'So you are giving the software away for free and you want to build a business doing that?'. We were somewhat sceptical when we meet the people from Bacula Systems for the first time on 21 January. There we were, six guys from all over the world who had been working with chemicals, automobiles, fashion clothing, banking and shipping. And now we were asked to help a company doing open source backup software build a business! We barely knew what software was about, not to mention open source. Only Gerald Lo [Malaysia] is from the IT industry, so we had to rely heavily on his technical expertise in the beginning.
Today we gave our final presentation to Bacula wrapping up the past four months of work by summarising the findings and recommendations we have made along the way. There were no surprises for them today, as we have been working with them all the way. Bacula was represented by CEO Jack Griffin and by Kern Sibbald, who has programmed the Bacula software. Both gentlemen have a long career in the IT industry. They were very satisfied with the cooperation we have had and said that they will be making signficant changes to their business model and target customers on the basis of our findings. That is the kind of feedback that is great to receive. Then it has all been worth it!
Along the way we have had to learn the basic jargon of the industry and understand a very complex and advanced product well enough to be able to define how it is different from its main competitors. We have learned the basic drivers of the open source community and the dilemmas that a company operating in this sphere faces. We have spoken to potential customers and partners and have analyzed the ins and outs of the competitors. The process has taken us through countless iterations and involved hours and hours of discussions, but eventually we were able to come to an agreement both among ourselves and with Bacula on how the business should move forward.
Tomorrow at 9:50 we start the grand finale. We will be presenting to a panel of Venture Capitalists, who all have seen thousands of business plans and who are renowned for their ability to spot weaknesses a mile away. We have practised the presentation over and over again. I am certain that Ajay and Cedric - who will be presenting - are rehearsing the lines in their sleep right now. Fifteen minutes to explain four months of work is not a lot. We need to be sharp! Really, really sharp!
4 February 2009. Backup for dummies. This is where it all began. Bacula CEO Jack Griffin was very patient and took the time to teach us the basic technicalities.
7 February - Information overload! Trying to make sense of it all. It just seemed insurmountable at the time.
4 March - Bacula boys at work in the Maersk building, where we spent a lot of time together. From left it is Gerald Lo [Malaysia], Ajay Lakhwani [India], Brad Moldin [USA], Slava Raykov [Russia] and Cedric Jusseaume [France].
Mid March - Finally some kind of framework starts taking shape.
Ups, it is the middle of the night and I just woke up on the couch. I did not intend to take that 3 hour 'nap'. The upside is that I feel more fresh now than when I came home a few hours ago.
No two days are the same at IMD, but today was more different than most! Like many other teams we met we the client for our International Consulting Project (ICP). Whereas the majority of the 18 ICP clients are large corporations our team will be working with Koinonia, a relatively small NGO that amongst others runs a number of homes for street children in Nairobi, Kenya.
In the MBA Diary on 21 November 2008 Asier Sinde [Basque] from last year's class was quoted for saying: "Our visit to Kenya was an eye opening experience that has had a strong impact not only on our year at IMD but also on our individual lives. As a result, we have recently started an initiative to create a fund that will aim at rehabilitating deprived and abused children from the streets and sponsoring them into high school and college in Kenya. This initiative will be implemented through Koinonia, a local NGO which some of us met in Kenya and that is already operating in Nairobi."
The 2008 class decided to help Koinonia by funding a 2009 ICP project for them and today they took another step in fulfilling this promise as they came to hand over the torch to the 2009 class. We are both humbled and honored to be given this task and opportunity and we look forward to getting started. It will be our largest opportunity to date to make a difference in a lot of people's lives.
The 2008's were represented by Daniel Brosseau, Max Sorokin and Svetlana Korshunova. It was obvious from the stories they told that last year's discovery trip to Kenya had made a huge impression on the class collectively. Daniel has just returned from a six week trip to Kenya, where he has been working withKoinonia on preparing our ICP project. He has obviously collected A LOT of information where there was little information to get. This will undoubtedly prove invaluable to get us off to a running start.
The afternoon was a huge information download from Daniel, Max and Svetlana. I think this was what wore me out so badly. The last week have been full of thoughts about our final startup presentations and classes on Financial Derivatives, so it is quite a switch to suddenly start thinking about improving life in the slums of East Africa.
The birds have started singing outside. I think they are telling me to go to bed!
Hand-over from the 2008 class to the 2009 class! From left: Stefano Giussani [Italian], Max Sorokin [Russian - 2008 class], Daniel Brosseau [Canada - 2008 class], Svetlana Korshunova [Russia - 2008 class], Thorsten Boeck [Denmark], Gerald Lo [Malaysia], Ruslana Zbagerska [Canada/Ukraine], Eva Hubsman [Israel/Romania].
The integrative exercise continued today. Third and last day. As Kristin mentioned yesterday we are competing in a virtual universe, where each group represents a company that is competing in the same market. Each company must set and execute a strategy for their product. This means deciding how to position the product in terms of price, quality, advertising and distribution? We need to plan the production, establish new production lines, invest in new technology as well as pay interest, taxes and dividends. All of it is managed on a piece of software that simulates consumer behavior and calculates your profit and loss statement, your balance sheets and not least your CASH! Although the different groups went very different ways in the market we all experienced the lack of cash in the early rounds. In the words of Accounting Professor Stewart Hamilton 'Profit is an opinion, cash is an opinion!'.
The game was very realistic and we had plenty of discussion on the many, many trade-offs that a company faces. In the words of Alex Rubio [Brazil]: 'I used to do this and this is exactly what it is like. The CFO is fighting to keep the company liquid while the marketing manager insists on investing in the brand'. Alex used to be a CFO and he quickly took on the same role in the group, constantly reminding us of our cash restrictions when we wanted to invest in advertising, production, innovation and so forth. A great and intense learning experience!
I am one of seven people hosting a party tonight to celebrate the May birthdays in the class. The party is coordinated by Ruslana Zbagerska [Canada/Ukrain] and will be held a Jodie Roussel's [American] apartment as she has a balcony big enough for all of us. The weather is perfect so I am sure we will have a great night. I have two friends from Denmark visiting at the moment and Jodie's sister is staying with her. The three of them have 'volunteered' to go shopping for us and to prepare for the party in general. So let this be a warning for you if you plan to visit an MBA student in the near future: Expect to be put to work!
It is midnight last night and group 10 is discussing the last details of the industry analysis that were presented this morning.
The case for Wednesday's marketing class was about the Japanese beer industry. The case was an example of how a so-called mature industry suddrenly can start changing dramatically. The class was the last marketing class and after the class Marketing Professor Dominique Turpin had arranged for refreshments, which of course was ........ Japanese beer!
I feel more tired today than I normally do at this hour and I just remembered why. This morning I actually managed to get up an hour earlier than normal in order to get some reading done. I was so tired last night at midnight that it did not make sense to work anymore, so I took the chance and went to bed with the aim of getting up early. That is indeed a chance when you are me because it almost always backfires, meaning that I do not manage to get up earlier after all. I am one of those kind of people that needs the threat of being late for something in order to get out of bed, but then it also works quite well!
The only bad thing about getting up earlier is that you do not gain any time as such. You just get tired an hour earlier than usual. And once it starts it bites its own tale, so I am probably better off going to bed now and getting up even earlier tomorrow.
Thorsten
After class today we met in our startup team to start preparing the presentation for the exam on 30 May. Here it is Cedric Jusseaume [France] (writing) and Gerald Lo [Malaysia] adjusting some of the slides. We have lots and lots of information. The trick is to get it all into 7-8 slides that can be communicated clearly in 15 minutes.
We played a friendly football match tonight against a company in the area. Not because we really have time, but because we took the time. Parc de Milan is an oasis in the middle of the city. I can't wait to be able to enjoy it properly on a day where I have time to spare.
9 hours of sleep at night, football in Parc De Milan at 9am, three rounds of laundry and another two hour nap in the afternoon. Sundays are about recuperation, about repairing the damages of the past week and preparing yourself for those of the coming week. It is not just about your body, but also your apartment, your dirty laundry, your emails and your list of assignments. It is your one chance per week to bring things down from completely chaotic to just overwhelming.
You never get to the bottom of things, but you can get it to a level where you have an overview of what you need to do. That is very good for stress levels in general. This weekend I didn't get quite as far as I wanted, though. Partly because we had a full day of Career Services yesterday and partly becuase of a meeting today with the company from our Startup Project.
The startup project has reached its very final phase. We have delivered several recommendations to our startup company over the past months, which they generally have accepted and implemented. We delivered another two recommendations today that also were very well accepted. We agreed with them that it now is time to stop collecting and analyzing data and start preparing the final handover to them.
We will be delivering our handover to the company on 29 May and we will be doing our final exam presentation on 30 May. The 'jury' in that exam will be a panel of experienced Venture Capitalists that will measure us on how much Real Value we have added to company. The exam will be held in the form of a 15 minute presentation.
15 minutes to present 4 month of work is not a lot, so we better be sharp. Razor sharp! We have tons of information, findings and recommendations. The trick is to destill it into a heavy, but clear, substance that is easily digestible. We have 12 days to do that and to write the 20 page report that goes with it. It has been made very clear that consultancy-like presentations with high-level strategic recommendations will not be accepted. It needs to be down-to-earth, concrete and real value added to the company. Real World, Real Learning!
Daniel Porot held yesterdays Career Services workshop on job hunting. Daniels is a bit of a guru in his field and you clearly felt the many years of experience that were behind his recommendations. I very much liked his fast paced course with a lot very concrete and actionable advice. There were no 'it depends' answers here. Daniel presented by making drawings on his laptop, which then were projected on the screen. I have never seen this method used before, but it was very effective. He made more than 100 drawings during the 8 hour course. Here you see he his 'Bermuda Triangle of job hunting'.
MBA student at work! I do not have the view of the lake and the Alps that some of my fellow students do, but whenever I can I move out on my balcony. That gives me some fresh air while getting some work done. A good combination. It is warm enough in Lausanne now to sit outdoor all evening and I really enjoy to just sit there and listen to the sound of the rain hitting the trees.
It must be at least a couple of weeks since I last was home before 9pm. I can't remember when it was anymore. Today, though, I was done at the school at 4pm and I decided to celebrate that with a trip to Migros (the local supermarket) so I could get some food in my fridge again. I was getting tired of eating oatmeal for dinner, but it was the only thing that was left. After filling the fridge I decided to treat myself to a nice two hour nap. It actually became three hours, but that is OK, I will not have any problems sleeping tonight anyway. Right now I just allow myself to luxuriate in the feeling of 'not being tired'. It is awesome!
I have attended three of the four company presentations this week. I am truly impressed with how seriously the companies take the recruiting of MBAs. Some naturally do a better job than others at selling themselves, but most of them bring very senior executives and IMD alumni from their organizations. One of the companies even brought their CEO! It is nice with a company brochure, but in order to get a real feel for the company you need to hear the real story from the alumni and get a feel for the personalities of the top executives.
A proud father celebrating. Wednesday morning Alejandro Salcedo and his wife Barbara became parents of a healthy 4.4kg boy. We wish them all the best as they start their new life as a family.
Thursday was the last day with Jean-Pierre Lehmann (standing left) and Global Political Economy. A class that has broadened our horizons tremendously and that have been home to some of the most intense discussions on the program. Jean-Pierre started every class with a socalled 'litteracy test' on global political issues. Yesterday he announced the winners. Four of the five have one thing in common: They read The Economist every week. From left it is Martin Laan [Estonia], Prashant Biwal [India], Johan Jansen-Storbacka [Sweden/Finland], Seif Shieshakly [Saudi Arabia/Germany], Karim El-Koury [Austria].
'Chocolate or Vanilla?' Rasmus Figenschou [Norway] helps out in the ice cream stand. The customers are Chia Chia Lim [Singapore] and Simon Sundbøll [Denmark].
I managed to get some fitness done today. For the first time in probably a month and a half. I have lost track. Actually, I don't have time for fitness, but around here time is not something you have, it is something you take. The recent MBAT tournament made it clear to me how much I need to get started on the physical exercise again. My body clearly does not like what it has been exposed to the past four months. Something needs to change, but what? What do I cut away to give time for more exercise?
Sleep? No, that is already at a minimum. I think most of us in the beginning thought we just could cut sleep to almost nothing. That worked only for a few days. Perhaps a few weeks for some. But eventually it catches up with you. It hits you like hammer and you find yourself unable to function in the class and in the study room. You change the strategy and start allocating yourself a minimum amount of sleep every night, a deadline where you HAVE to go to bed whether you are ready or not. That works. Sometimes, at least.
Well, if you cannot increase the number of hours your can work every day, perhaps you can reduce the amount things you do. So you start chopping away from the bottom of the list. This is where the least important things are. You make sure that Skype and Messenger does not open automatically on your computer. That way YOU are in charge of when you can be contacted and you do not get caught in random chats. You cut Facebook usage to a bare minimum and you cut all notifications and subscriptions unless they are crucial to your future.
You stop all the friendly one-on-one emails correspondences and switch to one-way mass communication, either through emails or a blog. You fear that everybody thinks you are too full of yourself when communicating that way, but to your surprise friends and family fully understands what you are going through and appreciate whatever updates they get.
You reduce your grocery shopping to once a week or you buy it online to save time. You start eating bread and coldcuts in the evening so you don't have to spend time cooking. You anyway get the warm meal in the IMD restaurant at lunch.
You can also cut the work you do for you group to a minimum, but that would be very short sighted. You could do the opposite and do a lot of work for the group or even for the class as a whole, but that comes at the price of your individual preparation for class. Not only does that mean risking to fail the exams, it also means loosing a lifetime opportunity to get some real world class knowledge into your head.
Eventually, you have cut everything to a bare minimum. That helps for a little while. Then the school turns the heat up a bit more and you find yourself scrambling again.
OK, so you cannot extend the number of working hours or reduce the amount of work anymore. Well, then productivity has to go up. Although you can walk to the school in 7 minutes, you start biking so you can do it in 2. You set up automatic labeling and filing systems on your mail, so you can flip through it faster. You set up mails on your phone, so you can handle them whenever you may have a spare moment during the day. You try to become more disciplined in always doing the most important things first (instead of doing the things you like the best).
You then discover that you now are so efficient that you barely have time to talk to your classmates. That does not fly either, so you remind yourself not to forget why you are here. Don't loose this unique chance to get to know all these interesting people. So what do we cut then? Exercise?
And so the story goes. Around and around. Constantly challenging your own priorities, borders and discipline. And that is probably the most central piece of learning this year.
It is now 1:30 and I still have two cases to read. I promised myself I would be in bed by 2:00, so I can function properly tomorrow. So do I increase the work hours, reduce the work load or increase productivtivity?
What a couple of days it has been in Paris! So much to tell, so little space. My apologies for this diary being so lengthy.
Friday's success (bronze medals in Petanque and Climbing as well as a football team qualified for the quarter finals) continued Saturday. The Tug-of-War team started out by going undefeated through to the finals, where it beat Cambridge comfortably. The team's strategy - which was based partly on good advice from last year's Tug-of-War captain Bryan Hassin - was very effective. Actually the team won all of its matches in less than 15 seconds!
Juan Benitez [Colombia] added to the number of medals by bringing home a gold and a silver in swimming.
The other schools and their coaches have student bodies up to ten times the size of IMD's to choose from and students that on average are 5-7 years younger, so the statistics are therefore not on IMD's side. The IMD football team had thus already won more than it had hoped to win by qualifying to the quarter finals, but there was much more to come.
We were set to meet the Italian school Bocconi - one of the favorites to win the tournament - so we didn't set our hopes very high. As the game started we managed to keep them at a distance and play some opportunistic football by kicking long passes forward. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. When the referee blew the final vistle, the score was 1-1, and that was even after an IMD goal was disallowed in the last minute because of an alledged IMD 'handball' that apparently only the referee and the Italian goal keeper saw. We won the penalty shootout mainly due to fabulous goalkeeping by Stefano Giussani [Italy] and to our surprise we found ourselves in the semi finals.
In the semi finals we met HEC, who we already had drawn against in the group play. History repeated itself so after a draw, a penalty shootout and more magic from Stefano in the goal we found ourselves in the final. Not bad for a bunch of 'old boys' that just play football for fun on Sunday mornings in Pard de Milan. It reminds me of 1992, when Denmark won the European Championship in football. Noone in his right mind bets on David when he fights Goliath, but once in a blue moon things do not turn out as they 'should'.
The Spanish armada from IESE were waiting in the final. There was not much we could do there and they won comfortably. The funny things was, though, that by the time IESE was done celebrating their victory and everybody had left the place we were still celebrating our silver ecstaticly. There was no end to the joy. It reminds me of the Women's 400m relay in Barcelona in 1992. If you don't know the story then take a look this video.
The supporters following the teams were absolutely amazing. Judging from the amount of noice created by the supporters IMD was by far the largest school out there. During the party Saturday evening IMD was further awarded the price of the 'School with the most spirited team'. Perhaps this video of the Tug-of-War final explains why.
It was hilarious to see people walking around very slowly on very stiff and sore legs today. The spirits were high, though, as it was the good kind of pain. The kind where you know that it has been worth it. The kind that leaves you with a sense of achievement. And above all, it actually feels great to - for once - be exhausted from good old fashioned physical activity.
From left: Jodie Roussell [American], Joe Nai [The Netherlands/Hong Kong] and Misayo Matsumoto [Japan] showing the IMD MBAT uniform.
Minli Zhao [German] in perfect style.
Men's double with Ajay Lakhwani and Shibu James [both from India].
Two of the three members of bronze winning Petanque team: Liesbeth Bakker [The Netherlands] and Christian Cuenot [France]. The third members of the team was Richard Dove [UK].
The Ultimate Frisbee team is ready to go!
The supporters were fantastic! Here it is Sebastian Guery [France].
Suchir Swarup [Canada/India] in deep thought.
The foosball team from left: Nicholas Denef [Belgium], Alberto Mussi [Italy], Suchir Swarup [India], David Rohan [Australia], Andres Akamine [Peru], Naoto Tsushima [Japan], Gerald Lo [Malaysia/China].
The Tug-of-War team in action. Notice how the supporters are working just as hard as the team.
2 bronze medals and the first football team in IMD history to proceed to the quarter finals! That is the result of the first day at the annual MBA tournament. The Bronze Medals were secured by Christian Cuenot [France] and Liesbeth Bakker [The Netherlands] in Pétanque and by Joe Nai [Hong Kong/The Netherlands] in Climbing. I have had the honor of playing on the football team today, where we so far are undefeated. It is a minor detail that we did not win any games either, but the two draws were enough to get us into the quarter finals which will be played tomorrow.
On top of all of this we have had people participating in sports as exotic and different as rowing, volleyball, basketball, fencing, chess, golft, table tennis, baby foot (table football) and then I have probably even forgotten af few. Tomorrow we will add Tug-of-War and Ultimate Frisbee to the list and continue many of the others.
The IMD guys do stand out a bit. We are on average 31 years of age, whereas most of the other 'kids' range from 23 to 27. We tell ourselves that we just bring that much more experience to the game. Whatever that is worth in sports I am not so sure. All I know is that my legs feel very heavy after today's matches and that they (the legs) will complain when I start warming them up again tomorrow.
We will get some more pictures to you later, but here is a couple to start with.
Andres Akamine [Peru] with his son David. David is one of the two children that have joined the MBAT. On the right it is Stone Gao [China].
Waiting for the bus this morning. Nicolas Denef [Belgium] is making the absolute most of his time.
The IMD football team in this years MBAT. We are greatly assisted by veterans Paul Holmes (goal keeper), who is from last years class and, and Chris Eaborn (standing far left) who plays with us every Sunday in Parc De Milan.
Relaxing a bit after the first footbal game. From left Oren Yehudai [Israel], Paul De Hek [The Netherlands], Simon Sundbøll [Denmark] and Joost Mackor [The Netherlands].
It is past 2.00 AM and the lights are still on in most of the study rooms. No, it is not another Integrative Exercise although it feels like it. We are working on a presentation for Strategy with Professor James Henderson. The subject is Biofuels and we will presenting to a company in the industry in 6 hours. We are all at point where we mostly are thinking about our beds, but it will be a while before we can realize those thoughts. My group has nevertheless been kind enough to let me spend some time writing this diary entry.
It has been another one of those days. Marketing and Strategy in the morning, Accounting after lunch, a company presentation and then down in the dungeons to work on the Strategy presentation. Today's accounting class was about the fall of Enron back in 2001. Another fascinating story of just how bad things can go, even in big corporations. It is only a couple of weeks ago we learned how a single man in 1995 brought London's oldest bank, Berings Bank, to collapse.
What is on most of our minds now (apart from tomorrow's presentation) is the upcoming MBA Tournament (MBAT) in Paris. The first bus leaves late tomorrow evening and arrives in Paris Thursday morning. We will be a total of 70 students and 17 partners attending. The MBAT is a mini-Olympics between all the major European business schools. We will be competiting in a large number of sports from football and fencing to basketball and babyfoot (miniature football). I have the honor of being Captain of the Tug of War team.
Sylvain's dog, Kizomba [France], helps out with the Strategy presentation. Left it is Ruslana Zbagerska [Canada/Ukraine], right Alex Rubio [Brazil].
With a background in consulting Satoshi-San is amazing at setting up frameworks for our group discussions. Here we are discussing the potential consolidation of the biofuels industry.
Sunday in Parc De Milan. Joost Mackor, Captain of the football team, with the team strategy for the MBAT. We like to keep things simple at IMD!
My name is Susana, and I am a strong fan of this diary, I read it every night. I subscribed to it at the very beginning of the year and since then, I have not missed it once… I think you may call it a bit of an obsession, on the other hand, since my boyfriend is one of the writers of this diary, I guess I will probably not be asked to talk about it with my shrink.. just yet.
At the moment I am living in Denmark, although I am Spanish, and my boyfriend, who is Danish, is living in Switzerland.. if it sounds weird to you, that is all right. It also does to me. Let me share with you how this works, you can call this entry:
“Basic tips to survive a long distance relationship with an MBA student in times of a financial crisis while you try to be supportive but in reality you can’t wait for the year to end”
1. Don’t try to understand the workload – I am sure some of you may be fans of the famous “Lost” series. Well, the workload of an MBA student is like the black smoke, forget about trying to make sense of it. Yes, you may do like with “Lost” and go to those websites where they try to explain all the loops of the program. You can do the same thing and get his/her schedule and find out about the project and the leadership papers, and the start-up companies, and the trip to South Africa and x, y, and z.. only the students seem to be able to keep track of that!
2. Make sure you are enrolled to a fidelity program for your regular airline company - really. Not only that, in case you lose your job, you will always be able to apply for a job as cabin crew. When the pilot says “Cabin crew, prepare for landing”.. I feel like standing up and joining them, my carry-on luggage is designed to survive all the controls of all the airports of the world and I can get a train ticket from Geneve to Lausanne with my eyes closed. It’s a lot of fun though, you get a lot of time to read your favorite books, or catch up with your emails from work or listen to your iPod or watch some very good movies … without commercials!
3. Be truly supportive – yes, I know, I have also tried the whole “yes, I am really happy for him”, I have even tilted my head to the right and smiled at the same time, just to show how wonderful it really was this idea of his, to live thousands of kilometers away from me. And even then, there are times when it is tough and I wish IMD would not be located in fantastic Lausanne, so he would be able to commute every morning like all those “normal” couples of the world. The truth is that he really loves it and for me, he is not the only one learning every day. You can see him like that pilot from “The Little Prince” stopping to find out that the world is much more interesting, diverse and fascinating than what we were really used to give it credit for.
4. And finally, be prepared for having to endure the bad moments of life on your own.. Like having to watch a Real Madrid – Barcelona game ending 2-6 at the Bernabeu and not having him there by your side!
Anyway, at any time, the experience is really good, it makes me smile when he gets to work with an NGO in Kenya or when he talks about people from all around the world or when, as a partner, I can join the Summit for Responsible Leadership or when he is so tired, that we decide not to go out for dinner and we end up dancing to “The Killers” in the kitchen. ..
MONDAY - The Mövenpick ice cream stand has arrived in the IMD restaurant! Eric Vergara [Thailand] and Alex Rubio [Brazil] gets the first two ice creams that are served this year.
MONDAY - Tough negotiations in the Finance exercise. Clarkson Lumber (Group 10) and Northrup National Bank (group 9) are working on an agreement for refinansing of Clarkson Lumber.
MONDAY - After several hours the chief negotiatiors from the two sides can shake hands and proceed with the paperwork. Alex Rubio [Brazil] (left) and Oren Yehudai [Israel].
TUESDAY - The intergrative exercise is on. Sylvain Cabalery [France] and Olivia Assereto [Italy] discussing early designs of the bag.
TUESDAY - Midnight pizza is required to keep the engines running. From the left:Eric Vergara [Thailand], Yury Vasilkov [Russia], Chuks Onunkwo [Nigeria], Sebastien Guery [France], Albert Schultz [Germany].
WEDNESDAY - My group, now known as the 'Zen Army', presents our bag in a shadow play. We relied heavily on an agressive marketing strategy under the assumption that good marketing sells anything. That proved not to be true.....
WEDNESDAY - 12 bags oozing with innovation!
THURSDAY - Enjoying the sun in a break.
THURSDAY - On 30 April every year the Dutch celebrate the Queens birthday. It is a big event in the Netherlands and therefore also in Lausanne this year. The Dutch had invited the whole class. The only requirement was that you dressed in Orange. Here it is the entire Dutch representation in this year's class: Back row from left: Liesbeth Bakker, Joost Mackor, Paul De Hek, Marco Simons and Joe Nai. In the front it is Paul's girlfriend Leonie Stolk. After midnight we could also celebrate Paul's birthday.
FRIDAY - Outdoor coffee after lunch. From left, Alex Rubio [Brazil], Yury Vasilkov [Russia] and Sebastien Guery [France].
FRIDAY - The month of May arrived, which means changing of the seating plan. I am happy to be back on the backrow, better known as 'The Skydeck'. Moreover, I am back on the North Wing of the Skydeck where I also spent the month of February. Skydeck from left: Albert Schultz [Germany], Thorsten Boeck [Denmark], Bruno Portnoi [Brazil], Liesbeth Bakker [The Netherlands], Stefano Cazzulani [Italy], Oren Yehudai [Israel] and Christian Cuenot [France]. Front row from left: Young-Ha Kim [Korea], Vladimir Korobkin [Russia], Eric Vergara [Thailand] and José Luiz Mesquita [Brazil].
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