Thunderbird Magazine, Volume 55, Number 2 2003

              ~EKISTAN:
THUNDERB I RD Maga z ine WWW.THU D ERB I RD.EDU 55 /2/2 003
THUNDERBIRD
Page 2
Leading Through Tough Times
Firesto ne CEO John Lampe '73 had the task of
leading his people th rough the recall crisis
Page 8
Alumni Profiles
Unique people in unique places pursu ing
u nique careers. Meet Ambassador Lyo ns Brown
and Kim Wiehl
Page 10
Competing Through People
How do you develop leaders? One way: teach
them how to be active leaders fro m day o ne
Page 14
Expanding Thunderbird
Europe
With outstand ing new facilities, the School will
expand executive programs th roughout Europe
Page 16
Uzbekistan
Life after Thunderbi rd can take you anywhere
Page 18
Class Trip to China
Opens Doors
EMBA student fi nds a new li fe in a new land
Page 22
Held Hostage in Moscow
Trapped in the theater siege, a T-bird in tern
survives a lesson in life - and death
T A BLE O F CONTE N TS
Ranked # 1 in international business
by The Wall Street Journal and
U.S. News & World Report
Thunderbird is America's premier source of global
management education with operations in the United States,
France, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Brazil.
Page 1
TRAINING LEADERS
President's message
Page 13
BUSINESS ENGLISH
IMMERSION ST Y LE
For MBA studen15 and executives, this lO-week
program is oU15tanding
Page 21
MIMLA CHANGES ITS DEGREE NAME
Becomes Global MBA for Latin Amelican Managers
Page 24
WANTED : INTERNSH I PS
AND STRONG INTERNS
Given the economy, internship oppol1unities are
critical for swden15 and great for companies
Page 26
LOO KING FOR ADVENTURE
For T-birds, taking the road less traveled is typical
Page 30
TRADITION AND C HARACTER
The Barton Kyle Yount Award
Page 31
AMERICAS CONFEREN CE
Building Brand in Latin America
Page 32
T-BIRD NEWS
Page 36
NETWORK NEWS
Homecoming 2002
From balloons and galas to rugby and career advice,
Homecoming offers something for everyone
Page 41
U PD ATES
ABOUT OUR COVER
lohn Lampe '73 didn 't want the CEO position.
But the 30-year Firestone employee couldn 't
ignore his friends and company. He accepted
the challenge and has performed admirably.
~~------------
P AGE
55/2/200 3 ONE
TRAI N I NG LEADERS
The big picture includes ethics and integrity
I t', ,bout ",dernhlp, 'nd It ,iwaY' h" b"n.
If there is one lesson to be taken from this issue of Thunderbird maga­zine,
that would be it. Thunderbird alumnus John Lampe makes the
point throughout his interview. Thunderbird professor Dr. Caren Siehl
expands on the theme in her article as well.
Somewhere in the last year or two of news about corporate accounting
scandals, many of us have been reminded in very clear terms how impor­tant
leadership is in an organization. As Siehl and Lampe both point out,
it's about more than just issuing orders. It's about the culture and tone of
a company, about making it clear what is important and what is not,
about what is acceptable and what isn't and about leading by example.
The world of business
education has spent a con­siderable
amount of time
and energy over the past
few months examining
what part we might have
played in creating the cli­mate
that made the scan­dals
possible and what role
we might play in respond­ing
to it. The conversation
is continuing, but it has
become apparent to all
that what we teach in busi­ness
schools has to include
more than just mechanics.
It has to include what are
often called the "soft"
skills of managing people,
ethics and leading organi­zations.
stood the importance of the "practical" international business skills, but
they also understood there was a bigger picture to be considered as well.
The program for the opening-day ceremonies on Thunderbird's first
day of classes, Oct. 1, 1946, includes a Statement of Policy. That state­ment
opens with the sentence:
"The world today stands on the threshold of a new era: an era in which, if
mankind is to suwive, an ever-expanding global trade must help foster mutual
understanding and good will among nations."
The statement later makes clear that, in the view of Thunderbird's
founders, success in this "new era" would require a wider range of knowl­edge
and skills than had previously been expected of U.S. business men
and women. "Mutual
understanding and good
will" meant being open to
other cultures and ways of
doing business, of being as
eager to learn from them as
one hoped they would be to
learn from us. It meant
doing business fairly and
with integrity. It meant
working toward mutually
beneficial business relation­ships,
not exploitative ones.
As all Thunderbird
alumni recognize, that's
nothing new for our
School. John Lampe tells
us it was part of what he
DR. ROY A. HERBERGER, JR., president of Thunderbird, stands before a mural
honoring the School's aviation history. Thunderbird now trains students
for missions of a very different kind.
Those thoughts were laid
down almost 60 years ago,
but they are as true today -
or maybe even more so -
as they were then. That
eagerness to learn about
other peoples and cultures
and to do business across
political boundaries re­mains
the heart of the
Thunderbird experience.
That higher calling to pro-learned
here in the early '70s, and it's part of what Caren Siehl teaches
every day today. But it truly goes back to the founding philosophy of
Thunderbird. Those skills are, in a very real sense, the core values of
Thunderbird.
As part of our EQUIS accreditation process, we have undertaken a
comprehensive review and update of our strategic plan. That's a very
healthy thing for any organization to do periodically, and the timing has
been good for us. It also has served to remind us of the vision that
launched Thunderbird in the wake of World War II. Our founders under-mote
"mutual understand-ing
and good will among nations" is as much a part of our mission today
as it was in 1946. It is not a sentiment you will find in the founding doc­uments
or mission statements of many other business schools in the
world. It is what has historically set us apart, and it will continue to do so.
In the wake of the recent corporate scandals and international tur­moil,
others have come to realize that business people need a bigger
vision than simply next quarter's bottom line or this month's stock price.
It should be gratifying to all members of the Thunderbird family that
your School - and you - recognized that need long ago. •
p .2 WWW.THUNDERBIRD. EDU
LEADING
THROUGH
TOUGH TIMES
Bringing Bridges tone/Fires tone back from the brink
BY LINDSEY MICHAELS
.. --. -bird John Lampe '73 was named chairman, CEO and president of Bridgestone/Firestone
Americas Holding Company in December 2001 at the height of the Ford Explorer tire contro­versy.
Lampe's handling of that crisis, along with Firestone's subsequent repositioning, has
gained him widespread praise. • Lampe's interview with writer Lindsey Michaels addresses
those issues .• Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holdings is a $7.5 billion company that employs more
than 51,000 people throughout the Americas. It is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corporation.
The first question has to be, how does a
nice, ethical and humble guy become
CEO of a company this size, especially at
a time like this?
What's the status of all product liability
and other issues Firestone was facing?
We have nothing pending with either the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
or the state attorneys general; that's all been put
to bed. We have litigation, as all large compa­nies
do, but we are managing that issue in the
same focused way that we manage all of our
business issues. We have settled many individ-ual
product liability cases
where we and the other par­ties
were able to achieve rea­sonable
and mutually accept­able
agreements.
Our company lost consid­erable
money last year, but
we made a commitment to
our employees, customers
55 / 2/2003
That's very kind of you to say. I still happen
to believe that good things happen to good
people. But, I'm probably not any more ethical
or humble than anyone else. In my particular
case, we were in a very, very, very difficult situa­tion,
and I believe I was in the right place at the
right time to make a positive difference. Due to
the communication and cultural issues, it was
decided that an American member of our man­agement
team would be in the best position to
communicate our message to the American
public, to appear before Congress, to lead the
company through its most difficult time of test­ing.
I was asked to do that, and I'm very glad I
was in a position to contribute.
It was an extremely difficult time for me and
my family and an extremely difficult decision
to make. But I thought about something Mark
Twain once said, that 25 years from now you
won't remember what you did; you'll remem­ber
what you didn't do. And I was afraid that I
would remember that I didn't do something
that I really needed to do.
"MARK TWAIN ONe
THAT 25 YEARS FROM NOW
YOU WON'T REMEMBER
WHAT YOU DID;
YOU'LL REMEMBER
WHAT YOU DIDN'T DO."
55/2/2003
and suppliers that we were going to be prof­itable
this year, and we will be. So, we made a
huge tum-around in just this one year.
How did you accomplish that?
Well, I tell people that it goes back to cus­tomers
and our associates. We've had tremen­dous
support, dedication and commitment
from our associates at all levels. They stuck with
us. They fought for us. They've gotten us
though this. And another thing that distin­guishes
us from our competitors is that we have
an extremely loyal dealer base, the people who
buy our tires and resell them to consumers.
Seventy percent of tire consumers wind up buy­ing
a product that is recommended at the tire
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store they go to. We're very fortunate that we
have dealers who believe in our product, who
believe in our company and who have stead­fastly
supported us from day one. To me, that's
made all the difference in the world.
What I hear in you is absolute pride in and
dedication to your company.
Well, this is the only company I've ever
worked for. In the three years between under­graduate
school and Thunderbird, I was in the
Army. I joined Firestone right after graduating
from Thunderbird. I've been here almost 30
years. I do love the company. It's been good to
me, and I want to do what's right for the com­pany.
I believe in it. I believe in our products. I
p .3
respect the people I work with and I respect our
dealers.
An example. I went to our dealer meeting in
Las Vegas after the alumni ceremony at Thun­derbird
and it was like being back with friends
because they are friends. They bring their
wives, and Barbara and I enjoy having dinners
with them. It's more like a family get-together,
and it's something I've enjoyed doing for
almost 30 years.
You have stayed with Bridgestone/Firestone
for 30 years. Tell me about your career, why
you've stayed, and where you've been.
In some cases, I'm sure it makes sense for
some people to move on to a different chal-
p.4
lenge with a different company. But in my case,
thankfully, I've been given tremendous oppor­tunities
throughout my career. I've lived in a
number of different countries. I've had a num­ber
of different jobs. I've been fortunate
enough to be given the kind of challenges that
really push you to reach deep inside yourself
and do the very best you can. I've never had to
change companies to continue to strive for the
next level. I've always been challenged here,
and I've always been fairly rewarded for what
I've done. So, why would I move?
I know a number of people who have done
the same thing. Another Thunderbird graduate,
Mark Emkes '76 has been with the company
for 26 years, and like me, it's the only company
he's really ever worked for. He's just been pro­moted
to one of the most senior positions
within our company. We have a number of peo­ple
who have 30, 35 and in some cases, 40
years with Firestone.
Speaking of Thunderbird, I have to ask
what you learned here that prepared you for
all of this?
The international emphasis that Thunder­bird
has, I think prepared me for my interna­tional
assignments. Before Thunderbird, the
only exposure I'd had outside the United
States was in the Army in Germany. After
Thunderbird, I had the privilege to be assigned
in five different countries over a 12-year peri­od.
Thunderbird certainly prepared me to
adapt to foreign situations. While my language :
at Thunderbird was German, I never had an '
assignment that let me use that language skill. .
But that exposure to learning the German lan­guage
helped me when I was required to learn ,
Spanish and Portuguese. I think I learned .
Spanish and Portuguese much faster than I
would have without the Thunderbird experi­ence.
I'm guessing you probably focused on Europe
here if you studied German. How transferable
is learning the cultural issues of one region to
another when you move?
I think it's very transferable. I did have two '
assignments with Firestone in Europe, one in
Denmark and one in Spain. In my other assign­ments,
Singapore, Costa Rica and Brazil, there
was a lot that I learned at Thunderbird that was
directly applicable. For instance, [ learned that
it was important to acknowledge that there are
differences between my culture, my American
upbringing and the experiences had by some­one
else who was raised in a different country.
I learned to be open to the fact that there are
other ways to do business, that there are other
religions, that there are other languages, all dif­ferent
from my frame of reference. I learned
WWW.THUNDERBIRD.EDU
that an approach or a response to a situation
may depend on your cultural references and
that these cultural differences do not make a
particular approach any less important, any less
correct or any less necessary. So I guess opening
up my mind to the world was one of the most
important things Thunderbird gave me.
The thing I see in Thunderbirds is that we're
flexible, persistent, and open. You're one. You
just promoted one in Mr. Emkes. How critical
are those traits in international business now?
It's critical. Very, very critical. We truly are a
global society. My particular company is
extremely global. It's owned by a Japanese com­pany
that is traded on the Tokyo stock exchange
with shareholders around the world. It has
operations in more than 150 countries. I think
people, certainly in management positions,
have to be open to and accepting of the global
nature of business rather than just being isola­tionist
and focusing just on the United States.
That's been a tremendous help to me. I don't
think I'd be in this position without my inter­national
background. I doubt that Mark would
be in his position without his international
background.
You came into your current position at a very
difficult time. You had to take over from a
management that had been beaten up in the
U.S. press. How were you able to use your
cross-cultural skills to bridge that transition
gap? To convince your Japanese parent of
what needed to be done in this culture to
start turning things around?
Well, fortunately, we had some very high­ranking
people from our Japanese management
team who came over to show support for our
operations during what we call our darkest days,
our darkest hours. They were here
55/2/2003
What I walked away with after spending time
with you at Homecoming is that you're a
leader, a natural leader who people follow
instinctively. Incredible integrity. Character.
That has to give you an advantage in a
leadership position. How do you use that
throughout Firestone?
Well, I had an advantage. I've been with the
company almost 30 years. I know many, many
of our associates at all levels on a first-name
basis. I knew all of our dealers - I'd been on
the U.S. sales side of the business for 12 years
after I came back from Brazil - so I think they
did trust me. I think they did believe in me and
they knew that I'd treat them with honesty and
integrity. So I had the advantage that I didn't
have to take two years to convince people of
that and what needed to be done. They knew
me, and they really supported me from day
one. Just in little things, like when I came back
from my first Congressional hearing. We flew
into the airport and we were all pretty beat up.
It had been a rough time and probably one of
the scariest things I've ever done. And there
were about 100 of our employees out on the
tarmac clapping as we got off the plane. Those
things let you know you made the right deci­sion
in taking the job and make you feel you
did a good job in Washington. Our associates
made, and make, all the difference in the world.
I also made every effort to get out to visit
many of our locations, to meet with people on
our factory floors. I attended all five of our
regional store manager meetings this year and
last. Attendance at those meetings includes
every one of our 2,000 or so store managers
from all over the United States. Every one of the
store managers was able to hear about what I
with us for almost two months,
including the current CEO of
Bridgestone Corporation world­wide.
One of our executive vice
presidents in charge of finance and
administration was here for three
months.
And that proximity certainly
helped me in terms of being able
to explain what we needed to do.
They were able to see first hand
that what we were recommending
- being open and transparent
with Congress, with the media,
the regulators - was the right way
to approach our situation. The fact
"YOU CAN'T JUST
YOURSELF IN THE
THE BUSINESS
IT'S A BALANCE OF
THE CRISIS BUT
FOR THE FUTURE."
that I could talk to them face-to-face day in and
day out definitely helped a lot. And, they were
very receptive. They understood that this was an
issue we needed to confront directly and open­ly
and they supported me throughout that
time.
believe in and what I think we need to do to
move on. I believe in our associates and [
believe in communication, and I think people
can sense that and respond to it.
I'm a people person. They know that. They
believe that. They want that. Especially in tough
55/2/2003
CRISIS AND LET
FOUNDER.
MANAGING
. PLANNING
times. You know, it's a leader's job to be able to
manage a crisis, but at the same time the leader
has got to be able to lead people forward on the
business issues. You can't just immerse yourself
in the crisis and let the business founder. It's a
balance of managing the crisis but planning for
WWW.THUND ERBIRD .EDU
the future, leading for the future, and I have a
lot of people who supported me and helped.
It seems that one of the reasons you've been so
successful in this crisis is that you spent an
entire career building up trust and integrity and
improving your leadership skills. From your per­spective
as a CEO, what are the critical success
factors for leading an organization today?
I certain ly think integrity, walking the talk,
leading by example is important. Respect all
those you come in contact with. We respect our
associates. We respect the unions in the places
where our employees are represented by
unions. We have great respect for our dealers;
because their success is our success. I really
believe that. We say that every time we get
together with them. If they're not successful, in
the long run we won't be successful. So mutual
respect and admiration is something that every-p
.5
one in our organization has to demon­strate
day in and day out.
There are a lot of smart people in the
world. And there are a lot of people who
are smarter than [ am, so [ don't think it's
necessarily an issue of intelligence. Don't
get me wrong, you need to be able to
think clearly, but if you don't have other
attributes - loyalty, dedication, drive -
it doesn't matter how smart you are.
I think about the incredible complexi­ties
of your business, the supply chain
and logistics issues, the finance. You
obviously have to have all those skills;
you run a $7.5 billion company. But
what I'm hearing you say is that it's the
people skills that make the difference.
You can teach people business skills
in a lot of cases. You can teach people
supply chain management. You can
teach people the manufacturing
process. But unless a person has the
ability to lead others, to get people to
follow him or her, to be trusted, it's
going to be extremely hard, if not
impossible, to be successful.
Here at Firestone, we're in the people
business; we're in a relationship busi­ness.
And if we can't build the relation­ships,
if we can't inspire the confidence
and trust of the people, then [ don't care
how smart we are or how much business
acumen we have, we can't be successful.
Tell me the toughest decision you've
had to make during this past year.
There were a lot of difficult decisions.
No doubt the toughest decision last
year, 2001, which was a very, very diffi­cult
year for us, was the decision to close
one of our manufacturing plants.
Obviously, the demand fell for our
products following all of the negative
publicity. At that point, our capacity exceeded
demand. To survive we had to get our capacity
in line with the facts and realities of our busi­ness.
That meant [ had to make a decision to
close one of our facilities. That meant the loss
of good-paying jobs for 1,500 of our associates.
With the terrible burden it put on them and
their families and the small community where
that facility was located, it was an extremely
tough decision. I look back and it was sti ll the
toughest decision I've had to make, probably in
my whole career.
How did you handle the closing and
communication issues?
I went to Illinois and I met with the governor
and his staff. I met with the mayor of Decatur.
I met with our management folks at Decatur
and was honest with them. I explained why it
had to be done. I talked about how difficult a
p.6
decision it was. That it wasn't punishment or
revenge. It was just a business fact and we real­ly
had no choice.
I think the fact that I did go face-to-face and
that people could see that I really did care, I
think that made all the difference in the world.
It didn't make it any easier, but I think it made
it more understandable to those involved.
What's the thing you're proudest of?
I did a lot of things in my life that I'm proud
of. I'm certainly proud of my family and how
my kids have turned out. From a professional
standpoint, I'm proud of the people I work
with. If you ask me what I'm proudest of per­sonally,
I think it's been these last two years. I
look back and it was a decision I almost didn't
make, the decision to take the job. If I hadn't
taken it, I think I would look back and always
regret not taking it, not doing everything I
could to try to help this company in the situa­tion
we were in. So, I'm proud that I made the
right decision. I can certainly get up and look
myself in the mirror in the morning knowing
that I've done and continue to do everything I
can to make sure that our company goes for­ward
and that it provides employment for
51,000 men and women in the Americas.
Where's Firestone going to be five years
from now?
I have no doubt that Bridgestone/Firestone
will continue to be a leader in the U.S. tire
industry. Our company made tremendous
gains during the '90s when we were the fastest
growing tire company in the United States. The
recall impacted our passenger tire business but
we have made a strong recovery in 2002 and
have actually gained market share. Our Fire­stone
brand has stabilized and our Bridgestone
brand has shown remarkable growth - up over
30 percent from last year's levels. We will con­tinue
to draw strength from our chain of com­pany-
owned tire and service centers and we will
continue to support the other parts of our busi­ness
that were not impacted by the recall. Our
company will continue "Making it Right" in all
aspects of our business.
What are the key factors for getting your
company back to that position?
It goes back to leadership. We must make
sure that our stakeholders, the people who are
important to us - our associates, customers,
dealers, parent corporation - have confidence
in us, in our company and in our management
so that they continue to support us like they
have the last two years. To me, that's going to
make all the difference in the world.
That's not to say that things like the quality
of our products and services aren't important.
Quality is a given. You don't even get into the
game if you don't have top quality. It's the other
things, peoples' attitudes, their desire to work
WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU
hard and dedicate themselves to their
personal success and the success of the
company, that really make or break your
company.
When you make a hiring decision,
what do you look for in that person?
Obviously, there are many key compe­tencies
that we look for. Some of these
include the ability to coach and develop
others through effective communication,
the ability to build trust and lead
through vision and values, operational and
strategic decision making. and recognizing the
value of diversity. But beyond these types of
competencies, I look for someone who has real
passion, a good attitude, likes to work hard and
respects people.
55/2/2003
N
BUSINESS.
ON PEOPLE ...
AND, YOU HAVE
RIGHT AND THE
Are leaders born or trained?
I think both. For me, the Army was an
extremely good learning experience. I really do
think that experience, as well as the fact that I
was active in ROTC in college, helped develop
me as a leader. But I also think there are a lot of
55 / 2 / 2003
innate natural abilities that people have that
help distinguish them as leaders.
If someone has the leadership skills and
personality traits you're looking for, can you
teach them the other business skills?
Yes, I believe so. Thunderbird gave me a
tremendous education but I didn't come into
Firestone knowing everything that I would
need over the course of my career. In fact, I'm
still learning after 30 years. Certainly a school
like Thunderbird gives you a foundation,
instills the idea of having a receptive mind, a
mind that is ready to learn, but you learn your
business skills when you're in business. Every
new assignment, every challenge, every new
country you're in is a new learning experience.
Given the Enron issues, the economic factors
involved in running a company your size,
besides leadership, what would you say is
your single biggest business challenge?
The Enron-related type stuff is not some­thing
we've ever had to deal with. We've never
had to change what we're doing because of any
accusations of wrongdoing. We've had some
tough times lately, but no one has ever said we
weren't open, honest and forthright when
responding to the issues that we had. No, my
biggest challenge is keeping 51,000 people
marching in the same direction. I know you
said, don't make it a leadership issue, but
again, I think leadership is the biggest issue.
No one person can have the business skills
necessary to run a business. You've got to rely
on people and you've got to have people with
those skills. And, you have to lead those peo­ple;
you have to lead them in the right and
same direction. I still think that's a chief exec­utive
officer's and senior management's biggest
challenge.
CAN RUN A
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and that it regains the position I know it
deserves within the industry. Then I'll look and
see what I want to do personally with the rest of
my life.
There are a lot of things I love to do that I just
haven't gotten much time to do. I love outdoor
sports - golf, tennis. I love to fish. I love to
boat. I love to play Bridge with my wife,
Barbara. All those things have suffered, so at
some point in time, I'm looking forward to
having the time to do those things.
Talk to me about your wife, Barbara, and the
role she has played in all of this, especially
these last two years.
That's a good question. When I interviewed
with Firestone at Thunderbird 30 years ago,
the company had a practice of interviewing
both the candidate and the candidate's
spouse. So Barbara and I were both inter­viewed
and we were asked the same questions.
"How do you feel about taking risks?" "Give
me some examples of some risks you've
taken." She and I both had to respond. For
years after that, every time I'd see the human
resources manager who did that interview, he
would tell me the only reason I got another
interview, and ultimately the job, was because
Barbara was so good in the interview. I still
don't know how serious he was but part of me
thinks he was very serious.
Barbara's been very supportive. This has
maybe been more difficult on her than me. She
saw what we went through with the Congres­sional
hearings. She saw just how beat up I was
at times. Her support and her kicking me out of
bed and telling me to quit feeling sorry for
myself made a tremendous difference.
Judging from what you said at Homecoming,
this isn't the first time you and Barbara have
faced adversity.
Barbara is German.
met her while I was in the
Army in Germany. We
YOU'VE GOT TO RELY
WITH THOSE SKI LLS.
TO LEAD IN THE
SAME DIRECTION"
married a year and a half
after we met. Our son was
born a little over a year
later and we've been
together ever since.
So you dragged a new
bride to a new country
with a new baby and
went to school?
(Chuckle) It was worse
What's next for you?
I don't know. We still have some challenges.
I'm not saying that everything is solved or that
it's not fun anymore. In fact, it's starting to get
fun again; it's certainly a challenge. I want to
make sure this company is on the right track
that that. My classes at
Thunderbird started when
my son was only three weeks old, so he could­n't
fly. So I flew back to the United States, then
Barbara flew here, by herself with our son, three
weeks later. Imagine this. /t's the first time she's
been in the United States. She doesn't drive.
She gets off the airplane at the Phoenix airport
p.?
when you still had to go down the stairs from
the plane onto the tarmac. It was 120 degrees
and completely overwhelming. We didn't have
any money; we lived off the GI bill and what we
could borrow in student loans and so forth . At
one point, we had to go on food stamps and we
were so embarrassed that we'd drive to the
other side of Phoenix to shop so that no one
would know us. But, we made it through. So a
lot of credit goes to Barbara.
How do you keep a marriage together
for 3D-plus years?
We enjoy each other's company. We enjoy
many of the same things. We love playing
Bridge together. We love antique hunting
together. We love the weekends we do get to
spend together. We love to be together. It's just
always been that way.
I've moved my family 12 times in 20 years.
Half of them were overseas moves. Living in
hotels for three months at a time and she's
been just extremely supportive in helping me
get through those transition times. I think
interviewing spouses was one of the smartest
things Firestone did. When you're asking peo­ple
to do the things Firestone asked people to
do - the international assignments, the mov­ing
and the job advancements - if the spouse
can't deal with that or doesn't want to do that,
you're going to have a real problem with the
employee.
You have both a son and a daughter.
Tell me about them.
Sure, I'm proud of them, more proud than I
could ever say. My son, Patrick, was director of
purchasing at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.
He just resigned that position because he got
his law degree by going to school at night at
UNLY. He's accepted a position with a law firm
in Chicago and is now clerking for a judge here
in Phoenix, where he will be for a year. I'm just
so proud of him. He did so well in the business
world, then to have him go back to school at
night to get a law degree and to do as well as
he's done, certainly I'm proud.
My daughter, Meike, lives in New York City.
She moved there after graduating from Wake
Forest. She worked for a few years before
returning to school at Columbia, where she
received a master in organizational psychology.
She just accepted a position in human
resources at a large international company and
simply loves it - she's in seventh heaven. She
is a wonderfuL caring person.
One final question. If you could have people
know two things about Firestone, what would
that be?
That Firestone did the right thing during the
last two years. That it took responsibility for its
issues, for its products and did the right thing.
And that we make great products. •
-P.8---------_1~ ~O F7 L ~S III-_________ 55_/2_/20_03
UNIQUE PEOPLE.
UNIQUE PLACES.
UNIQUE CAREERS.
BY LINDSEY MICHAELS
W L. Lyons Brown '60 grew up in a
family that was attuned to interna-
• tional activities. His grandfather
spent part of his career as a U.S. Army military
attache in five different European countries.
Brown spent several summers working in
France while a student at the University of
Virginia. So, after earning a B.A. in history from
the University of Virginia, Brown headed west
to Thunderbird to complete his bachelor's
degree in Foreign Trade. •
"Thunderbird offered an interesting new
approach to international business that hadn't
been seen in business schools," said Brown. "I
was particularly impressed by the language por­tion
of the Thunderbird education.
"At the time, you normally couldn't get 'cred­it'
for language courses as part of a business
degree in schools like Harvard, Wharton or Vir­ginia.
I liked the fact that Thunderbird allowed
me to combine business and language training.
The School also offered some very good courses
for dealing with and understanding Europeans,
especially where their traditions differed, what
you should and shouldn't say and do, how their
way of doing business differed from ours."
Brown benefited from that training.
After graduation, the French-speaking Brown
was immediately assigned to the international
division of his family's publicly held wine and
spirits business. He moved to France to help
launch Brown-Forman Corporation's Jack
Daniels brand in six European countries and to
act as the liaison between Brown-Forman and
its European suppliers.
"There were a significant number of trade
tariffs in place at that time," he said. "One was
that spirits made with grain couldn't be adver­tised
in local French media. Of course, Jack
Daniels was made with grain and French cog­nac
was not. Jack Daniels wasn't even known in
Europe then. That meant we started with one
hand tied behind our backs."
Brown began by finding good importers who
would champion his product - a task he said
was difficult. Those importers then found cre-ative
ways to get their products before con­sumers
- tastings, special-event promotions,
point-of-sale displays. Targeting those hotels
that catered to Americans helped provide a
breakthrough.
"Once they realized how well Jack Daniels
sold - and that they could make money on it
- they started to buy. Restaurants and stores
followed later on."
Brown eventually led the company's interna­tional
division. He served as president and
CEO of Brown-Forman from 1975 to 1983; as
chairman and CEO until 1993; and as chair­man
until 1995. He is proud of how share­holder
value increased throughout that time.
"One of my greatest sources of professional
pride was being named to the President's
Advisory Council for Trade Policy and Negotia­tions
by President Reagan in 1988. The council
was created by an act of Congress and consists
of about 35 people representing business, labor
and the environment who advise Congress on
trade issues before they can be passed. The first
President Bush reappointed me in 1990 and
1992, and President Clinton in 1994.
"My most memorable moment was chairing
the subcommittee in charge of the Uruguay
Round of GAlT, which significantly liberalized
world trade. In the United States, the summary
of the recommendation to Congress to pass the
agreement was signed by two people: President
Clinton and me."
President George W. Bush nominated Brown
as U.S. Ambassador to Austria in May 2001 . The
Senate confirmed him in November 2001 .
"I told the White House when I was first
called that I didn't speak German and that con­cerned
me. They told me it was important that
I understood international business, trade and
administering large enterprises, and Europe,
and that English could be used everywhere in
Austria. They pointed out that many ambassa-
* Before switching to its current master's degree
format in 1969, Thunderbird offered a B.S. in
Foreign Trade.
dors don't speak the language of the country to
which they're assigned."
Brown listened, but, being a T-bird, he start­ed
taking German classes right away - a prac­tice
he continues.
"Speaking the local language, especially
when you're doing business with someone, is
still important, even though most business can
be conducted in English now. Speaking to
someone in his or her language establishes rap­port.
If nothing else, they appreciate that you're
making the effort. But more than that, they may
not be totally comfortable in English, so it can
remove important barriers.
"Even today, when I go outside of Vienna,
where few Austrians speak English, people are
so appreciative of the fact that I've learned Ger­man.
They comment on that all the time."
Of course, Brown said, the priorities of U.S.
ambassadors worldwide changed dramatically
between the time of his appointment and the
9/11 terrorists attacks. Ambassadors continue
to foster bilateral relationships, trade and
investment, but counter-terrorism and security
have been added as top priorities. This is espe­cially
true for Brown in Austria, which is posi­tioned
strategically along a key route to the
Middle East.
"One of the greatest draws of Thunderbird is
its language training," he maintains. "When that
is added to its outstanding courses on local
business and culture, the School is still unique."
55 / 2 / 200 3
Kim Wiehl 'SO never envisioned a career
in export banking - lining up risk
insurance and structuring loans so com­panies
can sell into emerging market countries.
In fact. she'd never even considered banking. A
French language major who minored in eco­nomics
and international politics and who
had studied twice in France, as well as in Ox­ford,
England, and Slovenia, before attending
Thunderbird, Wiehl just knew she wanted to
work abroad.
She's accomplished that, and more.
Wiehl spent most of the last 15 years in
London focused on export finance for projects
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Ten of
those years were with Chase, mostly as director
of loan syndications. She then spent her last
four years with the newly merged JPMorgan­Chase
as managing director, Central and East­ern
Europe, Middle East and Africa Structured
Debt, where she raised more than US$4.s bil­lion
in syndicated financing and won the
Central European Syndicated Loan House 2000
award.
Wiehl is now secretary-general, the Berne
Union, an international group of credit and
investment insurers whose 51 members did
almost US$SOO billion in cross-border trade
and investment during 200l.
"Choosing the finance track at Thunderbird
wasn't a terribly conscious decision. 1 just
found that I was a little bit more practical and
WWW.THUNDERBIRD.EDU
less creative," said Wiehl. "I could also see more
career possibilities and international assign­ment
options through the finance track."
According to Wiehl. her Thunderbird finance
training helped get her into Chemical Bank's
training program, where she performed
extremely well.
"If you did quite well in the bank training pro­gram,
you got first choice of which department
you wanted to go to. I chose international."
Based in New York and focused on com­modities,
Wiehl's first memorable deal was
actually the "dream deal" she didn't make.
"We were flown down to Florida in a private
jet to meet with some Colombians who were
exporting coffee to the United States. Everything
looked right on the surface. They did a great
presentation, geared to impress the typical New
York banker. But,
p.9
that deal ultimately lost a lot of money on it,
and so, Wiehl was vindicated.
"A lot of people who worked in internation­al
had never been outside of the state where
they were born, let alone the country. Having
already been abroad so much for school, and
having studied at Thunderbird, my internation­al
orientation set me apart. It was the difference
between reading a book about how to ride a
bicycle and having actually ridden one."
Another favorite deal involved helping Ethio­pian
Airlines purchase planes from Boeing.
"On the surface, the deal looked untouch­able.
It was about US$300 million and there
seemed no way they could repay. But working
through the options, working with the people,
going down there, understanding how impor­tant
that airline was for the whole Ethiopian
economy, for the government, we realized that
we really could and should put together a struc­ture
that would work."
Once Wiehl and her team were able to
cement a partnership with GE Capital to share
the risk. a group of international lenders made
the loans, using the airplanes as collateral.
'The members of the Berne Union alone did
more than $500 billion worth of international
trade like that last year," said Wiehl. "That's all
trade that probably would not have happened
without the services offered by our members."
Much of that financing is for projects: power
plants, oil refineries, roads, telecommunications.
"I recently did financing for a motorway in
Croatia, which was pretty ravaged by war. They
really, really needed to get tourism up and run­ning
again. And highways were critical for get­ting
people from the popular cities to the
tourist spots along the coast.
"What we do is not mundane; it is hard
work," she said. "Even when we come up with
really creative solutions, we can run into road­blocks.
The legal system can't accommodate the
structures. This is going to cost more than
someone can pay. A bank you thought was
going to join you changed its mind. But, that's
what motivates me - the fact that you can do
something special that seems un-doable.
'This is also fun.
because of my back­ground,
I asked some
different kinds of ques­tions,
and kept asking
them. My 'international
intuition' told me some­thing
wasn't right."
"M y international
"Just in the past month, I've
been to Slovenia, to Croatia,
the Czech Republic. Next
month I'm going to Moscow.
Our April meeting was in
Beijing. China. Sometimes I'm
working day and night. But
again, it's very rewarding to go
into these countries and see the
changes you're helping to bring
about.
Ultimately, Wiehl
and her group declined
the deal - a decision
not taken by many of
the competitors. How­ever,
the banks that did
orientation set me apart.
It was the difference
between reading a book
about how to ride
a bicycle and having
actually ridden one." "I wouldn't be here without
Thunderbird." •
FACULTY
VIEWPOINT
COMPETING THROUGH PEOPLE
Developing leaders to lead change through people, systems and processes
BY DR. CAREN SIEHL, AsSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT
I believe th at no matter what your job, no matter what your level
within your company, you are expected to lead. This is completely
independent of job tiLie. It's a point on which I am very adamant. It
is also the premise behind the Competing Through People course I
teach at Thunderbird . All Thunderbird students take this cl ass. All learn
how and why Liley must take an active leadership role within their com­panies
- beginning the day Liley join.
The role of managers and leaders is shifting as business environments
shift. Leadership has now become a core competitive adva ntage. Com­panies
need managers and leaders who ca n help them be faster in deliv­ering
products and services, and more innovative in the ways they man­age,
lead and add value to th at company.
p. I I
This means you can't just have a few leaders higher up. You need lead­ership
throughout th e organiza tion. Sure, people lead directly, i.e., they
have direct reports. But even if they don't have direct reports, they must
still be expected to lead through influenci ng. whether it's influencing
peers, influencing customers or influencing other stakeho lders.
I push my students very hard to take seriously their role as leaders.
That's because you have to get the information flowing in order to be
competi ti ve. And you really ca n't do that if you don't have people who
are serious about the need to understand the business environment, the
need to analyze ways to make Lllings better and the need to communi ­cate
about what they learn and do.
Most Thunderbird students embrace this premise because it is
empowering. Whereas many of their peers at other schools enter com­pani
es, especia lly larger companies, saying. "What can I do, I'm only one
person," Thunderbird students enter knowing Lllat no matter what level
or type of job they take, in whatever functional area - finance, market­ing.
or whatever - they can and must expect to make an impact from
day one.
Once they understand - and accept - the fact that leadership must
exist throughout the company, they rea lize they must lead the cllange.
We then focus on driving competitive adva ntage through organizational
capabili ty, people, systems and processes.
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITY
The basic premise behind organizatio nal capabili ty is that you must
first understand the external envi ronment in which the business oper­ates.
That mea ns having a good solid understanding of suppli ers, cus­tomers,
regulatory agencies, Wall SLreet and other key stakeholders -
then ensuring that all of your people understand th at, too. Only by
doing that can everyo ne gauge wheLiler the internal processes make
sense, and the change you need to make to move closer to your goals.
ext, you must determine what your competitive advantage should
be. Not what it currenLly is but what it should be. Then, your job as a
leader is to assess where you are as an orga ni zation, where you need to
go and what you need to change.
There are five different parts of organizati onal capabi li ty: culture or
shared mindset, governance cho ices, role competencies, ro le conse­quences
and leadership throughout.
1) CULTURE / SHARED MINDSET
Shared mindset or culture are the va lues and beliefs that are shared by
a group of people within an organization that influence their thinking.
their actions and their emotional connection to the company.
The real inte rest here is the connection between the espoused values
and beliefs - what we say is important - and the el1acted values and
beliefs - what we actually do.
To have a positive impact within an o rga nizatio n, there should be a
high level of consistency between those two. What the research has
shown is that people look to Llleir immediate boss to determine the level
of consistency and the daY- lo-day impact of the shared values on behav­iors
and actio ns.
So, most of our students, when they take jobs, wi ll have people report­ing
to them, people who are lookin g at them to determine "What really
mallers around here?" "What's this culture all about?" And, they'll be
looking for a high level of consi stency.
That means you can and should inspire your team even if you can't
directl y change the world outside your unit. In large companies, corpo­rate
culture ca n take a very lo ng time to change. Unless you're in one of
the top management positio ns, you're probably not go ing to change the
culture of th e entire organization. That's OK. Start where you can. Impact
the culture of your team, business unit and peers.
p . I 2 WWW. T HU NDE RB IR D.EDU 5 5 / 2 / 2003
So, you've just joined the company? Where do you begin?
That's a very complex questi on. You start by knowing who you are as
a leader. What's important to you. Then you see if that lines up with the
company and culture of which you've become a part. Is it a d ose enough
match so that you can be true to who you are and suppo rtive of the
orga nization at the same time? If so, th e change begins with eadl day- to­day
in teracti on, by ro le modeling, th rough a real d ear focus on com­munication,
by aligning rewards and consequences so that they reinforce
those values, by usin g the selection system so that you hire people who,
in fact, reinforce those values, by using development opportuniti es as a
way of not just teaching technical ski lls, but of reinfo rcing values.
It can be as small as the way in whi ch you set an agenda for a meet­ing.
If you're always talking about customer service, yet customer service
related items are always number 14 and 15 on your agenda, when you
know you never get past item nine, that's sending a very sharp signal that
customer service really doesn't maller that much to you.
If you rea lly wa nt to have an impact on culture, you have to be com­mitted
to do ing it, and you have to be in it for the med ium- to lo ng­term
. It's velY difficult to get sho rt-term cu lture change un less you fire a
number of people then hire all new peopl e who fi t perfectly. Shy of that,
culture change is an evo lutio nary process that requ ires time and com­mitm
nl. The o ne exception to this is a time of crisis. People tend to be
a little mo re open to culture d l ange during a cri sis; the problem is, they
often revert back to their o ld behavio rs o nce the crisis passes.
2) GOVE RNAN CE C H OIC ES
Governance is all about how you co­o
rd ina te work within a compa ny or
department. It deals wi th what structures
you would choose, whidl forms o f team­work,
and how you use informatio n tech­nology
to furth er coordination and co n­necti
on.
Since the industrial revo luti on, we've
worked in hiera rchi es. Some organizatio ns
have moved to a matrix structure in order
There are many compa nies grappling Witll big shifts right now. For
example, in the medi cal industry around bio- tech and bio-genetics.
That's a who le di ffe rent skill set than what had been needed in tlle pa l.
So, if you' re in that industry, how do you acquire tllose competencies?
Are you going to dlange your selection process? Are you go ing to dlange
your development process? Are you going to use a combination of the
two? Most of our Thunderbird students find this area interesting because
it's something each of them will have to do: hi rin g. fi ring and helping
people develop skills.
What do you look for when hiring? The message I try to get through
to our students is that there is no preordained right or wrong answer as
to who to hire. You have to determine what competencies are needed for
eadl job to drive competi tive adva ntage in your part of the business.
Once you know what those competencies are, you can start using both
direct and unobtrusive measures to ascertain if that person has the com­petencies,
or whetller o r not they a re willing to acqui re them. It's a
will/s kill question: Do tlley have the skill already? Or do tlley have the
willi ngness to acquire skills?
4 ) ROLE CONSEQUEN C ES
This is where you get into issues SUd l as whether someone has the skill
but doesn't really care to use it, about motivating people to actually del iv­er
perfo rmance. We ask people, have you designed and implemented
measures for whatever the performance is tllat you want? Then what are
the rewards or negative consequences that
are attadled to either the delivery - or
lack of delivery - of that performance?
What results from that is that people real­ly
come to internalize, on a personal level,
what's really importan t about tllat job in
terms o f delivering competitive advantage.
The other main point I try to empha­size
in dass is that you need to really tai­lor
rewa rd s and consequences to earn
individual. You need not just rewards, but
valued rewards. Understand that what one
to increase coord inatio n. ow there's a lot
of ta lk about network structures. Thi s, of
course, di ffe rs greatly by culture. There <j re
some cultures, where a high power d is­tance
is va lued, that seem much more sup­Students
debate leadership issues inside and outside of class.
person views as a valued reward might
not be the least bi t motivating to another.
So, one of your greatest chall enges - and
oppo l1uni ties - as a manager is invest­ing
the time to fi nd out what each of your
po rtive of hi erard lical structures. Japan and France are two sum cu ltu res.
There are very few peopl e at a mid- to lower-manager level who a re
goi ng to significantly change the overall structure of an o rganizatio n.
Your goal as a new employee tllen is to understand the structure, then to
figu re out the best way to get your work done in it. To make the types of
connections you need to get your work do ne effectively.
3) ROLE COM PETEN CIES
Competencies are the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual or
team would need to perform a pa rticular job or tas k, now and in tlle
futu re. This is where you really have to th ink about how to use selection
and development to drive competi tive adva ntage. There are two basic
ways to acquire competencies. You either select people who have them,
or you train and develop the people you already have witll in th e o rgan­ization
so they get tllem. The real chall enge is: can you use selection and
development in a strategic way to drive competitive advantage? You may,
for instance, say that customer service is important on a macro level
within the o rga ni za tion, but as you look at each speci fic job, how are
you buil di ng the need for customer selvice skills into your selection
process, your development process - both fo r today and in the future?
people really value. But be ca reful, because what is valued doesn't just
differ by culture, it also differs by individual wi th in each culture.
Thunderbird s, by virtue of the fact that they ten d to go to work in so
many other cultures, could run into real problems if they over-general-ized
with in a cultu re.
If you're an American, for instance, and you go to work in Japan
believing that everybody there values team-based rewards because Japan
is a very collectivist culture, you may miss an opportunity to influence
perfo rmance. Yes, you might have a team of 10, and eight of them rea lly
value those team-based rewards. But tll e other two may not. If you do n't
recognize the differences and make ad justments, you'll lose the abili ty to
motivate those two people - who are one-fifth of your team.
5) LEADER SH IP T HROUGHOUT
We at Thunderb ird acti vely work to grow and groom world leaders,
people who lead people as well as they lead change - in different com­pa
ni es, in di ffe rent cul tures, in good times as well as bad. The principles
we teach in our Competin g Through People course wi ll defin itely drive
performance. But, remember, this is a never-end ing cyde that must be
embraced and supported th roughout o ne's ca reer. _
55/2/2003 WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU p. 1 3
MBA program was to disconnea from my work
and adapt once again to student life before
starting my degree program," said Joaquin
Margain '02, who runs his own business in
Mexico. "I had been working and preparing for
the GMAT, and that did not work well for me.
"Besides the English language training. other
Pre-MBA benefits for me induded learning to
Thunderbird's Business
English programs. So do
companies, like the SK
Group, and individual
executives who need to
quickly improve their
business English skills.
work in cross-cultural groups,
learning the case-style teaching
method that is used at Thunder­bird
and getting comfortable
with the School and community
before dasses began.
"What I didn't expect, though,
was the excellent and friendly
attention all the staff and faculty
associated with the Thunderbird
Language & Culture Center
offered us students. They did everything they
could to help us. I can't imagine how different
my Thunderbird experience might have been
without their individual guidance early on."
BUSINESS ENGLISH IMMERSION STYLE
Offered three times each year - in the spring.
summer and fall - the Pre-MBA Intensive
Language Program attraas more than 150 stu­dents
a year. Cost is US$6,250, which indudes
all books and materials. Custom corporate pro­grams
are also popular.
Program focus areas indude:
Need to rapidly improve your business
English, U.S. culture and/or study
skills? If so, the Thunderbird Language
& Culture Center's Pre-MBA Intensive English
Program is an excellent resource.
This lO-week, 25-hour-per-week program was
initially designed for non-native English speak­ers
preparing to attend U.S. graduate schools.
But, the program has proven so successful it
now attracts corporate executives as well.
"Our Pre-MBA Intensive English program is
unique in that it offers a fu ll 250 hours of sound,
solid immersion learning." said Beth Stoops,
senior direaor, Thunderbird language & Culture
Center. "Most other programs offer just 160
hours. Our dass size is also smaller, just six to
eight students compared to 12 to 20 in other
programs. And, because more than 90 percent of
our graduates enroll in Thunderbird, the cultur­al,
gender, work history and age mix of our stu­dents
mirror those of the overall campus."
Thunderbird created its Pre-MBA Intensive
English program in the early 1990s to specifi­cally
serve the needs of otherwise-qualified
potential students whose TOEFL (English)
scores wouldn't qualify them for Thunderbird.
Participants expand vocabularies, praaice lis­tening
to the spoken word and master writing
skills. However, they also learn how to work in
a multicultural environment. how to resolve
disputes appropriately within a U.S. context
and how to participate effectively in an Ameri­can-
style dassroom. Students also take cultural
field trips, make business site visits and receive
business leaders as speakers to their dass.
"Those executives like the faa that in addi­tion
to honing their business English skills,
they can also learn about American culture and
make business contacts within the safe and
extremely well-mentored environment we pro­vide
here at Thunderbird," Stoops said.
Pre-MBA program participants have full
access to all Thunderbird campus resources.
That indudes research databases, facilities and
access to on-campus party and dub events.
However, they also benefit from something reg­ular
incoming students rarely get: the type of
highly nurturing. seamless, "family-style" assis­tance
with insurance, family relocation, bank­ing.
etc., for which Thunderbird's Executive
Education department is famous.
"What we find," said Stoops, "is that our stu­dents
become so comfortable and acculturated
while in our care that they often take a leader­ship
role in helping their fellow students adjust
and find their way around when they arrive on
campus to commence their degree dasses."
"My main objective in enrolling in the Pre-
CONVERSATION SKILLS: practicing formal and
informal conversation for everyday situations,
developing executive-style presentations and
working on pronunciation.
CRITICAL liSTENING SKILLS: enhancing busi­ness-
listening skills, note-taking skills, as well
as listening strategies for social interactions.
ENGLISH FOR CORPORATE INTERACfION:
building discussion skills and a broad business
vocabulary through the careful use of special
business readings and the "case-study" method.
AMERICAN CULTURE ORlENTATION: exploring
key elements of American culture, induding
values, non-verbal communication patterns,
relationships, family life and education.
STRATEGIC READING COMPREHENSION:
enhancing reading skills through learning and
practicing reading techniques.
The Thunderbird language & Culture Center
- part of Thunderbird's Executive Education
unit - also provides custom language and cul­ture
programs for those seeking a quality for­eign
or English as a Second language immer­sion
experience. It also offers regional business
and market practice training programs. •
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, please contact
Prof. Beth Stoops, senior director, Thunderbird
language & Culture Center by telephone at
(602) 978-7779 or by email at stoopsb@thun­derbird.
edu. -liNDSEY MICHAELS
p . 1 4 WWW.T HUNOERBIRO .E OU 55/2/2003
55/2 / 2003 WWW.THUNOERBIRO.EOU p.15
EXPANDING THUNDERBIRD EUROPE
School dedicates new facilities in style
On Oct. 3, Thunderbird took the
next step in its strategic plan to
"think global and be local" with
the dedication of its new facilities
at Thunderbird Europe.
Thunderbird has had a European campus on
the Site d'Archamps, an international business
park located near Geneva, since 1993. How­ever,
the School had dearly outgrown the
capacity of the 17th-century farmhouse which
had welcomed students from Glendale.
Thus, four years ago, Thunderbird began
working with the Conseil Regional de la Haute
Savoie (the local government), and the Site
d'Archamps management on an expansion plan.
Today, the Thunderbird Europe site indudes
a new 1,400-square-meter (13,SOO-square­foot)
building which consists of four auditori­ums,
six dassrooms and 12 breakout rooms, all
equipped with state-of-the-art technology. It
stands ready to welcome full-time students and
executive education participants.
Events began early on Thursday with a con­ference
on "Educating Present and Future Ex­ecutives
for a Tumultuous Global Environment:
Urgent Risks and Emerging Opportunities." The
conference took the form of a panel discussion,
with President Dr. Roy Herberger, Prof. Dave
Bowen, dean of Faculty &. Programs, Dr. John
Seybolt, senior vice president for Institutional
Advancement &. Alliances, and the RT. Hon. the
Lord Holme of Cheltenham as speakers. Joshua
Jampol, a journalist for the International Herald
Tribune, served as moderator.
At 10:30, the guests - about 400 people -
were welcomed by a four-man Dixieland band
BY BEATRICE BERNESCUT '90
as they gathered in a specially built tent pavilion
to hear the presentations. The guest list induded
not only those who had attended the morning
conference, but members of the Thunderbird
Board of Trustees, the Thunderbird Global
Council and the Archamps Board of Directors, as
well as local supporters and corporate dients.
Dr. Yahia Zoubir, the Thunderbird Europe
director, opened the proceedings by welcoming
everyone. He told attendees about the dream
that was born in 1998 to expand the campus,
and spoke of Thunderbird's excellent partner­ship
with the Site d'Archamps, which made the
expansion possible.
Local dignitaries, induding Bernard Jouve­not,
the mayor of Archamps; Claude Birrau,
member of the European Parliament; and Prof.
Maiani, the director of CERN (European Center
for Nudear Research); along with Ernest
Nicollin, the president of the Conseil Regional
de la Haute Savoie, spoke of their hopes for the
continued growth of Thunderbird and of the
Site d'Archamps. They were followed by the
morning's keynote speaker, Ambassador Kevin
Molley, U.S. representative to the United
Nations (and an Arizona native).
Roland Pascal, head of the services division
of the Conseil Regional and responsible for the
Site d'Archamps, then talked about his dream
of creating a center for development that would
attract international talent, and how the
transatlantic partnership with Thunderbird
helped fu lfill that dream. He presented Her­berger
with a small scu lpture representing the
Alps in commemoration of one of their first
meetings, when he flew Herberger to the
heights of the Mont Blanc in his private plane.
It is in memory of this trip that the new build­ing
was named the "Mont Blanc" building.
Herberger thanked Pascal for his partnership
and support in helping Thunderbird Europe
grow and presented him with an Arcosanti bell
in memory of Thunderbird's roots in Arizona.
After the speeches, guests were welcomed
with a glass of champagne as the deputy mayor
of Chamonix.-Mont Blanc and Barbara Barrett,
chair of the Board of Trustees of Thunderbird,
cut the ribbon and dedared the building open.
Visitors then explored the new building and
saw presentations on various program offerings
available at Thunderbird Europe before contin­uing
on to lunch, which was served in a nearby
pavilion. While everyone dined on local cuisine
and sampled wines from the region, a Dixie­land
band provided entertainment, prompting
some impromptu performances by Herberger
and Pascal.
Lunch over, the crowd dispersed. But every­one
agreed - between the incredibly fine
weather, the new facilities and the support of
the Site d'Archamps, the new Thunderbird
Europe campus should be a great success! •
They call it "Broadway," a lively pedes­trian
street that is always full of peo­ple.
It's lined with small shops and
vendors' carts where you can buy
anything from good quality original oil paint­ings
to bootleg CDs. The smell of roast lamb
fills the air. It's called shashIik; combine it with
a substantial rice dish called pIau and you've got
a traditional Uzbek dinner.
As you walk along. you pass at least a dozen
sets of over-sized speakers blasting out a
cacophony of the latest hits, bad but loud, from
Europe and Russia. Local beer is 40 cents a liter.
It appears to be a non-stop block party.
It is a very misleading scene.
In Uzbekistan, the people are poor and the
prospects for improvement are poorer. In the
capitol, Tashkent, one estimate has it that 40
percent of the population lives at or below a
"subsistence level" of 15 dollars a month. Pov­erty
is worse in rural areas.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union,
newly independent Uzbekistan tried to sustain
the mechanisms of a centrally controlled econ­omy.
For the first few years the strategy seemed
to work Although the economy contracted, the
depression was not nearly as severe as in other
countries of the former Soviet Union.
But to make a long and rather painful story
short, this could not be sustained. Capital flight,
policies hostile to trade and investment, and cor­ruption
have left the country in economic ruin.
The current policy direction gives little rea­son
to hope for improvement. For example,
new customs duties of 90 percent on manufac-tured
goods and 50 percent on food products
were recently announced. Presumably an effort
is being made to reduce demand for dollars
and push black market exchange rates to parity
with official. very tightly controlled rates ahead
of the next IMF visit. The consequences of these
actions on the economy will be devastating.
I went to one of the city's outdoor bazaars
shortly after the tariffs came into effect to see
how business is being affected. It would be dif­ficult
to estimate any fall-off in trade by just
looking at stocks and estimating a drop, so I
planned to count only the stalls that were
dosed completely.
It was easier to count the ones that were
open. No less than 70-80 percent of the place
was deserted. Just an empty acre of bare, rusting
wire racks. Even the old ladies selling home­made
bread have been chased out, though ]
can't imagine why.
It is estimated that as many as 10,000 jobs
are connected to each of the five big bazaars,
and those jobs are gone for at least two months,
if not much, much longer.
An average state pension is now about nine
dollars a month, but the state doesn't always
have the money to pay those pensions. And the
banks don't always have enough cash to give to
pensioners. Pension office registration and
accounting are also done manually, so mistakes
and delays in processing are considered normal.
Tamara Dauletova, like more than 60 percent
of the people in a region near the dying Aral Sea
called Karakalpakstan, needs assistance from
the government to buy food. She is a mother of
five and can't work She and her children need
money from the government to meet their basic
needs, and life has been very difficult. "We never
got paid on time. I would go to the bank every
day, and every day they would say they still had
not received the right paperwork"
Fortunately, help came. A local non-govern­mental
organization received support from the
Eurasia Foundation, a privately managed grant­making
organization dedicated to funding pro­grams
that build democratic and free market
institutions in the former Soviet Union. The
foundation, which I work for, gets most of its
funds from the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
An association of neighborhood leaders
developed a computerized system to track and
distribute public assistance and trained the
local staff. The system allowed them to correct
faulty records and streamline the process. "It
used to take five or six days just to write a
report," the director said. "When we began this
project no one believed we would shorten the
time to just a few minutes. But we did, and
we've also made the work more effective and
accurate in the process."
As regional director of the foundation, I talk
with people like these every day. In the five Cen­tral
Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmeni­stan,
Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz
Republic, the foundation supports a wide range
of independent associations, NGOs and other
organizations with grants of as much as $35,000
for one-year projects. Each year that comes to
more than 100 grants totaling $2.5 million.
55/2/2003
To be frank, though, few of our grants sup­port
activities designed to reduce the effects of
poverty as directly as the effort in Karakal­pakstan.
There are too many needs to fill, and
even a well-funded effort like the foundation is
barely a drop in the ocean.
The foundation focuses on supporting
organizations that can continue to provide
service beyond tile term of our grant.
One excellent example of how this works is a
program we funded last year in which a num­ber
of NGOs received training in social market­ing.
The idea was to help them produce their
own ads and 1V programs.
"The seminars taught me the tools we need to
WWW.THUNOERBIRO.EOU
communicate our mes­sage,"
said Nodira Salya­mova,
manager of one pro­fessional
association.
A few weeks later, local
1V showed a public service
announcement about a
young deaf-mute boy
unable to attend normal
grade school. While all the
other children walk to
school one morning. he
sits at home and watches
them from his window. His
mother, near tears, looks at
him and says 'There is no
place where deaf and mute
children can go to school
in Kokand."
No one in town realized
this. Calls came to the sta­tion,
and within days two
schools had offered to
donate classroom space for
a new school for the deaf.
These are some exam­ples
of what foreign aid is, and it is what I do
for a living. The United tates is the world's
largest donor nation and distributes more than
$10 billion a year in international development
and humanitarian assistance. A fair portion of
it, and a large part of the recent increase, comes
to this region. Perhaps the recent upturn in U.S.
aid following 9/11 will contribute some
momentum to change.
In any case, I have managed development
programs in more than a dozen countries, and
there is truly a sense that the work we do has
meaning and makes a difference.
It's challenging work. While petty bureau­crats
can be relied on to obstruct your work, the
p. 17
phone system can't be relied upon at all. Every
good grant proposal from a hardworking and
sincere organization is matched by a ridiculous
piece of fiction from an obvious fraud.
There's never a dull day. I've flown in the
baggage compartment of a much-too-old air­plane
when I couldn't get a ticket. I've politely
asked a Tajik border guard to point his AK47 in
another direction. I've drunk vodka by the gal­Ion,
one shot at a time, to establish rapport
with skeptical counterparts.
And, as I write this in a comfortable office in
a city of over two million, I look out the win­dow
as three donkey carts roll by oblivious to
speeding traffic.
Somehow - I don't know how, but I'm sure
it's true - the ll1Underbird degree I got in '82
has helped me function in such an environment.
That Tashkent has a first-class golf course also
helps. There is a significant Korean minority in
Uzbekistan, and it has drawn a thousand dedi­cated
Korean entrepreneurs in the past 10 years.
It often seems that every one of them is fanati­cal
about golf. A former Korean ambassador
built the Tashkent Lakes Golf Course.
Those of an entrepreneurial temperament do
find opportunities here. In fact, opportunity is
everywhere, and more money is hidden in this
economy than anyone can guess. The absence
of commercial activity is not brought about by
poverty. It's the other way around.
Commercial activity is stifled by oppressive
bureaucracy and bad laws. For those undaunt­ed
by a challenge, and able to navigate in
these corrupt commercial seas, large profits
can be made. •
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT is one of the
three formal focus areas students can choose at
Thunderbird. Marketing and Finance are also
offered.
I TRAVELING IN UZBEKISTAN
you feel tfIe cItsi,. to tmeI the .ncIent Silk Road, let tfIe soIf course
be )'OW Iut modem stop Wore 5ImIrbnd. BuIchara and Khlva.
'1MhIrMt Is not a wtr'J lttrlctlve city. It Is, however. tfIe best travel hub
In CtntraI AlIa. UzbeIc Air has several ftIahts a week to Tashkent from KUlla
Lwnpur. a.npok. DeIhl and a few EuropeIn cities. Expect to pay $550 - $620
roundtrip. A few other alrllna fly In IS well. aIthou&h IISI frequently and aener­ally
at a hI&her price. UzbIIc Air tries wtr'J hard to operate at "western standards,"
and they mostly succeed. All of the plana .,. 11ft. and the service Is reliable.
There .,. two wetem standard hotels In TashIr.nt. a Sheraton and an
IrnrcontInental. 'TIley .,. IS aoocI IS you would explCt, with pools and fitness
clubs and room service. A room will COlt you more than $100 a night.
A '- expensive att.matIve, with chtcent quality and service Is the Orzu at
about $30 a nJ&ht (http://www.orzu.tuhlalnt.~ 'The Orzu Is actually sewral
old houses In aresidlntlal nef&hborhood, aU.1I\OVatWd, dan and friendly.
OUtsIde TuhIciInt ~ .,. no wetem ~ althouah Samarbnd and
BullOrO have a number of aood famlty-run auest houses, such IS \CornU In Bulchara,
It about $l5 a nJaht (http://www.bukhara.MVlckoll~
RussIan Is the most widely used lanauaae. but It Is not unIversal Uzbe!c and
Tajlle .... more cornrnon. En&Ilsh is not widely spoken, thou&h hotels, some restau­rants,
and most tourist IpI'ICIes have Enallsh-spellcl"l staff.
Visu ... required for almost eYetyOne.and you need to have one before you
arrive. ~lIy. this takes sewral days and costs between $40 and $100. Contact
the nearest Uzbe!c embassy.
p . 18 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU 55 / 2/2003
CLASS TRIP TO CHINA
OPENS DOORS
EMBA student finds a new life in a new land
BY SUSAN COFFRarH
Dulce Garcia had an intuition about
China even before she and her EMBA X
classmates made their lO-day trip to
Beijing and Shanghai last May.
She had fallen in love with the
Orient during a horseback-riding
trip to Mongolia two years earlier. "\
started the EM BA program two
weeks after getting back
from Mongolia, so the
next two years were about deep introspection
for me and tough decisions about moving on
to new beginnings. Maybe China was there at
an unconscious level all the time," she said.
"But it was the Thunderbird trip that opened
the door for my transition."
Call it synchronicity or just good fortune, but
while she was in Shanghai, Garcia's Chinese
language professor introduced her to a profes­sor
at Shanghai University. That meeting led to
an interview for a teaching position and finally
a job offer. Two months later, she was moving
to Shanghai from Prescott, Ariz. Now, she is a
visiting professor of management at Shanghai
University of Finance and Economics, the No. 1-
ranked business school in China.
Garcia teaches junior-level undergraduates
in a country developing at break-neck speed.
Her students are hungry for expertise, especial­ly
Western business skills. "( admire their
resolve, because they have to take a few sub-
55/2/2003
jects in English, a language they've been
exposed to through Chinese teachers with a
focus mostly on grammar but little oral experi­ence.
For most, ) was the first foreign teacher
they had ever been exposed to," she said. ")
dare say it's been a transformational process
for both of us."
A Motorola executive for 10 years, Garcia
chose Thunderbird because ") just felt that it
was the right point in my career to refresh my
skills. After 20 years in the workplace and many
experiences behind me, my approach to busi­ness
decisions was getting sta le."
She is not unlike her colleagues in Class X.
Most of them fit the Thunderbird EMBA pro­file:
average age is 37; about 25 percent com­mute
from out of state; 20 percent have other
graduate degrees; two-thirds have more than 11
years of work experience; about one-third are
non-Caucasian, and 50 percent come from
companies with fewer than 10,000 employees.
The China trip comes in the second year of
the EMBA program. Garcia and her dassmates
spent five days in Guadalajara, Mexico, during
their first year of study. Both trips focus on
bringing dassroom learning to life through
company and plant visits, guest speakers and
cultural exercises.
The China trip began in Beijing, population
12 million, with guided tours. Over the first
two days, the students visited the Forbidden
City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace
and the Great Wall. Every stop was an opportu-
WWW. TH LI DERB IRD . ED LI
nity to see what they've been learning about in
books and in the dassroom, an opportunity to
see what life is like in China, an opportunity for
some of the students to try out their Chinese
language skills with native speakers.
The next 21/2 days in Beijing revolved around
learning firsthand what it means to do business
in China in the midst of a "T
p . I 9
Unicorn CEO Wang /ianzhou, they learned
how his telecommunication company handled
the split from the Chinese government and the
phenomenal growth it has realized.
At the morning debrief led by Dr. Mary Tea­garden,
students analyzed what they'd learned
so far. "The speakers aren't telling us anything
we didn't learn in dass at
revolutionary economic tran­sition.
They heard from exec­utives
of Ericsson and
Siemens about the great gains
China has made and about
how much must still be done
to restructure the economy,
build infrastructure and train
skilled workers.
I he speakers
Thunderbird," said Laura
Kozel, finance consultant,
"but just being here makes it
real and brings it home.
Experiencing the culture, the
cities and the people is
invaluable. "
They heard about the pit­falls
and succes es of doing
aren't telling us any­thing
we didn't learn
at Thunderbird,
but just being here
makes it real. "
A short two-hour plane
ride took students to their
next stop - Shanghai, a
dynamic city of 17 million.
business with China from the commercial
affairs expert at the U.S. Embassy, T. Lee Boam,
who cautions U.S. and other companies to do
their due diligence before entering the market.
His office hears more trade complaints than
any other U.S. Embassy office in the world, but
"most of the wounds are self-inflicted," he
said.
From China's Ministry of Information Vice
Minister Zhang Chuenjiang, whose wife is a
member of EMBA Class XI, they learned about
the telecommunication industry and the
impad of reform on what had been a govern­ment-
owned and operated sedOr. From China
Shanghai has been compared with New York
City for its edectic attitudes, its diversity of pop­ulation,
its energetic pace. People in Shanghai
say, "no one is a foreigner here."
During their 21/2 days in Shanghai, students
visited several plants and talked with managers,
supervisors and employees. They toured the
Shanghai GM plant and were among the few
visitors allowed to tour the plant while vehides
were on the line. That visit was arranged with
the help of student Brent Hendrickson, a man­ager
at the GM Desert Proving Ground in
Gilbert. He introduced his GM China col­leagues.
At the condusion of the visit, student
p . 2 0 WWW.THUNO ERBIRO. EOU
Each year, thousands of people,
including Thunderbird EMBA stu­dents,
make the climb up the Great
Wall at Badaling outside of Beijing.
BELOW Dulce Garcia
n sk any busy, full-time executive why he or she endures two years of rigorous
l1li study in order to earn an Executive MBA at Thunderbird, and the answer is
"new beginnings." Almost to a person in the 37-member EMBA Class X that was the
reason.
Paul Caldron, the physician who has an arthritis and rheumatology practice, wants to take
his business skills to a new level in a disadvantaged area of the world.
Michelle Cowles, an accountant at a large municipality, wants to move into the corporate
world.
Capt. Luis Villanueva, Air Force flight commander and F-16 pilot, wants an
international business career.
EMBA students and
Prof. Mary
Teagarden gather
Ehab Daoud, who worked at a major Valley semiconductor company, wants around Jeff Song,
to leapfrog into upper management at a technology or other company. country manager
Ray Rouse, at 60 and a consultant, is retooling by making a large
investment in himself.
for Honeywell.
From left, are:
James Wu, general
manager of the
plant, Teagarden,
Jim Jackalone,
Ehab Daoud, Greg
Starley, Song and
Thaddeus
Crawford.
55 / 2 / 2003
Manuel Vanegas offered thanks to the hosts -
in Chinese.
Throughout the trip, students introduced and
thanked each of the speakers and site managers,
and most did it in Chinese. "It's another way to
personalize the experience," said Barbara Car­penter,
senior director of Thunderbird's EMBA
program. 'They take responsibility for honoring
our speakers, and in doing so, represent Thun­derbird
in the best possible way."
At the Frito-Lay plant in Shanghai, while sip­ping
Pepsi and munching seaweed-, shrimp­and
beef-flavored potato chips, students talked
with three local managers before touring the
plant. One of them, HR Director Nina Liu, is a
recent graduate of Thunderbird's Global Man­agement
Program in Shanghai, a yearlong
mini-MBA-type program for Chinese managers
offered by Thunderbird's Center for Business
Skills Development.
The final site visit took the group to Honey­well
Thrbocharging Systems, a joint venture
company. That visit was arranged by student
Jim Jackalone. He and Sanjeet Singh, of
Honeywell in Phoenix, introduced Country
Manager Jeff Song, a participant in one of
Thunderbird's executive education programs.
Song was born and raised in China, educated
in the United States and has worked at Honey­well
for 15 years. "The economic miracle is real
for people living in China," he said. "Our
biggest challenge is improving agricultural
productivity to increase wages in the rural
areas. We can't increase consumption without
raising income."
On the last day of the trip, a final two-hour
debriefing session closed the program and pro­vided
the context for what the students
observed and experienced during the last week.
Garcia, who wraps up her teaching assign­ment
in January, has decided to stay in China
for another two years. 'The Chinese are doing
what they can to undertake the challenges of
this economic opening. The young people are
full of expectations and they want to get ready
to compete in the new economy. They know
they don't have the luxury of time and they are
working very hard to jump to another level as
quickly as possible, " she said.
'This place feels like a sponge; it's so vibrant!
China, specifically Shanghai, will rock for the
next 20 years and it's very exciting to be here
during this transition."
For Garcia, the Thunderbird EMBA opened
the door to a new career and a new life in
China, not to mention, new beginnings. _
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact:
Barbara Carpenter, senior director, (602) 978-
7921, carpentb@thunderbird.edu, or visit our
website at www.thunderbird.eduJemba.
55 / 2/2003 WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU p . 21
TOP LEFT Dr. Celia Caballero '02 (center) celebrates with fellow graduates before receiving her diploma. RIGHT Keynote speaker Antonio Zarate and ITESM
President Rafael Rangel pose with students for a class photo. BOTTOM LEFT Outstanding teacher recipient Dr. Toshi Shibano (right) banters with students.
MIMLA CHANGES ITS DEGREE NAME
Becomes Global MBA for Latin American Managers
Thunderbird's popular joint degree pro­gram
with Instituto Technol6gico y de
Estudios Superiores de Monterrey
(ITESM) may have just changed names, but it
still attracts more than 100 working executives
a year, about 90 percent of whom graduate. The
program, which had been called the Master in
International Management - Latin America, is
now the Global MBA for Latin American Mana­gers.
It still delivers the same content and pro­fessors
as Thunderbird's on-campus programs.
However, instruction is delivered through dis­tance
learning.
English is the official language of the pro­gram.
Upon completion, graduates receive a
joint degree from Thunderbird and ITESM. The
program has graduated 323 alumni in its first
three years; another 262 are currently enrolled.
"The Global MBA for Latin American Mana­gers
is a unique virtual educational experience
that will change your life," said Dr. Bert Val en-cia,
director. "It offers you the chance to study
at two world-class schools with the conven­ience
of a 'have it all' location and an invest­ment
that's affordable. How can you beat
that?"
Global MBA for Latin American Managers
students begin their program with a lO-day stay
at Thunderbird in Arizona, during which they
meet their teachers, learn about the distance­learning
technology they will use and attend a
"Business Leadership in the 21st Century" sem­inar.
Students then return home to their jobs
and families, commuting to an ITESM distance­learning
site every second Friday evening and
Saturday for the next two years for their classes.
They graduate back at Thunderbird, after
attending a final seven-day seminar titled,
"Latin American Business Leadership for the
21st Century."
The program currently has 12 such sites in
four countries: Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Mer-ida,
Mexicali, Mexico City, Mexico Ste, Monter­rey,
Queretaro and Santa Fe, Mexico; San Salva­dor,
EI Salvador; Lima, Peru; Panama City,
Panama. Additional sites are planned in:
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Santa Cruz, Bolivia;
Bogota, Colombia; Miami, Florida, USA; and
Guatemala.
"The Global MBA for Latin American Mana­gers
program prepares you for business deci­sion-
making, cross-cultural communication,
and global and regional business environ­ments
and challenges," said ITESM Director
Dr. Jose Manuel Sanchez. "Through the use of
technology, you will also develop collaborative
working skills with executives in different loca-tions."
•
FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Global MBA
for Latin American Managers, please contact:
Chelsea Olson, (602) 978-7534, or olsonc@­thunderbird.
edu.
=-------1 EYES AROU N 0 t---------------
p. 2 2 E WORLD 11--__________ 5
_
5
_1 2_1 2_0_03
met her in Jet Set. After two glasses of vodka and look­ing
through cigarette smoke, you would never have dis­tinguished
her from the dozens of other girls who hang
out in such places: blond, big blue eyes, small nose, lips
that were luscious.
Her name was Natasha, although Jean Paul Gaultier
was written on her shirt. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and
she was drunk.
We went dancing. then to another couple of clubs, where she period­ically
burst into tears or laughter when meeting her former boyfriend's
friends. I remember the following two weeks toned in blue-yellowish­absinth
color. She always chose where we went; every day it was a differ­ent
place. But everywhere it was the same: boys in slim t-shirts with shak­ing
hands; girls, lazily moving to the house rhythms and looking natu­ral;
big fat guys with bodyguards, S-Classes outside, and "I can do any­thing"
attitudes.
This was Moscow, the capital of our country.
Wednesday evening we met without having a specific plan. It was rain­ing
- so refreshing. energizing and calm. I remember the strong wind
blowing in my face - the
under the same umbrella, hiding
around, watching energy storm
"Let's go for a musical." I said, after looking at a nearby billboard and
daring to suggest our plans for once. HAt least we'll get some variety."
So we got tickets, paying twice the face value to a dealer just outside.
It was interesting sitting there, in a big dark hall, where little has
changed since the time anxious speeches about communism were deliv­ered
there.
1 was trying to understand the play-behind-the-play and trying hard to
notice details other people miss: catching actress Katya Tatarinova's
"you've missed the pause, idiot" looks at Sanya Grigoriev, watching solid
clouds of dust raising from Zhukov's enormous, scratched shoes.
After the intermission, 1 dozed for a little while, awakening to the
sound of Bogdanov's voice trembling strangely as he sang his aria, then
disappearing entirely. I opened my eyes to see women on the stage
crawling out from somewhere. Not sure if what I saw before me was
dream or reality, I saw a woman take out a gun and shoot it right into
the hall. Then people in camouflage outfits began running along the
55/2/2003 WWW.THUNO ERBIRO .E OU p. 2 3
aisles and blocking doors. There were lots of gunshots and Caucasian
accents everywhere.
Strange, but no one panicked. Perhaps it was because no one yet
understood what was really going on. More Chechen women then
appeared. I counted at least five; each was holding a gun in one hand
and a bomb in the other. "We are waiting for Barayev's call." they said.
"We are ready to explode ourselves!"
They ordered women to raise their hands and go left, men to raise
their hands and go right. "Georgians can leave the building!"
No one still thought it was a show. Their faces registered reality.
At first, our captors treated us nicely. They brought water and food
from the theater, giving us more than they kept themselves.
But then the shooting started.
We fell down and hid behind seat backs. Panic set in. I saw men in
tears with red faces, cursing in whispers and constantly asking "Why?"
Women were biting their lips and trying to calm their children. Girls
fainted. Someone said they'd killed a girl. As it turned out, they had.
Things suddenly shifted from "normal" to aggression. They lined up,
prepared the fuses.
Natasha fainted . I did not even have time to give her water. "Women
left, men right," they ordered, separating us once more.
Strange, the press sometimes writes about "Stockholm Syndrome"
where captives can begin to identify with their captors. There was noth­ing
like that in our theater. The only thing I
saw was hatred against the terrorists, deep
defiance and abhorrence toward those peo­ple
we knew would meet certain death. The
only question was: Would we live or die?
They said that they were doing this
because of Allah's will, that everything was in
Allah's hands. "Idiots," whispered everyone.
Natasha was among those girls: uncombed hair, eyes red from tears
and bright light, no make-up. I was surprised to see her like that. When
we met, she had cried for her lost boyfriend, but that had been a healing
cry. Now she cried with despair, a cry that only gets worse, and is laced
with the question, "Why?" She put her arms around me, like she had in
Jet Set. That time I felt, rather than smelled, her perfume. She smelled of
stress, physical fatigue and fear. Yes, I could clearly smell her fear. We
tried to make jokes and laugh. But we knew everything could end at any
time. "Now we are bound forever," she said, "bound with Nord Ost."
It was a beautiful moment.
I finally fell asleep, after three days with no sleep. And I slept deeply.
Whenever things are bad, I always have nice dreams. Perhaps Morpheus
helps me. I dreamed of Natasha and me skating along a beautiful river
that was completely frozen, all of its shores covered with deep and
downy snow. It was extremely cold, but our faces were red, and our eyes
sparkled. We were holding hands and felt each other's warmth. Suddenly
a noise sounded from somewhere. In my dream, we did not care and we
went farther and farther.
I felt a shove and when I opened my eyes, our beautiful snow had
transformed into white gas clouds. Terrorists were running everywhere;
they were shooting. After that, everything faded to darkness.
My first words, upon awakening in the hospital. were: "That is it?" It
was like when you go to a presentation you know will be incredibly bor­ing
and will last for four or five hours, but in
40 minutes someone says: "That's all for
today. "
There is nothing worse than reliving
things.
I lay there with tubes running through my
nose. Sometimes I realized it was over. Some­times
I clearly saw the hall, the people, the
terrorists. Then I'd be skating and having a
tremendous feeling of freedom.
I was unconscious for a long time.
O~
When I awoke, the people in the hospital
it
~ looked really lost, like they didn't know what
Only once did I see any semblance of
empathy toward the terrorists. It was when a
Chechen woman, in a paranja (a black veil or
burkha), which she never took off, told us
that they had done this because they were so
tired of the war. Their men couldn't live any
more in forests under the rain and snow, she
Police surround the Moscow theatre after the seige.
to do. Corridors were full of security agents,
checking everyone, asking questions, making
said, while their parents and children were being killed at home. notes. There were rumors that people wanted to commit suicide.
"You in this city," she said, Hare living in your nice, warm apartments
with hot water and electricity. You go to these nice musicals and eat
chocolate. You have no understanding of what is happening there, in our
land. For you, this is a terrible disaster; for us this is life. We came from
war and brought a piece of it to you."
Looking in her eyes, I realized that she really hoped to change some­thing.
Those eyes brightened as she said: "And if your government fulfills
our conditions and withdraws the troops from Chechnya, the war will
stop. Our people will live as they used to live many years ago. I remem­ber
such a life; my children do not."
I later recognized that woman among the dead.
It is always very hard to write about personal feelings. Believe it or not,
I wasn't really frightened. I was more consumed by guilt at having taken
Natasha there. By hatred against my captors. By fatigue. By worry over
what my parents were going through. By anger. Everything but fear. For
some reason, I just did not think I would die there.
What frustrated me most were the inconveniences - going to the toi ­fet
in the orchestra hall, a crowd of people around you constantly,
uncomfortable chairs. Bright light that was always on and that did not
let us sleep. While I wished I'd had a sweater, I at least wore trousers and
a shirt, and so, could get comfortable. The girls in miniskirts and high­heeled
shoes, trying to lie berween the aisles, had it much tougher.
Everyone wanted to go home.
When they finally let me go, my parents were waiting in the hall.
"Jesus, what they have gone through! " I thought. "Jesus, what you have
gone through! " my mother said.
I met Natasha in Courvoisier rwo days later: blond, big blue eyes,
small nose, luscious lips. Fendi was now written on her sweater. Who
could ever tell, I thought? The OJ was playing tunes; cigarette douds
hung everywhere - everything appeared normal.
Have these people heard, we thought? Do they know there's a war
going on in Chechnya?
We tried to talk. but something was wrong berween us. I smelled
Natasha's Gucci Rush, but I remembered that smell of fear. I tried to
touch her hand; she moved it away. "I feel so nervous now," she said.
We parted on the street.
It was raining. But this time we stood under separate umbrellas.
Looking deep into her face I wasn't sure if I saw teardrops there or merely
cold, cold rain.
You know, now we are bound forever.
I know.
I'll ca ll you ... sometime ... late1:
Maybe never?
Maybe never. •
p . 2 4 WWW.THUND ERBIRD .EDU
Ina soft economy, T-bird students need
hands-on experience, and strapped companies
need short-term expertise
For Susan Talley '01, CEO of Adaptive
Technologies Inc., three Thunderbird
interns have played critical roles in help­ing
grow her business these last two years. For
Xavier Cressan '02, a French national from the
Caribbean country of Martinique, a summer
internship with Volkswagen Group Latin Amer­ica
proved an outstanding opportunity.
"Our interns were great additions to our
company, bringing skill sets and perspectives
that were not currently present," said Talley.
"All three were self-motivated and needed only
minimal guidance. I encourage other business­es
to examine their needs to identify where
interns can add value to their companies."
"As an intern at Volkswagen Group Latin
America, I could really apply what I learned at
Thunderbird," said Cressan. "It was also a great
opportunity to learn from the best profession­als
of the Volkswagen group."
Foreign students such as Cressan are eligible
to work on internships because the INS consid­ers
internships coursework. Most also qualifY
for a year of post-graduate U.S. work as well.
Internships at Thunderbird are popular
three-to-six-month paid assignments that bene­fit
both students and companies. Highly flexi­ble,
they typically begin in spring, summer or
fall and are routinely customized by companies
to fit their needs.
More than 30 percent ofT-birds take intern­ships;
significantly more want them.
Providing an internship or full-time job is
one of the best things you can do for both
Thunderbird and yourself in this economy. •
55 / 2 / 2003
ntemships are actually easy to organ­ize
and manage. Here are some of the
questions we're asked most frequently:
1) WHO DO I CONTACT TO LEARN MORE
ABOUT/ARRANGE AN INTERNSHIP?
Contact David Martin in the Employer
Relations office at (602) 978-7814 or email
Employer_Relations@thunderbird.edu.
2) WHAT KINDS OF ASSIGNMENTS
MAKE GOOD INTERNSHIPS?
Thunderbird internships generally fall into
one of three categories: project-based, orienta­tion-
based and discovery-based. Many Thun­derbird
internships include segments of each.
• Project-based Internships
Thunderbird students have the background,
skills and ability to immediately contribute
valuable service to the employer. Students
come to the MBA program with a wealth of
functional competencies, industry experience
and regional knowledge.
• Orientation-based Internships
Many of the typical large company intern­ships
fall into this category. The primary objec­tive
of the internship experience is to provide
the student with broad exposure to manage­ment
and departments in the organization.
Students become familiar with the structure
and culture of the company, and companies
identifY candidates for future hire.
• Discovery-based Internships
Students often look to internships as a
means to experience and understand new chal­lenges.
It is often a test of fit for both the stu­dent
and employer. Approximately one of four
T-bird interns receives job offers.
3) WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF
HIRING INTERNS?
• Thunderbird interns are highly motivated
professionals with excellent skill sets. They are
able to manage complex projects with mini­mum
supervision.
• Interns can be used to complete special
projects that no one on your full-time staff has
the time or expertise to do.
• Interns allow your company to pursue
innovative projects. They provide a fresh per­spective
and ask challenging questions.
• Interns are able to use the vast database
resources of the Thunderbird International
Business Information Centre (IBIC) to help
your company.
• Interns are potential new employees.
Increasingly, employers look to former interns
when they seek to hire for full-time jobs.
55/2/2003
4) HOW LONG DOES AN
INTERNSHIP USUALLY LAST?
The typical internship lasts one trimester, or
12 weeks. However, internships may be extend­ed
for a second trimester.
5) WHEN ARE THUNDERBIRD
STUDENTS AVAILABLE FOR
INTERNSHIPS?
Although summer is the most popular time
for students to do an internship, Thunderbird
students also can do internships during the fall
or spring trimesters. Internships generally coin­cide
with the beginning of each School term:
May, September or January.
6) WHAT IS THE RECRUITINGI
SELECTION PROCESS FOR INTERNS?
• Initiate the recruitment process by contact­ing
the Employer Relations office in the Thun­derbird
Career Management Center (CMC) at
least one trimester before the internship.
• Draft a detailed job description catering to
a graduate audience. (T-bird has examples you
can use.) Remember, the internship must
include academic value in order for the student
to receive credit, so think about what the stu­dent
will learn from the experience.
• Work with the CMC to post the posi­tion
(with the job description) using Thunder­bird's
outstanding online posting system.
• Thunderbird will collect resumes from all
applicants and mail these to the employer.
Once the employer identifies the potential can­didates,
T-bird will make the necessary inter­view
arrangements.
• Conduct interviews. The employer has the
option of conducting interviews on campus, by
telephone or via video-conferencing.
7) HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY
AN INTERN?
Intern compensation varies depending upon
the student's experience, the geographic loca­tion
of the job and industry standards. Most
students are more interested in the quality of
the experience and the high degree of responsi­bility,
than they are with the salary. However,
pay is still a factor: in 2000, the average salary
for T-bird interns was approximately $3,200 a
month.
Government agencies and private not-for­profit
organizations typically offer a stipend.
Overseas salaries vary. For example, this year
European salaries were about $900/month, but
most also provided free housing.
WWW.THUNDERBIRD .EDU
8) DO I NEED TO PAY FOR RELOCA­TION
OR TRANSPORTATION TO THE
INTERNSHIP LOCATION?
Some companies include transportation
arrangements or a lump-sum payment toward
this expense; however, it is not required.
9) WHO ARRANGES FOR THE
INTERN'S HOUSING?
The intern is usually responsible for finding
his/her own housing. Some companies offer
assistance in apartment hunting.
10) DO I NEED TO PROVIDE HEALTH
INSURANCE FOR INTERNS?
Students who are enrolled for internship
credit are required to maintain their student
health insurance; therefore the company does
not need to provide health coverage.
11) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS BE
AUTHORIZED TO WORK ON
INTERNSHIPS?
Foreign students on F-1 visas are eligible for
Curricular Practical Training (CPT), which car­ries
with it a "for credit" academic requirement.
This process is monitored by Thunderbird.
12) WHAT PAPERWORK IS INVOLVED
IN HIRING AN INTERNATIONAL
STUDENT?
Thunderbird handles the INS forms related
to approval of CPT. Official permission to work
is given by the Thunderbird Designated School
Official (DSO), who is authorized by the INS to
cemfy work permission documents. The only
paperwork required from the employer is a
simple 1-9 form, which can be downloaded
from the INS website. http://www.ins.usdoj.
gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm
B) WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE NEEDED FOR
EMPLOYERS TO COMPLETE THE 1-91
For foreign students on CPT, either a driver's
license or the student's passport may be used as
an identifying document. The student's 1-20
with the work authorization endorsement on
page 4 may also be used.
14) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS RECEIVE
PAYMENT FOR INTERNSHIP
WORK? I F SO, ARE THEY SUBJECT
TO INCOME TAX?
Yes, they can and do seek pay. And
yes, foreign students must pay federal
income taxes and any state and local
taxes that apply.
Susan Talley '01, CEO of Adaptive
Technologies, has employed T-bird
interns to help build her artificial
intelligence company.
p . 2 5
15) ARE FOREIGN STUDENTS SUBJECT
TO FICA (SOCIAL SECURITY) TAXES?
If the student has been in the United States
for five years or less, authorized employment
under Curricular Practical Training is exempt
from FICA (Social Security) taxes for both stu­dents
and employers.
16) CAN FOREIGN STUDENTS GET
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS?
Yes. Most students will have obtained their
SSN before seeking internships. Those who do
not already have them can obtain them from
the Social Security Administration.
17) WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ON-THE ­JOB
CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY FOR­MER
THUNDERBIRD INTERNS?
• Benchmarked competition for a Fortune
10 company in the Asia-Pacific region and con­tributed
to the launch of an online distribu­tion
arm.
• Analyzed an under-performing healthcare
market segment and recommended that the
board divest that existing business line.
• Created a feasibility study for a Sino-Swiss
joint venture and coordinated necessary trans­portation
logistics for an industrial mineral­expomng
project.
• Directed market research projects conduct­ed
throughout 12 countries in Latin America.
Created forecasts for products in the pre-launch
stage in that region.
• Assisted with expense consolidation for
North America. Conducted and presented to
the CFO a sensitivity analysis of expense trends
within the IT industry.
• Developed financial models to facilitate
senior management repomng. Prepared ad-hoc
analysis in identifying potential upsides/down­sides
to business trends.
• Worked in the international division on
project development and structuring. valuation
and negotiating with potential partners. Also
conducted market evaluation, economic and
political-risk analysis, and industry research.
p. 2 6 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU 55 / 2/2003
LOOKING FOR
ADVENTURE
Cruising through the skies ...
BY BEATRICE BERNESCUT '90
WANTED: Adventurers with a taste for far horizons and a desire to conduct business in foreign cul­tures.
Age, country of origin, gender, professional background unimportant. Must be good with
people and able to hit the ground running. Problem-solving and language ability skills essential.
Opportunities for travel. Careers in all countries and industries. Personal growth guaranteed.
Doesn't this sound like the way job
postings at Thunderbird should
read? Wasn't that the reason you
studied there - glamour, travel, trad­ing
in far-flung locations? The question is, how
does one find such foreign adventure? Rest
assured that behind such prosaic titles as finan­cial
analyst or marketing manager or even man­agement
training program, such adventures do
exist. And life after Thunderbird will be a world
with wings.
Between them, Ted Strickler '75 and Rick
Dressler '75 have covered the globe. Their
careers have taken them to Zaire, Colombia,
Nicaragua, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland,
England, Panama, Uzbekistan, Turkey, El Salva­dor
and Portugal.
Strickler and Dressler, despite being dass­mates,
never met at Thunderbird. Both accept­ed
positions with Morgan Knudsen, an engi­neering
firm based in Boise, Idaho, meeting
about a year and a half into their management
training program . Hired specifically for over­seas,
Strickler then went to Zaire to supervise
the installation of high-voltage power lines,
while Dressler went to Saudi Arabia to help
build the King Khalid Military City.
Their work in setting up and managing large
international joint ventures eventually led both
to roles in human resources. So when they
decided it was time to return to the states per­manently,
they met up in Boulder, Colo., and
set up their own global human resources con­sulting
firm. But their traveling days are far
from over - their firm recently completed
assignments in Bolivia and Taiwan.
Sometimes it's difficult to believe that the
road to adventure can start at a dusty airfield on
the edge of civilization in Arizona. And the
edge of civilization it was when Leavitt
("Buzz") Ahrens '66 arrived at Thunderbird in
1965 with a degree from Yale and a desire to
work internationally. After graduating, Ahrens
served a tour of duty in Vietnam. But as soon as
that was over, he accepted his first job - with
General Foods.
Within six months, he and his family were in
Sao Paulo. Thus started a 33-year career working
for such global corporations as Levi Strauss, Lee
& Wrangler jeans, Jansport, and, finally, Rubber­maid.
Ahrens' career has also taken him to
Hong Kong (twice), Rio de Janeiro, Brussels,
and Puerto Rico, interspersed with a couple of
stints stateside.
Lest you think that globe-trotting jobs
belonged only to those who graduated when
~UNDERBIRD CHANGED
MY LIFE. IT EXPOSED ME TO A
LOT OF ACTUAL PRACTICES
AND BUSINESS ISSUES; IT
GAVE ME A LOT OF PRACTI­CAL
EXPERIENCE, AND IT
GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY
TO IMPROVE MY LEADERSHIP
SKILLS:' TOllS DOKIANOS '01
economies were booming, rest assured that
such adventures are still available.
Take Fabio Teixeira '00. Teixeira, a mechani­cal
engineer from Sao Paulo, held an early job
that took him to Sweden and to Belgium.
Having tasted the international life, Teixeira
chose Thunderbird. He then accepted a position
in ChevronTexaco's management program.
His first assignment involved global supply
chain integration. That was followed by a stint
working on international mergers and acquisi­tions.
In his current rotation, Teixeira is work­ing
on developing a strategy for North Asia,
which involves a great deal of travel to Korea
and China. In his next assignment, he'll be
working in sub-Saharan Africa. 'Thunderbird
opened my mind to international," he said. "[
learned how to deal with different cultures
around the world."
AnotherT-bird who talked of the importance
of cross-cultural skills is Octave Moumpala '87.
"Thunderbird gave me management skills, but
more importantly, it gave me the capacity to
deal with people of different cultures," he said.
Moumpala, who is originally from Brazza­ville,
left the Congo at age 15 1/2 to attend
boarding school in France. From there, life took
him to Topsham, Maine, Gabon and Paris
before bringing him to Thunderbird.
After graduation, Moumpala worked in vari­ous
agencies, such as the African Development
Foundation, eventually taking a position with
the World Health Organization. He worked on
a malaria program back in Brazzaville - until
he and his family were evacuated during the
civil war of 1997. Moumpala is now working for
the UNAIDS program in Geneva. But, for him,
the best part of his career is the opportunity to
55 /2/ 20 0 3
meet many interesting people - such as actor
Danny Glover, with whom he recently worked
on an AIDS project.
Another T-bird whose career exposed him to
celebrity is Richard Sims '92. Sims, who lives in
Costa Rica, went to Havana last September to
participate in the Agricultural and Food
Products trade show as part of his sustainable
forestry projects job. While there, Sims spoke
with the representatives of Chiquita, who were
also exhibiting. The vice president of Chiquita
was so impressed with Sims' Thunderbird back­ground
that he gave him his tickets to the
evening reception. There Sims met and spoke
with Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Of course, not all meetings are so momen­tous.
But even relatively low-key meetings can
provide a wealth of opportunities, as Mark
Wentley '95 learned. Wentley is an internation­al
territory manager for Trek Bicycle (the
provider of bicycles for Lance Armstrong. four­time
winner of the Tour de France).
Wentley was tasked with opening the Ukraine
market - a country about which he knew noth­ing.
So, using My Thunderbird, he contacted a T­bird
who lived in Kiev. That T-bird, Greg
Welling '91, not only sent him a book he'd writ­ten
about doing business in the Ukraine, he also
arranged for a car and driver to meet Wentley at
the airport, set up a luncheon meeting at the
restaurant of another T-bird, Patrick Dodd '95,
and introduced him to the owner of a local bike
messenger service - an introduction which
proved key in Trek's market entry plan.
Someone else who understands the power of
the Thunderbird network is Nancy Cailleteau
'97. A native of Houston now living in northern
Italy, Cailleteau said, "I know that I have friends
anywhere - alii have to do is to send an email
or pick up the phone, and I can get the answer
to any question."
Getting answers to questions is a vital part of
Cailleteau's professional life. She is working on
several projects, including one that involves
applying knowledge management to food. Her
mission, she said, is "to preserve the historical
knowledge embedded in food rituals."
Cailleteau is clearly involved in a non-tradi­tional
opportunity, but what about those T­birds
in "regular" careers? Can blue-suited
bankers hope to find adventure? Barbara
McAllister '87 would laugh at the question.
McAllister, who grew up in Fribourg. Switzer­land,
left home at 15 to go on an exchange pro­gram
in Minnesota. Later, after graduating from
Thunderbird, she accepted a position with
Chase Manhattan Bank back in Geneva. Now a
private banker for lNG, she covers India, Paki­stan
and the Gulf countries, traveling extensive­ly
to meet her clients. Not exactly your hum­drum
banker's lifestyle.
WWW.THUND ERBIRD . EDU
How did Thunderbird change McAllister's
life? "Well, I encountered fantastic companies. I
got a great job, and I met both my husband,
Stephen McAllister '87, and my best friend at
Thunderbird. "
Jerome Ryan '99 is also clear about how
Thunderbird changed his life. Ryan was a for­eign
service officer for 10 years, but his goal was
to get into investment banking in Tokyo, and
Thunderbird was key. By using the skills he
leamed at Thunderbird and its famous network.
Ryan got his dream job with Morgan Stanley
before moving to Deloitte & Touche. 'Without a
p . 2 7
doubt, I NEVER would have been hired by
Morgan Stanley without going to Thunderbird.
NEVER. It all started at Thunderbird."
John Sisson '82 also credits Thunderbird for
getting him started. Sisson, who now runs his
own organization for Big Brothers/Big Sisters,
began his career in a completely different field.
After Thunderbird, he spent four years as a
researcher in agricultural economics at the
University of Hawaii. Because Sisson had stud­ied
both marketing and finance at Thunder­bird,
he had generalist skills that proved very
useful both in this position and in subsequent
Ted Strickler '75 and
Rick Dressler '75
covered the globe
with Morgan
Knudsen before
opening their own
company.
Richard Sims '92
met Cuban President
Fidel Castro while
working on a forestry
project in Cuba.
p . 28 WWW.THUNDERBIRD . EDU
Brussels, I didn't know anyone, so I
:r called a few T-birds ... and the rest is ··1 HANKS TO MY THUNDERBIRD
history. "
Cook soon got heavily involved in
the alumni network, organizing
events and recruiting prospective stu­dents.
In the process he became
known as "Mr. Thunderbird" to his
many European friends. One such
friend, Robert Roussel '79, intro­duced
Cook to a colleague, Tania -
BACKGROUND, I FIND MYSELF IN A
VERY COOL PLACE WORKING ON
SOME VERY INTERESTING PROJECTS
WITH THE MOST FASCINATING
PEOPLE." N ANCY CAILLETEAU '97
years, whether it was as the national director of
marketing research for Junior Achievement or
as the director of development for two organi­zations
for the deaf.
While some people know exactly what they
want, others come out of Thunderbird in a
career that they would never have contemplat­ed
otherwise - such as Connie Fu '95. Fu, who
was born in Hong Kong, originally set out to be
a journalist, but after undergraduate school,
jobs were few and far between in that field, and
she set off for Thunderbird.
Fu studied finance because it was an area
she knew nothing about. She then took a posi­tion
in GE's financial training program. After
completing the program two years later, Fu
went to Hong Kong to manage a joint venture
between GE and Toshiba. She was very happy
to be home, and had no intention of ever
moving again. But the JV was transferred to
China, and Fu decided to accept a position in
New York.
She is now the financial planning officer for
the Esprit clothing chain, which is re-launch­ing
its business in the United States. Although
she is used to working with Americans and
Asians, this is her first opportunity to work
closely with Europeans (Esprit's headquarters
are in Germany). As she puts it, "Everything I
ever learned at Thunderbird [ am using. All
those group projects are paying off!"
Tolis Dokianos '01 is also using his class
work in his career. Dokianos, who is of Greek
and Brazilian heritage, said the practical experi­ence
of doing group projects at Thunderbird
stands him in good stead in his job of manag­ing
a team of 30 people, three agencies and
coordinating all dealership advertising for Ford
of Germany.
Life after Thunderbird isn't just about the
job, of course, or travel. It's also about relation­ships
and the value of the alumni network.
Perhaps one T-bird who most exemplifies this
is John Cook '79. Cook, who is originally from
Wisconsin, went to Brussels immediately after
graduation. As he puts it, "When I got to
and it wasn't long before Cook pro­posed.
Cook and some friends then
went on to organize an event in Bad
Ischl in February 1983. Fifty-five
T-birds showed up, and thus was born a 20-year
tradition of European alumni reunions.
The alumni network also helped Daniel
Lord '97 get started in a new country. Lord had
done some research in the area of agricultural
economics in developing countries. He decided
to see things for himself, and went to South
Africa after graduation. Betsy Boone '98
Fabio Teixeira '00 has
toured the world
with ChevronTexaco.
Here he's at the Great
Wall in China.
55/2/2003
offered him a place to stay. Using his network­ing
skills and Thunderbird contacts, Lord was
able to land a short-term consultancy project,
which eventually led him to his current posi­tion
with Cap Gemini in Johannesburg.
Lord credits the alumni network with his
success in establishing himself in South Africa,
which he says is a particularly difficult business
community to join. "But," he says, "it's not
only about learning another country and
another culture; the messages you hear about
Africa are only a small part of the story. Tying in
with local T-birds, you get a much more com­plete
picture of what's going on. H
Life after Thunderbird can be ftIled with
adventure, but the road to adventure isn't easy.
Nor does it have to be about getting on a plane.
Adventure can come in the form of dealing
with other cultures, of learning new and unex­pected
skills, of being able to take advantage of
sudden opportunities, of having your career
take unexpected turns, and of having a world of
friends. Are you ready to take the leap? •
Thanks to Thunderbird,
Jerome Ryan '99 traded
in his foreign service
officer position for an
investment banking job
in Tokyo.
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America economla
p.30 WWW.THUNDERB IRD .EDU 55/2/2003
TRADITION AND CHARACTER
The Barton Kyle Yount Award
The first redpient, Robert
Freshe '50, now works as
the CEO/executive direc­tor
of the William Randolph
Hearst Foundation. The most
recent redpient was Susan­Boedy
'02. More than 100 oth­ers
have earned the coveted
Barton Kyle Yount (BKY) award
in intervening years.
Named for Thunderbird's
founder, Lt. General Barton
Kyle Yount, the BKY award is
the highest honor any student
can earn at Thunderbird. It is
conferred upon the graduate
who best embodies the ideals of
scholarship, accomplishment
and character around which
Thunderbird was formed.
For those who may not know, Thunderbird began life
as Thunderbird Field No. 1. a U.S. Army Air Force Base.
Concerned about the growing war in Europe, a group
of private investors, induding Hollywood screen stars
Janet Gaynor, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and Hoagy
Carmichael, as well as Gen. Hap Arnold, Leland Hay­ward,
John Connelly and John Swope, donated more
than $1 million to build a pilot training fadlity that
would ultimately teach more than 16,000 U.S., British
and Chinese cadets to fly.
As the war waned, base commander Yount, who'd
grown weary of teaching men to fight and die, increas­ingly
envisioned a business school that trained people
for missions of a much more peaceful kind. His idea:
equip people with the business, culture, language and
human understanding skills they needed to live and
work as friends.
The school Yount envisioned opened only months
after Thunderbird Field was dosed. Fifty-six years later,
Thunderbird remains strongly committed to Yount's goal.
Each year, Thunderbird still teaches more than 1,100
students from more than 60 countries, nearly 60 percent
of whom hail from outside the United States. While here.
BY LINDSEY MICHAELS
those students live and work together in an atmosphere
that actively promotes curiosity; friendship and communi­ty.
They also tend to form the "It doesn't matter where I
was born or raised; I'm a dtizen of the world" mentality
that defines true Thunderbirds. Not surprisingly then,
Thunderbird's 33,500 alumni now work for more than
12,000 companies in 135 countries. Most remain remark­ably
"in touch."
In the wake of the 9/11 tragedies, Thunderbird invited
past BKY award winners to attend its Spring 2002 gradu­ation
program. Nearly 20 came, drawing comfort from
the Thunderbird fami ly and reaffirming the belief that
now, more than ever, this crazy world needs Thunder­bird.
"More than 'change' me, Thunderbird 'made' me,"
said John Cooper '61. who attended the event. Cooper
had spent 39 years as an international banker with Hong
Kong Bank and Merrill Lynch, 20 of them abroad. "I gave
up living in the communjty in which I was raised with
the friends of my youth and traded that for living in
many countries, developing many friends from all over
the world, and more importantly, setting the stage for my
children's lives in the same fashion. " •
BKY WINNERS
WHO RETURNED
Deborah Camper-Cowan,
1989, The Dial Corporation
Kevin Chenoweth, 1993,
Intel Corporation
john Cooper, 1961, NA
Robert Freshe, 1950, W.
Randolph Hearst Foundation
Richard Gesteland, 1991,
Hufcor, Inc.
Kenneth Holdbrook, 1966, TEC
David Kelly, 1986, 5chering
Plough Animal Health
james Kohl, 1971,
ITW Minigrip/Zippak
Dana Nelson, 1952,
Univel'Sity"of Arizona
Tracy Nottingham, 1996, NA
Harry Owens, 1980,
St. Charles Medical Center
Peter Petrik, 2000, Citibank
Charles Peyton, 1953,
University of Arizona
Richard Saint-Armant, 1975,
Intertech IntI. Corp.
Thomas Short, 1982, Citicorp
jan Wells, 1964,
Cannon Wines Ltd.
Brian Yates, 2000,
FMC Corporation
BELOW Past BKY winners
assembled to support
Thunderbird in the wake of
the 9/11 tragedies.
55 / 2 / 2003 WWW.THUND ERBIRD.EDU p.31
WT Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo prepares to address
the audience. ABOVE AmericaEconomia editor Ian McClusky
'82 hosts the Building Global Brands panel.
OTHER PANELS INCLUDED
• Risk Management
• Transparency and Efficiency in the Latin American Public Sector
• Argentina: What Lies Ahead
• Brazil: What Lies Ahead
• Free Trade Area of the Americas
• Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Public and
Private Sector
• The Mystery of Capital: The Underground Economy
in Latin America
OTHER KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDED
• Jules Kroll, chairman and founder of Kroll, Inc.
• Kenneth Dam, deputy secretary of the Treasury
• U.s. Ambassador Otto Reich, assistant secretary,
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
• Allen Stanford, chairman and CEO, Stanford Financial Group
• David Anstice, preSident, Human Health The Americas,
Merck and Company
AMERICAS CONFERENCE BUILDS
THUNDERBIRD BRAND IN LATIN AMERICA
The Miami Herald, in association with Thunderbird, once again pre­sented
its highly acclaimed Americas Conference Oct. 14 and 15
in Coral Gables, Florida. This year's speakers included three coun­try
presidents, Gustavo Noboa of Ecuador, Alejandro Toledo of Peru and
Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, as well as other highly placed business and
government leaders.
One of the top two Latin American-focused conferences conducted in
the United States each year, Americas Conference 2002 attracted more
than 750 attendees, many of them from Thunderbird. T-birds receive a
US$400 discount off the regular $1,095 conference rate.
Thunderbird gains tremendous brand awareness from the Americas
Conference, through our highly visible partnership with The Miami
Herald in all pre-, actual-, and post-event materials, through the panel
sessions we host and direct, through the many Thunderbird alumni who
speak, as well as through visits to our trade show booth. The event also
provides an outstanding opportunity for the School to reconnect with
both Miami-based alumni and those doi