Conrad Shiu sees the best in everyone and strives to bring that out in those he meets. His experiences at Nebraska Business and his inclination to help others landed him a career at Gallup after graduation this May.
Entering Nebraska “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” as Shiu explained, his desire to assist people led him to the Clifton Strengths Institute. There he connected with Samantha Kennelly, assistant director of the institute, the catalyst to his upcoming career.
“Samantha is great because she knows what you need before you know you need it. I came in wanting to explore Gallup and become a strengths coach. The next thing I know I’m on the phone with Connie Rath, president of the Clifton Foundation, which led to my future career at Gallup,” he said.
Shiu applied to become a Clifton Builder, where he cultivated his leadership and entrepreneurial talents in the institute’s cohort-based program. Working with Rath through the program led to meeting Jim Clifton, Gallup chairman and CEO, and secured him an internship at the company. Due to his developmental prowess, Shiu received a signed job offer from the management consulting firm by the end of his sophomore year.
As a Clifton Builder, Shiu utilized his entrepreneurial talents to help start the Builders Advisory, a consulting startup.
“While interning at Gallup, I wanted to focus on education, and working with Connie, we found a spot for me in the company. With my future role as a higher educational consultant, I will get to work with other colleges to improve their offerings for students by implementing strengths, along with other Gallup knowledge. It feels like a perfect match for their potential needs for helping people be their best,” said the Omaha, Nebraska, native.
Shiu quickly filled his schedule at college pursuing majors in accounting, finance and marketing. He also started working on his professional sales certificate from the college’s Center for Sales Excellence. Doing all of that, along with working for Gallup, he felt overwhelmed and knew adjustments needed to be made.
“Driven, ambitious, high-impact students, such as Conrad, they want to do everything. They want to balance all of these things,” said Kennelly. “We want students to understand themselves and their strengths so they can devote their time and energy into impactful work they are excited about. At the end of the day, Conrad and I looked at what was fulfilling to him and were able to prioritize his schedule to help him devote 100 percent into his goals.”
With Kennelly’s guidance, Shiu refined his degree plans and prioritized what he wanted to achieve at Nebraska. He dropped his finance major to free up time for other projects to bolster his developmental skills.
“At Sterling Edge, a project started for class, I coach a wide variety of students on how to build a process to succeed in college. Going through this process myself, first having mentors teach me, and now finding myself in a mentoring role, I want to pass it on in my future,” he said.
With his time at Nebraska coming to a close, Shiu stands in a position that seemed nearly impossible only a year ago. He graduates in just three years as an honors student with a double major and strong campus involvement. With a career at Gallup awaiting him, he looks forward to positively affecting the next generation of students.
“I have been able to accomplish so much by having people who supported me in very different parts of my time at Nebraska. I hope to use my different experiences to help others. I want to create more situations like I went through, where they grant normal students extraordinary experiences and help them find their success, whatever that may be,” said Shiu.
Published: April 9, 2019