Prudential Peak Leadership Conference
I had the incredible honor of traveling to Newark, NJ to attend Prudential’s Peak Leadership conference from May 14-16th. The conference was a three-day program aimed to identify young talent. The attendees that I have met there were not only exceptionally smart and outgoing young individuals, but they were also very geographically diverse. There were attendees there that were from California, North Carolina, Texas, and even Puerto Rico, just to name a few. It was a pleasure being able to network with these fifty young professionals!
The first night there we were handed a folder with the Peak Agenda, along with a case study that we were instructed to work on with our assigned group-mates. After looking at the agenda, I practically could not sleep that night thinking about the excitement the next two days would bring!
Seven AM finally arrived, I got out of the hotel’s comfy cushioned bed, put on my black suit and white blouse, and was ready to start my action-packed day. After breakfast that morning, me and other Peakers had the unbelievable opportunity of hearing Prudential’s Senior Vice President, Mr. John J. Kalamarides, explain the details and operations of “How Pru Makes Money.” Mr. Kalamarides did an excellent job of condensing a fairly complex process into simple and easy-to-understand procedures. In addition to learning about how a Fortune 29 company generates revenues and profit from Mr. Kalamarides, I have also garnered a lot of knowledge from other speakers as well. Throughout the day, I also had the chance to learn more about business etiquette through a presentation from Ms. Cori Hannon, a recruiter from prudential as well as a member of the team that put this great event together. Another exceptional speaker that I had the pleasure of listening to that day was Mr. Kaplan Mobray, who is a best selling author of the book titled, “The 10ks of Personal Branding.” Mr. Mobray had been invited to speak for CNN and the Superbowl. He is no doubt an exceptional motivational speaker! In a short two hours, through engaging activities and his personal story, Mr. Mobray had instilled in me various important career development lessons that I will be able to reflect on for the rest of my life. He had also taught me the importance of consistent personal branding, along with methods that I can take to improve my brand image to make myself more marketable to recruiters. After a series of excellent speakers and workshops, the first day ended with a wonderful networking dinner, where I got the opportunity to have a delicious dinner with Prudential’s
Vice Presidents from various departments, Mr. John Hon, Mr. Chuck Brousseau, and Ms. Bianka Butler. It was an enjoyable dinner where I not only got the chance to learn more about Prudential, its culture, and its various departments, but also to share laughs and stories with them. Lastly, when we got back to the hotel, I met up with our group and started brainstorming and formulating ideas for our business case.
The next morning, the day started with a wonderful presentation presented by Ms. Shameem Khan on building and formatting a professional resume. Later on in the day, I had the great opportunity of learning more about interviewing from a recruiter’s perspective and also received a lot of great interviewing tips from Ms. Kristen Bennett. In addition, we also broke up into eight groups and ventured out to eight different sessions to learn more about Prudential’s various departments and career paths, including annuities, financial management, group insurance, individual life insurance, and more. I was very impressed with each presentation and was very happy to learn something new in all eight of these sessions. These sessions really proved to me that the opportunities at Prudential are truly infinite. The mobility at Prudential is wonderful, there are several departments with different types of work that can challenge you in various ways, preventing you from ever getting “bored” of your job. After going through these eight sessions, our next event was a team building exercise, where me and the 50 other Peakers worked together to pack bagged meals for a nonprofit organization called Bridges Outreach. Bridges Outreach was founded in 1988. Its primary focus and goal is to help homeless people in their time of needs and ultimately be able to aid them in their search for opportunities of a better life. It was a very meaningful two hours. Not only was it a great chance to give back, but it was also a great opportunity for me to get a better insight on how involve Prudential actually is within the community. After helping with Bridges Outreach, that concluded our second day. We then grabbed dinner, where I was introduced to the biggest cream puff I’ve ever seen. Me and my group met up again after dinner and worked on our case that we eventually presented the following morning. We stayed up till 2am, resulting in very little amount of sleep that night. However, it was a very memorable night working with 5 smart individuals, formulating our business plan and practicing our presentation together.
The last and final day of the conference had finally arrived, May 16th. It was also the big day where all of the teams will get the chance to present their ideas from their business case that they’ve worked so hard on the past two nights to the judges, the Chief Risk Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Nicholas Silitch and Mr. Taimur Hyat, respectively. Our team was the 8th out of 10 teams to go. I am not a natural when it comes to public speaking, so you can imagine the shivers and nervousness that came upon me as the last couple of minutes before my presentation drew near! Despite that, once it was our turn, our pitch went very smoothly. As we practiced, we presented our business plan as in depth as we could with the little time that we had. It was such a relief once we presented, the feeling of anxiety and nerves had completely disappeared. I am now feeling a new rush of emotion, which includes a sense of pride and accomplishment. Even though we did not win first place in the case competition, we did end up getting an honorable mention from the two chief officers. I couldn’t be more proud of my team for working so hard the past two nights. In addition, I was also very proud of myself. I felt an additional sense of fulfillment for going outside of my comfort zone, successfully presenting in a room of over 70 people. It was a nerve wracking experience, but I am so glad to have had the chance to do it.
Overall, I could not have asked for a better three days to begin my summer. Not only did I gain long-term knowledge, but also was able to develop a lifelong network with all of the Peakers there. I truly feel blessed and honored to have had the opportunity to attend such an amazing and well planned-event. Thanks again Prudential!