Day 92: Straight back down to earth... *bump*

After a fantastic weekend in Hong Kong catching up with some of my favourite people, it's straight back to the real world with homework and projects and deadlines. The week ahead looks to be a pretty crazy and demanding week and I am not quite sure where I am going to find the time to finish the work/errands that need to be done. I can never really tell if I've been re-energised by the weekend or been completely exhausted by it. The crazy thing is that it's probably a bit of both. Re-energised mentally but exhausted physically!

It's Africa Week this week (we celebrate a WHOLE continent this time!) and our African classmates have done an amazing job of lining up a whole series of events for the week despite a pretty small organising team. (Kudos!) I am personally looking forward to the Braai and Wine Tasting on Wednesday evening but will need to pace myself overall so I do not run myself into the ground this week with all the activity that is taking place!

The Entrepreneurship Boot Camp is taking place this weekend and I have had to front load the work this week so that I will not have too much of it hanging over my head while I am at this camp. I am looking forward to it as there have been generally pretty good reviews about it from past participants. Unfortunately, a couple of people have pulled out at the last minute due to various reasons as usually is the case for most events. The one thing I have learnt is that even if you do not book a place at an event by the deadline/before it is sold out, there are often people looking to offload their tickets closer to the date if you are still interested to go. There's always so much going on that trade-offs have to be made.

As my class approaches the home stretch of the period, the class above us (10'D) are slowly approaching their own finishing line and the last few days of their own amazing year. Most of them do not really have too many classes at this point in time and appear to already be in the holiday mode.

The main thing I have heard from them is that they feel that things just happen so fast. Before you know it you are already in P5. I wonder what else they might say, what else they might have done differently if they could do it all over again. I have seen surveys online that invite them to leave their thoughts and comments. Hopefully some of this wisdom can be shared with the current batch (and the batch coming in January!). I really believe that there is so much that we can learn from each other, if only we are willing to share the unique knowledge and opinions inside of us. Who knows?

Something you take for granted may just be the lifesaver that someone else needs.

(INSEAD Cafe)
Are these 11J's? They don't even look 11!

Day 90: Waaay outside the bubble

In HK this weekend catching up with friends from waaay outside "the bubble". I always have a great time largely due to the amazing people that I know here. They are a collection of some of my favourite people and the one thing we all have in common is a love for finding and sharing good food. HK for me just wouldn't be the same without them. 

Doesn't hurt that the weather here now is just gorgeous. Warm without being hot. Cool without being cold and just glorious in the sunshine. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Hong Kong

 While this is the weather back in SGP. Much hotter and more humid but at least sunny.

Singapore

Alternatively, here's the weather for FBL. I'm glad I'm not there right now. ;)

Fontainebleau

Some of my classmates are actually also in town and I'm sure I'll bump into them at some point this evening especially since everyone's up for a night out on the town. Need a little nap now. I gotta feelin'... that tonight's gonna be a good night (and potentially late one). Heh.

Day 88: Peculiar conditions?

Walking the corridors here at INSEAD, you get the sense that there are 2 peculiar conditions currently afflicting my current class. The first is a physical one and the second is a philosophical one that might indirectly contribute to the first one.

The first condition I am talking about here is the newly dubbed "INSEAD cough". Seems like after a couple of months in, people start developing a cough that does not go away that easily. I know a classmate of mine who has been afflicted by it for the past 3 weeks and still gets coughing fits from time to time. He has already seen a doctor but it still refuses to go away even after a course of antibiotics. Probably doesn't help that all of us are often in close contact with each other due to classes, other activities or the fact that ~90% of the students here live within the INSEAD "bubble" that consists of the triangle between Heritage, Dover and INSEAD. Quite an ideal environment for a cough to spread really.

The second condition is one that some of my classmates have talked about before and it is called "FOMO" (Fear Of Missing Out). This is essentially a condition where you sign up for everything that sounds interesting only to find out that you're triple booked just about every evening this week. There really are sooo many things happening on and off campus on any given night of the week.

Take today for example. I could have:

• learnt how to make temaki sushi at someone's apartment
• gone to a classmate's birthday drinks
• participated in the Healthcare Club's networking drinks with alumni
• attended a meeting of the Entrepreneurship Club
• have Thanksgiving dinner with my college alumni (I chose this option because I had committed to it earliest)

There were probably other events that were happening that I was not even aware of! The temptation is to try to go for all of them even though it's physically impossible to be in multiple places at the same time. If you try to run around from event to event to event, you just end up running yourself into the ground and hence perhaps the INSEAD cough. As it is, people are looking pretty tired and burnt out at the moment, possibly also because the workload seems to be ramping up too.

The programme really is a massive exercise in prioritisation if you ask me. There are so many "required" readings to do that you have to figure out which are key and which you can afford to skip if you want to maintain your sanity and any form of social life. The same with your social life too though. There are so many groups doing different things that you just have to figure out what you are really interested in and stick to it. All this comes back to the theory of the MBA triangle matrix mentioned previously.

It is inevitable that you will have to sacrifice something along the way or prioritise one thing over others. The sooner you come to terms with that, the more at peace you'll be.

Day 87: Stereotypes

When you're in a multicultural environment like INSEAD, you will invariably encounter and challenge stereotypes of the various nationalities here on campus. Our Organisational Behaviour class today sought to highlight some of the stereotypes that people have of each other and to get people from that culture to help shed some light on these widely held beliefs. Stereotypes are not necessarily negative, they are just widely held simplifying assumptions for a group of people which are often based on some observed truth.
When discussing a topic like this, you can quite quickly tell which cultures are more comfortable laughing at themselves. Quite a fun discussion and a chance for everyone to learn something new about another culture

The following quick example brought out a lot of laughs from my class:

Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German, the cooks British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, and it is all organized by the Italians.

As did my Portuguese classmates' admission that the INSEAD culture could be pretty much summed up as:

"Play hard, Party hard" 
(He had meant to say "Work hard, Play hard" but I think it was a telling Freudian slip)


I'm guessing some people might not completely disagree with that statement actually. ;)

Day 86: And the results are out!

We had to wait till this morning to find out the results of the National Week Bidding (given that FBL is 7 hours behind) but they are finally in. To those that are coming to INSEAD in January 2011, these are the National Weeks you can look forward to in the first 3 periods. If you are from these countries/regions, there will be plenty of chances to get involved to help organise the events and get to know other people.

The 6 that made it (in no particular order are):

Heart of Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)

Italy

Iron Curtain (former Soviet nations)

Israel

Dragon (Chinese)

Latin America

Congratulations to the winning teams and I'm looking forward to some truly memorable weeks! =)

Day 85: Let the bribing begin!

There's a class here at INSEAD that deals with Business Ethics and one of the main topics discussed in the first period is the issue of bribery. While most of us agree that it's unethical to offer and accept bribes when doing business, all that goes out the window when it's time to canvass for votes for National Week Bidding! ;)

The countries bidding this year included:

1. USA
2. Canada
3. Latin America
4. Iberia
5. Dragon (Chinese)
6. Korea/Japan
7. Italy
8. Israel
9. Iron Curtain (former Soviet countries)
10. Heart of Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)

Right from the morning, the 10 national groups competing for 6 spots set up their booths to "win" our votes by sharing with us with all manner of food and drink. This was only the beginning though as the highlight was to be in the evening when they highlighted their culture and presented their proposed National Week activities in a short presentation. To aid their cause, there were people dressed up as a brown bear (Iron Curtain), a panda (Dragon) and a bull (Iberia) to ensure that their efforts stuck in our minds. The festivities then continued in the courtyard where they really pulled out the stops in a last ditch attempt to "convince" us that they had what it takes to host the most amazing week. We had ice sculptures that served to chill vodka shots, smoked meat sandwiches, falafels, bulgogi, Jägermeister, Red Bull, beer funnels, Jack Daniels, tapas, paella, caipiroskas (due to the lack of cachaça), pizza, nutella, dumplings, whiskey/green tea. 

Needless to say, all the groups knew exactly the right buttons to press. ;)

This is probably the most fun I've had on campus at INSEAD and truly a day not to be missed if you ever get the chance to experience it. The results of the voting will be out tomorrow!

THIS is how you have a shot of ice cold vodka, INSEAD style

 

Day 84: What a weekend!

All the work that needed to be crammed into the weekdays this past week all seem worth it now in light of a fabulous time in the land of a thousand smiles. =)

After touching down late on Friday night, we soon headed out to Sirocco rooftop bar to get a quick panoramic introduction to the city. Really stunning and peaceful views up there in contrast to the hustle and bustle down below. Followed that by heading to a tiny 2nd floor bar near Silom that had cool beats from the live drumming to accompany to the DJ. This was a place that hardly any airs about it but had a lot of character. Apparently it was a place that our host used to party at when she was in high school. No better way to end the evening than to go to bed in a 5-star hotel that was essentially free due to connections that I had from my previous job. Hotels like these truly exemplify Thai hospitality at its very best.

Next day we took a boat cruise along the Thailand's famous river to visit parts of the city that make you forget you are in one of South East Asia's largest metropolis. You also realise how important the river is for so many people living in the city. It was on this trip that I learnt that the full official name of Bangkok is actually the world's longest place name as recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. Now of course Bangkok doesn't seem like a mouth full but try this on for size:

"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit"

Which translates to:

"The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma"

What an epic name!

We finished our long tail boat cruise just in time to get ready for dinner at Buri Tara. Our host had arranged for a dinner by the river because this past weekend was also the festival of Loy Krathong when people traditionally release floats along the river to give thanks and as a symbol of letting go of the past and starting anew. She arranged for us to have bread krathongs so that we could also take part in this festival but remain environmentally friendly since the fish can eat them! It was really fun to be part of this festival and to partake in the traditions.

Sunday saw us digging in to some amazing brunch at the original branch of a Bangkok institution (Kalaprapruek). The soft chocolate cake there really lives up to its famed billing. You must have a slice if you're in town. Needless to say, we were again absolutely stuffed by the time we rolled out of there and headed to Chatuchak Market to try and walk off our brunch. If you've never been to the market before, all I can say is that it is GINORMOUS and I challenge you to go there and not find something you like. There's something for everyone.

Thank you once again to our lovely host, S, for organising such an amazing weekend!

View from Sirocco

A traditional Krathong made from the trunk of a banana tree and decorated

Garlands to bless the boat

When in Thailand, you just have to visit a temple ;)

 
After thought: I really enjoyed spending this weekend away with my classmates because it gave me the chance to get to know them a bit better, especially those who are not in my section. Unfortunately, we have to balance these fun moments with the demands of school work. Makes you wonder if you could strip out the rigour of the MBA and just organise "networking holidays" for young professionals, whether that would be popular. Afterall, many people say that the true benefit of an MBA are the friends that you make

Day 82: The end of the week... not quite!

Today is Friday but it's not quite the end of the week yet, certainly not for many of us who are traveling this weekend. I'm with a group of about 30 who are going to Bangkok while I know that there's another large group going sailing around Phuket and others have already left for Bali.

There is one guy I know though from my class who takes the cake from all of us. He is spending the weekend in Portugal (where he's from) to celebrate his anniversary with his girlfriend. Given that there aren't any direct flights between Singapore and Lisbon, he's on the road for a grand total of 31hrs (SGP>DXB>MAD>LIS) just to get there. He made it there safe and sound and on time but has probably <48 hours on the ground before he has to make the return 31hr journey back to SGP. A round of applause please.

Whenever I travel, I loathe bringing work with me and have it hang over my head while I'm overseas spending time with friends. As a result, I had to squeeze out time during the week to get all my assignments complete before I leave this evening. It was tough to find the time to get them all done and to plan ahead but at least I won't have to think about readings or homework while I'm away, even if I will be surrounded by classmates who might be talking about it. Speaking of which, I will probably have to find time in the coming week to do the same as I will be going to Hong Kong next weekend

I still managed to make it to the DESI week party at Butter Factory last night though which was great fun. It was kinda fun to have the whole place booked out for the evening and not have to worry about drinks since it was free flow. These guys sure know how to throw a party. The highlight of the evening for me was when this large Indian guy started playing a neon lighted mridangam "live" in accompaniment to the DJ. Cue some crazy dance moves. As my DESI friends inform me, it's all in the shoulders. ;)

Needless to say, after the "exertions" of last night, attendance at our 8.30am Strategy class was pretty poor. I personally thought I would not be able to get up in time but I guess I surprise myself from time to time. At the moment class started, we had less than a third of the class present. An hour an a half later when class ended, the numbers were only slightly better than half. To his credit, our professor really took it all in his stride and found the humour in the situation rather than get really upset about the poor turnout. Guess these sort of things aren't that uncommon. Heh.

Anyway, time to pack (no red or yellow shirts!) and make my way to the airport. Coincidentally, this is my first trip with them since school started! Looking forward to a fun weekend away with my classmates so it's not quite to the end of my INSEAD week yet. =)

Day 79: Grades!

The hot topic of the day was the release of our P1 grades. After it was released, it was the only thing people were talking about. Not even the snake charmer and fortune teller who were on campus as part of the DESI week celebrations could steal the headlines.

Grades here at INSEAD are calculated using the Z-score with a GPA of 3.0 being the mean score (only among your peers on the same campus). Your own score then reflects how many standard deviations you are away from the mean. So if you got a 4.0 then you are 1.0 standard deviation higher than the mean. Conversely, if you got 2.0 then you are 1.0 standard deviation lower than the mean. As long as you get a score greater than 0.0, you pass the class (i.e. if you're within 3 standard deviations less than the mean, you pass). To my knowledge, everyone passed except for maybe 1 or 2 people who didn't cross the line on Finance. It's not enough to pass though, you need to get at least 2.1 for your core courses so as not to be hauled up in front of the academic committee.

Given the grade non-disclosure policy, no one has to reveal anything about their grades if they don't want to. Not just to external companies but to internal requests as well. Most of the "poets" I know who were pretty worried about the exams did pretty alright. Generally I'd say that people are pretty pleased with their results. Either that or the people who aren't pleased are hiding in the corners away far away from everyone else. =(

I'm guessing that people are recalibrating themselves now and their effort levels for the next set of exams which are due in just under a month's time (O_O I know!!!). Some will certainly be gunning to ace these next set of exams and claw their way into the Dean's list (top 10% of the cohort) while others may perhaps be adopting a more holistic approach and figuring out how many weekend trips they can afford and still get the GPA that keeps them out of trouble. ;)

And at the end of the day, just remember that our statistics professor in P1 showed us empirical data that there is very little correlation between GPA and salary after INSEAD. Outside these 4 walls, grades don't matter. It's what you learn here that counts, and what you learn here isn't confined to knowledge gained from books.

Day 78: Back!

It's good to be back in class today after almost a week of medical leave. Although, I was getting quiet partial to that mid-afternoon nap. =)

It does feel like I've missed more than that already given all that happened this past week in school. Still, DESI week is upon us and they treated us to a fantastic Amphi storming this afternoon that had all manner of song and dance. If that's anything to go by then this Thursday's party should be one to remember (if you don't drink too much!). This afternoon, we had a mini-Holi celebration in school (see note) with predictable mayhem ensuing. It's not everyday that you get a bunch of grown ups throwing coloured powders and spraying coloured waters at each other, screaming and running around like a bunch of 8 year olds. To most of the pedestrians walking past, they must have thought that INSEAD had become a mental hospital. In fact, I think some of the children that were there ended up being pretty spooked by the crazy multi-coloured people that their parents and their parents' friends had become. I am assured by my Indian friends that it's WAAAY more crazy at the real festival and you can end up being caked in powder. Of course at the real festival, way more people are drunk too which I'm sure adds to the craziness. Hours later, I still can't get the colour out of my nails and parts of my skin still have a reddish hue.

Don't think they had this in FBL today. The craziest they probably got up to was to sit around and have chai. =P

I'm not surprised that with all the activities of the past few days, people are beginning to show a bit of wear and tear. It's only Monday but people are already looking exhausted and are declaring that they won't go for any of the events this week. Let's just say that I've heard that excuse before. ;)

Will really need to focus this week as there's a lot of activity going on but also a fair amount of work to be done. (It's not ALL play ya'know?) To top it off, a bunch of us are going to BKK this weekend. Woo hoo!

Now? Time to sleep. I'm not a robot!

Day 77: Monsoon

I think it's quite appropriate that the annual formal ball here on the SGP campus is named the "Monsoon Ball". Only just this morning it absolutely poured down from the sky. Bet you don't get that too much in FBL. Good thing though it didn't rain last night at the actual "Monsoon Ball".

From the pictures on Facebook, it certainly looks like people had a good time dressing up to the nines and partying the night away. The guys all looked really sharp in their suits and tuxes while the ladies looked stunning in their dresses. Looking a bit more like the future leaders of the world eh? ;)

Just like back in college, it's always so eye opening to see your friends dressed up all formal and such especially when you usually just see them in their t-shirts and bermudas slippers. On the flip side, when I was working, it was always refreshing to see my colleagues outside of work all dressed down for a day out and about. It's always interesting to view people when displaced outside their usual context as it is a strong visual reminder that there's a whole lot more to the other person than you usually see in school or at the workplace.

DESI week is coming up next week, the first national week of P2, and I'm really looking forward to it. (DESI is a term used to describe the people of South Asia). If I remember correctly, they make up more then 10% of our entire promotion and are the largest cultural group on campus. Everyone knows someone who is helping to organise this week and they've been really getting us all excited about it. If anything, I know that these guys certainly know how to serve up some great food, throw a really jumping party and just have an amazing time in general. I'm trying my best to get well in time for the festivities as it's something I really don't want to miss out on.

The National Weeks really are great fun and a great chance for students to showcase their food and culture to the rest of the community. In a couple weeks time, we will have to vote for the National Weeks of Jan-Jul next year and I know that many different groups of students are already getting their bids together in an effort to convince the rest of the student body that they have what it takes to host the most amazing week. I believe these are some of the events that truly make INSEAD unique because no other business school will have so many people from so many different countries and celebrate this rich international diversity on a regular basis in such a unique and memorable way.

Day 74: Time to explore

One of my classmates made a comment yesterday that I thought was pretty interesting. She said that I was lucky to be away from school so I "wouldn't feel like I was getting pulled in a thousand different directions to do various things".

Over the past couple of days, I've ended up spending much more time on my readings/homework than I would have previously given the lack of much else that I can do from home. But with the world at my fingertips through the internet, there's also a whole world out there to explore and stay connected with so that I can delay the onset of cabin fever.

For example, I was able to receive updates from friends about the Dash all throughout the day in the form of status updates and photos posted on Facebook. (btw: if you haven't had enough of the Dash, click the picture below for another album)

I also got the chance to G-chat with friends from around the world that I have not caught up with in a while due to differing timezones, updated this blog, watched a couple of shows online and checked out some pretty interesting websites with cool ideas.

Of the websites I checked out, I was particularly impressed with The RSA's youtube page (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) that has a whole series of talks on a wide range of topics from "Changing Education" to "The Empathetic Civilisation".

However, the MAIN reason why I was particularly impressed was the way that some of these talks have been "scribed/animated" into condensed 10-12 min clips. The company that does this are a really talented group of animators/artists at Cognitive Media who essentially believe that complex messages are sometimes best conveyed through visual media. Pretty cool stuff!

Day 73: The Dash

Since the beginning of time, there have been few calls to action greater than that for humankind to get together in fancy dress and have a parade. These are the stuff that traditions and legends are made of. Some of the best in the world of course include Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnivals in Brazil, Venice and Cologne.

It is in this same vein that I'm sure the INSEAD Dash was inspired (or perhaps one late evening at Holland Village after too many beers). It essentially involves students from the SGP campus dressing up in fancy dress and "parading" to INSEAD along the <1km route from Heritage Condominiums where a lot of students live.

Although I was not able to partake in the festivities this morning, I've been checking Facebook religiously as the stream of hilarious on-campus photos being posted online continues to tickle to no end.

While a picture paints a thousand words, I think that the following pictures of people in fancy dress paint a whole lot more!

"I knew that INSEAD was internationally diverse, but this is pretty bizarre" :P

"...and THIS is how you soften the vegetables for the stew... *KICK*"

"I'd like you to meet the consultants we've hired to reduce headcount"

"Trust me Gandalf, you want to invest your funds in Moria Mining Company"

"Sheesh, the price of Rocks has really fallen against the Pollen"

To all those who took part in the festivities today, you guys and gals are the ones that make INSEAD such a special place. Keep living the dream! ;)


P.S. Maybe even those lavish parades that Mr. Kim occasionally organises up in North Korea was inspired by a youtube video he saw of the Dash. I think he forgot the "fun" factor and the samba music though. It might make it a future festival destination! O_O

P.P.S. Apparently the Carnival season starts on the 11th of November at 11.11am in Germany and lasts till the following Ash Wednesday! Who said these Germans weren't fun??? (Wikipedia)

Day 72: Out of action...

I'm officially out of action for the next week at least as I've caught a bug that keeps me stuck at home over the next few days. I've already missed so much in the past 3 days and I'm going to miss so much in the coming week.

Massive disappointment. =(

It all started so innocuously with some slight discomfort when waking up on Sunday morning. Felt a bit tired, had a slight sore throat and a stiff neck but it didn't seem too bad. Figured that as long as I took adequate fluids and didn't overexert myself, I would be fine that day. By late morning, I was already running a high fever and could tell that this was not going to go away that easily. As a result, I:

• Have already missed the INSEAD Olympics held at Sentosa on Sunday afternoon (e.g. Previous years' video) which is one of the few times that the class gets together to have fun in the sun
• Will not be taking part in the INSEAD Dash tomorrow (e.g. Previous years' video) despite finally being able to rent the costume I had my eye on these past 2 weeks. Was really looking forward to being a part of this rag-tag "parade".
• Will not be attending the Monsoon Ball this Saturday which is the annual formal ball held on the SGP campus. Was really looking forward to hearing one of my classmates (DJ Googie) spinning the turntables that night.

Although I can't make it to class, I still have to keep up with the readings and homework so that when I do return, I won't be too far behind. While I do feel that I'm missing out on the teaching in the classroom, I feel that I'm missing out even more on the social aspect of it (this week more than ever given all the events).

Some will argue that the connections that you forge during your time here are more valuable than anything you can learn in the classroom. These bonds aren't necessarily cemented in one off events like those held this week, but rather through continued communication and interaction. However, it's exactly events like these that give you opportunities to have a shared experience that can be the basis for future communication and interaction.

So this is what an MBA feels like with all of the studying and without any of the social events. Not worth 50K+ Euros if you ask me... (we can talk about cost another time)

P.S. Here's hoping you guys have a great Dash tomorrow! I look forward to the pictures since I'm living vicariously through them at the moment!
P.P.S. Why doesn't FBL do anything like this? Oh right... they're studying. :P

Day 69: Classes on Saturday's should be banned

I find it kinda ironic that as a student, I'm getting a shorter weekend because of class of Saturday while the rest of Singapore enjoys a long weekend because of Deepavali. Something just doesn't seem right don't you think?

To be fair, we are getting a long weekend next weekend while the rest of Singapore enjoys a normal one due to the leadership summit that INSEAD is hosting (assuming you're not going for the summit). Guess it all adds up in some weird cosmic way.

I know some classmates of mine didn't actually come to school on Friday because they were exempt from Marketing and weren't interested in the Entrepreneurship Day that was held on campus in the afternoon. I always find it fascinating hearing from alumni entrepreneurs about their journey beyond INSEAD and how they've got to where they are today. The panel yesterday was no different with all 3 panelists arguably enjoying various stages of success.

The first had a pretty successful private consulting business in brand management for many multinational and family businesses here in Asia. He was probably the most confident and passionate of the 3, something that probably comes with experience and knowing that he's "made it" and isn't really "working" anymore in the strict sense of the word as he's just essentially pursuing a passion that just so happens to pay him.

The second had previous failed in his first venture centered around software only to rebound into his current venture that involved digital media and training. He seemed to be doing reasonably well although it seemed to me that it wasn't exactly a rip-roaring success and that he wasn't really passionate about it. It came at a time when he was pretty down on his luck and this venture paid the bills so he jumped at it.

The last guy had only graduated from INSEAD just 2 years ago and was involved in an internet/targeted marketing business in China. He had previously trained as a doctor and thought that this might be a fun thing to do. I felt he actually provided the most memorable moment of the discussion when he said that if he knew then what he knows now, he might not have chosen this path. All this despite the fact that he seems to be pretty close to proving commercial success and reaching probably a really exciting time with his venture.

The panelists all picked up on an analogy by the first guy whereby he likened the process of starting a company to that of bring a plane to take-off. As you taxi to the runway, you perform all the required safety checks and make sure everything/everyone is in place. Once you're ready to takeoff and accelerate down the runway, you pretty much focus in on whether you're going to reach the velocity needed and whether you're going to pull back on the lever to get airborne. Up to a certain point of course you can abort, but after that critical point, it's all systems go. Now or never.

Day 67: The aftermath...

Our "End of P1" Champagne Party was last night. If you were anywhere near campus, you would have heard the music blasting as we celebrated good times, friendships and the end of exams. Even if you didn't know about the party, you could probably have guessed if you were in school today and noticed a significant number of people walking around looking a little bit worse for wear after a pretty epic evening.

I was pretty impressed that we had about 90-95% attendance for first class of the day which thankfully was at 10.15am. Another section had an 8.30am class today and apparently only about half of them showed up for it. The emails have already been flying around today about lost bags/wallets/phones/IDs etc. My favourite email thread from last night though centered around a guy coming home with 2 extra pairs of shoes and emailing the class to find out if anyone had by chance arrived home barefoot and puzzled!

To all my "walking wounded" classmates, I salute you and thank you for a fantastic evening and a memorable P1. Here's to more good times ahead! Oh... and remember to drink a lot of WATER! ;)

Day 65: P2D2

So P2 classes have officially started and some members of my class have yet to return to SGP. I guess if you're going to skip a class, the "best one" to skip would be the first one given that it's the one that will likely have the least content.

What this also means is that the possibility of chalking up a "fine" begins again after a one week break for exams. Fines are the financial penalties that one has to pay into the Section Champagne Fund should one commit any of the following "misdemeanours" in increasing order of financial penalty:

• Being late for class ($5)
• You're late if you walk in after the professor starts speaking 
• Taking a taxi from Dover/Heritage to INSEAD ($5)
• Someone needs to catch you in the act
• Exemption when it's raining (or if you're in a suit?)
• Word vomit ($5)
• Saying something that the class feels is out of point / irrelevant / disrespectful / overly corny OR
• Demonstrating that you have not been paying attention (e.g. asking an identical question to one that was asked before)
• Generally voted on by the class on the spot
• To be fair, it can be somewhat subjective but it is done in good nature and with good faith
• It is by fair the least common fine
• Sleeping in class ($10)
• Photographic evidence needs to be provided
• Forgetting to switch your phone to silent ($20)
• The ringtone needs to be heard for the infringement to occur. Vibrations do not count

You would think that we should be able to stay within these pretty reasonable boundaries with perhaps just a handful of exceptions here and there. You would be wrong...

In the last Period alone, over a period of ~7 weeks, we collected a whopping ~$2150 for the Champagne Fund! According to our social reps, this exceeds the previous record for a period by over 15%!

I doubt this record will be broken this period as about 1/5 of it came from various wagers/bets that we had in class vs. our professors. Let's just say that the subject matter in 1 of the core courses lent itself particularly well to setting up bets and our professor was also keenly aware of that. ;)

Looking forward to a pretty darn amazing champagne party tomorrow to technically officially celebrate the end of P1. =)

Cheers! Salud! Prost! A Votre Sante! Mabuhay! Kam Pai! Skål! zdrowie! L’Chaim! Yum Seng! Saúde! Oogy wawa!

Day 64: Back to school

Back to school again after a 4-day break (essentially just a glorified long weekend).

That being said, not all of us were back today. Given that today's schedule consisted of a career coaching session by an external speaker, many classmates of mine chose to take an extra day of holiday instead of coming to class. I know a large handful of them were still in Borocay today (although they are probably back now as I'm typing this). Not a particularly bad idea I must say, squeezing that little bit extra out of what was already a very short break.

A couple of classmates of mine did a quick calculation regarding the money you "waste" by not attending classes/lectures. I think it came up to ~€130 per 1.5 hour class/lecture*. Given that today's session was roughly 6 hours, my classmates who didn't attend essentially forfeited ~€520 of their tuition. Whether that was worthwhile or not, only they can really answer.

The session today was by Daniel Porot (www.porot.com) and he's an INSEAD alumni. The talks centered around "Making a a radical career change" and "Networking and the art of the unsolicited approach". I must admit that there wasn't much that I heard today that I didn't already know (but I guess that is usually the case at such events).

One thing I did get out from it though was how to gather information about the job you think you want. Essentially you want to reach out to as many people that you know (or that you can get to know) who are in the position you think you want and then ask them the following 6 questions:

1. How did you get this job?
2. What do you like most about your job?
3. What do you like least about your job?
4. What are the key tasks/challenges that you face in your role?
5. What skills/talents does one need to perform those key tasks you mentioned earlier?
6. Could you give me the names of 3 people who like this job as much as you do?

As with most consultants (and I know this from first hand experience), you tend to tell things that your clients already know. Where I think he was most effective was in framing the issues and solution in a way that made it easier for us to remember what they are and to hopefully inspire us to act upon them.  I already knew that you should be asking these questions but I guess by the sheer force of repetition (and perhaps some slick framing), these 6 steps have drilled their way into my head.

Presented like a true consultant if you ask me. Additionally, he has a penchant for drawing multicoloured pictures on his tablet PC to illustrate his point. VERY much like a consultant then (~Partner level) with regards to the use of visuals high on dramatization but low on actual content (unless you paid attention to his stories). If you looked at the pictures alone, you'd think he was playing Pictionary with us.

Still, must be nice to be him. He gets to do something he really enjoys, gets to travel the world to speak about a subject he cares about passionately and gets paid for it.

Picked up my course packs today for P2. Boy do they weigh a lot! Time for the "fun" to begin in earnest tomorrow!



*assumes 25 classes at 24 hours per class over the course of a period. Additional talks/lectures assumed to be a negligible proportion and has the same cost/hour