A business tour de force

We are having a business tour de force this week with no less than 18 speakers coming through in five days. Seven of them were there today: Bombardier, Deloitte, IKEA, Dell, Kuehne & Nagel, Boston Consulting Group and PubliGroupe. All of them world class players in each their field. The overall subject is change management in different forms.

All of it is done as live cases, which means that the companies present a business situation or dilemma that they have faced. That could be anything from a spin-off of the company to the roll out of a new global strategy. We ask a few questions and give our shot at a solution. We then hear how the company actually solved the issue and what the result was. Interesting stuff which at the same time gives good insight into a lot of different companies.

Monday morning we turned in our last leadership paper, which was our last large assignment (as far as I know). Due to the presentation of the live cases we don't have to read cases in advance and there is no more group work either. This means that I have been home at 6pm the last two days, WITH NOTHING TO DO! Weird, very weird. I almost don't know what to do with myself. Can you imagine, today I even read the newspaper!! I mean, the real paper version! The one that you easily can spend an hour reading while you are sipping a cup of coffee! Great feeling, but at the same time I almost feel guilty for not doing anything! Luckily I have the diary today, so the shock is not too great, but what about tomorrow? :-)

Thorsten


Deloitte and IKEA live cases presented by Luis Gallardo and Patrick Lindvall respectively.


Stefan Minder from Kuehne & Nagel presenting how he revamped their sales force. It was great to see someone from my old industry - transportation and logistics - on the podium.

Execution and Change

This week we have been back in the class room again for the first time in what feels like an eternity. It took some adjusting to move from the small ICP teams, where you decide everything yourself and back to the class room with pre-readings and discussions in the auditorium all day. Nevertheless, there was something comforting in being back, like meeting up with old friends for the first time in a long time. So much catching up to do! The fact that the we are back, but relieved from the excruciating pressure of the building blocks, makes both the classes and the days in general very enjoyable.

The subject was 'Execution and Change' and was directed by Professor Maury Pieperl. The class had many parallels to Leadership and Leading People classes, but focused specifically on leadership in periods of great change. A very interesting subject which (as the picture indicates) really got the class going.


Baby lineup of some of the MBA children that are in Lausanne with their Moms and Dads.

Two of the latest proud fathers with their daughters Bruna and Kavya.

From left to right the proud parents Isabella and Corinne with their daughter Camille followed by Swati and Prashant with their daughter Kavya.