All posts by Barry Slaymaker

99-Spreadsheet modeling, Excel resources

MBA-Level Excel Skills

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Beyond the MBA top 20 supplied by Professor Noonan, I have located a handful of academic resources indicating which Excel skills MBA students should have when they graduate, and in some cases, before they begin their studies. While this information may not be a direct resource to gain these skills, it paints a picture of the expectations that the business world will have for us when we complete our studies.

 

Duke’s Fuqua School of Business identifies a number of skills that incoming MBA students should have on the Computer Skills section of their MBA ready website at http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/student_resources/mba_ready_executive/computer_skills/#doc2

One of the skills that has caught my attention here, and an area in which I lack experience, is referencing across worksheets and workbooks. While referencing across worksheets is relatively intuitive for me, references across workbooks will definitely require some additional research on my part. Additionally, Duke requests that students are familiar with text file imports into Excel. While I feel that minor research can reveal a process for this, my interest is piqued by this requirement.

Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and their Kelley Direct online program provide a slightly different set of recommendations on their Prerequisite Excel Skills page at http://kelley.iu.edu/onlineMBA/Admissions/Prerequisites/page36896.html . Here we find a grouping of skills and specific functions that are required. While many of these functions should be familiar to most of us, I am not sure how many within our cohort spend time parsing text or using reference functions. To that end, I am sure that the nature of one’s background is likely what is driving what and when these functions may be used.

Finally, the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/degrees/mba-program/admit-central/curriculum-and-academics/pre-mba-preparation provides significant opportunities for incoming MBA students to refine their skills in advance of their studies, from assessments to online courses and on campus workshops. While this site does not directly speak to the Excel requirements of it students, it does exemplify the importance that the university places on these skills. Also, you will find a link to an online tools page at the bottom of the above linked page.

 

What does all of this mean? First and foremost, I believe that this solidifies the concept that excel skills are paramount to success in business school and business in general. Secondly, one could interpret this information as a gauge of where the Excel skill lie for those you will be competing with post-graduation. Finally, I see this information as a sign that Goizueta may be lagging behind some of the top schools in their stated value of Excel. Perhaps I have forgotten by this time, but I do not recollect any Excel requirements being addressed during the orientation or onboarding process and I am fairly sure that there was no foundations course in Excel. Please correct me if I am wrong about this, but I think Goizueta would be well served to sharpen the focus on this key skillset.

07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, slide-craft

Less is More, Right?

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In the article titled “My Seven-Step Method for Creating a Presentation When the Stakes are High” by Carmine Gallo  http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/12/18/my-seven-step-method-for-creating-a-presentation-when-the-stakes-are-high/, Gallo accentuates one of the great points of creating a slide deck – less information and more pictures increases retention of the material. Specifically, Gallo identifies that only 10% of information conveyed verbally is retained by the audience, but this increases to 65% if the verbal concept is coupled with a relatable graphic or picture. This article also addresses a number of techniques for preparing to give the presentation, many of which have been covered in posts elsewhere.

I believe this concept extends far beyond the basics of slidecraft. We have seen other posts this semester about dealing with distracted audiences, so let’s evaluate this concept in that scope. Imagine that you are watching a presentation where the presenter is exploring a complex issue in detail. Suppose the slide looks something like this:

(from Gallo article)

How distracted will you be, specifically if the verbal presentation does not align with the visual? In my case, I would likely be even more confused if the presenter attempted to step through each part of this obviously overrun slide. By simplifying the presentation of the slide, the audience is allowed to focus on the information. I liken this idea to introducing the audience to the information in lieu of confronting them with it. The presentation and presenter will be far better received with a consumable amount of information on each slide and slide design that does not distract or alienate. If I can develop my skillset to always fall within the boundaries of this concept, I believe most of my battle is won. However, this is a difficult transition for me, as I am always most interested in the underlying data and information behind a presentation and always am yearning to dive deeper into what I have been presented with and what I am presenting. Therein lies my challenge: balancing the desire for information with the desire to be understood. Tricky for sure!

I think that we have seen fantastic examples in the first two semesters of MP of how to do this correctly, so we obviously have some classmates very strong in the area of slidecraft. Personally, I have had little previous need to develop me skills with Powerpoint or similar software, but I was fortunate to work with a great team in last fall’s semester of MP, from which I was able to begin to sharpen my skills. Again, thankfully, I was paired with a team during the spring that had excellent technical slide creators from whom I gained an even more detailed look into the mechanics of creating the slides. This is where I intend to focus the balance of my semester: the technical details of actually creating the slide deck and I look forward to seeing the resources that everyone is able to uncover.

 

99-Spreadsheet modeling

Excel: The Hammer to Every Business Nail?

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My organization is a small firm engaged in supplying doors and hardware to the commercial construction industry, so we have little need for capabilities related to Excel, right? Well, not exactly….

Leadership at my company is aging and is mired in the view of technology from a decade ago, but they are in love with Excel (although they are only familiar with the most basic functions and capabilities).  Their solution to EVERY issue is to use Excel spreadsheets to find solutions, manage information, or make a decision. In turn, those of us that are tasked with executing and managing these issues have begun to refer to Excel as “The Hammer”.  You see, even if a bullet proof case can be made for managing information through Access, SharePoint, or other industry specific software, leadership wants to use Excel. After all, it is the hammer to every nail!

This leads me to one of the main reasons that I feel that improving my Excel spreadsheet skills will be critical: efficiency. Efficiency with Excel allows me to better handle my workload, more effectively represent the data I have compiled, and more quickly derive time sensitive conclusions to complex issues. Currently, I feel like my skills lead me to taking circuitous routes to reach my destinations, so this is the reason my goal is to spend the summer improving efficiency. There are countless Excel methodologies and formulas that I plan on skimming briefly to gain an understanding of their power, but I intend to focus my personal journey on isolating the key skills such as the top 20 list and polishing my techniques.

One of the techniques that I will be using this semester is to learn by teaching at my workplace. Few of my coworkers and direct reports have Excel skills beyond rudimentary data entry and I have been looked to as an “expert” in the past. Although I hardly deserve the expert label, I find that teaching the software allows for introspection that reveals my weaknesses. In the past 2 weeks, I have spent time with experienced and beginner users working through the basic methodologies and applications for pivot table use. Pivot tables allow our estimators to estimate more quickly, our project managers to more accurately manage material, and our engineers to more effectively isolate and coordinate the details of a project. My goal is to employ my “learn by teaching” idea throughout the summer, hopefully resulting in not only an increased skillset that I can leverage moving forward, but also effecting positive change on our organizational efficiencies.

I invite any comments on my plan or the nature of my post. If you have never tried it, experiment with learning by teaching and see if it works for you. Time to get back to swinging my hammer…