nabil laoudji

poetry, prose, design thinking & entrepreneurship

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My MBA Internship as a Storyteller

April 19, 2010 by Nabil 4 Comments

This summer I’ll be heading to Los Angeles to practice storytelling. While not a traditional MBA internship, my friends and faculty at MIT Sloan have been super supportive, often connecting me with whoever they feel will be helpful on my journey.  There is, however, one question that always crops up: Why storytelling? And what does this have to do with getting an MBA?

The seed for my journey was planted in 2005 when Christopher Adkins, my former professor at William and Mary, invited me to speak to his undergrads about potential career paths. As I thought about what to say, I remembered a recent article that I had read about Shotei Ibata, a Japanese calligrapher. As a young man, Shotei was advised not to go into calligraphy because it was super competitive, and prospects for earning a living were slim. Shotei nevertheless followed his passion, and in the process invented a completely new type of large format calligraphy (i.e. giant circles drawn with a 6 foot brush) that brought him worldwide acclaim and a steady stream of clients. As I relayed Shotei-sensei’s story to the undergrads, there are two lessons that I highlighted: First, passion is a competitive advantage. Second, behind every passion lies a business model (even if your passion is to draw circles).

So what is my passion? To answer this question, I sat down at my desk last Fall and I created a matrix. I plotted Creative, Business-Esque, Technical, and Intuitive on opposite ends of the X and Y-axes, respectively. Next, I took a deep breath, told myself to suspend all judgment and awareness of my work experience (e.g. an MBA with a consulting background), and started jotting down activities that I enjoyed.  As I looked over my filled out sheet of paper, I felt a wave of joy: all of the opportunities looked exciting.  As I mulled over the matrix over the next few days, another realization became clear: the more that the opportunity maxed out on the creative and intuitive ends of the spectrum, the more excited I was about it. The idea with the highest score? Storytelling. And thus my summer plans.

So what does storytelling have to do with my MBA? In short: I’m not sure. And that’s okay. In a 2005 commencement address at Stanford, Steve Jobs shared his story about dropping out of college and “dropping in” to activities that piqued his interest. One such activity was a local art class, where Jobs learned how to make beautiful typography. At the time he had no idea how this class would serve him, but as he was designing the Mac — the first computer with beautiful fonts — it all made sense.  Jobs said, “It was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.” The essence of Jobs’ message is that there’s a lot of value in bringing together unlikely experiences, especially when they’re rooted in genuine interest. With this principle as my basis, I have faith that my storytelling internship will bring value to my MBA. In fact, some of the dots are already starting to connect.

So where do we go from here? Currently I’m working to raise funds to cover my expenses this summer, brainstorm potential storytelling frameworks, and build out my network in Los Angeles. If you suggestions on any of these, please drop me a line. Otherwise I will post updates on my new project website — www.mbastoryteller.com — as I continue my journey. Thank you to all of you who have supported me so far.

Filed Under: Stream Tagged With: career, internship, MBA, MIT, passion, storytelling

The Bold Sell: It’s a Wrap

March 7, 2010 by Nabil Leave a Comment

Three judges from Xerox, Cisco, and HubSpot. Eight contestants from MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School. And a surprise appearance by one John Coleman.

A big thanks to all those who helped to bring this week’s Bold Sell Competition to life, including our volunteers, judges, contestants, and the over 200 people who attended the event. Congrats also to our three winners: Slava Menn (MIT – 3rd place); Chika Ekeji (MIT – 2nd place); and William Collis (Harvard – 1st place).

If you’d like to play an active role in organizing next year’s competition, or would like to bring The Bold Sell to your school or organization, do let us know. For video of all our winners, click here.

Filed Under: Stream Tagged With: improv, MBA, public speaking, sales

The Bold Sell: Winners + Video

March 7, 2010 by Nabil Leave a Comment

Three judges from Xerox, Cisco, and HubSpot. Eight contestants from MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School. And a surprise appearance by one John Coleman.

A big thanks to all those who brought this week’s Bold Sell Competition to life, including our volunteers, judges, contestants, and the over 200 people who attended the event. Congrats also to our three winners: Slava Menn (MIT – 3rd place); Chika Ekeji (MIT – 2nd place); and William Collis (Harvard – 1st place).

Without further ado, presenting video of the top three winners of The Bold Sell competition.


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Filed Under: Stream Tagged With: improv, MBA, public speaking, sales

The Bold Sell Competition

February 3, 2010 by Nabil Leave a Comment

In last Fall’s Basic Sales Training Workshop, renowned sales guru Jeff Hoffman described sales as based on the principle of “creating a sense of urgency where none exists.” That urgency, Jeff stated, is created by the seller and instilled in the buyer. Fair enough. As kids, however, we learned another important principle: “If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.” And so, on March 3rd, we put our finest orators on call and create for them an urgent condition. Cue the Bold Sell Competition.

In a first-ever collaboration between the MIT Sloan Sales Club and the Harvard Business School Public Speaking Club, our two schools join forces to test – and celebrate – our most creative, witty, and captivating MBAs. The premise is simple: 1 product, 6 slides, 7 minutes, and an eager audience packing Wong Auditorium. Your challenge? Sell a product like it’s the next coming of sliced bread. The catch? You don’t know what product you’re selling, nor do you know what’s on your slides, until you’re standing in front of your audience. And one more thing: your performance will be scored by sales execs from Cisco, AOL, Xerox, and Hubspot. Go.

The Bold Sell Competition will be held on Wednesday March 3rd at 7pm in MIT Sloan’s Wong Auditorium. Our goal is to laugh, listen, and celebrate those brave enough to step into the spotlight, so bring your friends and join us to cheer on our fellow MBAs (Admission is free).

Here’s to laughter, creativity, community, and sales. See you in Wong.

Filed Under: Stream Tagged With: improv, MBA, public speaking, sales

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