The season continues as we talk with alumni about the impact the David Eccles School of Business has on their lives and careers. In this episode host Frances Johnson talks with Carnell (Nelly) Griffin, an MBA graduate who is now an Indirect Buyer with NVIDIA, and has also established a scholarship at the Eccles School for first generation students in the Opportunity Scholars Program. Nelly shares his remarkable journey of attending North Carolina State University, working at IBM, pursuing an MBA from the David Eccles School of Business, and now working at Nvidia. But he reflects on where it all started when at a young age he recognized the importance of mentorship and took strides to take on a mentor and follow their advice. Nelly also discusses overcoming personal hardships, and the value he has found in staying curious and open to new possibilities. Emphasizing the need for discipline, persistence, and constant self-improvement to succeed, this episode highlights Nelly's unyielding mindset, the importance of creating your own path despite challenges, and what can be gained in life by never giving up. Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm. Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Episode Quotes: Nelly shares that while results take time, it’s important to keep going. [31:55] But the satisfaction you're going to feel when you finally overcome whatever hurdle is in your way… It's going to get to the point where you're, like, receiving dividends from things that you forgot about, the struggles that you did, that you forgot about. So, just keep going. And, also, that is an important thing I did not mention before, and I probably definitely should have started with that. Things take longer to come back to you than you think they do. They really do. The person that referred me into Nvidia met me in 2013, and I had no idea she was that impressed with me, and I did not seek this job out. I came to her asking for help because we're in the same profession with my job. And her advice to me was to apply to, and I was like, wait, wait. I was like, I didn't even know she thought of me on that level, right? Where she would see me as a peer to hers, right? In a working world. Successful leaders thrive in the unknown [07:22] How many of them actually know where they're going before they get there? They don't. You got to have the confidence. You got to be willing to take a risk. And that risk often comes with more ambiguity. If you want to be successful, you need to be prepared not to fit in. [03:29] I learned that I'm going to have to reach out to people that do not look like me, that do not sound like me, that are not from the same place that I'm from, to get where I want to go. Because I do not see anyone else going there. And I think that was the time I became what I would call, it was really big affirmation to myself that ″success looks weird." And that's when I became a weirdo. Like, if you want to be successful, you need to be prepared not to fit in. And from there on, I became comfortable being the different person because the things she had me doing, even then, those small things like, "Don't waste your summer, do an extracurricular activity. You need to build up a list of things that you can say you do so you can go to college." So, like I had all these thoughts in my head early, and it kind of just pushed me through, and I still keep that mentality today, like, what am I doing that's different, that's going to give someone a reason to push me forward. Nelly opens up about why his alumni network still matters more than ever. [37:19] So, me staying connected and doing the scholarship and giving back is keeping me connected with where I came from personally, which is going to keep me motivated and keep me from complaining when my boss asks me to stay late on a Friday to close a big deal or do anything like that. Professionally, oh my God, even though that was wake up at 4:30 every morning and not go to bed till midnight type of thing, while I was in the MBA program, I met some amazing people, like absolutely amazing people. And it was, I would say, that part of my life where the movie version of life and real life kind of aligned a little bit, right? Like, I met some really cool people. [38:31] We call each other about work and stuff like that. But yeah, those two reasons. They both keep me humble. And then I'm just excited to grow and be part of this network. And at my age, I realize the university isn't great because it's the university. It's great because of the people that continue to contribute and come back to it. That's what makes any organization great. It's not because it's the organization. It's because, collectively, when you all add your knowledge and power, and experience together, it creates this amazing thing. So, I want to be part of that. So that's what I'm trying to do. Show Links:Carnell (Nelly) Griffin | LinkedInDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
