Senior Experience With Nortel LearniT

Today I wrote a rough outline of a proposal for the “How to” video Michael and I spoke about. I also continued re-exporting new versions of the videos that will go on Google video. I have conducted an interview with Susan and had a phone meeting with Carrie about another proposal that I’m writing. I also did research concerning that proposal.

The day hasn’t been as hectic as the previous two. I’ve been leisurely working on continuous projects and am going to continue to do so until I need to leave.

Since I don’t have much to write about today, I’ll explain the Scheduling Book.

Whenever someone is coming in to a conference or someone is going to have a meeting that will require food/drinks to be served, the person who is hosting th event will need to write down how many people are attending. They also need to write their own name in case they need to be contacted for further details.

Susan is the Director of Global Government Relations. She works along with Mary, on being a representative of the company on Capitol Hill. Susan handles all government related issues that could affect the company. Because there are 530 members and various committees, Susan and Mary split up their work into a Democratic and Republican side. Susan handles the Republican end.

Part of the job includes managing political committees and handling packs. (Money raised to be used in supporting a running candidate) As Susan described, she is in charge of policy, packs and politics (which often branch out into party committees). When choosing a valid candidate or lobbyist to support, Susan looks for top ethical standing, a well respected individual and somebody with the right experience and connections. Ethics are extremely important at Nortel!

Susan has been working with Nortel for ten years. She started out working on the hill for a member of Congress. She had always worked with a family business and wanted to find employment in a large company. After receiving her master’s degree from Oxford University, Susan worked for a Lobbying firm (She assisted in distributing Kellogg’s’ Cereal and sunscreen products!)

Susan and Mary both are tremendous assets to Nortel. They make sure that everything the company does and everyone the company supports is not breaking any violations/regulations.

Greg is the man that puts it all together. He isn’t an expert on the specialty sections of the company yet he is the one that everyone needs to go to if they need something approved. We spoke about his start and escalation to the position he holds today and about International travel.

Greg told me that when he got his job, the timing was right and it just happened, it all came together. Nortel was looking for a former high ranking employee that had had previous experience (Some of the positions Greg has held include Chief of Staff, Commerce Secretary and working with the Clinton Administration). Greg had worked with Nortel for a long time and knew many of his colleagues (that are currently working in the office). The job Greg has evolved over the past six years. About four year ago, along with International responsibility, public speaking and taking care of internal Nortel stuff, Greg was asked to be in charge of Community Relations.

When undertaking Community Relations, Greg noticed that what Nortel does (working with volunteer-based programs such as Habitat for Humanity) didn’t necessarily distinguish Nortel from other companies. So, Greg and colleague Julie had a “vision” to turn Nortel into a unique company that does more than expected!

Greg mentioned that he was very passionate about International traveling and enjoyed it. He told me that his favorite places to travel to include China, Latin America, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. He told me that he went to Iraq and Canada last year.

Greg is a great leader and an awesome boss to have!

Today I am continuing work on the Google Videos. However, a lot more has been added to my task. Now I need to find all of the older videos that were uploaded a year ago (about 70 of them) and re-upload newer versions that are higher quality.

Also today, I interviewed Mary and Greg. They are both very interesting people and I wish I had a camera with me!

Over lunch, Michael and I spoke about a possible future project. We were thinking of making a “How to” video about how to make a video about your home town. I thought the scenery/surroundings are especially beautiful in DC so it would be great to somehow integrate that into the video.

We had lunch in this board room. It’s my favorite one because of the view!

Mary is the Vice President of the Global Government Relations. She is partnered along with Susan who also works in the office. Mary was kind enough to speak with me about her tasks and what she actually does. We spoke about Congress, Policy issues, the high tech industry and the importance of Nortel’s competitiveness.

Mary’s job involves all things concerning Congress. It is her responsibility to deal with both sides of Policy issues that are agreeable or disagreeable. She gave me an example of a Policy issue that needed to be reinforced; the debatable issue of taxes. What makes taxes a competitive issue for Nortel is when other countries offer tax credits to customers. Nortel has contacts in 150 countries and the company constantly needs to work on updating their trade environment to avoid further trade issues.

Mary also explained that Nortel is not a regulated company (which I didn’t know before). All of Nortel’s customers are regulated companies (such as phone companies because they provide a service for people and the people need protection) but not Nortel. However, all of the concerns that Nortel’s partners have, Nortel has as well because Nortel is trying to provide a better service.

We got on the topic of Congress and how it has an impact on companies like Nortel. Mary and Susan aren’t experts on every policy/bill that is passed so they bring in experts that know everything about the topic. These experts help Mary and her colleagues decide whether they should care about the issue or not. Research is very important in any high tech industry, especially Nortel. That is why as much research as possible is needed to be conducted when the company decides which Congressional candidates they will support. (Technical research also needs to be conducted because Nortel is a technology company).

Another part of dealing with Congress is having many fundraisers. Fundraisers are important because they ultimately bring in pack money (money allowed to the use for the support of Congressional candidates). Mary has a list of hundreds of technical people to invite to the fundraisers (which are in the form of breakfasts/lunches and are usually hosted in the Nortel conference room) with a hope of getting ten to twenty people to come. The fundraisers are also important to the running candidate because they get an opportunity to meet people in the technical industry. (Nortel usually invites companies that conduct similar jobs such as Verizon and Motorola). If a guest hasn’t met a candidate before, the fundraisers are an excellent place to meet and get a potential supporter.

Another fundraiser is going to be held in a couple of weeks for a Democratic Senator from Louisiana.

I came into the office at 8am. Michael was very supportive and diligent in showing me around the office and explaining my tasks clearly and precisely. He showed me where everything was (I actually haven’t seen so many office supplies before!) and generally made me feel very comfortable in my work setting. I have previously met many people in the office but was re-introduced to several of them today. Everyone is very friendly and inclusive.

One of my tasks is to schedule a fifteen minute meeting with everyone that works at the DC office for a quick interview. I’ll be asking them about their position and how they managed to reach it. I have two interviews set up for tomorrow.

Another one of my projects is to download many, many (about 130) videos from google video that are nortel clips. I’ve started on that, however it will probably take about three days (or more because I keep getting side-tracked with other work).

Michael told his colleagues that if they have something for me to do/sit in on, they’re welcome to come to me. So far I have helped set up for a small meeting. It took roughly an hour to set up for ten people. It was interesting to see the other side of the Nortel meetings/conferences. I have previously only attended them but now I had an opportunity to see how much work goes into the set-up.

I am keeping very busy. As much work as there is to do, this is all very exciting!

The above is one of my desks where I do the majority of my work. The other one looks exactly the same!