EQ and Karaoke

It is early evening in the dungeons and it is buzzing with activity everywhere. The work on the assignment for Operations is mixed with preparations for the Karaoke party that is just about to start. Teams are getting together either in study groups or in groups of nationalities. I can hear the Spanish speaking group practicing. Sounds like they are having fun. I know that both the Germans and the Dutch also have prepared something. The Karaoke party is hosted by the 5 Japanese in the class, Misayo Matsumoto, Ryo Abe, Sato Konagai, Naoto Tsushima and Tatsuo Sato and is held in the IMD restaurant. This will be the first time we will have a real party together. I am sure it will be loads of fun!

It has been another intense day today. In the morning we were working on our Economics projects. After lunch we were all loaded into a bus and taken to central Lausanne. This was part of the 'Leading People for Performance' class with Martha Maznevski and the object was to learn how to observe and evaluate the level of Emotionel Intelligence (EQ) in both other people and ourselves. Based on some pre-reading we had prepared different ways of observing and interacting with people on the street. My group was asking people for directions or help with something and measured them across a number of parameters in order to gauge the EQ.

Back home in class we discussed the outcome of the exercise and we took an EQ test ourselves. The results gave some good food for thought.

It was amazing to register how sunlight, movement and interaction with other people could completely re-energize the class although we were only in downtown for an hour. A good warmup for the party tonight.

I am already late for the Karaoke.


Waiting for the bus - Left to right:
Stefano Giussani [Italian], John Callaghan [British], Juan Benitez [Columbian], José Luiz Mesquita [Brazilian], Arturas Bumblys [Lithuanian], Fill Niu [Chinese], Carsten Bremer [German]

Staying afloat

I have an old mantra that says that 'stress doesn't come from too much work; it comes from loosing the overview'. That mantra is being severely tested these days. I have spent the entire evening skimming and sorting the seamless stream of emails and papers that we receive on graded assignments, new assignments, upcoming tests, industry presentations, invitations to group work, input on group work from other team members and so forth. The problem is that you spend so much time trying to figure all this out and getting it filed and scheduled that you don't have time to do the actual work. I still believe it is the right approach, so I will stick with it for now, but I might be proven wrong. Over the next 10 days we have five assignments and two tests, so I better get to work and not just sit and plan everything!

Today was one of those days with four different and short classes instead of the usual two. That always means a lot more preparation as the amount of work for each class is independent of the length of the class. We kicked the day off with Martin Koschat and a case study on how companies can use data bases to track customer behavior and thereby approach the customer in the most effective way. There is definitely a lot more going on behind the scenes than you realize as an average customer.

Martha Maznevski followed up on the personality tests we did last week with a session on the importance of matching personality and job and what you can do - or cannot do - when they don't match. The subsequent accounting class with Stewart Hamilton was spent scrutinizing Carlsberg's annual report for 2007. For a non-accounting person like myself it takes quite a bit of energy to get a meaning out of all the different ratios and abbreviations that the accounting world is so full of. Last, but not least, Phil Rosenzweig had the ungrateful task of taking us through the afternoon shift. He did a brave attempt, but by the end of day like this the fatigue has taken control and the energy levels are just close to non-existing.

Live from the White Horse

This is your diary writer reporting live from the White Horse Pub. I don’t know whether it is a first in diary history, but it is a least a first for me. We are good part of the class gathered here today to celebrate the birthday of Liesbeth Bakker [Dutch]. This morning our study group surprised Liesbeth with cake and champagne in our study room, so it is a natural extension to end the day with another bottle of champagne here.

It has been snowing all day today, but as Benoit mentioned sunday the snow never stays for very long. It did stay long enough, though, for it to fuel a major snowball fight in the afternoon break. In the usual innovative style a few people immediately invented more advanced weapons such as umbrellas that could be used as shields. It did make much of a difference, though, and quite a number of people continued the class with wet clothes. Nevertheless, it was great for the energy level in the class. And it was great fun to watch.

The music is hammering through the loud speakers, the beers are flowing and everybody is talking and enjoying them selves here at the White Horse. It is so great to see that we still have the ability to kick back for a few hours in the middle of Economics projects, cash flow statements, start-up projects, CV writing, grades on Leadership papers and the growing anxiety over the upcoming integrative exercise. In the end, what really matters is what is happening here.



Here is one of the two teams during todays snowball fight. Left-to-right it is Nicolas Denef [Belgian], Ajay Lakhwani [Indian], Adrian Smaranda [Romanian], Shibu James [Indian] and Paul de Hek [Dutch].

January video

One of fellow student, Henry Low from Singapore, made this video out of the pictures that were taken by the class in January.

Spring is in the air

This morning we had the much anticipated economics test on the material that we have been through so far. Some of our classmates had made some excellent summaries which they shared with the rest of the glass. That was a great help, thank you! It is hard to gauge how we have done on the test, but it was nevertheless nice to actually see a test so we can get a feel for what they will be looking for at the exams.

The economics class continued with Economic Policy, which in Ralf Boscheck's usual fast-paced style covered the fundamentals of classic liberalism, Keynes, Fiscal versus Monetary policies and political communication in no amount of time. We were then split in groups representing the advisors and different stakeholders around Obama; each with there own agenda and with plenty of good advise to the new president on how he should run his country. Jodie Roussell [American] impressed everyone with a very well articulated speech. Perhaps we have a future politician in the class!

Accounting professor Stewart Hamilton finished off the 'Profit & Loss' and took us straight into the 'Cash Flow Statement'. I don't know what it is with accounting. It is the most simple, structured and straight forward subject we have, but for some reason it never adds up the first time.

It is a beautiful day in Lausanne today! It may be a bit too early to talk about spring (it snowed yesterday morning), but the light is definitely coming back and you can feel that the air is changing. This weekend we have a bit of breathing space for the first time in a long time. Everything is relative, of course, and 'breathing space' in IMD terms means no hard deliverables in the next few days. There is, of course, still class all day tomorrow, several projects going on and a ton of reading for next week, but I guess we are learning to appreciate the little time we occasionally have for doing other things. Some of that time will be spent celebrating the birthdays of Wouter Naessens [Belgian] and Coralie Leresche [French/Swiss] at the White Horse tonight.

Thorsten

Economics Ironman

We kicked the day off with Accounting and continued with Operations with Professor Nikos Tsikriktsis. Todays subject was on Process analysis and took us around the concepts of Cycle Times, Throughput times and bottlenecks. 'You are not engineers', Nikos said, 'but you need to know what questions to ask!'

Today was crunch-time for the ICA projects that we have been working on for the past two weeks. The projects were handed in last night, and today some of the groups were picked to present for the class. We got some very interesting presentations on topics ranging from IT and Oil Explorations to manufacturing of helicopters. Another reminder of the enormous collective experience there is in the class.

We all felt relieved that the project was over and we could get back to all the other stuff we need to do. Economics Professor Ralf Boscheck let the air out of that balloon very quickly though with one sentence: 'And tomorrow we start another project.' Well, at least we felt good for about an hour or so.

Class was over at 19.15 and 15 minutes later some twenty of us found ourselves lined up for another round of fitness with Patricia. No time wasted! Neither is there during Patricia's sessions. The program is designed to take us through both cardiovascular and muscular training as well as some stretching in just one hour. There are no breaks, of course!

If last fridays full day of Economics was a marathon, then the coming days are an Ironman. From now and until saturday at lunch time we are basically only doing Economics. Macro-economics that is, starting tomorrow. Ralf Boscheck only gave us one assignment for tomorrows class: 'Get a good nights sleep!'. That's an order I can commit to!

Goodnight,

Thorsten

Sunday in the snow

It had been snowing all night. That is naturally great for skiing, but not quite as fortunate for the five players that showed up for sunday football in Parc de Milan. Although we were skating around like Bambi we played for an hour and had good fun.
Top row, left to right: Peter Grissmayr [German], Your Diary writer, Yury Vasilkov [Russian]
Bottom row, left to right: Andres Akamine [Peruvian] and his son David, Ryo Abe [Japanese].

The 'Transport & Logistics Group' spent almost the entire Sunday in the dungeons working on the ICA project on Container Shipping in South America. Here it is (left to right): Your Diary writer again, José Luiz Mesquita [Brazilian], Myriam Vacher [French] and Simon Sundboell [Danish]. We are wrapping it up as these lines are written.

And now I better get home and start reading the two cases for tomorrow.

Thorsten

Economics marathon

Today was an 8.00-to-18.00 Economics Marathon with Professor Ralf Boscheck on center stage all day. The morning session went with 'Institutional Economics'. This gave a great insight in the theories behind how you decide which functions to outsource and which ones to keep in-house as well as what decisions you should make centrally and which ones that are best done locally.

The afternoon session was on the subject of 'Regulation' in an economic perspective. I will never look at our politicians and legislators the same way again after that session. Now I have an idea of the dilemmas they are battling. The session was vividly illustrated by examples of the consequences of deregulating the US airline industry, UK water and electricity supply as well as the health care sector in general. I can see why it is practically impossible to come to a clear definition on the optimal balance between regulation and free market forces in these markets.

Today was just a warm-up for next week, where we combined have economics for almost four full days.

Thorsten


Economics Professor Ralf Boscheck in a nutshell. He has filled in seven blackboards (two more outside the picture) and continues on the flip-chart. I think it would make him feel empty inside if he ever was to leave a class room with empty space on the blackboards.

It is finally warm enough for an outdoor ping-pong game after lunch. At the first table it is (left to right) Bruno Portnoi [Brazilian], Stefano Giussani [Italian], Shibu James [Indian] and Yury Vasilkov [Russian] that are showing the hidden talents. In the back is Seif Shieshakli [Saudi Arabian/German] and Ilya Syshchikov [Russian].

From Davos to Doha

Today was the last day of the Responsible Leadership Seminar. As explained by Kristin the focus yesterday moved from personal leadership to corporate leadership. A very central part in that debate was the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos where many of the worlds greatest leaders have been meeting to discuss the solutions for the current economic crisis.

Today the focus moved from Davos to Doha, from the World Economic Forum to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and from corporate responsibility to the responsibilities in global politics. It was the big, hairy, audacious subjects of world hunger, global warming and world peace that were on the table. Nothing less! The overarching question was how business and trade can play its role in solving these issues. In more detail the discussion touched on the dangers of using protectionism in times of crisis, on the enormous expectations to the Obama administration and on the shift of power from West to East.

The subjects were covered in a discussion between the audience and five different expert panels. All of it was planned and orchestrated by Profesor Jean-Pierre Lehmann who will be teaching us in 'Global Political Economy' two weeks from now. I believe we all look forward to that after todays session. The MBA students made up a good part of the audience and were very actively involved in the discussion. If you ask me, the best and most insightful questions came from the MBAs!

I find these enormous subjects very interesting and extremely important, but also somewhat hard to relate to. What can I do about it right here and now? To be honest, I found it much easier to relate to mondays discussion on corporate responsibilities. The one thing that I will remember the most from this summit is without a doubt the speech that CEO of TNT, Peter Bakker, gave yesterday.

Peter told a fascinating story of how he and TNT started buying rice instead of sponsoring Formula one, how he visits refugee camps instead of attending F1 champagne brunches, how he swapped the Porsche with a Prius and how he gets both employees and shareholders onboard. Most CEOs today would not last more than a couple of minutes if they were pulled on stage to tell about their ambitions for corporate social responsibilities. Peter had 300 people spellbound for two hours straight! It was obvious how deeply he believes in what he does and why he does it. It was like attending a pep-rally. Yes, we can! Someone should send this guy on a roadshow around the world!