Hey Harvard,
Don’t forget about this Friday’s Summer Opportunities Fair!
Friday, December 7, 2012
12:00-4:00pm
Gutman Conference Center & Sheraton Commander Hotel
For more information, please check out the official OCS webpage.
— Ira Glass (via quote-book)
Applications are due today by 5 pm.
Please email 2012 Co-Presidents Kelly O’Grady (kellyogrady@college.harvard.edu) and Nancy Flewelling (nflewelling@college.harvard.edu) should you have any questions regarding the application process.
Photo Credit: WSJ
The following article was written for Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business by Emily Grandjean, a contributor from Wellesley Women in Business.
If you haven’t heard of Virginia “Ginni” Rometty yet, there’s no better time. The current Chair[woman] and CEO of IBM, Rometty is listed in TIME’s Top 10 Women in Technology, as well as Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. After graduating with high honors from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in 1979, Rometty worked for General Motors briefly before beginning her long career at IBM [1].
In an interview at the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit in 2011, Rometty told the audience about one of the mistakes she made early in her career when she was offered a powerful position: “I right away said, ‘You know what? I’m not ready for this job. I need more time, I need more experience, and then I could really do it well.’” She told the person who offered her the job that she would need to think about it. Later that evening, she discussed the situation with her husband who asked her, “Do you think a man would have ever answered that question that way?” Reflecting on the experience, Rometty said, “What it taught me was you have to be very confident even though you’re so self-critical inside about what it is you may or may not know….” She encouraged the audience members to quiet their own self-critics in order to take risks on a deeper level. “Someone once told me growth and comfort do not coëxist, and I think that’s a really good thing to remember,” she added.
As for her business philosophy, Rometty does not “believe in the inevitable,” which is to say that she doesn’t believe that things have to turn out a particular way. Rometty says, “What I have learned from this idea is that whatever business you’re in, it doesn’t matter; it’s going to commoditize over time, it’s going to devalue. You’ve got to keep moving it to a higher value… in whatever it is that you do. Force yourself and force your organization [to do it], and always do it ahead of time” [1].
Rometty is known for “combin[ing] performance and charisma,” [3] as well as leading “from both her head and her heart” [4]. Only time will tell what great things she will continue to do as one of the foremost female leaders in technology and business. For Rometty, success might just be inevitable.
Sources:
[1] Ginni Rometty, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginni_Rometty
[2] IBM’s Ginni Rometty on taking risks, YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du_a0CCJkWE
[3] IBM Names Virginia Rometty as New Chief Executive, The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/technology/ibm-names-a-new-chief.html?pagewanted=all
[4] IBM’s Ginni Rometty Looks Ahead, Fortune. http://management.fortune.cnn.com/tag/virginia-rometty/
Pinterest Introduces Business Accounts and Tools
Pinterest has invited businesses to the table, announcing resources designed just for them.
The Three Benefits of a Business Account:
1. Account verification- Verifying your account allows businesses to link their websites to their Pinterest profiles. The full URL and verification red check mark can be seen in the “About” section, which allows businesses to be found more easily in search results
2. Add special buttons and widgets- Pinterest is inviting companies to integrate the ‘pin it’ or ‘follow’ buttons into the “board” widgets on their own websites. This will increase engagement from pinners and drive traffic.
3. Access new upcoming features- Brands will soon be able to gain access to reports that will help them better analyze and understand their audience. Updates on future products and services are to come.
Added bonus: companies that already had a personal Pinterest account will be able to convert it to the new business model.
Why we Like This: This new business model brings much more convenience to companies wanting to utilize the social sharing site, allowing them to look at their content in new ways, with new tools, with the benefit of a built-in analytics tool.
Short and sweet explanation of Pinterest’s business accounts.
I know that Kate Spade NY has always been pretty active on Pinterest; they post some pretty great stuff, too!
Do you ladies use Pinterest? What companies do you hope to see on Pinterest?
