nearby community and be taken care of by it, knowing that other people in other communities are also doing their caring close at hand. There would be plenty of problems to solve -- I want problems to solve -- but I could travel anywhere in the world without encountering deprivation, terror, or ugliness. What I would find, everywhere, would be natural integrity, human productivity, working communities, and the full range of human emotions, but dominated not by fear and therefore greed, but by security, serenity, and joy. I could go on. I can see this vision clearly and in detail. I can see the farms; I can see the kitchens. But you get the point. Maybe you are already filling in your own details, or maybe you are uncomfortable in the presence of such visionary language. Whatever your reaction, notice where it comes from, notice what has been laid upon you by your culture, and notice that there is a place inside you, close to the surface or deeply buried, that desperately wants a world something like the one I’ve just sketched out. I have noticed, going around the world, that in different disciplines, languages, nations, and cultures, our information may differ, our models disagree, our preferred modes of implementation are widely diverse, but our visions, when we are willing to admit them, are astonishingly alike."
Is she in need of an injection of realism? Is she right on? Is she somewhere in between? Does she ignore the laws of physics or normal distribution statistics? How is she "wrong"? How is she "right"? What is your vision? What do you think?

Donella Meadows is one of my heroes. As the founder of The Sustainability Institute, she is a leading thinker on ways that humans might continue to inhabit this earth. She doesn't paint an exact picture; that's for all of us to find out. But she does point out some important fallacies, broken policies, and new ways of thinking.
In her Leverage Points white paper, she outlines some important ways we can intervene in a system to affect change. As I was taking my laundry off the clothesline this morning, I thought about the small but important part of our daily life taken up by laundry. What if we shifted the way we think about it acted a little more kindly toward Mother Earth?
Here is what most people do:
1. Sort laundry
2. Wash laundry using a setting (hot, warm, cold),
a. use laundry soap and fabric softener
3. Dry laundry in a machine
4. Sort for ironing
5. Fold laundry
6. Put laundry away
7. Do it all over again
If you ask the man on the street why he throws his wet laundry in the dryer, he wouldn't have an answer beyond "It's how you get it to dry". Makes sense. Dry clothes can then be put away, ironed, worn, etc.
But do you need ALL of your clothes that very moment?
Probably not.
Thus...what about drying them on a clothesline? You use much less energy than a dryer. The sun is unlimited. Dry air is common, especially in winter. You don't have to deal with two hulking machines in your house.
"But it takes too much time" the man on the street argues.
The extra 10 minutes per day when you stand outside and futz with clothespins is 10 minutes of fresh air and peace. To say nothing about the energy you save.
Am I an ecological saint? Absolutely not! Jonny and I share a car, we fly in planes, we don't always buy local or organic, we wear clothes made in China, we occasionally use plastic bottles, etc.
But it's a start and a small change. It adds up.
Here's what the new process looks like:
1. Sort laundry
2. Wash laundry using a setting (I vote for cold)
a. use laundry soap
3. Dry laundry on line
4. Take laundry off line
5. Sort for ironing (but usually line-dried clothes are less wrinkly)
6. Fold laundry
7. Put laundry away
8. Do it all over again
Less energy. No fabric softener (and nasty chemicals). Less wrinkly clothes.
Give it a shot. The clothesline is $12.99 at Lowe's. String it up and enjoy the crisp feeling of air-dried towels. Stiff jeans. And ditch that silly Snuggle bear.
PS: If you're worried that your neighbors might suddenly think they live in a shantyville on account of your panties flapping in the wind, you need new neighbors.

The Gato to whom I'm married. So cute!(With little Magnus Mumford, whose daddy is on El Gato's team. Notice beer in other hand)
PiggyBru PuppyCat (or one of the other names we invent on a daily basis)

This is Part IV of Mandy's War on Corporate BS That Disempowers Employees. I don't remember the other XIII parts, but anyway...
This morning I went to Panera with AJ to waste some time before he had to be at the airport. I'd been there a few times before with my travel mug and asked for a coffee of some sort. Each time they'd made it, it's been in a paper cup that's placed inside my travel mug.
Thanks. The earth appreciates it.
Employees have told me that it's against their policy to do otherwise.
So I had high hopes that this Panera (in oh-so-urban-Richmond) would be different.
Alas, Assistant Manager David told me that it's against health code to serve me a coffee in my own mug. I told him that I had no beef with him. But I wanted to know how he thought Starbucks could do it and not Panera.
His answer "Then they are violating health code" sounded impotent. I understood yet again how Panera has disrespected the intelligence of its workers by feeding them this lame line. He probably knew that statement was bullshit. Yet he didn't have any way to say how he truly felt. So he relied on the age-old "company policy" crutch because he probably wasn't able to do anything else.
Same story when I (accidentally) tried to bring a bottle of water into a UVA game. The security guard told me it could be used as a projectile.
However, I could purchase my own $4 projectile of Aquafina once inside the stadium.
Who do they think they are fooling?
I don't think it's the fault of one party. Sure, the school has a deal with PepsiCo to sell their beverages. PepsiCo appreciates high sales number$ and probably rewards the school for such. Enter the bullshit party line dreamed up by some asshole in an administrative office. "No one will question this!"
But we do question it.
And I'm sad that more companies don't extend respect and the benefit of the doubt to their workers and customers.
Because...really...against health code?
Well, then don't even think about touching my silverware before handing me my salad.
Your hands on my flatware HAS to be against some rule or other.

I heart my brand.

Today in Strategy class we had a lively discussion. There is such a great mix of perspectives, though we could have used our token I-Banker today. Oh well, he was probably off driving a rock through the hull of the economy.
Our discussion meandered, purposefully, for 85 minutes about w.t.f. is strategy; and how we implement, drive, create, change, and imagine it.
I can't help but think of stakeholder theory. Regardless if it is the "right" direction for humankind, I desperately want us to re-examine every paradigm we hold dear and try to understand how/if we can change our enterprises to ensure our continued inhabitance of this planet.
Because with the current parameters, I'm not sure that we can.
Buffet was right: Profits can be equated to oxygen. We need oxygen to breathe, but to confuse breathing with the purpose of life is fall short.
So we've finally come to understand that profits aren't everything. And now we implement corporate social responsibility. Whatever that is.
Don't we take the Mickey when we string a bunch of operational strengths together and call it a socially responsible strategy?
So, for reasons I can't fully grasp, this song popped in my head.

One Tin Soldier
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below.

On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone,
And the valley-people swore
They'd have it for their very own.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill,
Asking for the buried treasure,
Tons of gold for which they'd kill.

Came an answer from the kingdom,
"With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain,
All the riches buried there."

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.

Now the valley cried with anger,
"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!"
And they killed the mountain-people,
So they won their just reward.

Now they stood beside the treasure,
On the mountain, dark and red.
Turned the stone and looked beneath it...
"Peace on Earth" was all it said.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.

The fact that I connect Peace on Earth and misdirected competitiveness with corporate activity is both scary and encouraging. I feel that businesses have most of the power (ok, in a free market) to either destroy or enhance a society.

Over time, we build our vision of reality and the laws that govern it. We formulate the rules by which it exists. A part of this structure lies in the relationships and connections around us. We build some stability for ourselves out of long-standing arrangements. It's like physics for the soul.
For me, this is my parents' partnership. My sister and her husband. My love of the JRL ranch. My aunts and uncles. All my beautiful cousins and their darling spouses. The fact that Oregon is a magical place. That my hometown of Butte Falls raises honest citizens who want a happy and healthy life.
These things have stood for years as pillars shaping who I am.
Today I got some news that a friend is going through a divorce. I didn't know until today that their relationship was one of the support beams of my life. I have known this pair for years and though we don't talk much right now, the fact that they were together and seemingly happy was comforting to me across space and time. Their togetherness reinforced my hope that our generation will figure out how to love long-term.
But now it's ending.
And I'm out of words to describe how it feels.
If I believed in stupid emoticons, I'd make a frowny face.

I've witnessed a fair bit of duff-sitting-upon. Whatever the reason (because I certainly fall into it when I can justify a break for my wee brain), it led me to examine why I abhor it so. I guess because it generally signifies one's inability to get out of their own head (ME-think) and tackle the world's problems. Because, as my dad says, "we need to get a man on it". Or two. Or 6 billion. And fast. We need to look into the future, see that we've f#%*ed it up good, and get to work a-fixin' it.
As days go by I become more and more allergic to sitting and letting the world go idly by. I find value in contemplation, not complacency.
James G. March inspired me in this regard. He begins the term in his sought-after classes (Stanford) with "I am not now, nor have I ever been, relevant". IE: I don't have the answers. Seek them yourself! It's better this way!
Marsh finishes the year quoting Étienne Pivert de Senacour:
"Man is perishable. That may be; but let us perish resisting, and, if nothingness is what awaits us, let us not act in such a way that it would be a just fate."
Amen!

...Mandy is here!
I wanted to share my response to an incoming Darden student who was curious about
1. Interaction with other UVA programs (law, etc) and life outside of 100 Darden Blvd
2. Case method and cold-calls: scary?
My eagerly-anticipated reply (okay, maybe it was only him anticipating said reply):
We interact with other programs but it’s not as common (we have access to the general UVA calendar, alumni contacts, as well as intramural stuff). You spend so much time and energy at school, that sometimes it’s just easier to default to the social stuff that’s laid out on the calendar. You do enjoy the hell out of it, let’s be frank.
That said, you do not lose your inquisitiveness nor your need to reach beyond your realm of familiarity. On the contrary! The curriculum itself challenges you every moment to do so! There are only a handful of students each year who are comfortable with all the subjects thrown at us. The rest of us flail along, trying to stay afloat by paddling with our paddles (metaphor for the subjects at which we excel) and bailing the raft with a thimble (metaphor for trying to grasp the concepts we’ve never before seen). It’s a dance (okay, another metaphor) and it’s exhausting and enriching at the same time. You see the bar that’s set so high by the faculty and your classmates, and you strive to reach it. In doing so, you go the extra mile. Even when your brain is screaming at you to stop because it’s so worn out. This place just churns out excellence because the atmosphere encourages us to never stop striving for it. it’s not cutthroat, surprisingly. You are trying to do YOUR best at all times. But you know that it’s never good enough so you keep going. And in that you find true excellence. And that is awesome. This goes for not just academics but the job-search and general leadership as well. Trust me, you’ll see.
The case method, as well, inspires constant striving for better. It challenges you to articulate more clearly. To think more rapidly yet with a well-formed thesis. Cold calls inspire you to be prepared. The scare your socks off, some days. But you get through them. If you don’t, the onus is on you to reach out and get help. Once you do you’ll find that there is a nearly unlimited supply of assistance and it’s up to you (once again, self-driven) to grab it. I didn’t find case or cold calls terribly trying.
However, I had a rough transition from “real world” to academics since I’d been in the workforce for 8 years before starting school. The students who participate for the sake of participating (our grades are usually 40% participation) irked me when their comments didn’t add value. I was less-vocal but feel that when I did speak that it was of more substance. I didn’t come to school to get A’s. I came to learn how to be a better businesswoman and leader. By way of striving for high marks (because if you don’t you FAIL), I learned better. If I merely surfed, I wouldn’t have learned much. So I did all I could, knowing that even if it wasn’t necessarily “A” material, my brain was reshaping itself for the better. In the real world I knew that there was never 1 “right answer”. I giggled a bit inside at the kids who thought that there was, by virtue of being in an unimaginative job or fresh out of undergrad. They figured it out soon enough.
I feel that any advice I offer wouldn’t be terribly useful. It’s kinda like any advice given to us by those with more experience; we often have to go through it to learn the truth even though we’ve heard it before.
I say that stick with it. Try your damndest. I don’t pretend that the math stuff will be a cinch. It’s a lot of math. Get to know WACC and get to know it soon.
But know this: most of the Darden alums I’ve met say that in their careers, the thing that has mattered most is the people stuff. Their ability to communicate and build consensus and lead. Not their ability to knock out a dynamite DCF (Google it!). Technical skills help get you in the door, but it’s what you do with those skills that distinguishes you. Arty folks have the ability to engage people far better than your run-of-the-mill engineer. Capitalize on this!
Also, I would like to think that us artist-types have the ability to think holistically vs. linearly, and this is a real asset. When you can get outside of linear boundaries to see the true nature of a system (because business and the entire world is one system and you had bet your ass this is waaay important), you can understand how to affect change. Artists have neuropathways burned for seeing “outside the lines”, so this comes much more easily to us. Communicating it to the linear-types, however, becomes the challenge.
---
Whew!
Tomorrow: some stuff about diversity invisible to the naked eye.

This is a very, very common question!
Ironic that it should come up today, as I finish On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not.
(Sidebar: This book, assigned by my Strategy Seminar professor Jared Harris, is not necessarily geared toward business schools, if you ask its author Robert Burton. However, therein lies the beauty: tell me how business is unrelated to life? The holistic nature of our very existence is staring us in the face, so to beg that this be ommitted from a Strategy seminar because it's not categorized as a "Strategy" book on Amazon is funny in and of itself.)
So, back to the question: why Darden?
I wish I could tell you that I made a huge spreadsheet. I wish I could tell you I spent a weekend in Charlottesville. I wish I could say I talked to alumni. (Okay, I did email one Darden grad who worked for LL Bean. She never wrote back. She's probably quite busy. VP something.)
Instead, I'll tell you that I was struck. Quite simply. I walked into the building. It was early. The foyer was quiet. There were paintings of Thomas Jefferson everywhere. The walls were subtly classic blue and yellow. They were uncluttered. Every atom seemed geared toward the betterment of your aspirations. Darden reeked of integrity. The place just felt right.
I'm not sure that a 24-year old would have the same reaction. I must say, with apologies to those under 27 or so, that as you grow older your intuition sharpens. I was 28 at the time and going through a huge crisis. My sense of "feeling right" was heightened, partly because so much of my life "felt wrong". So I was open and ready for that feeling. And when it came I was filled with confidence and calm. I rocked my interview. I met some First Years. I sailed out of there being certain that I had nailed it.
I did. When Wendy Huber called me on April 18th as I was sitting by the pool at my sister's condo, I jumped out of my skin. I think I said "holy shit!" about 10 times. Wendy was unfazed.
I ended up deferring, however. I had been given the chance of a lifetime: a professional racing contract.
Wendy was very supportive of my decision. I raced my little heart out for two seasons and learned a ton about myself, people, and the world. I even met my soulmate.
I thank my lucky stars I joined the Darden Class of 2009. What a phenomenal group of people. I have found friends and a community for life here. At last, I have located "my people". I spent 30 years wondering what was wrong with me that I didn't have a tight group of friends like my sister did from undergrad. I realize now that there wasn't anything wrong with me; just the situations I put myself in.
I have come closer to who I really am.
So yeah, a feeling. The two other business schools to which I applied never felt right. I am glad I followed my heart.
I have to share some irony: "Mary Petrosko from Dominican University was one of several students honored last night at a reception for winners of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Travel Awards, held as a part of this year’s Society for Neuroscience annual meeting..." - Brain Science Podcast blog
Yes, FUN.