In Transit

I am back on the balcony, back in Lausanne. Thinking, thinking, thinking. I feel much better than when I left Lausanne three weeks ago. The batteries are recharged and the connection to the outside world has been reestablished. At the same time it is also clear that mentally I never managed to leave Lausanne and IMD behind. Questions about what actually happened during the first half of the year kept swirling in my mind. The feedback from peers and professors - received the day before we went on vacation - kept popping up. Some of it was encouraging, some of it was not. And why was that? What situation was behind each message. Are there any regrets? Yes, definitely! It is clear that I have missed out on some obvious opportunities. That cannot be redone - that time will not come back - but I can make sure that I find a better path for the second half. I have boiled it all down to a few points that I want to improve on. A few goals that I want to reach.

I arrived in Lausanne yesterday after a week on Malta with my family. It was very hot and humid on this little island in the Mediterranean, so I have enjoyed the chill of Switzerland for a change. The last 24 hours have been spent unpacking, doing laundry and catching up on emails, so I am ready for the next trip. We are leaving for South Africa in a couple of hours.

In Johannesburg I will be working with Eric, Shibu and Stone in a small company (10 employees) that produces hydraulic hose fittings!!!! I wonder how a trader of financial derivatives (Eric), a sales guy from Procter & Gamble (Shibu) and a shipping guy (myself) will get our hands around that subject. We will probably be relying quite a bit on our only engineer (Stone).

This complete lack of knowledge of what awaits us is also what thrills me. We will just go and see what hits us and then take it as it comes. This is an experiment, a first ever for a business school as far as we know. I hope it becomes a huge success and one that can be developed further in the years to come. I can not wait to take the plunge!

I better start packing.