Diversity can be reflected in many ways. A few ways we express it at Darden is through perspective, thought and experience. Guest Blogger Brian Nwokedi, Consortium Fellow and MLT MBAP Alumnus, shares some of his thoughts around a topic he didn’t expect at B-School.
Before coming to the Darden School of Business, I used to work for a large public accounting firm as a CPA. During my time there, I primarily served clients in the real estate, hospitality, and financial services industries, and was responsible for doing things by the book and within budget. Often times during my four years, my non-accounting friends and clients would joke saying that I was only really good for “solving problems they didn’t know they had in ways they couldn’t understand and reporting these facts to the general public.” Needless to say as a public accountant I was not given a great deal of latitude to flex my creative muscles and use my imagination.
Generally speaking, in accounting creativity is synonymous with dare I say it: “fuzzy math” and “earnings management/manipulation.” It is characterized by excessive complications and the use of novel means to characterize income and assets with the intent to influence (a.k.a. deceive) readers of the financial statements towards desired interpretations. Needless to say creativity is a very very bad thing in accounting. As a result, for 4 solid years I came to see creativity as the stuff of actors, artists, musicians, writers and generally everyone else that wasn’t in my profession. Even my investment banking buddies were getting their creative groove on … [see mortgage backed securities otherwise known as the catalyst for the subprime mortgage crisis].This lack of creative freedom is one of the biggest reasons I made the decision to leave the public accounting world and return to school.
Fast forward to my second year hear at Darden [1]. As part of my current Term II curriculum, I am taking two creative design oriented classes both taught by amazing faculty: (1) Corporate Innovation and Design Experience – GBUS 8459 and (2) Developing New Products and Services – GBUS 8130. Both courses are centered on user driven value creation through the use of design thinking and the creation of new products. Put into laymen’s terms, I am getting credit for actively “thinking outside the box” to create new products and solutions from scratch. Talk about the green light to explore! I mean both of these classes give me a medium to let my imagination flow and truly flex my creative muscles! What was once a stymied skill set (i.e. my creative soul) is now being allowed to run free and wild. And not to sound cliché, but to sound completely cliché, I am only bound by my imagination within these two courses in the products and services that I create. Currently, I am working with a group to create a motion detection camera that will allow football and baseball teams to capture player movements in three dimensions to help with overall talent and player evaluation. And by the end of these courses seven weeks from now, we will have a prototype that does just that!
In closing, to steal the name of the third album from singer-songwriter Debbi Gibson “Anything is Possible [2]” within these two classes and I look forward to exploring my creative soul over the next seven weeks. Goodbye handcuffs of the rigid accounting world and welcome back creativity and imagination. You both have sorely been missed!
Brian Nwokedi, Second Year Student
Notes:
[1] Please note that there has been no discussion of the first year primarily because the first year was a blur. Seriously, I’m still not certain what all happened last year.
[2] Please note that the Debbie Gibson reference is solely because of the fact that we share the same birthday. It’s not like I actually know who she is. Side note … For all you Britney Spears lovers out there Debbie Gibson came first… just saying!
