There and back again...

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In the past few weeks, there has been a frenzy of activities in the program. We completed our first round of exams at the beginning of April and had a real weekend! It ended all too quickly and when we came back to class, we had the innovation bag challenge, in which the MBAs and EMBAs were pit against each other to come up with the best bag for students/executives. I must say, the innovation class was great; I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am pretty confident to lead an innovation exercise wherever I may end up. Next, we also had to pick our International Consulting Projects in one hour. That was a tough exercise, as we struggled to find the “right” project that will define the rest of the program. And in the midst of all these activities, we find ourselves having to finish the strategy mid-term, in which most of the class stayed up through the night to complete it and then go to class… class attendance was at its lowest at ~70 the day after! Following this intense week, we raced into the Easter break.

A few of us escaped to the vineyards for a picnic that Thursday. It was beautiful and we had a fantastic time. Alison and I then fled to Lugano and Como to enjoy the rest of the long weekend. All I have to say is: Wine, Pizza, Pasta, Sunshine and Gelato…

Next up, integrative exercise number two, finishing up our startup projects and never ending accounting and finance!

Lugano, Switzerland

what it's like in Gelato heaven

Innovation challenge

we recently had a bag innovation challenge and we put forward a series of marketing videos to gain market awareness for our brand. it was fun and very different from other exercises. here are the campaign videos.

it was fun while it lasted and then we were faced with a strategy midterm that we had to complete in two nights. most of us worked till 4-5am and some did not even go to bed. we then had to head to class at 8am. i think it was a record that almost 20 people did not show up.

IMD Video Contest

Video editing, interviews, photos for the stop motion segment probably took more than 40 hours of work! Thank you Alison for providing some editing help when school got really crazy and being the creative director for the stop motion segment. We did have to cut it by 30sec to fit into the final video. Thanks to all who helped and pitched in!

Global Business School Network competition

Done with classes!

For now anyway. It has been a while since I wrote, and rightfully so! I've been extremely busy and have been on 8 espressos for the past couple of days. Sleep has dropped to 5 hours a night and being in the front row, it would be pretty obvious if I dozed off.

We finished our class today and start exam preparations tomorrow. We have 4 exams next week and each will take about 4 hours. I'm apprehensive about it, but at the same time, relieved that I will not have to do any group assignment or any cases. On that note, our experience with the first study group is also over. Team MonX will hereby retire and we will get new teams once we reconvene on April 14th.

I am exhausted, but excited to hit the books and do some reading during the day and not at 1am in the morning. Such are the little pleasures in life.

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!

Goodbye Economy

Our last economy class... the whirlwind tour of economics has ended, and we are now facing a test to wrap it all up. The last class culminated last Friday, where all 11 groups presented their work. Class lasted 7 hours, but I have never had so much fun in class before. It was filled with wit, charm, intensity, passion, conflict and even alcohol!

Each group presented on the micro and macroeconomics of a country or region and introduced challenges and potential solutions. It was extremely interesting to hear the issues of economic growth and if it is the only solution and how might change come about. In the end, for every single country or region, it came down to changing the mindset of the people, which means it will take years and would require strong leaders. A coincidence that IMD focuses on leadership? Maybe not.

I will miss Prof. Boscheck and I will miss this class. Cheers to economy!

We discussed gender discrimination and this created some tension in class

The India group came with costumes and all!

Prof. Boscheck in all his glory

A beer in class - priceless!

Businessweek Blog finally posted!

MBA Journal: B-School on a Caffeine High