Altria Final Reflection

I had the privilege this summer of working in Brand Management at Altria. For ten weeks, I was able to learn in-depth about the company, gain valuable insight and knowledge on what brand management is and how to work in that field, and contribute to my overall sense of what a career should look like after graduation. While I had certain preconceived notions of what I expected a job in a corporate environment to be like, actually working at a company that hires over 8,300 employees with multiple locations across the United States showed me that there was so much that I did not know before spending my summer learning the ins and outs of what Altria is and what it stands for. Part of the reason I was able to learn so much throughout the summer and this internship is that I had little to no ideas about what I would be doing. I noted in my Personal Plan Paper that I chose to apply to Altria because of my background in business and lack of interest in finance. I was hoping that this experience would not only provide me the background, skills, and understanding of a work environment but that it would also help drive my career direction and allow me to have a better idea of where I would like to continue my professional journey. I can confidently say that the experience at Altria did just that. Not only was I able to confirm my lack of interest with finance (there were aspects of finance in Brand Management but I also see a much brighter future working in marketing in some capacity. To help contribute to the overall company strategy, brand managers must work cross-functionally with many internal and external partners, so not only was I able to learn about the day-to-day workings of a Brand Manager, but I was also able to learn in-depth about advertising, digital marketing, sales, marketing analytics, and many other aspects and possibilities that I could be interested in pursuing. While I currently do not have a defined career rout or interest, I feel a lot more confident in my professional direction because of my summer internship. One of the reasons that contributed to my interest in brand management and overall strategy was mentioned in my Sight Description and Personal Contribution Paper. Based on my interviews and knowledge going into the internship, I was aware that I would be working both analytically and creatively. While both work aspects are separate functions and require different types of work, they often work in tandem and complement each other very well. This was not something I completely understood prior to beginning work. I was under the assumption that because these two types of work styles utilize different parts of the brain and appear entirely different, my “creative project” and ‘analytical project” would be completely different. One of the useful takeaways I gained from this internship experience is that while these two functions can be separate, often, analytical work drives creative direction. I was worried upon beginning the internship that I would not always have the confidence necessary to share ideas or contribute in the ways that I wanted to creatively. Asking questions and finding answers analytically improved my confidence significantly to drive my creative direction. This also helps me think about my future career and what I want to accomplish. I found through this internship that I enjoy the analytical aspect of work much more than the more free-thinking creative aspects because answers arrive much more clear to me. While I understand that not everybody works this way (even many of my coworkers), these past ten weeks allowed me to gain much more confidence, not only with my work but also with my future. I learned what I set out to, and even though I may not see a future in Brand Management specifically, I have a much better understanding of what type of work environment I prefer to work in, how I work best with others, and what type of work I enjoy and do well at.

My own personal growth was not all I was able to learn about and improve upon. The internship with Altria was also the first opportunity that I was able to observe much of what I have learned thus far in Leadership Studies courses come to life (besides what I have been able to view on campus or in small scale). In such a large work environment, I was able to witness the interactions between many different types of leaders, personalities, relationships, and environments. One concept that has continually come up in Leadership Studies classes that really stood out as applicable in the workplace was the idea of personality. I noticed that there are a lot of different ways personality affected my internship experience. To start, all employees at Altria are now required to take the DISC personality assessment upon being hired. The purpose of this is to not only provide insight to employees on how they can work better and more efficiently, but also on how they can work better in different environments and with other employees, as well as how to optimize their work depending on a variety of factors. Leadership theories that pertained to personality really came in handy because of this because it gave me the tools necessary to go beyond what the DISC assessment could inform me. For example, in Leadership and the Social Sciences with Professor Forsyth, we studied the relationship between leadership emergence and effectiveness based on personality. For this course, we studied based on the OCEAN personality test, but the ideas still remain that emergence and effectiveness are not always the same or related to the same personality traits. We learned that people rated high in extraversion (E) are correlated highly with greater leadership emergence, but not necessarily leadership effectiveness. While the DISC assessment at Altria relayed information on how more introverted or extraverted people can work together, it did not explain the positions that each employee could perform best in. I noticed that the more extraverted employees (those rated high in the I and D categories in the DISC assessment) tended to be more likely to emerge as leaders. Based on what I learned in class, though, I knew that Altria could be missing out on potential talent in a leadership position for employees who could be effective but less likely to emerge. This knowledge allowed me to go beyond what the DISC assessment could say and focus my attention on being more open and relationship-oriented with how I share my ideas. I knew that in Altria’s work environment, which is dominated by I’s, it would be beneficial to build relationships and talk freely about my ideas. While this was uncomfortable at times (due to the fact that I am a more “reserved” S), it helped me in the long run as I noticed employees and managers were more receptive to what I had to say. While it appears that marketing and sales positions attract a certain type of person, I know that if I was hiring, it would be beneficial to have a team that is well rounded with all types of personalities as to not miss out on potential effective leaders that might not emerge otherwise. Similarly, I wrote about the Least Preferred Coworker Theory in my reflections, which also applies to the relationships between employees and job satisfaction. I noticed that there was a close relationship between all employees, regardless of rank. Managers and new hires and even the CEO all interacted with each other on a daily basis. Altria would likely score low on the Least Preferred Coworker scale because all employees tended to get along. I rarely noticed any bad relationships, which I believe contributes to the collaborative culture and beneficial workstyle that Altria prides itself on (at least in Brand Management). Understanding this from the start really helped me open up from the beginning. One of my fears going into the internship was that I would struggle to build professional relationships because of my quiet and reserved tendencies. Understanding the workstyle of the office from a more objective perspective really helped me open up from the start and collaborate when needed. While at times I found it difficult to conform to the specific company culture Altria has, overall, what I learned in my previous leadership studies courses helped me immensely to adapt successfully.

Overall, I would highly recommend Altria’s Brand Management internship to anybody, whether they are interested in marketing or not. Through this internship, I was able to learn significantly more than I initially thought I would, not only about the company but also about the way companies work. I much better understand the type of work that is expected and the importance of relationships and collaboration within the workplace. I also benefited greatly from the creative freedom and loose direction that classes at UR sometimes lack. Being able to apply what I have learned in leadership studies courses was also hugely beneficial for my own personal growth because of my better understanding of the way Brand Management was run and how to best interact cross-functionally. It was clear to me that Altria cares deeply about how to improve the working condition and lives of their employees to receive better work, and I was excited to provide good work because of this. Although my initial predictions about what the internship would require and how I would grow from it were largely different from the actual experience, I think I was able to grow more because of this and I now better understand how to apply the more abstract concepts I learned in school to the more concrete skills I learned in the workforce.