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
End of Class... A brief summary of P1/P2
Some MBA participant drew this picture. It is about 3 of the star Professors of P1 and P2: Enrico, Igor, and Pascal.
He claimed these were the Big 3, although I would definitely add Accounting Jake, OB Michael and Tom, and Finance Theo.
These Professors have made a lasting impression on me. They were fun, brilliant, insightful, and interactive. They are recognised among their peers, and still consult many top firms. This is what star Professors are about...
P1/P2 is a special phase at INSEAD. It's made up entirely of Core Courses, ie. you must follow them. They are built around practices: Accounting, Finance, Organisation Behaviour/Leadership, Decision Making/Marketing, Strategy/POM. INSEAD has clear leading expertise in the fields of OB, Finance, and Accounting.
P1/P2 is also when you bond with your Section. You have 4 sections in which you spend most of your classes. Funnily, anyone you ask finds his section to be the best one. It's a bit different atmosphere when you swap sections... Of course, I was blessed to be in my favourite section, because it is mine... But also because it was homogenous, with talents evenly spread. Of course, some people shone, some were funny, some quiet. But all were respectful and pertinent.
Brits in particular consistently set high standards of excellence and "to-the-point"ness, in addition to being humorous. Americans consistently asked questions that some people didn't dare to ask. Asians consistently did not disrupt classes with useless comments. Indians consistently shared hands-on experience. In brief, just the perfect people in the perfect section. Great fun, great laughs.
In my case, I found P1/P2 amazing, and slightly daunting. Not that it was particularly insuperable. Just so rich, so intertwined. I really needed some time and step back to see the whole picture, how courses related, talked to one another. Some people find me crazy... In any case, I was too insensitive to fully participate in OB, and too numbers-allergic to participate at all in Finance, Accounting... But enjoyment surely was there.
Specifically, in P2 some cases sent me through the roof. I just loved Leading Organization's Air France Cases A and B, about Power and Politics. MAC's W.Chipset's Case about target-reaching was pretty interesting too. Or the Marketing Case on Bangladeshi Condoms, POM's Laurence and Ralph Newsboy Case (which I discovered 2 days ago during exam review), and Strategy's EasyGroup and Cirque du Soleil.
Ok, 3 exams down, 3 to go. Including my nightmare: Corporate Finance Policy. This guy, the blond in picture, has the look of an angel, but will be the most vile person at INSEAD come Monday, as he promised us hell for the exam.
Next post, I promise some random Sections pics, and P1/P2 pics.
Labels: P1 Courses, P2 Courses
Exams over... Break
Exams are over.
After 5 grueling sessions we finally called it a day.
Exams were tough, but fair. Fairness definitely was in everyone's words (with "tough" and "long" and "f*cked up" quite frequent as well), in the way that there was little surprise on subjects. I believe that exams fulfilled their primary roles, that is to convey a fair feedback to the student on his or her understanding of the subject.
There were few tricky computations, even in quantitative subjects, but a lot of intuition was required. Econ, Accounting, Finance, tested our deep assimilation.
Now we expect results in 2 formats: absolute grade (%), which will indicate by how much we have performed -presumably vs. our own personal benchmarks- and Z-scaled grade, which will indicate our position vs. our classmates.
After exams, we all gathered at the cafeteria and drunk Champagne (remember Champagne fines?). Now I'm wondering whether the lawn actually was not the lucky one, as too many people mimicked Alonso in Brasil...
See you in P2.
PS: Thanks for the emails I received during P1, and once again, INSEAD is a tremendous experience. Prospective students, you'll never regret it!
Labels: Exams, P1 Courses
Great ending for awesome P1
Wow. Now period 1 really is over. Granted, I still have exams next week, but classes and interactions with P1 Professors are over. Chances are, I will not have Enrico, Michael, or Tim again in classes.
This afternoon, Michael made his farewell too, closing his best class of the period. The subject was about Leadership (a leftover from last session), and Negotiations.
Michael Brimm introduced us with the LEAD self model (P. Hersey, K. Blanchard), which I found extremely relevant. I probably have more than average leadership experience, and so many issues echoed in me. Basically, there are 4 types of leadership styles, according to a matrix task/relationship: delegating (low task, low relationship), participating (LT, HR), selling (HT, HR), and telling (HT, LR). If you put your subordinates in your matrix, you get great insights. For instance, low abilities, low motivation people need to be lead with a dictatorial style; high abilities high motivation (or high potentials) should be lead through delegation, for them to make mistakes and learn. Further, the model made an intelligent distinction between Management (participating and selling), and Leadership (delegating and telling).
I found myself scoring Effective Leadership, Selling/Telling type -which I could easily relate to. It also emphasised my needs for improvement in delegating, and participating (although this latter quadrant is not very significant).
That discussion naturally drove the class to getting to the basics. We all talk about management, leadership, hard work. Michael reminded us that we should not forget other dimensions of Life.
We all are launching great projects in our lives, at various points: a career, a business, a partnership, children. Questioned about what was driving us to work hard at INSEAD, we in majority answered (in no order): the fear of regret, long term returns, exams or work deadlines, the drive to invest for a short period of time our most valuable asset ie. our lives. Yet, Michael argued, our priorities are often wrong -but it's not too late- given that all executives tell him they should've known better. He suggested that instead of Today having means towards an end Tomorrow, we should have and END today towards a MEANS tomorrow. The END today is Fun, Growth, Learning, to be a better person tomorrow vs. overwork today to have fun, grow more tomorrow. That all make sense in everyday's life words: as Michael said, your holidays tomorrow at 50 will not be the same as today's, your relationship tomorrow will not be the same as today's (in fact, that other person may not wait for us to invest our life in work for latter returns), your children tomorrow will not be your children of today.
Michal stopped short of saying that we should be more epicureans. He just emphasized that whatever we choose, we should be aware of consequences.
Finally, Michael underlined that we should not neglect our networks, and that INSEAD was a wonderful place for that. In network he meant having people who filled our various needs: intimacy, colleague, self worth, assistance, guidance, nurturing, creative irritator.
Of course, Michael deservedly won a standing ovation; he was sincerely moved, and so were we.
I'm having such an incredible time over here!
Cheers.
To know more about the Hershey/Blanchard LEAD self model click the link. There is a questionnaire that goes with it and enables you to get a score along the different dimensions.
http://www.12manage.com/methods_blanchard_situational_leadership.htmlLabels: P1 Courses
Farewell P1... Wrap-up Week 9
Tomorrow is our last day of Period 1.
We had our last sessions in several classes, kind of emotional.
Enrico was acclaimed - standing ovation and endless applause until he left the amphi. This guy is just awesome, so nice, yet so sharp. He's the one most intimate with us. As a gift, he gave us 100% participation to all! Nice as a gesture, but useless still as we'll be graded on a Z-scale of normal curve. For people like me who did not say too much too often, it's cool though.
Last quote from Enrico:
"Don't worry about the exam, I've seen students afraid of their girlfriend's phone number doing very well."Tim was acclaimed too, with a standing ovation. He put so much heart in his classes, and after them. He inundated us with great emails about past students still asking him for help, organised all these insightful games, and varied with impressive efficiency his class materials. His course will be so useful in the future, and would have been of such immense value in my professional past.
Theo's last class was yesterday, and he too was acclaimed. His last funny trick was to claim that he'll praise so much P2 Professor that our expectations will shoot up and we'll grade him more critically.
These Professors, so tremendously good, the best I've had in terms of how close they were to us, score around 5/5 in the School's grades (as given by students). P2 Finance Professor was graded 4.95 last year. How appetising could this be? I cannot wait...
Tomorrow: last LPG class with Michael, and last Financial Accounting with Steven. Steven really improved a lot since our Academic Representatives gave him the class's feedback. He's now good, and even really good in his Review Sessions.
On the party front, guess what, it's dead. P4 leaving, and us cramming for the exams.
OK, I'm going to study hard my exams. Cheers.
Labels: P1 Courses
We need a break!
Somebody sent this ultra-cool pic to Section 4 people.
It's also very relevant these days. I too fall asleep sometimes, albeit for brief moments and in a more discreet manner.
The reason is, final P1 exams start next week, and some projects were due this week. With or without projects, I sleep at around 2 every night, and I can't even finish all my homework. You see, with extra-curricular involvements, club activities, homework, (little) partying, the day becomes very short indeed.
So students are tired, exhausted, and they need to do crazy things. In this category, yesterday was the first DASH ever in Fontainebleau. The purpose of DASH, apart from ensuring some awareness of the School in Fonty, or adding some more fun to us, is that there is no definite purpose. The one and only purposeless thing that I will do during the whole year. DASH (in pictures hereunder) is a 5 minute-race from the Chateau to School wearing crazy costumes. Seeing the pics once again, I have realised the true purpose of DASH: to test us in a ridicule situation, in front of all the outside world!
P4s are starting to say goodbye, as some will go to Singapore for their P5. So this week also is about passing the torch in all various clubs. At the end of it, we'll be grading our current Professors. Discussing with mates, there seems to be quite a consensus on who was a God, who was awesome, and who was good. Here are the July 07 majority results, encapsulating two dimensions -Professor skills and Class value:
- God of the gods: Enrico Diecidue, UDJ
- Gods: Tim Van Zandt, Prices and Markets; Theo Vermeulen, Finance (both excellent)
- Quasi God: Michael Brimm, OB
- Biggest margin for improvement: Steven Monahan, Accounting (although he did improve a lot these latest classes)
Here's another example of people getting so overwhelmed that they need to relax doing stupid things. A log off is when somebody forgets to log off from the network, and someone else uses his/her email account to send crazy stuff...
"Subject: Finally, the truth
Dear all,
I have a confession for all of you. You the people of INSEAD are all my brothers and sisters, and I cannot hold this for long.
There is something strange going on with me. Something I do not understand. Something bizarre, yet pleasant.
I feel the feminine part of me arising.
Secretely at night I try my wife's lipstick and I think it makes me prettier. I do not know how to take it, yet it's a fact.
Thanks you for listening. Now I feel much better. I feel much relief. I feel like I just dropped a huge burden.
Kisses to all."
Here's the reply from another Student:
"The contest for INSEAD’s worst logoff ever is heating up!"
I think the contest is over. This logoff was terrible ;-)
Among other nice quotes of the past weeks:
"When you pay peanuts, you only get monkeys."INSEAD alumn entrepreneur explaining his HR policy of paying above average.
"Good, but work hard."Professor Enrico's understatement on a student's wrong answer.
"Do I miss someone out there?"" Huh, he is sick.""Sick of what?"Professor Enrico checking attendence, replying to a student try to cover-up his mate.
"6"Student caught dozing off, snap answering Professor Enrico on what Sygma was, as a Confidence Interval formula.
"It's not very intuitive to me."Student's understatement on not understanding at all.
"The love is for the Shareholders."Professor Vermeulen, emphasizing that shareholders value means creating entreprise value.
"The love for Shareholders has limits. First love yourself."Same Professor, about remembering that MBAs will have to make sure first about their short-term future in their career.
"Everyone needs to scratch once in a while."Professor Vermeulen, on mistaking a student scratching for a hand rise.
"
Everything you read in the Financial Times is useless, because it's too late."Prof. Vermeulen, on the use of information in Finance.
"If you all fish in the same pond, what do you get? A shoe, not a fish."Prof. Vermeulen, on
"Desperate PhD hypotheses, torturing the data until they speak" people who want to prove that the market always is efficient.
Labels: DASH, P1 Courses, Quotes, Social Life
Aussie Kiwi Week 2006
This is at last the first National Week. The tradition is about as old as the School, and serves, according to me, many purposes.
The obvious one is to introduce cultural diversity and have people know more about one's culture (how they do business, eat, have fun).
Another obvious objective is to party. INSEADers are serious fun-loving people!
The main interest though, to my mind, is networking with co-nationals. As P4s pass the baton to us, as we spend a great deal of effort and time in realisations, we get to know all students from our countries or regions. And since the probability to end up working in one's own region, at some point, is high, you increase your network by adding another "team circle" to your already numerous ones. I've already mentioned, in a previous post, the importance of networking in clubs, sections, groups, houses, house dinners. This is just another opportunity.
National weeks are organised around a given format: films, free breakfast, lunch or dinner, conference, fun, and the big closing party. Ever popular are the memorabilia t-shirt, the amphistorming (ie. when organisers get to introduce the week after class), and the party.
On other fronts, work is soooo tough now. Exams are in 10 days, everybody is cramming, attendance in tutorials reach world-record levels. Prices and Markets Wharton letdown has been uncovered: students over there did not participate in time, for reasons ranging from lack of time to unmotivated because ungraded. To all of you: we have just as little time, and over here too it is ungraded! The learnings from the game are pretty interesting though, it's all about cooperating in a business world, and sending signals.
Cheers.
Labels: National Weeks, P1 Courses
The importance of networking - or how parties are part of the curriculum
Up to last week, I had succeeded in maintaining a good balance between work, fun, and sport. The last week-end has caused havoc in my well-greased organisation, and now I am getting a little behind in everything but fun.
The best reason to explain this is that pace is now mad for everything, ie. it is not me slowing down, but the rhythm speeding up!
Take parties. We used to have one scheduled every day of the week -not counting private house dinners. Now we often have 2 running the same night!
Tonight is bad example though, since only Eyes Wide Shut party is on.
I believe that this party culture is so entrenched in INSEAD because of the remoteness of Fontainebleau, sure, but also because we only have one year to know each other. In the same spirit, houses host "random" guest dinners, or guest from other sections, to enlarge the network and make sure we don't miss each other.
You see, I really get the importance of networking here. Network with section, network with co-nationals, network within industry. It is more than making friends. Actually, probably very few people will stay lifelong friends. But most of them would help in some way.
On Monday, we had great insights from alumni entrepreneurs. All of them concurred in the following: at some point, networking was key in their business - one MBA04J because he launched his venture with a fellow INSEAD student, and one who got all his key contacts through friends' friends or contacts.
Other key takeaways from the conference: don't try to make the difference with the "great idea" but with great execution, choose high growth/high margins sectors, fail or succeed but don't lose your time in the middle, and don't hedge your bets, just go for it.
Take classes.
Some courses have really reached the upper limit in terms of what individuals can digest before overstuffing.
For instance, Prices and Markets, definitely a most interesting subject taught admirably, has reached its peak. One reason why the peak is past us, is the Wharton letdown. We were all getting so excited about the Game held at Wharton and INSEAD (Fonty and Singapore), but Wharton gave up after 2 rounds, for technical reasons, and misunderstandings between Professors and students over there. Consequently we all started over on Monday, yet at that point the fun was gone...
Take sports.
Although I am still a serious sports addict, I have dropped a couple of activities. Rugby has become too tough for me, as the big guys are the only one left. Still a couple of Asians showing up, but more as a constant reminder that the game can be physical (ouch!).
Cheers.
Labels: P1 Courses, Social Life
Join My Cult
This week is the last "reasonable" one before Cases and Exams rush time. Everybody has realised it, and so everybody is throwing a party.
On Monday, Le Vivier House people organised the Spice Girls Party. Which was brave, considering that Tuesday, ie. today, was Prices and Markets Quiz 2 day.
Tomorrow, on Wednesday is Section 4 party at Villecerf, followed by the Baby Party at Samois-sur-Seine. On Thursday, it's group dinner. On Friday, it's Chinese Mid-Autumn dinner. On Saturday, it's Villecerf House party. This one is going to be big, because Villecerf is a traditional INSEAD compound. And they did a great job advertising it (actually my section got to see the movie twice... probably to get a good return out of the filming investment).
http://www.villecerf.com/video.htmlSome people are pondering whether to go to Warsaw next week as well, to support the School's rugby team, which is among the best of the MBAs -but then, INSEAD is the most European B-school too.
On the studies front, classes have been intense. Attendance in tutorials is increasing, as students are starting to smell exams. And in most classes, teachers are touching the most difficult parts of their courses. A real intimacy is being created with students too, making courses really enjoyable for both teachers and us. Stealing the show are, to general consensus, Stats Professor Diecidue and Economics Professor Van Zandt. They are outrageously good, in particular in making a fun and interesting class out of tough materials. All professors are brilliant actually, and it's worth defining what makes a professor good.
I believe there are two dimensions regarding the end-result Professors should look for: how much and well have students learned, and how much they have enjoyed it. Pedagogy and preparation are key inputs to the first dimension. Enthusiasm, personality, and intimacy are key to inputs the second dimension. Luckily, my section's professors score high on all.
In P&M today, we discussed about Game Theory in a very concrete way. We played a number game in which students had to forecast the class' average number according to a certain function. Since most people got the trick -I suspect I am in the gamblers section- we very quickly converged to the Nash equilibrium of Game Theory.
Then, on auction -second highest bid valuation type- 2 weird tshirts "Join My Cult" logoed were on offer by Professor Van Zandt. We had to bid (real money!) to get them. People went crazy and the tshirts went to €24.99 and €21 bidders.
We also started an Economics game against Singapore campus and Wharton. First round of 4 games: one on Location (competition against other firms around you selling identical products), one on Quality (competition between Low end and High end firms), one on Quantity (oligopolistic competition), and one on Advertising (pure game theory). We can't figure out yet the takeaways, but it is sure fun in most groups.
IBM CEO Sam Palmisano came to school to present his vision of industry trends. The conference was sold out (free tickets), and feedback is the presentation part was ok, and the questions-answers much better.
Groupwise, we had an excellent Leading People class on Feedback, which forced everybody to sit down and give feedback to the group. I guess this was another milestone in our group evolving to the Performing stage of group dynamics. (As you know, group dynamics has been theorized into 4 stages: Forming -knowing each other, testing; Storming -conflicting, arguing; Norming, establishing rules; and Performing.)
Concretely we were asked to determine what each person should DO MORE OF, DO LESS OF, and CONTINUE TO DO.
Thank God there were no surprises about how group members perceived others, incurring that we know each other quite well and have gone past the Storming phase. Now we must make sure that we all indidually work on the improvement points raised within the group.
I still see some groups in the earlier phases, and worse, groups so mad in the Storming phase that they've decided to lay back in the Forming phase; my poor house mate spent 4 hours yesterday to complete Game 1 of the Game Competition, as her group rambled on generalities but never resolved to tackle the heart of the problem. When she got home, they were still arguing about the other 3 games. I guess, in her case, her pulling pack is an example of making do with that and enjoying better the Forming phase. I did advise her though to go to her group meetings prepared with analytical solutions so that they would have a more solid starting point for discussion.
It all boils down to joining one's cult, when you come think about it.
Labels: Group Life, P1 Courses, Social Life
"What are you worth?"
To that question, which I was asked by my Finance Teacher, for which I was enclined to answer using past experiences, there is only one response: the Net Present Value of all your future Cash Flows.
It makes sense, when you think about it. You always have an inclination to reason in terms of what you have done in the past and how you have reacted to some situations, solutioned a problem, or brought value to a company. But while the Finance teacher probably does not want to devalue your past, he claims that your value is what you will bring in the future, not what you have done in the past.
I guess it ties in nicely with some current MBA students' preoccupations. You see, a lot of students want a transformation experience out of INSEAD. I talked to some very bright Americans who did not have the chance to get out of Ivy League undergrad (because tuitions were way too high for them) and, after some years at work, found out that top positions were out of their reach. I talked to some engineers who were confined to operations because they were the best of the bunch, but who wanted more. I talked to B-Schools undergrads who wanted to be given at least a CV look by Big 3 Consulting firms, after having experienced boutique firms or Next 5 firms.
But there is more than just this visible change. Yesterday, in my group at the end of class, sipping beer on the lawn on a sunny day, we came to some interesting conclusions.
Fact 1: P4 students (ie. in the intake just before us, graduating this December) are "different" from us. Mature, fun, interesting. We all are, but they had this "je ne sais quoi" more.Fact 2: P4 students are 3 periods ahead of us (P4 vs. P1)Assumption: P1 and P4 are no different re. backgrounds diversity, past experience, GMAT, coolness, or intelligence.Conclusion: INSEAD has changed P4s and got them more mature, more asserted, more a lot...Well, you might disagree with this, and I was not very good at GMAT inferrence questions, facts are undeniable though. I guess this is one reason why INSEAD's symbol is the Salamander: it is the mythical Renaissance animal which turned some metal into gold, did not fear fire, and regenerated perpetually.
Anyway, on the good news, we are witnessing inspiring moments of celebration on campus, as P4s are getting their job confirmations. Yesterday, one guy was being asked to provide his offer to Bain and Co. London office (he'll claim around USD 180.000 ), and a girl joined him celebrating for a position we could not get from our table. We could just figure out that they all were elated.
This week also is the Consolidation week. By that I mean, all teachers reveal the interactions between classes. In that sense, we are seeing the light, finally, and get to see how Uncertainty, Data, and Judgment has implications on Finance and Prices and Markets, how Prices and Markets uses NPV, and how Financial Accounting provides sound data for Finance. As to Leading People and Organisations, I guess the tie-in comes from the fact that, without good people management, firms cost structures are higher.
On the gossip side, a group of girls are inviting guys on secret dinner excursions to Paris, as in speed dating party (albeit the guy has, in this case, one night to convince, instead of the customary 7 minutes).
Besides, this Saturday, following the Increasing Territory theory, I will be going to Paris with friends to celebrate another birthday.
Cheers.
Labels: P1 Courses, Students Profile
Week 4: First exam and First hormons outburst...
Would you believe it! Already week 4 - time has elapsed so fast.
This week, we had our first exam, a mini quiz to test whether students follow the Prices and Markets class.
For exams, we are allowed to have one A4 help sheet -known as a cheat sheet, although it is authorized. It is amazing how ingenious people can be in the face of adversity. Previous cheat sheets have started to circulate, and basically they look like miniatures. Some of the cheat sheets, you really need to have a lens to read...
Anyway, I crammed like mad on wednesday, and managed to get a decent 80%. Remember, students have different objectives. You have the Dean's Listers, or top 10% guys, because the Dean's List guarantees jobs in top consulting and investment banking firms. You have the Learners, more or less 60% of people, who want to be decent in classes that do not matter for their future, and work hard in subjects they have targeted. Which is my case, and in particular in Prices and Markets. And you have the Party guys, who just want to party and do crazy stuff.
From the beginning, I have said loud and clear that P&M have little interest to me. Supposedly we will see applications in Market Finance, but also in Strategy and Entrepreneurship later, which is my only motivation to stay in the pack.
Anyway, 80% on all accounts would be good. But INSEAD distributes students along a bell-shape normal curve. Meaning that, since the class mean is about 80-85%, I'm in the middle of the pack, which is good enough for me. Of more value is the fact that I probably came from about 50% prior to starting the class, so any improvement is perfect!
Groups seem to settle. I like to talk to other people about their group issues and how they have solved them. I believe that students do not pay enough attention to group dynamics -it is fascinating, I mean, it is a course in itself just to observe how groups evolve.
My group is doing better and better. We managed to spend adequate time on group cases (read not over 4 hours). We get along well - although the strong bond does not yet exist. Yet everyone on board is great. I have discussed that issue of bonding with several people, and we are very much asking ourselves the same questions: will we become friends? Is it possible to make friends for life in 10 months?
Other groups issues collected for you: groups in which 1 or 2 persons exert Power by controlling the cubicle computer or working beforehand to come up with their solutions as a base for discussion; groups in which 1 or 2 are regarded as dumb by the others and don't get to express their ideas -until someone regarded as not dumb comes up with the same idea 1 hour later; groups with ghost members; groups which escape tensions but accumulate frustrations.
That said, this week was very much about transforming your working group into a team. Presumably, the difference is vast: working groups do not share a common goal and accountability, whereas teams do. We had in Leading People class a great reading about quartets as examples of teams:
The Dynamics of intense Work Groups: A study of British String Quartets (J. K. Murninghan, D. E. Conlon, 1991 Cornell University). To summarize, by analysing success factors in quartets, the academics found that best-in-class managed group paradoxes in a similar fashion: the leader vs. democracy paradox, or how a leader is needed but needs to listen; the second fiddle paradox, or how to accomodate power conflicts when 2 people want to lead; the confrontation vs. compromise paradox, or how compromise or decision voting mean mediocrity but how confrontation on contents (as opposed to persons) can bring immense value. I think that our group escaped discussion on this text because we still have not solved the leadership issue. So we're still officially committed to rotating leadership -although frankly, patterns emerge.
Let me do a quick recap of P1 classes so far.
Leading People and Organisation.I see the course as a theoretical support for the live experience/experiment we are all having in our groups. Readings and exercices really are on the same wavelength of group dynamics and issues on a given week. It is just amazing how Professors have foreseen all our issues and WHEN they would arise.
Prices and Markets.Although the course is last on my priorities for P1, I find it great, and all credit to Professor Van Zandt who is so committed and takes his classes to heart.
Uncertainty, Data and Judgment.Here too is a case of a fascinating Professor who turns a potentially killing subject into a killer. I mean, in normal circumstances, I would have found the subject boring, even if necessary. But, like all classmates think, UDJ really is great fun!
Finance.Potentially the most interesting for P1. I like it, teacher is great, cases interesting. This is a course I enter with 20% level, and anything above at exam will be a great victory, an invaluable takeaway from INSEAD
Financial Accounting.I have mixed feelings about it. To a great extent, Professor Monahan does his best out of a bound-to-be impopular course. I had great expectations coming in, expectations which were risen by Business Foundations Professor Jake Cohen. The fact that poor Pr. Monahan has to answer to (ir)relevant questions all the time makes it hard to follow, and somehow you get to understand why preconceived accounting boredom is, well, a universal preconception -because it is true, accounting can be boring... Pleeeeeeease Jake, come back to our rescue!
On the gossip side, date and shag gossips start to flow from all over campus. Must be hormons expressing themselves...
Here's tonight's party theme:
"Since we seem to be having some particular area of interest: our theme will be MARITAL STATUS :-)The rules for dressing up are:yellow sitting on the fence - between committed and temptedgreen available and scanningred desperateblue your gfriend or bfriend is one ocean (or far) awaywhite virgin or marriedno T-shirt buys you a free entry ticket for the 'sexiest man/woman of the evening' competion
black recent (or anticipating near) break-up and in urgent need of affective supportof course you can 1) change colors throughout the night 2) dress up as the person that you WANT to be, instead of who you really ARE :-)If no color is clearly dominant, we'll be handing out some red shirts :-)"Tomorrow is a House BBQ. Sunday is another House dinner.
Someday, I'll need to post about how better INSEAD is compared to the UN...
Labels: Exams, Group Life, P1 Courses, Quotes
Heard and Read at INSEAD
I don't have much to feed you on this, because the week has been intense preparing for one exam.
But I did attend classes, and here's what teachers and fellows said this week.
Professor:"You have to do your homework, otherwise I'm going to put 70% of the grade on Homework."Students (in choir):"Great!"Professor (thinking):"Ok, 30%..."Professor Vermaelen, on how to motivate us to do our homework exercices before class.
"You get this formula CVt=NOPLATt+1(1-g/RONIC)/(WACC-g). Nothing in the sleeves here."Professor Vermaelen, explaining a difficult formula to puzzled students.
"P/E method is poor. It's a good method if you think the other party is stupid."Finance Professor, commenting on the failings of Price/Earnings ratio. He gave us example of company in the red that would be valued for nothing.
"Maybe, in the long run. But in the long run we're all dead."Finance Professor escaping question from a student asking about a long-run trend.
"It smells Poisson"Stats Professor Enrico Diecidue on giving clues to students on which statistic law to apply for a particular problem.
To know more about Poisson Law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson's_law_of_large_numbers
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loi_de_Poisson"It's strange, I always use 2.58. Are you confused?"Professor Diecidue, to a student giving him the wrong Normal Z coefficient for a 99% confidence interval of a sample.
To know more about confidence intervals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_intervalhttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervalle_de_confiance"These guys over here are obsessed whether size matters."Stats Professor, commenting on why so many students were asking questions about sampling sizes, and coming up with a great slide showing various outrageous bell curves (ie. whatever the original distribution, samples do follow a Normal law distribution to the mean).
"Do you want to be my random device?"Stats Professor, selecting a student to choose randomly a sample of other students.
"Our standards are really falling at INSEAD."One French student commenting to another French student, both checking out the same bird...
"EBITDA, EVA and RONIC is so 80's.
We are obsessed with the Balanced Diamond Framework."P4 Student answering to newer intakes P1's following message:
"These P4's... They are too serious... They are obsessed with EBITDA or EVA or RONIC. They love calculating NPV’s. They party once a period. They need to relax a bit."To know more about the Balanced Diamond Framework:
http://www.12manage.com/i_s_fr.html
Labels: P1 Courses, Quotes
Week 2: First classes
Today was Ethics Day at INSEAD, Wed. 6.
This is not a fad, a new topic at School, since this Day is the 17th.
I like the idea of Ethics day, in the beginning of school year.
As you can imagine, the debate, most of the time, could not fly over the "what is moral in my country may not be in yours" altitude.
Some girl even ventured to claim that ultimately the Google censure on Tien An Men was good for the Chinese people because otherwise that could refresh bad memories and that could not be what Chinese people desired after all. The good thing at INSEAD is respect. That girl (not Chinese) felt safe enough to say clear and loud such a thing!
Conclusion of Ethics day: ultimately you have to know when you face an ethical issue and answer lies in your inner self.
In Period 1, or P1, we have 5 classes.
1. Leading People and Organizations, by Professor Michael Brimm.
It is quite a fun class. The title speaks for itself, and Prof. Brimm does a good job of conceptualising a subject that, in all honesty, could be fuzzy and buzzy.
It is all about psychology in management, knowing people through their types (essential features, such as MBTI types), and learning how to deal with diversity. I suspect that it also mixes up our own team experience to learn about team dynamics.
2. Uncertainty, Data and Judgment, by Professor Enrico Diecidue.
Funny how the Professor's name (12 in Italian), was predestined for that man. The class is about statistics and more broadly, how to make sound judgments with data.
3. Financial Accounting, by Professor Steve Monahan.
Balance sheets, Income statements, ratio analysis, you name it it's there!
4. Financial Markets and Valuation, by Professor Theo Vermeulen.
Another good class with a Professor displaying astounding Belgian humour.
5. Prices and Markets, by Professor Tim Van Zandt.
It's about economics, basically. Nice games in there, as introduction to game theory, and market pricing. Quite fun, but not so easy.
Labels: P1 Courses
