My summer internship at the Global Chief Executives Organization (YPO)

Internship at YPO is my first professional experience in the US (outside of graduate school), which gave me the chance to bring the abstract concepts in class to help solve daily business challenges.

YPO is the Premier Leadership Organization of Chief Executives with 27,000+ members in 130+ countries and is the global platform for them to engage, grow, and create impact. To become a YPO member, candidates are elite leaders of organizations that meet several strict requirements (annual revenue, numbers of employees, existing member's referral, ...)

Working on the data of such a special group is exciting and challenging at the same time. My team ultimate role is to support the management team with corporate strategic planning, decision making, and to improve business performance, budget efficient. There're 3,000 events organized in different regions and continents every year, which created a massive pool of data for us to dig into.

Throughout this internship, I have had the chance to work side by side with my manager and support her in big projects, including company quarter and fiscal year reports. It was a great opportunity for me to immerse in the whole data analysis process, from data preparation, data analyzing to drawing insights and building reports. 

My valuable lessons:

1. There's no perfect job:

Even the most passionate analyst may feel daunting sometime, and in the real world, we might have to do what is not "favorite."

As our findings and recommendation contribute directly to the strategic decision of chief executives, my team always try our best to obtain the highest level of data accuracy. That also means a lot of efforts in data preparation, auditing, cleaning, ... It's a daunting and repetitive process, requires a high level of patience and attention to details. But in the end, our analysis (output) will be garbage if we put garbage in.

2. Speed vs. Accuracy:

My manager told me: "I don't care how fast you can do it, but I will be much more disappointed if you do it fast and wrong." As an enthusiast analyst, sometimes I felt tempted to have the results as fast as I can, and that led to compromise with accuracy level. Now I learned to get to the next level of finding a balanced solution and develop more effective ways to cross-check my works and ensure its accuracy. 

3. Communication is not just listening, but right understanding:

Being in such a diverse, difference embracing environment, I'm truly aware of the importance of communication with different groups of stakeholders who come from different backgrounds. In data analysis, miscommunication can cost you go miles.

The last thing that I'll always remember about YPO is their people! I felt so lucky to have such a big family around me. Our lunch and conversations are full of culture stories, various countries' cuisine, and fun.

I want to send my special thanks to my manager Joy Akwarandu and all other members of the International Lunch Brunch family for making this internship an unforgettable experience. Thank you, Rachel Zhang and Dr. Bill, for sharing this valuable opportunity.

 And, I'm so excited to continue my Fall internship here!!!

#UTDMSBA #UTD #JSOM #YPO #Summer2019