Day One

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 (Day 1)

Today was our fist day of FIM. I say “our” because I really get the sense that we, the students, are all in this together. We went through introductions today and will continue to do so on Thursday. Everyone seems to be of a generally high caliber and there were some really interesting personal stories. Some of us have definitely overcome some major challenges in our lives (like Christel, from Safeway, who dodged secret police as a journalist in Cameroon before immigrating to the U.S.A. and has since put two of her siblings through college while working her way up to store manager).

During the presentations I noticed how many people have real difficulty with public speaking ranging from not knowing exactly what they want to say to real physical reactions like red blotches on their necks, red faces and even hands turning purple from clenching. This is surprising to me since everyone seems really good at communicating one on one or in small groups. There were also a few people who are extremely comfortable speaking in public. Andrea Dimond from Dreyer’s (a mother of five) was very much at ease and Rebecka Cupp, the pharmacy director for Ralph's(?), brought a lot of drama to her presentation. Generally I’d say the vendors are more comfortable with it than the retailers, probably because of the number of times they’ve made presentations.

I’d put myself somewhere in the middle of the group. I don’t think I have a physical reaction and I don’t have a lot of butterflies, but I’m a bit distracted being up there and I have a tendency to leave out some of the things I had thought I might mention. I don’t do as many of the bad hand habits as some people do, but I do a few and even notice them while I’m doing it. That's something I'll need to work on.

Both Professors Tom Arnold and Ed Hill talked a little bit about themselves today and are quite impressive. Tom has been an engineer, a business person (MBA), and a lawyer before becoming a teacher. Ed Hill is a pioneer in the grocery industry, has done a lot of retail consulting, mostly in Europe (including with Tesco), and owns a working Sherman Tank in Idaho. I think both will bring a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience and vision to our classes.

After class ended we had a group photo taken as well as head shots and then took a two hour Excel training session. I didn't learn much at this one, but the instructor was very helpful to some of the other students and I did have the opportunity to help a few of my classmates out, so it was certainly worth my time.

Tomorrow we begin the coursework in earnest.