Many thanks
As Graduation is fast approaching, marking the end of this blog adventure too (after all, I'll need to work very hard), it is time to wrap-up on the Programme, and thank everyone who participated in it.
I've had the pleasure to inform some applicants, sometimes help them through the application process. I've seen some accepted, some unfortunately denied.
On Admissions, if there's one single takeaway, it is that the more outlier you are, the more focused and determined you will need to be. Consultants or IBs follow a path. If you are creating your own path, you'll need to convince that INSEAD can help you, and stay consistent throughout in interviews etc.
While in, you'll really be able to customize your own track. Roughly, it seems to me that there are: the Entrepreneurship, the Finance/Accounting, the Leadership/OB, the Marketing, and the Economics/Strategy tracks. Realistically, you can follow in depth 2 tracks. For instance, I chose Entrepreneurship and Leadership. The good thing is, you can complement with bits of other tracks (like some B2B Marketing, or some Corporate Restructuring, or some ICA). But because 10 months is short, and credits are limited, you need to know what you want to take out of INSEAD. Where your weaknesses must be improved and where your strengths will be leveraged to give you a competitive advantage later. For these reason, INSEAD is so not a factory with a one-fits-all programme if you don't want it to. Although on some occasions you may need to audit because of excess demand...
As I said during the Alumni Reunion, I came in with a set of objectives/expectations. Looking back in my application dossier, I was looking for many answers:
"Through OB, I would improve my leadership and people management skills. Strategy classes would allow me to refine competitive dynamics and define strategic objectives. And Entrepreneurship and Family Businesses electives would provide me essential tools with which to understand the specifics of my family Group and optimise its governance and financial model, and guide me in mapping future opportunities. They would also help me to tackle the succession issue and model the optimal ownership structure."INSEAD gave me answers to every single issue. Not only are they answers for pressing issues, but also for the longer term. The network will always be a pool of answers, as will be the prestige you get from School. I feel more confident than ever before, because it's no fluke -foundations are rock solid. Strong to have been able to go through 10 super intensive months, to have competed with such a bright crowd, to have exchanged with them. Strong, because I know them, and I can count on them, or on the School, and on Profs.
Back in November 5, I set myself a goal list to which my year would be evaluated. I've fulfilled all of them (but maybe for the longer-term relationships).
For this, I would like to thank:
- the Admission Committee for selecting an amazing crowd,
- Dean Fatas for doing an incredible job organizing this complex programme with extremely demanding people, and the Staff,
- Dean Brown for accepting the School challenge of raising the School's profile even more (my 2 cents, we are not Harvard and don't want to be it right?)
- The Faculty, for inspiring us so much,
- my Housemates for being so nice,
- all July07 for the whole experience, stay in touch!
- and of course, the Alumni for building the reputation, and giving back to School...
Many thanks.
Labels: Graduation, INSEAD S/W
The Most
I've just finished my day with the 20, 30, and 40 year Alumni. Pretty interesting.
First on me, I think either my head is swelling like crazy, or I'm on illicit substances, or I've improved so much, because presenting in front of 80 alumns, in Amphi A, with a mike, caused me no stress or problem whatsoever. Actually my presentation was very well received, with plenty of people congratulating on the humourous touch, or at least the heart-felt tone. I'm so pumped up. Folks, that is 4 presentations in a row that went out perfectly. The point is: we'll leave INSEAD confident about our abilities, and with a brandname that gives respect. We'll have our First Hundred Days too, to fulfill expectations put on us...
Interesting points about the Alumni Reunion:
- Some of them were worried that Singapore and 900 people intake meant dilution and lesser selection. I beg to differ. First, ratio of applicant to acceptances is irrelevant, because of the self-selection to INSEAD (1 year programme, very differentiated, and 700+ GMAT). Second, in 30 or 40 years, the MBA market has grown to places untapped for before -Latin America, India, East Europe...
- Alumni were very impressed by the develoment of the School over years.
- They are so attached to School that many came with their children and groom them for INSEAD. I met an Israeli 40Y Alumn whose son (or grandson I can't recall) graduated in 2000 and other son is applying this year!
- In 30 years INSEAD has gone from less than 30 nationalities to more than 70. And has over 100 alumns in more 25 countries (against 12 for Harvard and co.)
On the train back to Paris, I met someone from the Student Council. While he did not want to reveal the recipients' names of Best Awards, he hinted at the finalists. Whoever wins will deserve it.
That made me wonder of all these great professors met during the programme.
Most passionate: Tim Van Zandt
Most funny: Enrico Diecidue
Most humour noir funny: Theo Vermaelen
Most sensitive: Michael Brimm
Most subtly un-PC (but I like that!): Thomas D'Aunno
Most cool: Igor Vaysman
Most weird-funny: Nils Rudi
Most edgy: Igor Vaysman
Most sharp: Pascal Maenhout
Most impressive: Phil Anderson
Most Hollywood: Horacio Falcao
Most nice and dedicated: Ilian Mihov
Most connected: Randel Carlock
Most obviously un-PC (but I like that!): Fernando Bartholomei
Most underrated: Deigan Morris
Most shrewd: Tim Bovard
Most challenging: Kevin Kaiser
Most insightful: Karen Cool
Most make-it-easy-and-fun: Jake Cohen
Most useful-for-survival: Jose Luis Alvarez
Most brilliant: all of the above -well, you know which ones I preferred for each period...
They made an impact on me, I will never forget them. And I did not attend most of the Finance track, which has lots of Stars...
Labels: Graduation, INSEAD S/W
What makes a good Section?
I can't believe we're nearing the end. On the one hand, and all credit to the 1 year programme, I think we all want to go back to the real world and conquer it and prosper, but on the other hand, the sight of losing track of such wonderful people is scary. I guess London people don't feel the loss as acutely, because, as they say, London is going to be their P6. But for all the others we'll need to turn the page with conviction. To me, it just seems that some people I will meet again and again, some I will do business with, some I will help or will help me. In brief, some I will keep in touch as long as can be. At 30 years old odd, one must be able to discriminate people, and know in absolute terms which are worth and which are flimsy, or good-to-remember. I can...
So which one was the best Section of Fonty July 07? I'd be tempted to say mine, because it is a really great one.
Facts are:
- Best section tshirt was E4, then E2, E3, and E1 getting the prize for making history of not having a Section Tshirt (E3 getting the one of the ugliest of the year, and worse, with 10 Student names missing on it).
- Most active sections were E4, then E3...
- Most Dean's List productive Sections were E4, then the pack... E3 and the rest.
So E4 the best? It's funny because whenever I attended it I felt not home (some bias well known by statisticians and OB theorists). The point is, whatever your values, E4 made it glued more than others.
You readers and future intakes, here are some invaluable insights. Make sure you take care of your sections like that:
1. Probability is, sections have equal chances of gluing. INSEADs do share similar values whatever section they belong to. Sections become the Nerd section (E1) or the crazy section (E4) not because of some different profiles, but because they've been turned into that.
2. Section Social Rep, who are elected by the class, are key. Ideally you'd like to elect someone who does not care too much about grades (like a sponsored Consultant or a super bright individual), but also does not care too much about himself. Dedication is key, for at least P1 and P2. E4 actually got 3 Social Reps when the elected one graciously decided to share his burden. The result is, Win-Win situation, as the Section enjoyed more fun for less pressure on the Reps.
3. Ideally, a house that could accomodate the Section parties would help.
4. Section parties must start soon enough. Two in P1, 2 or 3 in P2, would be a good number. It's like Change Management, there is a definite "tipping point", or "critical mass" of parties that will make the Section glue together. E3, was a perfect Section, but did not have enough parties/gatherings, and in that sense never really passed that all-important tipping point.
5. Create a Section Tshirt early enough to foster some team spirit and belonging feeling. That sounds cheesy, but it works. And there is a balance between democracy and leadership. E3 struggled for weeks on its slogan (E3 got to be? E3 wannabe?) and its design, to, in the end, come up with the lowest denominator, several mistakes on it, and delivered the last night of P2 when 50% of people already had flown home for Christmas.
6. Individuals do matter. Strong values can balance loose section bonds. In my section, people have always been very cooperative, helpful, great networkers, and with such a great heart and mind.
With these tips, you'll have no excuse not to make it the most fun sections.
Again, fun to me is not partying "à gogo". Just non-work environments to know fellow participants more, in less formal settings, and without masks...
My section may be second best in objective terms, but to me it's still my favourite!
Cheers.
Labels: INSEAD S/W, Private
Of expected unexpected opportunities
Today I had an interesting experience.
A think-tank on French Enterprise and Entrepreneurship came to School, to collect perceptions of INSEAD students who have lived abroad and worked in French companies on some key questions:
- How do we see French Companies?
- How do we define our Dream Companies?
- What would make us work or start a company in France?
Of course, answers will be compiled in the think-tank, and of course that will be used to give orientations for the French Government. Indeed, this has been a recurring message: France is losing its entrepreneurial spirit, young Frenchmen are leaving the country to grab opportunities elsewhere.
I think the interviewer found it funny it when I suggested that I would not mind launching businesses in France because of the differentiation INSEAD has brought in terms of entrepreneurial skills, that entrepreneurship was some sort of niche (a niche?! wow great French oddity)... We then discussed about the Dream company, that whilst I was speaking about High growth, audacious, entrepreneurial, people-minded, most of ESSEC B-School students he had met spoke about Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship... Generational gap or the Talk of Experience?
To finish, and that sums up a lot of INSEAD MBA opportunities, we exchanged on our similar experiences, and found out we could do business together... We agreed to meet in Paris and discuss further on the opportunity.
Lessons learnt: you never know what opportunity will show up. So meet as many people as you can, and go to as many events...
Cheers
Labels: INSEAD S/W, Private
On the Wharton Experience and INSEAD Weakness 4
Classes stopped earlier this week in Wharton, and people are starting to come back. The Wharton exchange is a 2 month-period. Because it is half a term in Wharton, you can only take mini-electives.
When I ask the question of how nice it was, and the person starts by "It's ok", I expect the "but".
What is the "but" of Wharton exchange programme?
Apparently, the whole experience is very different from INSEAD and per se very interesting: huge campus with students from theology, economics, to nurses (it seems there nurses schools location are correlated to MBAs as well, we've got ours too over here... but there they've got interactions...), inpressive history etc.
Ok, now for the "but". There seem to be of three kinds.
First, the minis selection is limited. It's ok if you're looking for a job in parallel, otherwise it's a poor ROI for so much hassle.
Second, the clique is small because for some reason you're not wholly part of the big MBA... It's ok if you go with close friends or if there are lots of INSEADs, otherwise you just end up with the same small group of people.
Third, and foremost, the culture. If you fit with INSEAD multicultural spirit, you head for a shock. It's all American -even so-called other nationalities are Americanized. Cases are American companies, participants are Americans, Profs take for granted that you are American. In one of the courses, apparently when the Prof. asked about the Brits to come forward, there was not a single one. Unthinkable over here. It's ok because the US is at the forefront of lots of things, and if you want to experience the truly American way, otherwise it can be frustrating.
Having indulge in a top 3 MBA bashing, I can now expose INSEAD's major weakness, to me: the (in)consistency of Professoral Excellence at Core Courses level (Electives, because there have different dynamics, consistently provide the Star Professors to MBAs). Now, let's start with some caveats. To claim it is a weakness vis-a-vis the rest, would suggest other Top 10 MBAs are consistent. I had a housemate in Singapore from Wharton, he too admitted to some inconsistency in excellence levels over there.
INSEAD combines the following disadvantages: 2 campuses, 2 intakes per year, and 3 semi sections per intake. That means you basically need 6 professors in a calendar year. Now you can stretch some to Singapore on top of Fonty, but you can't stretch them on a full year. As a consequence, levels are bound to be unequal: there are only that many Star Professors on the world market, and INSEAD probably has that many Euros to spend on them.
Again, I'm convinced other top institutions have "Wow" faculty and "Arf" faculty, but because their throughput has not the same pace, it might not be as serious.
Now, maybe I'm lucky, but all my P1/P2/P3 Core Profs were at least good, and I had a good chunk of INSEAD Core Stars: Michael, Thomas, Enrico, Igor, Theo, Pascal, Ivan, Tim.
To finish on a positive note, despite the fact that all Core Profs are not stars, regardless of your intake, you'll get the chance of this unique, admirable Course Structure. I can't help but to stay amazed and speechless in front of such an intelligent, dynamic, interactive, integrated, cohesive Core Courses structure from P1 to P3. The concentration of the experience makes the learning process even more profound. I've written about it in P2 Courses, but it's even more acute with time.
Ok, enough rambling, need to get ready for Ibiza Spanish Week Party. I have to say, the Spanish Week is a bit hit. Today was San Jordi Day: guys had to offer a rose to girls, and they had to offer a book to them. Smart people, they've invented reciprocation for girls too...
Labels: INSEAD S/W, National Weeks, Wharton
Weakness 3: Financing
Ok INSEAD is "expensive" at €45,000.
Not only that, to fully account for costs you should consider, for the duration of the MBA:
- rent in a Fonty House or Chateau (including a swap in Singapore), €10,000
- car in Fonty, €3,000
- ticket to Singapore €850
- travels in Asia during one period €1,500
- travels in Europe 4 periods €2,500
- phone -especially when friends and family call you on your mobile when you're miles away- €1,500
- food €5,000 (roughly €15 per day)
And to that you add opportunity costs of foregone revenues:
- €60,000 on average
That totals to a hefty €130,000. Gosh I can't believe what I'm writing... In any case, you should definitely consider in the range of €100,000. Then again, I'm pretty poor in Finance, so if my rationale is somehow wrong, please let me know.
Now of course, the real assessment should be in terms of NPV. That is, you should evaluate the incremental cash flows post-INSEAD and substract total costs, let's say in the next 5 years. If the value is positive, INSEAD is worth it.
Then again, other factors must be taken into account. The value of the network, to me, is immense. So is the value of knowledge, long-term.
Of course, many scholarships are available. Probably more in your own country than through INSEAD.
The full list of Scholarships as of today (by the way, I've noticed that Theo, from Finance 1, finances a scholarship for Iraqis -my respects):
http://www.insead.edu/mba/schlmgmt/index.cfmLabels: INSEAD S/W, Weaknessess
Weakness 2: INSEAD MBA is too short, too shallow
With 10 months, that is a most valid concern. Adding to that, the Party Hard culture, new environments (discovering France, discovering Asia), new people you meet (taking time to befriend), make it even less time to study and work on projects. After all, there's a 24 hour limit to a day...
I could say that it is a continuity to the corporate world, that it's a matter of prioritising. Fast pace is the single most striking characterisitic of today's world. Etc etc.
At the end of the day though, what really matters is your objectives. Will INSEAD help you reach them?
In my case, I came in with clear learning objectives: using the School's expertise in some fields on some of my sponsor's business/strategic issues, and doing the Entrepreneurial Path. I only applied to INSEAD, and would not have done an MBA in 2 years.
To me, BSchools will go the 1 year model. Consider that the 2 year model is as much a cultural inheritance as a necessity. It's still the model from 1900 Industrial America. I discussed with an exchange participant from Wharton, who claimed that the second year is very much about job search.
Thus, it clearly becomes a matter of goals and experience. If you come right out from undergrad (or so), chances are you'll be hugely disappointed. If, like me, you have more than 5-6 years of experience, it's just the right format -for all stakeholders (partners, sponsors, families) as well.
Of course, there are always some frustrations: having more of VOBM for instance, more time to speak to guests, to work on cases, on projects.
I believe the answer that the School is providing is the following -this is only my call, and I'm a notorious over-thinker. Because students are students, in the sense that the more you give them time, the more they will take time (to have fun), lengthening the programme will not add any depth to personal experiences. What the School seems to be doing (or how I experience it), is provide Paths. Take my case. P1 and P2 could be viewed as general, but I had personal takeaways in Entrepreneurship because I knew what I wanted to get out of the MBA. Then, even though VOBM seemed short, it was complemented by other levels of learning in Family Business, Negotiations (a little). Then in P4, I know that it'll tie nicely with Realising Entrepreneurial Potential REP, New Business Ventures NBV, and Industry Competitiv Analysis ICA. In this perspective, Entrepreneurship is not restricted to a single course VOBM. All others build on it, and complements one another.
The real frustration, in that regards, does not come from shallowness, but availability. I would have felt the experience incomplete (hence shallow) if I could not take all these electives. In reality, I did not get all of them, not even auditing rights, but I'll still attend the courses I need for my path. I don't think any Prof. could spot me and ask me to leave, right?
So, too short? I would say not, but it depends on your particular cases. In the end, consumers always want more, but they don't know why. It's not more that matters, it's better, and more available.
To skim through the History of the MBA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Business_AdministrationLabels: INSEAD S/W, Weaknessess
Weakness 1: INSEAD is an MBA Factory
As promised, I'll address some of the concerns expressed from people I have met, or emails I have received.
I'll try to give my insights on each topics: intake size, programme duration, financing, Singapore. Some questions were related to the programme itself, like "How good INSEAD is in entrepreneurship, in other fields but Consulting and Investment Banking". These concerns were addressed in the posts I guess.
Let me start with size.
When I hear that INSEAD is a factory which produces 900 MBAs a year, I get mad. This is totally untrue, or deceiving.
The reality is: you really are part of a 450 people-intake.
Even that does not reflect the truth. You are part of a campus (like it or not), the one in which you start, so 300 or 150 people. Inside, you are part of a section of 75 people. This is the centre of your network, I think. A study claims that 200 people is the ideal number for a good network to develop, because at this level, you pretty much know everyone. It is true in factories (some companies deliberately top the size of facilities to that 200 number), it is true at INSEAD.
Singapore people develop a very tight network over the whole campus. We, in Fonty, develop a strong network in the half-intake (75+75), because we share the same half day schedule, we share the same professors.
To bridge sections, several informal networks develop: National Weeks, Clubs, Houses/Chateaux... Of course sections dislocate from P3 onwards, yet it seems to me that stronger bonds start in P1/P2.
So forget about the argument that INSEAD is too big... I certainly have never felt lost. Although I would concede that Singapore campus probably is more cohesive than Fonty.
The full study on optimal Human social group size (it's actually 148.. with a range from 100 to 230) -INSEAD is so close I'm starting to think that the School is ruled by OB people-:
http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/05/65/bbs00000565-00/bbs.dunbar.htmlLabels: INSEAD S/W, Weaknessess
Girls at INSEAD
A short stop-over in a fast technological frontier catch-up is a pretence to talk about one burning topic at INSEAD: Women participants recruitment. Some top Minister where I'm visiting now has just said in the news that to increase further, and sustain the current rapid growth, the country would need its women to participate in the economy.
I'm sure the subject of girls at INSEAD will please the male readership as well...
The issue: some people claim that it is easier to access INSEAD as a woman, hence hinting that the level of female participants is lower than that of their male counterparts.
The facts: women's presence in the MBA has grown from 17% to 25% in just 2 years, and still growing. It is a clear INSEAD priority.
Additional facts: Women in MBA is a assessment criterion of the FT ranking. INSEAD in lower than any other Top 10 on that. Women's average age is far less than men's.
The myths: Share of Dean's listers is proportionally higher for guys, INSEAD has admission quotas (both unverified).
My experience: I have had girls in my project teams. I enjoy working with them. I don't know if it's luck -in which case I'm extremely blessed- but all girls in my teams have been awesome: assertive, bright, hard-working, yet much fun. I have not experienced any Princess syndrom -I would not have tolerated it anyway, neither would they. In the end, I believe that it's NPV that counts, and NPV does not care about the past. It's not so much about who's the brightest, but rather who will bring value to the School and to the other participants.
To bring the debate further: Is INSEAD a right place for minorities?
Given its culture of tolerance, cultural openness (with a slight tendency to PC), I would say so. But then don't expect anything as entrenched as in US B-schools. For one thing, 10 months is way too short to have anything like Minority issues very hot. I know that the Womens group have had special sessions with the Negotiations Professor: Salary negotiations with Women, or something like this.
I'll try to get people involved to speak up for you guys... and girls.
In the meantime, last days of break, and first P4 assignment due this Monday.
Cheers.
Welcome to the first Australians, Swedes, Israeli, and Taiwanese.
Labels: INSEAD S/W, Minorities
Little Things
"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:
Labels: Family Business, INSEAD S/W, P3 Courses
The curse of the Dean's Lister
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.
Labels: Entrepreneurship, INSEAD S/W
Are Core Courses brutal?
As I see P1s starting their core programme, and us having our last core courses, I believe it is a question worth asking now.
This valid issue was raised by a Professor of mine, during an interesting discussion, after which I asked some of my fellows about their own experience.
The Professor's stance (Core courses are brutal) was part of a larger reflection on INSEAD's strengths and weaknesses in a fast evolving BSchools world: INSEAD is not yet focused (vs. Harvard), does not play on its strengths enough, but is experiencing massive cultural change. Indeed there have been many developments around Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi, even North America -although in that case I believe the project aborted. What is the strategy behind? Does the School has the means to do so?
What is the link with Core courses then. This Professor exemplified his position with Core courses. He found them brutal in the way that they were some kind of factory -all in the same boat with heavy emphasis on quantitative stuff. Interestingly enough, when I asked one P3 about this, whom I know struggled a bit on that aspect, the brutality he/she experienced was more on the Z-curve grading.
In my experience, I think that Core courses are essential. First, they build a common culture, and speed up the network creation. By sharing stories, in addition to knowledge, by establishing Section rules, Core enables us to get much more intimate to a greater amount of people.
Knowledge-wise, Core courses also are essential in building contents base that is so useful for Electives. I mean, even the ones that seemed so-so are relevant now. Strategy concepts can be used in business plans. Same for Marketing. LPG and LO are takeaways that will be useful all the time.
And I do want to emphasize that I found the Core classes to be well structured in their timing, ie. that they matched our learning curves in terms of intensity and insightfulness.
The Professor shared other nice views about INSEAD's strategy.
First, INSEAD must radically change its mindset. It used to think of itself as the best in Europe, and one of the best in the World. That is true. However, 20 years ago, INSEAD was one of the few MBAs in Europe. Now there are 10 or 15 world-class programmes out there. In that regard, the Singapore Campus did a lot to help the School change from complacent to conquering.
Global context seems to go its way too: "everything is about differences in the 21st century" claims that Professor, and the School is really good at preparing for that.
Anyway, while I was doubtful of the Singapore strategy before, and the Abu Dhabi, and the rest, I'm really convinced that these were the right moves, but that the School needs to go a lot further than that. It's a question of resources, of course, but there's always ways to deal with that...
On the classes front, everything is perfect right now. 3 electives, 3 top Professors... With the VOBM class going on, attended by the vast majority of students, there's a strange feel of "entrepreneurship lab" over here... I like it...
Labels: INSEAD S/W, P1 Courses, P2 Courses, P3 Courses
Left tail Crew member
It's a couple of hours before exams. I started to review Process Operations Management this afternoon. Too bad, it's the first exam tomorrow...
I'm finding the subject very interesting. Strange. Was I asleep in class? Too bad again, in a 10 hours I will not hear about POM for a while.
At least I get first hand experience of POM's greatest takeaway: KEEP SLACK. I didn't, well, I'm in a deep mess now...
Last thing about POM. We ended P2 with a great session on Humanitarian Aid. As 2 people in the section (E4 by the way, I can tell it now that it's over) came from the Red Cross, we had a hands-on approach to logistics. Their bottlenecks were base-camp material when launching projects... A matter of slack too. Great subject, in which INSEAD is at the forefront, as they provide their expertise for several relief agencies.
Since P1 students are starting to come on campus, my 2 cents on how to better make the most of P1 and P2:
1. Keep Slack, you'll always need it for something unexpected
2. Work regularly, capacity (ie. knowledge) lost in bottlenecks (ie. revision time) is lost forever!
There's no second chance, well, unless you fail and retake.
Wish me luck for tomorrow...
(BTW, pic up is Newton's apple tree in Cambridge: Apple, pomme, POM, revelations. Ha ha. Pic down is the infamous Newsboy announcing Library break for last minute POM review. Yesterday at 12.45...)
Labels: INSEAD S/W, P2 Courses
How far can un-PC go?
This week is the Heart of Europe Week. A great event, as you can guess superbly organised by German, Swiss, and Austrian participants.
On Monday, a late version of OktoberFest took place at the cafet. It was not a toned down version of it, with real 1 litre mass glasses and all-you-can-drink beer (they run out of beer). Yesterday was the excellent Raclette party. Tonight is the Movie night, with films as great as BBC show "Allo Allo", German indie hit "Run Lola Run", and the well known Al Gore promoted Earth in Danger movie. Beer on campus, national stereotypes jokes, but still seriousness, all at once...
Yesterday, a German speaker came to a marketing session. 50+ years old, old generation European Manager (very typical, to my mind), top executive from a big family group in Germany, 55 slide presentation with a strong German accent. It could have been boring, for sure. Yet, the guest speaker made it bearable by being so effortlessly himself: quite a few sexist jokes, a certain male chauvinism, but nothing outrageous or surreal. Very "trucker's calendar" type, and again quite ok because so genuine to the speaker's personality. I'll be non-PC and totally honest: many times that guy was even funny!
I mean, like it or not, that generation of top managers in Europe is just like this. Some girls did leave the Amphi, presumably offended by some jokes.
This morning, we received an email from the Marketing Prof. who organised the conference, and the Dean, excusing themselves from offending some people and emphasing that the spirit of INSEAD was about tolerance of all kinds (genders, nationalities bla bla bla). I actually was shocked by that email. It seems to me that they mistake what INSEAD really is: from what I gathered, it was about expressing opinions, and accepting differing opinions. Putting your views forward, while being humble enough to recognise other standpoints, and correct your views accordingly. It should not be about being as neutral as possible so as not to shock anyone. It reminds me of a previous attempt from some people to have the CV book gender, ID pic, and age free. Or when some people got offended from some School's traditions. If the Dean really thought that the Guest Speaker had been so rude that he should tone down his presentation, then he should have accepted the anonymous CV book, and curb School's traditions. Or put under scrutiny some Professors who definitely are not politically correct (but that is why we love them).
Will INSEAD succumb to political correctness as well? With the influence of the new big boss, and as the School tries to get more and more North American students, it is a foreseeable outcome. Should this happen? I hope not. I love my North American classmates, truly great people. Yet it doesn't make sense to get all these people from all around the World with supposed differences if the first thing you want to do is hit on every big-mouthed person. In effect, imagine what the speaker was told: could you please not be yourself -you the highly successful/hard worker/old generation European manager- and take out your jokes because some of our MBA participants -1, 2, 5 girls? with fewer experience than yours combined- did not like it, and felt offended. How arrogant is that? Please, fellow participants, be more humble, and discriminate between some people's genuine humour (like it or not) and some deliberately offensive comments.
As to the Marketing Professor, and the Dean to cave in, very disappointing as well... After all, in Guest Speaker, there is "guest".
So the guest speaker, as a result of complaints, had to take out all his jokes from his presentation for the other sections sessions. I'm glad I wasn't there, because in that case, I would have left the amphi out of boredom...
Labels: INSEAD S/W, National Weeks, P2 Courses
