Photos of cats and dogs adorn most walls in the Franklin, Tennessee, headquarters of Mars Petcare.
Two weeks
in the
worklife of
Britt Groomes, EMBA 2013 Britt agreed to share a sampling of his first-year experience from the two weeks between Saturday class sessions.
week 1 Monday After work, I dive into our assignments from last Saturday’s classes. I read a case we’re working on and prep information for our current C-Team group project. Tuesday Connect with the other members of my C-Team to discuss our group assignment. We work through what we’ve done before the meeting and delegate pieces of the deliverable.
Wednesday Get home from work. Spend some time with my family, which just grew to three with the birth of our daughter, Harper. Have dinner and take the baby in a stroller as we walk our dogs. Between 7:00 and 11:00, I usually settle into my individual and group assignments.
Friday I use my lunchtime to get in a little training for the Music City Triathlon (my first) because most weeknights are devoted to schoolwork. (My wife set up a place in the sunroom to be my defined study spot).
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Saturday Unless I’m studying for finals or mid-terms, most of my alternating Saturdays are free. Prebaby, we spent a lot of weekends on the lake. Now, we’re mostly hanging around the house with Harper. (And loving it.)
week 2 Monday I pick it back up after the weekend. Tonight I’m getting ready for our weekly C-Team meeting. We’re working on a “dashboard” for Macroeconomics, in which we evaluate one industry (we chose railroads) and prepare a presentation on key macroeconomic indicators that affect that industry.
Friday Often I take advantage of the optional Leadership Development sessions on Friday nights. It’s where you learn the “soft skills” you don’t get in class, but that are extremely valuable if you aspire to higher leadership (my goal is to be a CFO someday). Friday nights also give our C-team a chance to meet one last time and make sure we have everything tied down for Saturday.
Wednesday I’m continually amazed by how “real-world” our classwork is. I recently drew on what I learned in Bill Christie’s Corporate Finance class to create a working model (with some suggestions from Bill) for our company’s buyers to use in negotiations.
Tuesday Meet with the C-Team to work through what we’ve done, refine and polish.
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Saturday Classes begin at 7:50. I arrive between 7:00 and 7:15 for breakfast (and any last-minute prep). With three 3-hour classes, marathon Saturdays are tough. I get home and my brain is fried. Fortunately, I’m a good note taker and I’ll review everything tomorrow night in the sunroom.
owen.vanderbilt.edu
ACCELERATOR® year executive two americas mba
After working at Deloitte, Britt joined Mars Petcare in 2009 and is now a Supply Finance Manager. Most recent promotion: new father.