Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Schneider is now into toasters!
I was told today that my blog was missed. I explained that I'm not sure if it's appropriate to keep this thing up to date with our project, or what I should do. However, I did miss some key moments from our two weeks that I would like to document for my own sake...
One team building activity was to design, create, and develop a marketing plan for a Schneider toaster. Apparently, the energy market had (hypothetically) gone to crap and Schneider was now looking into the toaster market. Scoff. As IF this would happen! So we had a team of about 10 people that had to now create a toaster. Here is what we came up with:
This picture just does not do our end product justice. You see (and use your imagination here), we built a toaster with solar panels, touch screen, and a built-in Wi-Fi to connect to your building management system. It also had a fingerprint reader so upon scanning your thumb, this toaster would know exactly how you like your toast. Our shining marketing ploy was that we branded the toast with the Schneider One logo (see toast in picture). This meant that despite where our product was being used, the end user would know this is Schneider One toast. They wouldrequest demand that their breakfast was made with the Schneider One toaster. The beauty was the bread doesn't matter, it's our product that brands the bread into toast. Our slogan, "We go green, so you can get brown."
Update 10/12/11:
Our team has struggled with a common time that we can have conference calls. China is +12 hours from the US and to be honest, I'm not my best at 6:30am, but I'm trying. We have defined our scope, and we just need to tackle our next milestone. Our project has nothing to do about toast.. I think we're making BIG strides but we still have a lot of work to do and (on personal note) I have a LOT of coffee to drink. :)
One team building activity was to design, create, and develop a marketing plan for a Schneider toaster. Apparently, the energy market had (hypothetically) gone to crap and Schneider was now looking into the toaster market. Scoff. As IF this would happen! So we had a team of about 10 people that had to now create a toaster. Here is what we came up with:
This picture just does not do our end product justice. You see (and use your imagination here), we built a toaster with solar panels, touch screen, and a built-in Wi-Fi to connect to your building management system. It also had a fingerprint reader so upon scanning your thumb, this toaster would know exactly how you like your toast. Our shining marketing ploy was that we branded the toast with the Schneider One logo (see toast in picture). This meant that despite where our product was being used, the end user would know this is Schneider One toast. They would
Update 10/12/11:
Our team has struggled with a common time that we can have conference calls. China is +12 hours from the US and to be honest, I'm not my best at 6:30am, but I'm trying. We have defined our scope, and we just need to tackle our next milestone. Our project has nothing to do about toast.. I think we're making BIG strides but we still have a lot of work to do and (on personal note) I have a LOT of coffee to drink. :)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
One of my coworkers in the press.
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/52107-dane-sees-potential-of-global-youth-summit.html
This is a fellow Felician that I was in Zurich with.
This is a fellow Felician that I was in Zurich with.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Breathe
So tomorrow, I head home. I am the type of person that gets anxious 24 hours before ANY trip; to get packed and get there. Even if I'm spending the night at my parent's house.
I don't think I can put this experience into words. It has seemed so incredibly fast, and yet I have not had a chance to breathe. Literally. Get on the bus at 7am get back to the hotel at 7pm and then out to dinner for more business talks.
Last night, we went to Vapiano. It was so delicious I seriously considered bringing it back to Florida. This is still up for debate. Fresh pasta, cooked in front of you. Hard to beat. I only need $1.5 mil to start a franchise. I was so impressed, I did research it.
I get to see my doggie on Sunday! And my Mom and Dad too! Hopefully, all my flights will go smoothly. Although I do have a 5 hour lay over in Philly. On Sunday, my parents are headed to Tampa to give me Maddie and then see the grand kids. They said that Maddie has been very good, which is nice to know. I hope she's as happy to see me as I am her. And of course, my parent as well ;-)
I haven't mentioned. This place is ridiculously expensive.The first night I was here, I ordered room service (because I didn't know anyone or anywhere to go) and their fish and chips was 29 francs ($35 dollars). I was sure that was stupid ridiculous. I have since been taught that was cheap. We have made jokes that we are the most expensive Felix program ever, but that's not really a joke. There is a rumor flying around that our next stage will be in Hong Kong, but I'm sure once the VP's see our expenses, that will be axed.
Anyway, this post is kind of all over the place but I just wanted to get out some memories before I head home. It's been fun, but I'm looking forward to getting back to reality. Hope you have enjoyed!
I don't think I can put this experience into words. It has seemed so incredibly fast, and yet I have not had a chance to breathe. Literally. Get on the bus at 7am get back to the hotel at 7pm and then out to dinner for more business talks.
Last night, we went to Vapiano. It was so delicious I seriously considered bringing it back to Florida. This is still up for debate. Fresh pasta, cooked in front of you. Hard to beat. I only need $1.5 mil to start a franchise. I was so impressed, I did research it.
I get to see my doggie on Sunday! And my Mom and Dad too! Hopefully, all my flights will go smoothly. Although I do have a 5 hour lay over in Philly. On Sunday, my parents are headed to Tampa to give me Maddie and then see the grand kids. They said that Maddie has been very good, which is nice to know. I hope she's as happy to see me as I am her. And of course, my parent as well ;-)
I haven't mentioned. This place is ridiculously expensive.The first night I was here, I ordered room service (because I didn't know anyone or anywhere to go) and their fish and chips was 29 francs ($35 dollars). I was sure that was stupid ridiculous. I have since been taught that was cheap. We have made jokes that we are the most expensive Felix program ever, but that's not really a joke. There is a rumor flying around that our next stage will be in Hong Kong, but I'm sure once the VP's see our expenses, that will be axed.
Anyway, this post is kind of all over the place but I just wanted to get out some memories before I head home. It's been fun, but I'm looking forward to getting back to reality. Hope you have enjoyed!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Purple Pittsburgh Passion
Yes, I know...that title makes no sense. Let me try to explain...
Our director explained to us very early on that the goal of these One-Young-World-inspired Felix projects was to create a positive media buzz for Schneider Electric once they were complete. At this point, we had no idea what our projects were. But once we were assigned project teams, our team decide that although we didn't know the project, our goal was to make it to 2012's OYW, which is in Pittsburgh, PA. We had no idea if this was feasible, but thought we were being funny. So although other teams came up with things such as W.I.S.E. (Wisdom, Intellect, Straightforward, Efficient) we just thought it would be fun to go to Pittsburgh. So there you have it, we were Team Pittsburgh.
Then, On Thin Ice came into the picture on Tuesday and they took each team and gave them colored scarves to identify each team. Wouldn't ya know? We were purple. So we change our (not permanent) team name to Purple Pittsburgh.
Well, today we were finally given our projects. Our director announced that our project was "Passion". We all just looked at each other and giggled. Purple Pittsburgh Passion it was. This name may be more permanent than we originally thought. Although it certainly is not terribly professional, so we'll have to see.
So in the interest of sleep I can't get into too much detail about the project but I'll sum it up quickly.
We have been challenged to create an interest/awareness/passion for Schneider's BipBop program. We have a conference call with our sponsor tomorrow at noon (Swiss time) to get some basic questions answered.
Our director explained to us very early on that the goal of these One-Young-World-inspired Felix projects was to create a positive media buzz for Schneider Electric once they were complete. At this point, we had no idea what our projects were. But once we were assigned project teams, our team decide that although we didn't know the project, our goal was to make it to 2012's OYW, which is in Pittsburgh, PA. We had no idea if this was feasible, but thought we were being funny. So although other teams came up with things such as W.I.S.E. (Wisdom, Intellect, Straightforward, Efficient) we just thought it would be fun to go to Pittsburgh. So there you have it, we were Team Pittsburgh.
Then, On Thin Ice came into the picture on Tuesday and they took each team and gave them colored scarves to identify each team. Wouldn't ya know? We were purple. So we change our (not permanent) team name to Purple Pittsburgh.
Well, today we were finally given our projects. Our director announced that our project was "Passion". We all just looked at each other and giggled. Purple Pittsburgh Passion it was. This name may be more permanent than we originally thought. Although it certainly is not terribly professional, so we'll have to see.
So in the interest of sleep I can't get into too much detail about the project but I'll sum it up quickly.
We have been challenged to create an interest/awareness/passion for Schneider's BipBop program. We have a conference call with our sponsor tomorrow at noon (Swiss time) to get some basic questions answered.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
On Monday, we had a workshop on Getting Things Done. It's an organizational theory to manage everything going on in your life. I had taken a similar (yet different) course from Franklin Covey. GTD had some good ideas as far as organizing your email inbox. I found it a bit light on how to prioritize what needs to be done first, second, etc. Franklin Covey was very specific about their prioritization method. So I think I may marry the two to get something that works for me. We spent all of Monday and the morning of Tuesday training on GTD.
Tuesday afternoon we were introduced to "On Thin Ice". We had been given our project groups on Monday, so this was a team-building activity for us to learn how everyone works under stress. We had a series of 6 tasks that we did one by one. Each time we had to designate a leader and an observer. Our team did fairly well. The tasks increased in difficulty each time. The last task was one person had to sit inside a tent (which we had assembled blindfolded in an earlier task) and read out directions to the team members on all four sides of the tent. We had to mark 6 spots on the map. Easy right? Well about 5 minutes in, we realized we all had different maps and they were all oriented in different ways. One was topographical, one with latitude and longitude, one 180 degrees upside down and one with military bases. Of course, the clues made us all work together to try and figure out where the six spots were. And just to be clear, we weren't able to look at any other maps. It was very frustrating but we ended up doing decent.
We went to this beautiful restaurant last night that it on top of a mountain. It overlooks all of Zurich. Pictures to follow. The food was quite good as well. You were able to climb a 5 story tower to get the best look. I kept my feet firmly on the ground but still got some good pictures.
Today we find out our projects! We know that 4 are on Environment and 2 are on Global Business. I think it's fair to say that the group, all 32 of us, has been a bit frustrated that we haven't been able to get our topics earlier. It seems like we could have been brainstorming and delegating during our breaks over the past two days. However, my group has agreed to go to dinner tonight to lay the ground work.
My group is myself, a Japanese women living in Thailand, a Chinese man, a Spanish man living in Grenoble, a French man living in Grenoble, and an Indian woman. So, I have come to terms that I will be on conference calls at 6am to make this work. I do have to say that I have a better grasp on the time commitment and it's a lot. 1/2 a day a week.
Will update more later.
Tuesday afternoon we were introduced to "On Thin Ice". We had been given our project groups on Monday, so this was a team-building activity for us to learn how everyone works under stress. We had a series of 6 tasks that we did one by one. Each time we had to designate a leader and an observer. Our team did fairly well. The tasks increased in difficulty each time. The last task was one person had to sit inside a tent (which we had assembled blindfolded in an earlier task) and read out directions to the team members on all four sides of the tent. We had to mark 6 spots on the map. Easy right? Well about 5 minutes in, we realized we all had different maps and they were all oriented in different ways. One was topographical, one with latitude and longitude, one 180 degrees upside down and one with military bases. Of course, the clues made us all work together to try and figure out where the six spots were. And just to be clear, we weren't able to look at any other maps. It was very frustrating but we ended up doing decent.
We went to this beautiful restaurant last night that it on top of a mountain. It overlooks all of Zurich. Pictures to follow. The food was quite good as well. You were able to climb a 5 story tower to get the best look. I kept my feet firmly on the ground but still got some good pictures.
Today we find out our projects! We know that 4 are on Environment and 2 are on Global Business. I think it's fair to say that the group, all 32 of us, has been a bit frustrated that we haven't been able to get our topics earlier. It seems like we could have been brainstorming and delegating during our breaks over the past two days. However, my group has agreed to go to dinner tonight to lay the ground work.
My group is myself, a Japanese women living in Thailand, a Chinese man, a Spanish man living in Grenoble, a French man living in Grenoble, and an Indian woman. So, I have come to terms that I will be on conference calls at 6am to make this work. I do have to say that I have a better grasp on the time commitment and it's a lot. 1/2 a day a week.
Will update more later.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Go.... World!
I HATE that I missed the Gator season kick off. Luckily, I have a guy from Texas here that can commiserate with me. Well...he was on my side until he sent another group member up to me last night and in broken English the poor messenger asked "What is Roll Tide?" I was angry. Very. Angry. But it's all in good fun.
The conference has been...long. Honestly, it is SO inspiring to see these young people be so passionate about something. And I have to admit, I am pretty ignorant to the world's problems. I have learned a lot these past three days. But with the inspiration comes a group of 32 people that work for a large corporation. At one point in the discussion, an American from PWC stood up and said (paraphrasing) "You guys are blowing a lot of hot air, why don't you join a corporation and try and do it from the inside." I couldn't agree more. We were actually at an outdoor pub and spotted one of the CEO's that spoke about Global business and invited him over for a drink. He asked us "Do you think you can do it?" to which I responded, "Yes, we can. But we have to do it on a platform corporate has already backed up, not something out of the ground." And for me, it's the sustainability argument.
It truly is sickening to see a 20 something stand up from Kenya and say to a major CEO, "What can you do for me? My country needs electricity." I think about my life and the comparison is unreal. I get angry when the power goes out, as if i feel entitled to it. I never worry about food. And I can use my stove whenever I wish to. Others do not have this privilege...
So, we have a lot of work to do, as a world. I am excited to learn what our Felician projects will be. There was a lot of discussion that we will be doing something on global business or environment. I truly believe that installing electricity in developing countries is profitable, if we do it the right way.
They announced last night that 2012 One Young World will be in Pittsburgh, PA. And in a very touching moment, they said they needed to give countries more time to prepare so they also announced 2013 will be in Johannesburg, South Africa. This nation has so much pride that I wish I could bottle it.
Youth is not ignorant or wrong, they are energetic and their passion is inspiring. I hope that I can bring a small part of their inspiration back to the US and do some good for our world with it.
The conference has been...long. Honestly, it is SO inspiring to see these young people be so passionate about something. And I have to admit, I am pretty ignorant to the world's problems. I have learned a lot these past three days. But with the inspiration comes a group of 32 people that work for a large corporation. At one point in the discussion, an American from PWC stood up and said (paraphrasing) "You guys are blowing a lot of hot air, why don't you join a corporation and try and do it from the inside." I couldn't agree more. We were actually at an outdoor pub and spotted one of the CEO's that spoke about Global business and invited him over for a drink. He asked us "Do you think you can do it?" to which I responded, "Yes, we can. But we have to do it on a platform corporate has already backed up, not something out of the ground." And for me, it's the sustainability argument.
It truly is sickening to see a 20 something stand up from Kenya and say to a major CEO, "What can you do for me? My country needs electricity." I think about my life and the comparison is unreal. I get angry when the power goes out, as if i feel entitled to it. I never worry about food. And I can use my stove whenever I wish to. Others do not have this privilege...
So, we have a lot of work to do, as a world. I am excited to learn what our Felician projects will be. There was a lot of discussion that we will be doing something on global business or environment. I truly believe that installing electricity in developing countries is profitable, if we do it the right way.
They announced last night that 2012 One Young World will be in Pittsburgh, PA. And in a very touching moment, they said they needed to give countries more time to prepare so they also announced 2013 will be in Johannesburg, South Africa. This nation has so much pride that I wish I could bottle it.
Youth is not ignorant or wrong, they are energetic and their passion is inspiring. I hope that I can bring a small part of their inspiration back to the US and do some good for our world with it.
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