From an Intern to a Fellow

Back in June 2008, I touched down in New York City as a bright eyed Saltire Foundation intern. I arrived in a world where George Bush was president, Lehman Brothers was still standing and Justin Bieber was uploading his first clip to YouTube. It was the second year of internships, I was living in Manhattan and working with Starwood Hotels on 5th Avenue. Those 8-weeks sprung me into new aspirations, a new confidence in myself and an incredible network of people.

 

When I interviewed for the Fellowship, I was living in London and coming to the end of my graduate Marketing programme with Sky. Sandy introduced me to the scale of this when he said ‘if you think your internship was life changing – this will be like New York on acid’. We’re only on week 2. I agree already.

 

We’re living about 20 minutes from the gorgeous Babson campus, where we have lectures 8am – 5.30pm 6 days a week. From leadership to trends, from business models to innovation – it’s fast, full on and incredible fun.

 

Things which have opened my eyes this week are:


 

1) The most inspirational way to spend an hour of your time. This has changed my outlook on life - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

2) Scouting out new trends (from websites like http://www.trendwatching.com)

3) Innovate through the business model – feeling very inspired by Rachel Botsman’s work on Collaborative Consumption (http://www.rachelbotsman.com)

4) A real time simulation of running our own company Tech Mark – we were split into 5 teams of 4 competing against each other for 2 days (with the highest profit and share price, our team came out on top and we’ve earned bragging rights for the next 12 weeks)

5) That value is derived not from the product, from the solution to the problem. Has stopped me thinking – what’s the idea? – and now, what’s the customer problem? Sounds simple but it's been a step change in mindset for me

 

 

Also thanks everyone who also spoke to us in Edinburgh on our kick off week, we estimated over 100 people got involved -hugely inspiring to see the incredible caliber of leaders in Scotland.

 

Stay up to date with us on @2012Fellows or at #Saltire2012

Daily updates on all things Fellowship from me @leannesherry

Posted 05-Sep-2012 12:21 by Leanne Sherry
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