Author Archives: Allison Newell

Be intentional. Be confident. Be decisive. These are all themes of recent conversations I’ve had with friends and mentors. While these themes apply to life at large, let’s focus on them from a career perspective today. Once you’re on a path, you can let momentum do its thing and carry you forward. Yes, you stillContinue reading “Don’t Let Your Career Happen to You”

“Think of design as a verb. Have a bias towards action.” Design is all about experimenting, failing, and iterating. We can’t get to the good stuff without trying different ideas. Sure, maybe if we spent all the time we wanted on a new product or experience, we might get it 60% right when it launches.Continue reading “A Bias Towards Action”

A strategy is what you will do differently than your competitors to create a “unique and valuable position.” It is what you will say “yes” to, and perhaps more importantly, what you will say “no” to. A strategy involves trade-offs because we can’t actually have it all and successfully compete. And a good strategy willContinue reading “Are we making strategic or reactive choices?”

We all have values, whether or not we acknowledge them. Some of our values are conscious, concrete parts of our lives. (“I value spending time with family.”) Some of our values are more subconscious, appearing when they are challenged. (~inner thoughts~ “Ugh, no, I can’t deal with another happy hour right now. I have beenContinue reading “Values in Real Life”

At Kellogg, we are put into sections of ~60 students. We are assigned to “pods” within our sections of 8 students so we can foster closer relationships. My pod rocks (shoutout to the mop-ups!), and today we were eating lunch together after our final exam. One of our pod-members suggested that we take some timeContinue reading “Make Your Aspirations Known”

I wish I were a professional speed skater. But I did meet one yesterday. He’s one of my classmates. We’ve worked on teams a couple of times and have a friendly relationship. But this epic fact had not yet come up in conversation. As we wrapped up a team meeting, I was planning to stayContinue reading ““Wait – You were a professional speed skater?!””

Me. I do. Right now, I tell myself, “no” more than anyone else. And I’d guess that I’m not alone in that. “I don’t want to be annoying. I’m sure they’re really busy.” “No problem, I’ll let someone else do the part of the project that I actually really wanted to do.” “I don’t meetContinue reading “Who Tells You “No” The Most?”

I love working in teams. I value building relationships, learning from my teammates, and working together on a shared goal. And historically, I’m pretty good at bringing teams together intuitively, so I’ve had positive team experiences. But intuition isn’t enough to rely on to create an effective team environment. I’m learning in my “Leadership inContinue reading “Don’t Leave Your Team Dynamics to Chance”

My friend (the wonderful Mayukh Sen) and I were reflecting on our summer quarter (the first quarter of our MBA/MSDI experience), and he made a comment that literally stopped me in my tracks. “When you see someone doing something better than you that you wish for yourself, it’s an opportunity to learn from them insteadContinue reading “Flip the Script: Envy is an Opportunity to Learn”

“…just show up correct.” My very wise friend (Emi Rosanwo) dropped this gold nugget as she was concluding a story about being frustrated with people who don’t respect the time and emotional energy of others. I asked her to say more. She went on to describe “correct” as having done the work for yourself beforeContinue reading “Show up Correct”