Integrative Exercise 2

In our second integrative exercise, the 90 of us were split into four different universes that consists of three groups each. In each cluster of three, there was Egypt Telecom and two other telecom consortiums. Our team was Egypt Telecom and we were to run the negotiations starting at 8am the next day. In the mean time, we had to figure out a strategy, role play the Egyptian culture and figure out how much we are willing to sell a subsidiary for!

Our team started reading the pile of papers at 5.30pm and started discussions during dinner at 7pm. We then discussed the structure and how we want to split up the team. By 10pm, we split up to do the work. At midnight, we gathered to discuss what had been done so far and we decided to send out a memo to the groups the criteria - we had a board covered with the different items we were going to look at! At ~4.45am, I walked home and slept at about 5am. I woke up at 6.30am, well, not really waking up since I didn't really go into deep sleep. Anyway the team met up, some of them stayed in school to sleep in the nap room. We took the floor at 8am...

The discussions throughout the day was fun, but also frustrating as it was hard to keep the entire team on one strategy as there was a lot of improvisation on the spot. All in all, we learned that building trust in negotiations is definitely key! We ended the day with a happy hour which I hear lasted past 1am in the foyer! I left stumbling home at about 9.30pm.

Cheers to Team Fortynine!

brain dump

morning cheer after minimum sleep

bright and early 8am in the boardroom

It's time to exercise

D-day: Thursday 1.30pm

We were faced with our first integrative exercise that lasted from Thursday to Saturday morning. I slept for a total of 2 hours... I learned so many things in these 2 days, primarily about business analysis, but also about group dynamics and the effects of sleep deprivation on behavior. I am lucky enough to be naturally calm in these kinds of situations, probably because of my time in the military, where sleep deprivation was a constant phenomena.

Our group survived, and it's one less integrative exercise I have to go through. Time is zooming by and I'm going to enjoy these insane moments. Cheers!