DomoDomo@INSEAD

Last lane

P5 starts today. It's the shortest term. It's the last moment to bond, the last moment to connect, the last moment to enjoy the INSEAD experience. It should be better than P4, because there are few classes, the weather should be awesome, and people should be in the mood to socialise. Some students still have to find a job, but I hope they'll realise it's ok to find a job after INSEAD. It'll probably come across as selfish or insensitive, but priorities should be to nurture the network.

Courses I'll be attending/auditing: Power and Politics, Financial Distress, Financial Analysis, B2B Marketing, Business Plan Workshop. That should be fun.
I'll try to push for Your First Hundred Days. It's a course specific to INSEAD, designed by Entrepreneurship specialist Patrick Turner, about the first crucial moments in your company. It's so specific (with lots of legends around it), that I may not get in. I guess YFHD concept is derived from Milton Friedman's theory for Statesmen that the momentum, the flavour, the success of a leadership term is created within the first hundred days. It is within that moment that tough reforms must be held.

The good news is, for those who cannot get into the course, Sarkozy has just been elected President, and he promised he'll push for his reforms within his first 100 days. Thus, we all could witness live what a First 100 Days looks like. That's what I like about Sarkozy, and a good lesson of leadership for all; I suspect his team is very professional, very managerial in synthesizing Lessons Learnt from other countries, and leading theories in Strategy and Management.
- Strategy: to choke the extreme right, then expand to the centre. Tactics: leadership in ideas, in pace, in communication. Tough right policies and surprisingly cutting-edge social policies for France (like positive discrimination).
- Management: although he probably was not 100% sure of winning, he had a true faith, and the interesting fact is, this is the first time that a post-election is so clear. Why? He was crystal clear in his positions before (at the risk of shocking some) and prepared his first 100 days long ago! Sure, it does help that he got a clear mandate (both in 53-47 and huge turnout) ie. people either cannot say "I didn't know" or must abide by the majority.

My point of course, is not about the contents of Sarkozy's policies, it's about the whole vision and dynamics of his ambition. It is very relevant, say in a case where you would takeover a distressed company (a France in crisis): employees, suppliers, clients would be willing to make some efforts to change, so implement that in your first 100 days, in the momentum period.

Ok enough of politics. To answer an email about India, yes it requires more than 5 days to know India, although I believe 5 days are enough to get a very strong intuition of business there (Can I go there? Where are the opportunities? Where are the barriers?), especially since now is a time when business is getting its structure, mostly shaped by the guest speakers we have met.

Cheers.

PS: If it's not Milton, then it must be Thomas Friedman. Anyway you got the point, one of the big chaps of American theorists.

Labels: BBI, P5 Courses

posted by DomoDomo@INSEAD @ 10:16 AM