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What did you learn on the CSBP trip to Seattle?
Well, to sum it up:
It’s ok to not give customers a choice, problem solving need not result in an answer, utilize the word “opportunity” whenever possible, even non-tree huggers can green their business, tapping into behavior is important, big companies have the capacity to do big things, and it doesn’t need to be “either-or.”
Our trip started and ended with a train ride from Eugene to Seattle and back again- by far the best way to travel. Once we arrived, we checked into our hotel and dropped off our bags so we could head over to our first visit of the trip – Safeco Field.
 Just a standard Seattle building The VP of Operations, Scott Jenkins, gave us an overview of many of the sustainability initiatives the field has undertaken from LED lighting retrofits to smart monitoring of the grow lights for the grass to an 81% diversion of waste from the landfill. When asked how they managed such a huge reduction the answer was simple, don’t give people a choice. Safeco Field has a lot of influence over what their vendors serve food on/in and was able to switch completely to compostables. As far as the consumer buy-in and understanding, well, they just took out the trashcans and left the compost and recycling bins – why complicate things? For more on our visit to Safeco, check out the post from esteemed CSBP colleague and baseball nut, Andrew White.
On the second day we woke up early to get ready for our trips to Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, and Costco. At Microsoft, Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental Strategist, and Josh Henretig, Director of MARCOM, described to us the beginning of their sustainability initiatives as “well intentioned chaos” and went on to explain the importance of frameworks. Microsoft strives to solve problems in an effort to demonstrate how problems can be solved – their goal is to provide scalable, leveragable solutions, not one-hit wonders.
Alaska Airlines gave us a chance to explore the insides of a plane and learn that even a self-admitted non-green company can make substantial improvements to their carbon footprint. Jacqueline Drumheller taught us the key steps she took in leading change from the middle, some of which were: don’t ask for permission, tackle the metrics, relentless communication, and use the word “opportunity” all the time.
Costco, our final stop of the day, left us feeling a bit differently than our previous meetings. Costco has been participating in cost reduction activities that have been successful both financially and environmentally. Their “sustainability” program is really a set of fortuitous outcomes from their business practices and the company shows minimal interest in trying to educate or promote more sustainable decisions to their consumers (consumers who consume and consume by their very nature). Yet, even a company with no warm and fuzzy tree-hugger-world-saving image is still having a positive impact. Whether it’s about feeling good or about the bottom line, there is still a case for sustainability. When it really comes down to it, that’s what we’re in school to learn about: how to make the case for each and every business – how to speak their language.
Day three started with McKinstry, an innovative consulting/engineering/building firm where Hendrik Van Hemert, an Oregon MBA alumni, stressed the importance of fitting sustainability into each individual client’s business in ways that make sense. Turns out President Obama is also a fan, for more check out CSBPer and former Seattleite Andy Fenstermacher’s post on McKinstry. We also toured their shop and production facilities and were able to get a glimpse of innovative building practices – by building in the warehouse and then inserting finished “components” (which are really the guts of the building) at the work site the company is able to a) make a better product (due to the controlled environment) and b) reduce its waste through reuse and recycling.
 Seattle, with blue sky, caught on camera Next stop was Starbucks, arguably the most engaging meeting of the trip. Jim Hanna, the Director of Environmental Impact, invited us to bring any questions, and more importantly criticisms, right out into the open, framing this meeting as an equal opportunity for us to learn from Starbucks and also for Starbucks to learn from us. The company’s goal is to use their scale for good and outlined some of their initiatives from their C.A.F.E practices which reward coffee farmers for sustainable farming to an entire lighting retrofit throughout the entire U.S. store base. And of course, we couldn’t leave without talking about the cups. Well good news, they’re working on it, but from a society-wide systems approach and not a “let’s throw some compostables out there that will end up in the trash anyways but at least we look good” standpoint.
Our last visit of the trip was to REI to learn about their successful initiatives and ambitious goals. For a company whose very nature is to value the outdoors it seems sustainability is a no-brainer. While some of their initiatives are more readily accomplished as their employees and clientele do not need much convincing, the company has still had to navigate its way through frameworks, metrics and measurements to set goals that are truly impactful to their business. One important point that Kevin Hagen made to us is that sustainability does not need to be a trade off between doing what’s right and doing what’s advantageous financially- ‘it doesn’t have to be an “either-or,” it can be an “and.”’
We wrapped up the trip with the opening game of the Seattle Mariners right back at Safeco Field where we started and had the opportunity to see their efforts in action.
So, it was just another few days at the OMBA participating in an experiential learning excursion to visit with chief managers of some of the top companies in the nation. What does your MBA program offer?? 
– Shannon Oliver, CSBP Class of 2013
Our second day in Seattle started off with a trip to McKinstry, located in the city’s SODO industrial neighborhood. McKinstry is  one of those companies that is difficult to summarize in a simple sentence. They describe themselves as a “full-service design, build, operate and maintain (DBOM) firm.” In other words, they do just about everything that pertains to buildings. The 1,600 people that work at McKinstry comprise a unique mixture of people not often seen in a single company – engineers, strategists, skilled laborers, and others working together under one roof (though, in reality, the company is so large it has quite a few roofs on its campus).
The core of McKinstry’s work focuses on building systems and energy-related issues. During our visit we learned that McKinstry made a strategic decision to diversify its capabilities in order to adapt to market cycles and external economic conditions. When the construction industry is highly active, the company provides design services for major projects and manufacturers HVAC systems. When the market cools down, McKinstry helps its clients plan for future projects or improve the efficiency of their existing buildings.
During our visit we were hosted by Henrik Van Hemert, a 2011 alumnus of the Oregon CSBP program. Henrik shared how he ended up at McKinstry after completing his degree and what it has been like to work in a company largely dominated by engineers, laborers, and other non-MBAs. It served as a good reminder that our freshly acquired business skills can be valuable in just about any context and that we shouldn’t be afraid to cast our job-search nets widely.
The name McKinstry may sound familiar to some. During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-candidate Obama visited the company and mentioned their energy work in one of his ads:
– Andy Fenstermacher, CSBP Class of 2012
During our recent trip to Seattle, we had the opportunity to visit SafeCo Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, an organization committed to sustainable operations, as evidenced by their decision to become a charter member of the Green Sports Alliance. Scott Jenkins, the Vice President of Operations, was our host for the afternoon, and gave us a fantastic tour of the stadium. While he was guiding us through the owners’ suite and the visitors’ dugout and clubhouse, Scott shared with us some of his insights regarding sustainability and operating such a large facility. One of the most important lessons I took from that tour (besides the fact that the center field wall looks a lot farther from home plate at field level) was the vital importance of communication when it comes to sustainability initiatives. Repeatedly, Scott told explained development and told stories that hinged critically on being able to communicate effectively to various stakeholder groups both upstream and downstream.
 Mariners Home Opener at Safeco Field When tackling waste reduction goals, the Mariners needed to gain cooperation from vendors, employees, and customers in order to make sure that everything worked out according to plan. As a large client, Scott and his team were able to convince vendors that they needed to provide biodegradable and recyclable product offerings at SafeCo. But what if employees and customers don’t understand what the organization is trying to do, and those new products end up going to the landfill anyway? To solve this challenge, Scott took a more passive approach. Compliance with newly implemented waste reduction programs was achieved by merely relabeling collection areas. For employees, the former trash room became the recycling center, prominently displayed by a poster on the wall. For customers attending the game, trash barrels were removed, and replaced with recycling containers and compost bins. There are only 17 containers at SafeCo now for “trash”, and they are labeled “Landfill”, to remind game-goers what the results of their actions entail.
Although the Mariners have been successful in implementing waste diversion and other sustainability initiatives in the ballpark, it hasn’t always been easy for Scott. He continually stressed the importance of speaking “the same language” when discussing capital investments with his superiors in the organization. As always with any expenditures, you must communicate the business case for the cash outlay. By focusing initially on easily introduced projects with fast paybacks, Scott was able to earn the trust of those above him, and eventually work towards additional sustainable improvements that seem more difficult to finance (such as a small photovoltaic array on top of the stadium’s parking garage).
Overall, the trip to SafeCo was truly a valuable experience that highlighted the importance of communicating on proper terms with various stakeholders… and also allowed some of us to live out our childhood dreams of sitting in a big league dugout with our friends and a bag of sunflower seeds on a sunny afternoon.
– Andrew White, CSBP class of 2013
“…because ultimately investors are buying you and you need to own the stage.”
Andy Sack (Executive Directory, TechStars Seattle)
One of the main reasons I decided to enroll at the University of Oregon is the fact that the students here are provided with many great opportunities to meet with important contributors to the Pacific Northwest’s economy. On this trip to Seattle, I knew that in order to maximize the value of my time, I would need to be proactive and meet with people that will benefit my future endeavors. While each of the meetings that we scheduled were engaging, there were three that stood out as extremely informative and applicable to my own aspirations:
- One sentence summary: A very successful venture capital firm, with investments ranging from Amazon to the Cheezburger Network.
- Why this meeting was important to me: They are active in technology investments. As a coder and a general web nerd, hearing the life of an investment group helps me understand what is perceived as value.
- Most important take-away from our meeting: There is no cookie cutter recipe for value.
Andy Sack, Executive Director of TechStars and CEO of Lighter Capital
- One sentence summary: An entrepreneur involved in tech incubators.
- Why this meeting was important to me: Also involved in web startups, Andy was a straight shooter. He didn’t sugar coat anything and told us about both his high points and mistakes that he feels he made.
- Most important take-away from our meeting: Don’t overanalyze things, just do it. Just plug away and keep chugging.
- One sentence summary: A really, really cool shared space and community.
- Why this meeting was important to me: Shared spaces seem to be the future of office space, and I never was exposed to it until this meeting.
- Most important take-away from our meeting: Just being in a reputable shared space can provide good name recognition to you and accelerate your reputation.
Incoming students, you have a lot to lok forward to next year. Also, if you’re in town, I would highly, highly suggest scheduling the above meetings.
Anyways, that’s my input. If you could meet with a company that wasn’t listed, who would it be?
- Paul S. Chun, MBA ’13
Lundquist Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
 It’s hard to believe that the Seattle trip is already over. After weeks of planning, the trip flew by and all we can do now is reflect on what most of us will agree was the trip of a lifetime.
The trip represented a different thing for each one of us in the OMBA Entrepreneurship program. For some, it was a chance to network with founders, managers and recruiters in the hopes of landing a job down the line. For others, it was an opportunity to learn more about the ins and outs of starting a business. And for most of us, it was also a much-needed break from schoolwork, and the chance to see a really cool city while bonding with classmates.
But what did the Seattle trip mean to me? To me, the most valuable aspect of the trip was the realization that there are thousands of ways people can be successful, thousands of routes people take after college, and nothing is ever set in stone.
Out of the 13 company execs we met with in Seattle, as well as the OMBA alumni that came out to discuss their life post-graduation, not a single one of them would have said that they could have predicted the career path they took.
The founder of Cascade Design, for example, founded the company because of a sandwich maker! Two of his unemployed friends invented a sandwich-making contraption that had a plastic blow-up bag in its construction. The Cascade founder saw the bag, and realized he could use that same design to create a more comfortable camping environment. And thus the Therm-a-Rest was born.
One of Valve’s founders, Gabe Newell, worked at Microsoft for 13 years, under Bill Gates. When he left the company for various reasons, he realized that the most popular application on people’s computers was Doom, a video game. He saw an opportunity to address a need, and followed with the gaming company Valve.
Sometimes it can be easy to set yourself on a path during grad school, deciding on what industry you want to get into after you graduate, the career climb you want to complete, even the specific company you hope to work for. But it’s important to realize that almost everyone, particularly entrepreneurs, got to where they are because “opportunity met preparation”. It’s cheesy, but so true. The Seattle trip gave me the reassurance that I can be successful in multiple venues, and with the MBA education I’m getting I’ll undoubtedly be prepared; I just have to find that perfect opportunity.
-Niloofar Mirani
Oregon MBA Class of 2012
This past Wednesday, the first-year LCE students drove North on I-5 for the second-annual LCE Seattle Trip. We arrived Wednesday night, and had meetings scheduled with companies starting with PRR at 8:00 on Thursday morning. We discussed trends in interviewing strategies, as well as how PRR specifically looks to transform a market: friend-to-friend and face-to-face.
 Phil, Terry and Bryan at the alumni social After PRR, we welcomed Microsoft to our meeting room at the surprisingly chic Seattle public library. We discussed strong leadership qualities (willingness to take on risk, appetite for partial ideas and ability to ask very basic questions), and discussed the product cycle Microsoft utilizes. Then there was a brief comparison between working for a corporation and as an entrepreneur. Lastly, the concept of the “cost of a meeting” was brought up (in the context of a meeting with Bill Gates and other high-opportunity cost executives).
3Tier was next on the schedule. We prodded with questions about the company’s beginning – in this case the venture capitalist path. A few discussions followed about renewable energy, and wrapped up with a piece of advice: find three markets of interest, network like crazy in all three, and then interview for positions.
The afternoon put us on the road to visit two more companies, this time in their offices: Valve and Amazon. The host at Valve talked about the starting point for the company, and its progression through the 80s and 90s. He mentioned that his buddy had left the company for a few months and lost out on about $50,000,000 in stock options. Something about hearing that changed the feel in the room for a group of 20 MBAs who would happily split 5% of that as salaries for their first year following graduation.
While not as historically rich (literally) as some of the executives at Valve, Amazon had some insight into the ‘large company’ view of things. It was interesting seeing the international progression of the company, and learning that its employees gauge themselves not in ‘years’ of experience, but rather in terms of ‘peaks’. One of the unique aspects of a company so integrally involved in seasonality fluctuations. It was interesting seeing them light up when they talked about their customers, and hearing the company described as “customer-obsessed”. An interesting quote that connected with my desire to work for an organization with a relaxed culture was, “if you tell someone, and it’s safe and it’s legal, you can do anything.”
 Meeting at McKinstry Innovation Center After the meetings, we attended an alumni social facilitated by the career services center. Some quality cohort bonding took place, and it was interesting to hear about the career paths of the people who were in our shoes a few years ago. Made me think that in only another year and a half I’ll be in their group. Terrifying to have such a short time, but exhilarating to know that we’ll have that connection and network for the rest of our lives.
Friday morning came quickly, and a bit bleary-eyed we met with Hydrovolts, Madrona, Cascade Designs and Wilridge Winery. Hydrovolts showed us a prototype of their turbine, and discussed some of the highs and lows of being a true startup (with an over-sized $50,000 check leaning up against the counter behind them). We talked about their strategy for moving into India – the fact that India called and asked if they could be a customer. Not quite what you would draw up as a market distribution strategy, but it works.
Madrona forced us all to reflect on what we’d heard the day before about “meeting costs”. We were fortunate enough to have six executives take time out of their day to talk to us about their behind-the-scenes venture capitalist careers. They mentioned that they’ll typically introduce 6-8 new deals per year, and then concluded by giving us some career advice: “whatever you choose to do, be excellent at it”, and “the next thing you do isn’t the thing you’ll do forever, but it will point you in a certain direction”. Very insightful advice, and very valuable to have their minds to pick for an hour.
We moved on to Cascade Designs and Wilridge Winery for the afternoon, but I broke off from the group and went to meet with a Starbucks executive involved in managing the Seattle’s Best brand for a one-on-one informational interview. My questions had a marketing slant to them – where is Starbucks in its life cycle, and how does Seattle’s Best fit into that progression, what metrics do you use to measure your team’s effectiveness, and what is the organizations international growth strategy – the list goes on. I particularly enjoyed when he responded that he sees the Seattle’s Best brand as comparable to that of Old Navy, in the sense that they have developed their own niche as a lower priced option. Overall, the experience of going through an informational interview was extremely useful and helped with shaking off some of the interviewing rust that had accumulated during my years in the workforce.
We wrapped up with a dinner where we all conversed about the meetings, speakers and trip as a whole. A celebratory drink or two were in order, and next thing we knew, our alarm clocks were beckoning us back to Eugene.
 Getting a tour of the Innovation Center To me, the benefit of meeting with several Seattle-based companies was twofold. First, we got to hear stories from successful people about their personal career paths and that of their company while also getting a wide survey of different types of companies that embrace entrepreneurial opportunities in different ways. But secondly, it showed all of us that all it takes to start reaching out to companies to develop a network or pursue an internship is a phone call. With only sixteen months of school left, this revelation that I actually already have all the tools I need to get a career for myself is added inspiration to ask a few more companies to contribute an hour’s worth of their time to the growing “meeting costs” the University of Oregon accumulated this past weekend. Lets hope it pays off.
-Brian Oehler
Oregon MBA Class of 2012
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