DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY

I was beginning to live with the gift of what it means to be underestimated. What happens when the world often assumes, before you’ve even uttered a word, that you could be a failure— based on not fitting a given expectation…. (I wondered) how have people turned that into an advantage to meet their aspirations, their dreams? ---Sarah Lewis, The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search For Mastery

Dow manufactures plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products. With a presence in about 160 countries, it employs about 54,000 people worldwide. The company has seven different major operating segments, with a wide variety of products made by each one. [3] Dow's 2012 sales totaled approximately $57 billion. [3] Dow has been called the "chemical companies' chemical company" [4] in that most of its sales are to other industries rather than end-users. Dow sells directly to end-users primarily in the human and animal health and consumer products markets. [4] The company tagline is "Solutionism”.

HERE’S THE CHALLENGE…. You have applied, with almost two hundred others, for a project management internship at Dow. 175 candidates were disqualified early. You are one of the luckier candidates. But they plan to take on only five PM interns. The pay is good, and the stakes are high. They want the best. They have grouped you according to an algorithm of their design that assesses candidates. The team that performs the best on this task will be hired.

 International Plastics Showcase Exhibit Planning International Plastics Showcase Exhibit Planning Each group, including yours, are introduced to a specific Marketing Team Director or one of her associates, who frankly find the young PM interns annoying, in part because they are so busy; plus they think candidates’ exposure to real projects is too limited to be helpful. They take on interns because Dow wants them to. The Market Director tells you her division needs to design and execute a successful exhibit for the launch of a brand new plastic. This high-profile project is a great opportunity to show what you know: She wants to see if you have the basic skills to address yourself to a large, complex project with many “moving parts.” She asks you to meet tomorrow morning with the Dow Product Team AND the Marketing Team with a comprehensive list of questions to prove you understand the complex nature of projects in high-impact settings. All project intern teams will meet with everyone in sequence most of the day. A decision will be made regarding which team to hire by 5 pm, with the announcement going out the day after.

WHERE DO YOU START? WHAT ARE YOUR QUESTIONS? It is now 3 pm. Your team scrambles to organize itself around a project you have little information about, to find the approach to this project opportunity that will win you the position. You know what to do; you have analyzed complex real-world projects and found elements that somehow relate to any project. You know you will be prepared tomorrow morning.