43rd Business Today International Conference - New York, NY
I had the honor of meeting over 100 students from 38 different countries in just under 72 hours.
In just three days I had some of the most crazy and most exciting times of my life!
From November 19-21, 2017 I was privileged to attend Princeton University’s Business Today 43rd International Conference in New York City, as the only delegate from The Ohio State University and the entire state of Ohio, after being chosen as 1 of 150 attendees from a pool of 2,000+ domestic and international applicants.
The 43rd International Conference was structured around the theme “Redefining Innovation: Leading the 21st Century Revolution. The Conference also featured executive seminars, where students were carefully matched with executives pertaining to their interests and gained a valuable firsthand account of the executives’ work and business. Additionally, students competed in the Millennium Challenge. Students came up with a business plan on a pre-selected topic in two days and pitched it in front of a panel of judges, and my group made it to the final round! Ultimately, Business Today provided a foundation for students to build a global network in hopes they will last well beyond the 3-day program."
POP- QUIZ: Can you spot me in the picture below? Shoulder to shoulder with students from Harvard, IE Business School, Stanford, Yale-NUS College and various top tier universities, I was able to meet the most innovative and bright minded individuals who are either domestic or international undergraduate professionals/entrepreneurs. Including those from: Zimbabwe, Honduras, Spain, Norway, India, Croatia, Germany, Kenya, and many more!
Throughout the conference we interacted with 50+ world-class executive keynote speakers who shared their perspective on disruption, innovation and sustainability including: the President of Microsoft, President and CEO of Marsh and McLennan, President and CEO of Asics, President of Cadillac, President and CEO of Texas Capital Bank, CEO of McCann Worldgroup, President of Colgate, and others.
On Day 2, attendees were divided into various groups for off site excursions. I was able to visit a global public relations firm called Ketchum. At Ketchum our group heard from the CEO Rob Flaherty, as he shared insight on some of their PR strategies behind a few of the most viral stories.
I am excited to share some important takeaways from the various keynote speakers and overall experience:
1. If your job is not what you love, bring what you love to your job.
2. Focus less about image creation, and more on the authenticity in the action.
3. Most importantly, the President and CEO of Asics shared the importance of:
"Sound mind, sound body." A sound mind may not mean you have a sound body, but a sound body will lead to a sound mind.
In other words, when trying to achieve our best we can only do our very best once we physically are at our best. I believe this concept is most especially important for college students, as we strive to achieve it can be difficult to maintain physical well being. Therefore, the concept of sound mind, sound body resonated strongly with me.
To top off the entire experience, on 11/22/17 I and the other 149 participants of the conference were featured on page B6D of the Wall Street Journal!!!
It was a great honor to be the only student from the state of Ohio in attendance. I am always proud to represent The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. Much thanks to Princeton University's Business Today organization for believing in me! Such an experience has opened my eyes to the extreme importance of establishing a global network, and for that I will always cherish this opportunity!
