Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Education: Washington and Lee University – English Major
Before Wharton: College Football Coach
After Wharton: Management Consulting
Bertrand O’Neil
My Story About Me
Wharton allows you to contribute to the local community. If you want to get your hands dirty and help rebuild homes, you can do that.
From coaching to business
After college, I decided I wanted to coach college football, so I took a position with the staff at Auburn College in Alabama. Two years later, I landed a job with my alma mater, Washington & Lee, as the offensive coordinator—the youngest in the NCAA. While I enjoyed coaching, I was ready for a new challenge after three years with Washington & Lee, and decided to transition into the business world. Thanks to coaching, I had plenty of teamwork, leadership, and communication skills, but I knew I needed to refine them for a corporate environment.
Rigorous curriculum plus teamwork
Wharton attracted me because of its rigorous quantitative curriculum—but what has really surprised me was the number of assignments that involve teamwork. The experience has definitely opened my eyes to the merits of teamwork. At some point, it’s less about what you can do on your own and more about working as a team to bring everyone’s strengths out.
More than just your career
I don’t think you go to Wharton just for your career. There are also life goals that you want to accomplish. At Wharton, I’ve learned not only to get involved, but to be effective when you get involved. And I’ve been able to work on that through programs like the Wharton Community Consultants. My client was a Philadelphia nonprofit called Pitching for Baseball, which distributes baseball gear to underprivileged kids throughout the world, and they wanted us to come up with a strategic growth strategy for them. For me, the experience was a great way to leverage my sports background, while at the same time, get consulting experience using the lessons we learned together in a real-world context.
Something for everyone
I was very surprised at the number of opportunities at Wharton that allow you to contribute to the local and global community. There is something for everyone here. If you want to do the consulting thing, you can do that. If you want to get your hands dirty and help rebuild homes, you can do that. As far as getting involved in the community, you can look at what you want to do later in life and pair it with that.
Leadership lessons, Marine style
At Wharton, doors open to students that you couldn’t find anywhere else. One opportunity that I took advantage of was the Quantico trip to train with the Marines. It was truly one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had. What I learned from that experience is in order to be great leader, you have to serve those below you. The Marine who was our mentor that day was in the mud with us, crawling under the wire, doing everything he could so our team could be successful on the obstacle course. Not only did he gain our trust and admiration, but he was able to see what we were going through and relate to us better.
