The past 3 days have just been an absolute whirlwind of activity. Most of my section mates came in on Friday complaining about aching muscles they never even knew they had due the physical exertions of OBS the day before.
Friday was a slightly later start for us, which proved to be a lifesaver later as the Bain sponsored welcome week party was that evening. Needless to say, it was a the most eagerly awaited event of the entire orientation program (yes, even more than the 9-6pm introduction to general management the following day - SATURDAY!!!)
I thought that having Business Ethics as our first class was a timely reminder to all of us of our moral obligation to "do good". Given the financial scandals of the past decade ranging from the collapses of Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers to the fraud practiced by individuals such as Madoff and Stanford. An interesting comment from the Dean at the very start was:
"While I blame the CEOs of these organisations for their wayward leadership, the rest of the management are guilty as well, guilty of failing to speak out about these questionable practices. Some of those managers must have known and yet they all quietly marched on."
The number of real life examples brought up in class highlighting various mistruths and lies from peoples' own experiences really reminded me that it's a minefield out there. You really have to be careful and you have to watch that you don't fall down the slippery slope yourself.
As for the Friday evening party? Let's just say that having a poolside beach party with about 200-300 people and lots of alcohol is definitely going to be a very wet affair. As far as I could tell, definitely marketing dollars well spent as a lot more people were talking about Bain and wanting to attend the presentations to learn more.
Saturday was just a very long and somewhat painful day, eased slightly by the fact that the Prof. was fantastic. Really high energy, really engaging. It's amazing he's that enthusiastic about the material given that it was the 3rd day in a row he was presenting the exact same thing. Mention the name "Erik Weytjens" and generations of INSEAD alum will give a knowing smile. Apparently the case that he discussed has been around for years and it's essentially a right of passage for incoming MBA students to go through this intense 1 day introduction. Interestingly enough, the protagonist is an INSEAD alum who used to be a consultant before moving to a line manager role. I found it to be a fascinating case study made all the more real with an accompanying video of the protagonist as he sets up the situations then explains what he did.
That evening I took the chance to invite out various members of the section for a seafood dinner at Jumbo Seafood. Judging from the messy table and the satisfied sounds coming from the people seated around the table, I'd say that they enjoyed their introduction to Chilli Crab and the accompanying seafood dinner. I personally find great satisfaction in sharing good food with other people. Sitting down to enjoy a good meal is something pretty universal. Hopefully there'll be other chances in the future.
As for Sunday? Let's just say I was really glad to be able to catch up on sleep. It's gonna be a really intense 10 months and I'll take whatever sleep I can get!
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Day 4: OBS
Want to get to know your team mates better? Want to understand a better understanding of team dynamics?
There's probably no better place to do this than at Outward Bound Singapore. As part of the INSEAD orientation program, we participated in an action packed 1 day course to help us get to know our work group better.
The work group is a vital component of the first 2 periods as it's these very same people who you will sit next to in class and complete group assignments with. They are fixed whether you like them or not (the closest you'll get to INSEAD 'relatives').
I've always wondered how they group us. I know they're probably trying to create a diverse melting pot of backgrounds and experiences with each group. Does some complex algorithm do it for them or do they just draw names out of a hat?
Today was the first time I met my group and first impressions are looking positive given the way in which we successfully overcame each challenge that came our way. Hopefully we will continue to grow from strength to strength from this solid foundation we've built for ourselves. Beyond that, it was fascinating to get to know them a bit better and to dig into their backgrounds. Some of them are pretty amazing in their respective fields (ranging from Hospitality to Finance to Telecoms) and I'm looking forward to learning even more about them.
Activities today included:
There's probably no better place to do this than at Outward Bound Singapore. As part of the INSEAD orientation program, we participated in an action packed 1 day course to help us get to know our work group better.
The work group is a vital component of the first 2 periods as it's these very same people who you will sit next to in class and complete group assignments with. They are fixed whether you like them or not (the closest you'll get to INSEAD 'relatives').
I've always wondered how they group us. I know they're probably trying to create a diverse melting pot of backgrounds and experiences with each group. Does some complex algorithm do it for them or do they just draw names out of a hat?
Today was the first time I met my group and first impressions are looking positive given the way in which we successfully overcame each challenge that came our way. Hopefully we will continue to grow from strength to strength from this solid foundation we've built for ourselves. Beyond that, it was fascinating to get to know them a bit better and to dig into their backgrounds. Some of them are pretty amazing in their respective fields (ranging from Hospitality to Finance to Telecoms) and I'm looking forward to learning even more about them.
Activities today included:
- "Find a tree" - The team tries to walk blindfolded back and forth between 2 trees ~15m apart after planning the route
- "Alpine Rescue" - Team tries to transport a "casualty" from point A to B by balancing on logs
- "Disc Push" - Team has to 'count down' by tapping various discs with letters/numbers/equations in descending order as quickly as possible
- "DDD aka the Nutcracker" - Team tries to climb up a ladder made of logs with rungs ~1.2-1.6m apart
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Day 3: PSA, exemptions and quizzes galore
Public Service Announcement: Always remember to log off! Your classmates have a very wicked sense of humour and aren't afraid to use it.
Our first class wide email from a computer that was not logged out properly went round today. It claimed that this person was the P1 representative of the G&L community known as OUTSEAD and encouraged others to get in touch with him about joining the club. The poor guy who's account it was had a good sense of humour though and took it all in his stride while calling out his error. "Kisses" =P
Given how packed the first period looks, it's no wonder that people are trying to get exemptions from either a course (such as Accounting or Prices and Markets) or crossing off that language requirement to free up some time to hopefully give themselves more balance in the sacred MBA triangle matrix*. What is this sacred triangle matrix you ask?
It's essentially a triangle with Work, Social and Sleep as its 3 points. The key here is to find that delicate balance between the 3 that works for you. Needless to say, concentrating on just 2 of the 3 dimensions leaves you in poor shape on that last one you've neglected.
Still, I was slightly surprised that not many bothered to show up for the exemption exams for the core courses. Perhaps people have already decided that their fate is sealed either way (or perhaps are genuinely new to this material). I still haven't acquired basic knowledge of a 3rd language yet so the language exam was out for me. I figured I had nothing to lose by attempting an exemption exam for a core course. The worse that could happen would be that I would look at the questions and realise I really didn't know shit and have to take the class. Right where I am now anyway.
The first one was exactly the nightmare I just described and a complete write off. The second one however was a fair bit better. We'll see how it all goes.
Since attempting 2 exemption exams clearly wasn't enough, I subjected myself to the quiz night at Rochester Park (Krish). Couldn't be worse than this afternoon right? We had some inspired moments but unfortunately we changed our correct answers to incorrect ones too many times at the last minute. Still, it was a fun way to unwind with some random trivia.
e.g. "Which is the ONLY Disney 'princess' to NOT get her man at the end?" (Answers on a postcard!)
We can only get better... I hope! We'll probably be back again if our schedules allow.
*I'm still recovering from being a consultant in a previous life ;)
Our first class wide email from a computer that was not logged out properly went round today. It claimed that this person was the P1 representative of the G&L community known as OUTSEAD and encouraged others to get in touch with him about joining the club. The poor guy who's account it was had a good sense of humour though and took it all in his stride while calling out his error. "Kisses" =P
Given how packed the first period looks, it's no wonder that people are trying to get exemptions from either a course (such as Accounting or Prices and Markets) or crossing off that language requirement to free up some time to hopefully give themselves more balance in the sacred MBA triangle matrix*. What is this sacred triangle matrix you ask?
It's essentially a triangle with Work, Social and Sleep as its 3 points. The key here is to find that delicate balance between the 3 that works for you. Needless to say, concentrating on just 2 of the 3 dimensions leaves you in poor shape on that last one you've neglected.
Still, I was slightly surprised that not many bothered to show up for the exemption exams for the core courses. Perhaps people have already decided that their fate is sealed either way (or perhaps are genuinely new to this material). I still haven't acquired basic knowledge of a 3rd language yet so the language exam was out for me. I figured I had nothing to lose by attempting an exemption exam for a core course. The worse that could happen would be that I would look at the questions and realise I really didn't know shit and have to take the class. Right where I am now anyway.
The first one was exactly the nightmare I just described and a complete write off. The second one however was a fair bit better. We'll see how it all goes.
Since attempting 2 exemption exams clearly wasn't enough, I subjected myself to the quiz night at Rochester Park (Krish). Couldn't be worse than this afternoon right? We had some inspired moments but unfortunately we changed our correct answers to incorrect ones too many times at the last minute. Still, it was a fun way to unwind with some random trivia.
e.g. "Which is the ONLY Disney 'princess' to NOT get her man at the end?" (Answers on a postcard!)
We can only get better... I hope! We'll probably be back again if our schedules allow.
*I'm still recovering from being a consultant in a previous life ;)
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