Internship Spotlight: Kendall Boyd '17
What are you doing this summer? We asked rising second-year MBA students to check in from their summer internships, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM.
Kendall Boyd ’17
Internship: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), Daytona Beach, Florida
Hometown: Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Favorite Class: The Competitor
My internship at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has taught me a very important core value, act like a founder. To act like a founder means to, “by your actions, inspire and encourage your teammates to embody the ‘Passion, Pride, and Perseverance’ necessary to enhance the LPGA.” It is easy to forget that the path we walk today was paved by others’ extreme hard work. Whether roping off the golf course on their own, driving their families across the country in a caravan of cars, or writing the winners checks to one another after the tournament, the LPGA founders did it all with a desire to grow the game. Because of their efforts 66 years ago, top female athletes can play for over $63 million in prize money on the world’s only global women’s golf tour, and I had the opportunity to intern at a company where “Act Like a Founder” is painted on the walls.
I came to Yale SOM because I knew I wanted to make a global impact through business, and I didn’t know how. My internship with the LPGA helped solidify my global impact goals. I want to lead global corporate strategy initiatives for an organization or department with a sports focus. As an intern, I had the opportunity to help the LPGA plot its strategic goals for the next four years as a member of a strategic pillar committee focused on embracing the tour’s global nature, and through an intern project focused on capturing the next generation of LPGA fans. Both projects incorporated skills I learned through the SOM core curriculum, including competitive industry analysis (Competitor) and customer acquisition strategies (Customer).
My greatest takeaway from the summer will be the core value of act like a founder. No matter where my career takes me I will always strive to embody the “Passion, Pride, and Perseverance” to transform an organization like a founder, and look for a company culture that embraces a similar value.