Spirit is great. Kind of top notch fusion cuisine: modern, audacious, international.
Courses were incredible.
New people met from Singapore were brilliant.
New people met from Fonty (there were a lot, for me) -why didn't I meet them before? Great bunch.
Week-end trips were much fun.
Food was excellent.
Shopping was ok.
Can Fonty P4 top that?
Don't miss out the next episodes of your dedicated insider, and you'll know...
Stay tuned. I'll do anything to boost current audience to 100 visitors a day (currently 50+). Tell School gossips, sex stories, betrayals, rivalries! ;-)
Thanks for coming, hope it helps in your decision to apply for an MBA, your choice of School.
Welcome to new visitors of the past days: Senegal, Croatia, Philipines.
Yesterday was the last day of P3. I cannot believe it's gone so quick. No one can. I'm starting to feel the urge of keeping memories from School. A picture of the School, a picture of my Profs. Professors were so good in P3, that it would have taken great efforts to reach them and take a pic with them anyhow. And I would have passed for a weird Japanese tourist.
Time for recap. My favourites classes this term were: Family Business, VOBM, Negotiations Analysis. Awesome stuff, inspiring, and useful. To this I can add Macro. I know it sounds strange, considering past comments. But the course really started off after 4 sessions and reached the very top. And as one fellow participant said: "When you have experienced Macro classes in your previous life, you know that this one is unebelievably good". Fair enough. Political Analysis, in this regard, was alright, but could have been fascinating.
My favourite Professors this term, naturally were: Phil Anderson, Randel Carlock, Horacio Falcao, and Ilian Mihov (alphabetical order). They have different styles. It just shows that whatever your style is, as long as you're passionate, have integrity between your character and your delivery, people will follow. To all of them, my most sincere appreciation, and gratitude. That's the thing about P3. It could be your greatest INSEAD experience so far, or a not so convincing one. It all depends on Electives that you choose, and, I'll be blunt, on the Professors as well. I'm lucky to have had A-class Profs this term. As you know, A-class people hire A-class people. B-class people hire C-class people, C-class people hire, well C-class people too. (learning from VOBM class). In Profs examples, A-class have A-class contacts and experience. Professor Mihov worked with Bernanke -although I promise that did not influence my appreciation of him ;-)
Phil had great contacts with Asian entrepreneurs. Randel had unbelievable connections with Asian families. That translates into great stories, great insights, and sometimes great guest speakers.
So, to come back to the Last Day of P3. Well exams were much easier than I thought. Considering my preparation, that was all I needed. I guess, to grab points, you could have put "Institutions" every 10 words for political analysis, and poured "Technological Frontier", "Output to Potential", "Shift of LM curve", "Productivity, non-tradable goods, wages increase" every here and there in Macro.
At lunch, our review time was disturbed by deafening noises. My curiosity got the better of me, and that was actually a Lion Dance to bring good luck and dispel bad spirits. Then INSEAD staff got their annual party. Pascal, from Finance 2, was there, and all Fonty people were pressing to get pictures with him.
After exams, we gathered for drinks and food, before going to restaurant, and finishing the night at Sentosa's Café del Mar, where everybody said bye to everybody. I really wanted to have a last chat and sincere goodbye to those who will stay in Singapore -that I will not see again before graduation- and with whom I had so much pleasure working.
Exams start in less than 8 hours... I started Macro review on this Sunday afternoon. It's always like that, when I'm starting to get into the materials, I'm thinking "Wow, that is so interesting, that is so powerful... Too bad I did not get the intuition before". Indeed, Macro can be very, very interesting, and quite powerful. Just like Micro with Tim Van Zandt, I suggest that Prof. Mihov put a mid-term mini quiz to force the learning process through. Wish me luck.
I know I should be studying for Monday's end of term exams. I sort of feel confident though, that I'll perform ok in Political Analysis, and that I'll bomb the Macro exam. It's just that, since I put in place the internet tracker on Wednesday, I'm feeling the pressure of numbers. I got my first visitors from Slovenia, Spain, Japan, Belgium, Brasil, Ireland, Ukraine. The bulk of visits still comes from France, US, India, and the UK.
VOBM ended on Friday. I feel so fortunate to have attended that course. Phil is definitely one of the toughest, most demanding, most passionate, best Professors. He is so amazing, because he does not transmit the virus of entrepreneurship through some great magician tricks (such as breathtaking communication abilities) -which are bound to collapse like a soufflé after some time- but through the ability to bridge the entrepreneurship dream to the realm of possibility. In other words, he demystifies the thing, and put down a concrete, achievable path for any MBA. I'm not saying that we'll all end up entrepreneurs, but that we could all become so.
With my group, when we had our last meeting to write the Final paper, by discussing, we came up with such a great new idea. Because we were too much into the Final, we kept it aside for P4, and continued to write on our previous blander project... That's the power of the course. Well, I did some ground work for VOBM still: I tested advertising on the Net. Using Google's ad service (adwords), I inserted an ad for this blog on the net. It costs: - €30 for the month (well, I capped it to that level, for the sake of the project) - You can bid for amounts per clicks (presumably, the more you bid, the more frequency of appearance) - I took the default option - You select keywords- I chose MBA INSEAD, Harvard, Wharton, LBS, and in the US to start with. I know, it's wicked... Still it worked, one visitor came yesterday after googling "Harvard"...
Where is this number coming from? Well, round 1 was because he's just had a baby boy. It's the 3rd INSEAD baby in less than a week. Congrats to all of them. Round 2 was because it was our last session, and honestly Horacio is right up there in the pantheon of INSEAD legends. I just enjoyed every minute of his classes -not solely for the entertainment, and his communications uber-skills- but also because Negotiations are so important in every aspects of your life. From business contracts, to job interviews, to even selctecting the TV channel in the living room for the evening movie! Round 3 was because, as a great communicator, Horacio claimed that he'll always remember the Great July 07 intake -for at least the fact that he fathered little Luca at the same time.
A word about the Nego last session. Recruiters beware, we know all your tricks and we are ready to negotiate. The topic was: Job interviews - not interviewing, negotiating (not just the salary). Among the many tips, and the one that I can reveal without too much damage to the course dynamics, my favourite is the Future Opportunities. Say a Big name company gives you a low range salary -they always do that- and of course you ask "Where is this number coming from?". Very often, the answer will be like, "it's a great name on your CV, so it justifies less". To which you should claim that the only way to value that option is to leave the company. So let's take that number, thanks, but let's work on some more value for you and for me. Another one I like is when they say -"Well the number comes from the average of your position in the firm". To which one way of answering is "Well, why should you pay for others' mistakes. I'll take that number, thanks, but let's create bla bla bla". Of course, the minimum requirement is to engage in relationship building first. We had a painful role play of someone not willing to give his pre-MBA salary for fear of being anchored low, but completely destroying the relationship in the process.
During the session, we had other role plays. Great session. Among the best quotes: - Horacio simulating interviewer"You're a great candidate, we'll give you 60K" - Student "Hum... Where is this number coming from? Which currency? Is it per month?" - Horacio: "Ha ha. No, it's for 5 years."
"The way companies treat you when they interview you is probably the best way they'll ever treat you.." Horacio on why should you care about interview signals.
It's fascinating. I feel I know you better guys... In a way, it's putting some pressure. Didn't know so many people visited.
Interesting facts: most visits came from the US, France, Singapore, and India. Most visitors access through a bookmark.
Among those accessing from a search engine (google by 100%), funny searched keywords were: Ice Fili case answer MBA, Chateau Montmelian wedding, Insead vs. Harvard, and Why Insead.
For the "Chateau Montmelian wedding" search, I am sorry to disappoint, there's no gossip in this column. Although all the School is aware that one of the Montmelian guys is getting married. The funny story is, it was his last question of the 10 No's assignment for Negotiations (the one in which you had to analyse 10 questions for which you were answered NO), to his current girlfriend, and guess what, she said... YES.
For your info, Montmelian is the Chateau of the self-proclaimed "Beautiful People", whatever it may mean... They do organise some of the best Fonty parties. And not to be misquoted, I appreciate them all.
Today, I've learned that Political Analysis exam is not only closed book, but NO cheatsheet. Big, big panick. Talking about that class, we had final presentations on North Korea problem, with groups presenting perspectives from US, China, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea. The one from North Korea was pretty impactful. They used the Negotiations class structure, and were able to ask "legitimately" everything but the kitchen sink. Horacio (the Nego Prof), you rock! your model works well...
If there's one thing you should take from Nego, it's this one line. Although I have promised not to reveal too much about this Star class, I can't help to realise the every day benefit of it.
Today, I'm learning that a previous co-worker of mine has seen his pay rise by 30% to take on 1 single task twice a week. Where is this number coming from? Last week, I went to Tanglin and selected this item, supposedly 200 years old buddha head from Sham period-a fact which I could not care less about- and €1000. Where are these numbers coming from? During the term, I got 3 out of 5 in Nego debriefs. Where are these numbers coming from? P2 Strategy final exam, which was not that stellar, with no annotations in the exam sheet from the Corrector. Where is this number coming from?
In most cases, Numbers come from one's own subjective valuation. Unless you sit down, de-emotionalise the context, bring facts, and agree on objective criteria for valuation, you'll end up raising doubts and suspicions. Not the most solid grounds for any agreement...
- I'll be taking my last P3 exams in Political Analysis, and Macro. I've just found out that it'll be closed book - panick... Some past exam questions: What is meant by the Green Room in international trade politics? Is East Asia ripe for rivalry or for cooperation? Name 2 of the 3 Copenhagen criteria. Big panick... I'll take it positively - long time I haven't played Trivial Pursuit...
- I'll be reviewing Macro -open book (relieved!)
- I'll be running in the School's corridor trying to say goodbye to students I will not see again (because they go to Wharton and/or stay in Singapore)
- I'll spend another sleepless night packing my last stuff and finding out I have too many things...
To finish on a light note, the Quotes of the day:
"I just saw your mail. Congratulations!!!! Nice daughter, who is the father?" - Student answering to the following mass email: "Yesterday - 19:00 (SGP time) – our daughter XXXX was born. Both XXXX and YYYY are doing well. We are all very much exhausted, but intensely happy with the small miracle that happened yesterday night! I have included a picture of the newborn family, for all of you interested."
Congratulations to the family!
"Someone has left the 5th edition of Mankiw’s textbook in the classroom (maybe deliberately?) The textbook has no name on it and it looks virtually new, which is not a good sign. Please let me know if you think that you are missing a copy of the textbook." Macro Prof. Mihov, on a mass email.
"Most of us miss out on life's big prizes. The Olympic medal. The World Cup. The Nobel. The Oscars. Miss Universe. An INSEAD MBA.
But we're all eligible for life's small pleasures.
A pat on the back. A kiss from an ageing parent. Reading to a child. A full moon. A fresh snowfall. A pristine beach. An empty parking space. A cracking fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. Good wine.
Don't fret about copping life's grand awards. Enjoy its tiny delights. There are plenty for all of us."
-Wall Street Journal, 1982, and Prof. Carlock.
Here was our Family Class closing. This class is a must. It ended with Students projects. My group analysed the succession issues of a groupmate. Great learnings for us all. That family businesses share the same pains, joys, challenges, but expressed differently. That whatever family members choose, it is one's own pursuit of happiness that matters, and one's parents, siblings, prefer him or her to be happy -regardless of whether it is in or out of the business.
Family class is relevant not only for MBAs thinking about joining a family business, but also because most of them will start a business which will have family-related issues. And family consulting is getting real big in Wealth Management and Investment Banking too. And INSEAD really is one of the best in the field.
One week to go before going back to Fonty. So fast. Last week programme: final projects hand-in, and exams preparation.
To all of you, A very Happy Lunar Year of the Pig.
To know if it's going to be a good year for you, click on the link:
Macro and IPA (International Political Analysis) are full-credit core courses. Both have potentials to be fascinating classes. What does it take for a class to be an awesome experience: great students, great focus, and great Professors. The subject in itself is a plus, not a pre-condition -after all UDJ, Managerial Accounting were awesome classes on potentially dreadful subjects. What are great Professors? They don't need to be funny. Funny is a plus, not a pre-condition -Enrico (UDJ) was dead funny, so was Igor (MA). Pascal (Finance 2), Tim (Micro) were not so much. Phil (VOBM) is not -even though this is debatable, he is, in his own way... Yet they all are superstar Professors. We love them. What do they have in common? They are so passionate about their subjects, they are so engaging about them, they convey so well the great insights of them -as if revealing some kind of secrets to you- that you cannot do otherwise but like their classes.
Ilian Mihov, our Macro Prof, belongs to that category. Initially, I feared his class would have me dead by mid-term. To be honest, the first classes were terrible. Still, in retrospect, I think he had to go through them, to explain the basics of Macro. Once we were about on par on the basic stuff, he unsheathed the "tough" materials, the great insights, the powerful models. My personal fav is the IS/IM curve, and its by-product, the Taylor rule. I know that will sound ridiculous to most economists, investment bankers, and certainly a lot more people. But how many models can speak so much in so little: two curves (investments-savings, monetary supply) for IS/LM curve, one equation for the Taylor rule, and you can explain/predict monetary policies of most major countries. I'm attaching a video from Columbia Business School. It's a spoof version of a great song. Lyrics are incredible. I feel much more clever now that I can know what the curve drawing is (in the middle of the video -the infamous IS/LM curve). Basically, a CBS Professor -Glenn Hubbard- was up for the chair of the Fed when Alan Greenspan retired. He did not make it (Ben Bernanke got the job, the bearded guy in the video) but he got this great tribute from his students.
"Yeah, but they have 16 months over there" was the sour grape comments from my seat neighbour. It's just brilliant to me.
I wish I could say the same about IPA. At least, guest speakers are quite good. Last week we had someone talking about "Pessimists", "Liberal constructivists" and "Realists" views of Asia. In a super shortcut, he said that democratic principles, institutions, and economic interdependence guarantee a certain regional stability. He gave some credits to the Ancient China "tributory" model whereby Asia is more stable when China is the main power, and to the Westphalian model -all States equal (at least India, Japan, China). Fellow students presentations are fun too, especially in the Q&A. "Hum... Errr..." was the funny answer to "Hey, do you think that Israel will attack Iran over its nuclear weapons?".
Anyway, today was Ilian's day. He's been on a roll for a couple a sessions, in his own funny way...
I like Dean's listers. The vast majority of them are ultra cool. I like them in my group as well. They work very hard. They can smell the ultimate reward... Unfortunately, it's rare commodity. Not only they make up only 10% of the intake, but they have all incentives to stay together. Primus inter pares. It's quite legitimate. Most of non-Dean's listers are focused on personal projects (school-related, fun-related, or business-related). They don't care about grades, anymore or at all.
To keep an update on my negotiation with Dean Fatas for attending an Entrepreneurship Elective for which I failed to bid enough, it's not going well, but not badly either. Basically, demand for Entrepreneurship is really booming at INSEAD. I even was told that Entrepreneurship has the biggest market share of Electives offer... The trend has amplified, and our intake must be breaking all records. VOBM (definitely one of the best classes so far) was full and could have accomodated another half section. That's 180 people interested, in P3. Realising Entrepreneurial Potential REP -the one I'm pushing for in P4- is full in Fonty, with 55 people on the waiting list (150 bidders). I like this trend. After Finance and Consulting/General Management, and partly thanks to Singapore Campus culture, the School is really developping as major Entrepreneurship competence centre.
Mardi-gras time is Brazil, samba time. From the other side of the planet (from Brazil perspective), Brazilian students joined forces to give us as close a Brazilian BBQ fiesta as can be.
It's also a good opportunity, on my side, to tease my Fonty housemates and classmates who decided to stay there for winter time.
To organise a proper Brazilian party, this is a users guide in picture (thanks to Jonas our official paparazzo). First, you get some meat, and a BBQ, and all that close to a swimming pool (Dover condo). Then, you get some real Brazilians. For some reasons, they always act as chick magnets. They'll always end up with the popular girls around them.
Then you gather like minded people (a good 100 INSEAD students). Ideally you get some music, but in our case, given Singapore restrictions, we did not have any... Actually we had to stop by 11PM...
Then, heat, body contact, booze, BBQ smell and smoke for the ambiance, and that's it. Simple, efficient, nice, and the first all INSEAD all intakes all purpose private gathering... Thanks guys, a real welcome event before all papers deadlines this week.
Today we also had P4 Bidding results. It's not samba time over here... I got mostly all I wanted but 2 classes (how positive/zen does that sound...) After P3 bidding, for which, let's call a cat a cat, I got screwed, I decided to change strategies and bet on Dean Antonio to add classes for the very high demand courses. Not only did School not substract any points for an Elective I highly bid (not to get the same result as P3), but also they did not add classes for ultra in-demand courses the way they did for Negotiations and VOBM. Go figure... What I got is still very cool, and I've decided to beeeeg my way in at least one of the missed courses. Or maybe that would look too needy, what do you think Horacio ? (Falcao, our Negotiations Prof.) Maybe I should instead prepare a 7-Element sheet...
This week-end is devoted, to many students, to Cracking the Case sessions with Bain. The top consulting firm is organising "workshops" to help students experience what it is to solve cases in job interviews. This is supposed to be one of the toughest interviews you'll ever get, because cases can be as ludicrous as "How many pingpong balls can fit in an Airbus 380 aircraft?". Anyway, I'll let other people undertake this kind of torture, and will let you know on Monday about topics, and possibly processes.
Job search has intensified considerably. Johnson&Johnson held interviews during the week. Disney sent first round invitations. I received one letter and one phone call to be interviewed by one firm.
These are all "traditional", expected ways of getting interviews.
Let me share some other ways, which only INSEAD can provide, I suppose, thanks to an unrivalled breadth of contacts. Remember Rajeev, the bright Indian entrepreneur in wine? Rumour has it that he offered a position to one student who is passionate about India, and wine... Another student got interviews through company executives who were on campus for their Advanced Management Programme. He is getting second round interviews back in Fonty. Students can also make the most of visiting companies for P1s, and reversely, P1s can benefit from company events for P3s.
One thing is seriously lacking in most students now though, is prioritization. There's so much going on on and off campus in such a short time, that it's difficult to stay focused on job search. That can explain why INSEAD students on average get their jobs later than other major MBA's. Take Career Fair in Fonty, held a couple of weeks ago, primarily for P1s. A panel of top companies came, including Google. Still, only a dozen students showed off. To Google, it's INSEAD students arrogance. To Students, it's Career Services incompetence. To School, it's Students lack of focus.
Whoever is right, on this glorious sunny Saturday afternoon, I'm heading for the pool...
The pic is from Angkor Vat temple. The game was to find the Smiling Buddha. I kept pointing at Buddhas to the tour guide, since to me, they were all smiling. Perception.
With the Negotiations class, the Family class, and the notoriously fierce Finance 3 class, the VOBM class -to my humble advice- is the best of P3. Professor Anderson is so passionate about entrepreneurship; the entrepreneurs invited on campus are so interesting that, for at least the time of the class, we picture ourselves as the next business success story.
After Rajeev the super cool wine entrepreneur -who oozed Bollywood and Indian jet-set- we had Roberto, the unassuming, simple, super nice, yet so brilliant French engineer entrepreneur. Roberto founded a leading edge face-recognition company a couple of years ago, in Singapore. He resisted a multi-million dollar offer because he wanted to pursue his venture freely in the directions he was passionate about, and to keep his technology available for other start-ups. His main message for wannabe entrepreneurs is, you have to be able to cross the chasm. I don't know whether it was intentionate, but "Crossing the Chasm" is also a best-seller technology book about how to bridge Early Adopters to Early Majority (of the adoption curve). For Roberto, it probably meant just that, but also surviving the toughest moments of the business adventure, when you're inches of giving up... He crossed the chasm because he was not alone, with 2 friends with whom he shared enormous respect and trust. He added that capital is money, but also human capital. Roberto and Rajeev, 2 contrasting styles, yet both were as fast, and probably will make as much money. Perception.
A couple of days ago, when having a drink with some people, we were discussing how our tough it was to have a drink with our assigned Core group (as opposed to the chosen Elective groups). That great story came out... This guy was telling us how his group s***ed because they could not even meet for group work. Apparently, one Fonty guy (let's call him John Smith) not only never attended meetings, but also never responded to the many invitations. The whole group was upset. Then one day, they received an email saying something like: "You have been sending a lot of messages to me recently, I am an INSEAD MBA, but graduated in 2001. I think that the John Smith of your group never received your emails..." Funnily enough, the John Smith in question seems quiet and shy. He never got the information, in reality. Perception.
One reality though: Kazu, in Cuppage Plaza (off Orchard Road) is a superlative Japanese izakaya-style restaurant. Cuppage Plaza actually is as close as you'll get to Roppongi, in Tokyo. Lots of authentic Japanese restaurants, lots of salarymen, lots of expats, karaokes, Japanese clubs, and the what-you-know that makes Roppongi what it is... Highly recommended, if you -or your stomach- can't bear Chinese food anymore.
The good thing about Family Business classes is that you get to see really big fish. Not that anyone should be overly impressed by big bucks, but still, to me that's as close as have been to real billionaires. To prepare us for the big catch, we had a session on Wealth Management ("Private banking" is so passé). Two things of particular interests: entry tickets, and transition from operations to investments. Entry tickets are segmented this way -at least in that Bank which is a global leader- 1 to 10 USD millions, 10 to 100 millions, 100 millions above. They do have a 1 billion above segment, but it only concerns 10 families or so in Asia... Wealth Management, from what their representatives claimed, is particularly concerned about balancing the family assets between core operations and investments. That supposedly is key to avoid the 3G curse, ie. that most family businesses tank in the 3rd generation. By, say in the 2nd generation, cashing in some of the business success into funds, families can avoid such a curse. From my point of view, it then becomes a matter of transferring the right values, that if you may avoid the 3G shock business wise, you may still end up with a bunch lazy descendents. I think the lady in charge was a bit shocked when I teased her suggesting that she participated in the 3G curse by making it easy money. We also had a brilliant lawyer on general family issues, and a strange fellow on Philanthropy. That guy, no doubt, was passionate about his job, although sometimes a bit schmaltzy. With very little in hands when he arrived in Asia, he boldly elbowed his way into the rich families just by forcing people to meet him. His tip: these people love to tell their stories, so it supposedly is easier than you think to meet them.
Once ready to meet the big fish, we had 20% of the big big big catch, ie. two 1 billion above family representatives. At this level, it's a small club, as both people seemed to know each other quite well. Big Fish number 1 had a very interesting theory about Family Firms evolution. He mapped some big successful family models according to the level of investments vs business operations, and the level of family involvement/long-term survival. He claimed that successful families were those who were able to transmit assets into investments, judging by levels of involvement and longevity. These investments could be Private Equity funds, or Family Bank/Office, for instance. The key there, is being an active investor to keep some sort of entrepreneurial spirit.
Big fish number 2 concurred, and explained us how he got respect from his father when he created a Family Office, and then a Family Foundation.
We also had the chance to meet successful entrepreneur Rajeev from Sula Vineyards, through our VOBM Course -which on its own justifies my presence in Singapore. This guy is a big fish in the making. He really made a fantastic business out of his passion of wine. A Stanford graduate in Science, he launched a winery in India about 10 years ago, which is turning out to be a wonderful money making machine. He told us about the 2 wine business models: the Gallo and the Mondavi models. No French way, it seems. Rajeev chose the Mondavi model, going from a top wine to broader markets, once his reputation was made. He is currently breaking all price barriers for Indian wines. Unfortunately his wines on offer for tasting were more of the Gallo type -especially red and rosé. Nevertheless, it was a great occasion to try different things, and definitely an inspiring business story.
- An INSEAD Student Blog -
Un an à l'INSEAD de Fontainebleau.
One year at INSEAD Fontainebleau, doing and MBA, in pursuit of my dream.
Collection of good and bad times, reflections...
