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.

Decompression and recompression

I feel, it has been a pretty tough week. As tough as an average week in the building blocks. Coming back from abroad and being dumped straight into classes and the ICP project with a Friday deliverable to the clients.

This weekend my girlfriend was here. There is nobody that like her can make me relax and we immediately went into 48 hours of eating, sleeping and day dreaming about the 'normal life' that we soon will be leading again.

Taking it easy for a weekend is a sin in IMD language and always comes back with a vengeance. The last leadership paper is due tomorrow morning at 8.00 and I still have quite a distance to go on it. On top of that I need to get my suitcase packed again; tomorrow morning at 8.42 the train departs from platform 4 to Geneva from where we via Istanbul will find our way back to Ngong Road in Nairobi.

Life is good, but man, why does all the good have to back stacked so close.

This afternoon we went to the Open House at the Trimoto Harley-Davidson dealership in Cortaillod not far from Neuchatel. The trip was arranged by Christian Steiger from IMD, who also arranged the motorbike weekend into the French Alps a month ago. Christian is a passionate Harley maniac with several bikes in his garage.

My own bike is a bit egoist-bike, a bar-hopper if you want. It is a so-called naked bike with no backrest, a minimum of a backseat and as little equipment as the law allows. Not the most comfortable thing to be a passenger on. It is actually not even comfortable for the driver, if you go more than a couple of hours.

My girlfriend and I have therefore been talking about renting a real touring bike for a vacation trip. So when we got the chance to take one of the big Electra Harleys out for out quick spin, we took it. Here Jean-Claude explains all the ins and outs of it.
This bike has more buttons than the keyboard on my computer. Here is radio, CD-player, MP3-player, intercom, cruise-control, heating in the handles and a host of other luxury items. The only button on my own bike is the start-button, so it took me a while to figure this one out.
It is Christian Steiger standing in the back.

And off we go, just for a quick 15 minute trip. We were immediately convinced that this is the way to tour a country. On this kind of bike you sit so comfortably that you just can go on for hours and hours. We agreed that we next spring will explore our new home country Italy on a big comfortable motorbike like this one.

Back again! This bike is so heavy that it helps with an extra hand when you go backwards.

Global mindsets

We have had a relatively soft landing after South Africa. We have been in the class room all week with Professors Cyril Bouquet and Jean Pierre Jeannet working through the subject of 'Managing within global companies'. We have been through two cases each day that have stressed the importance of approaching problems with a global mindset in today's world of business. Today we had a really interesting case about the Swiss America's Cup team, Alinghi. It was the story about how they in a period of 37 months build both a team and a boat in landlocked Switzerland and moved it all to New Zealand to bring back the most prestigious trophy in the world of sailing.

Most of all the case was an example of how much building a high performing sports team resembles building a high performing business team. Tomorrow, we will continue down the same road with cases on Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid and Ajax Amsterdam. I will be wearing my AaB jersey tomorrow. Never heard about AaB? I don't blame you. It is my club in Denmark.

I have my apartment full of guests this weekend. 5 of them, actually, if you include my girlfriend. They have chosen the perfect time to come. I took this picture when I was out biking in the vineyards east of Lausanne the other day. The picture is taken with my phone and does not at all justify the amazing colors; the vineyards are completely green and the lake has a very deep blue color. It is an absolutely breath taking view. It is equally breath taking trying to climb these hills by bike. Eventually I had to give up and walk. Anyway, if you have been considering visiting some of you friends in Lausanne, NOW is the time to do it. I am afraid that in a months or two nature will start preparing its winter coat again.

Bye Bye Mandela

Old man, you did well.

The country that you have fought for is amazing and the direction in which you have sent it brings more than just hope - it brings firm belief – that a glorious future awaits South Africa.

Over the past two weeks we have visited the sites that tell the story of South Africa, the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pieterson Museum for the Soweto uprising and your own house, which – whether you like it or not – has become yet another symbol of freedom and the fight that it took to get it. We have lived in fancy Sandton City with its shopping malls and posh hotels that few can afford. We have seen the unfortunate souls in townships and squatter camps and looked the HIV children of Cotlands in the eyes. Despite the sad sad circumstances, we saw nothing but big bright smiles. We were welcomed by thousands of singing, dancing and smiling souls in Soweto’s Grace Bible Church and we saw the roots of the country - its amazing nature and wildlife - in Pilanesburg National Park.

Not least, we have worked closely with the entrepreneurs of South Africa who produce anything and everything from diamonds and tractors to beds and hydraulic fittings. As much as soldiers and politicians are the heroes of the past, these passionate business men and women are the heroes of the future. They are the ones that will bring South Africa to the next level. We were told the huge success story of MTN, Africa’s first true multinational company, and we know that many more will follow.

When asked to define South African leadership my team quickly agreed on the three words: Forgiveness, inclusiveness and optimism. Forgiveness for the pain of the past, inclusiveness of all races, religions and colours in the prospects for the future and an incredible and forceful optimism that cannot be held back.

You will show them all of this in the FIFA world cup next year, where you have invited the whole world to your home. We know that you are preparing hard and we know that will do great. Just be yourself.

See you soon!

From Shrek to Cinderella

I just sent in my second leadership paper. 4936 words on the roles that I either take or that I am given in different groups and in different settings. Sounds weird? It did to me as well when we went through the first leadership classes back in January. Transactional analysis, child-parents relationships, group dynamics and power plays. I was skeptical. Were we not over-analyzing things?

Today we use all of this terminology without thinking about it. In describing the roles I have heard about my classmates using such colorful characters as Shrek, Cinderella, Scarlet O'Hara, Curious George and Gandhi. At times it almost becomes philosophical. Just listen to this quote from my paper:

'The tricky thing is that you think that people think in a certain way and therefore you start acting as if they think the way you think they think!'

Did you get that? :-) I hope the person reading my paper does as well.

And now I better get a couple of hours of sleep before we head into the last week of classes before the final exams. I can't believe we are this far already.

'Godnat og sov godt!' as we say in Denmark.

Meeting the start-ups

It has been an intense day. We all came dressed up in business attire today as we were to meet the entrepreneurs that we will be working with on the start-up projects for the next four months. It was fun to see the whole classed dressed up like that. It reminded me in a different way of where we are: In business school!

Economicst professor Ralf Boscheck entertained us all morning with an interesting case on the US retail market in general and Walmart in particular. I had lunch together with the rest of the start-up team and Professor Stuart Read, who will be our coach through the start-up project. We just wanted to get aligned before meeting the entrepreneurs in the afternoon.

After lunch Leadership Professor Jack Wood gave a relatively brief introduction to Transactional Analysis, which is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth. It was developed by Eric Berne in the 1960's and is probably best known for its parent-adult-child ego-state model, which basically says that a person at any point in time is in a behavioral state of either a Parent, an Adult or a child. It is my feeling that many of us in our normal day-to-day business environment would discard such theories as 'too soft' or 'too far out', but because we are where we are and because it is delivered the way it is, it all makes sense.

After a short break Entrepreneurship Professor Benoit Leleux gave presented what was expected of the start-up projects and what had been delivered in the past. The people that have been holding our seats in the past have definitely made some remarkable projects, so the bar is set very high. The tension rose in the class as the time approached 17.30 where we would be sent into the dungeons where the 15 entrepreneur teams waited for us. I think we were a bit nervous.

I will together with Brad Moldin [American], Slava Raykov [Russian], Gerald Lo [Malaysian/Chinese] and Ajay Lakhwani [Indian] be working with a software company on building their business model. We discussed with them for three hours straight and could easily have continued. Although we initially had some difficulty understanding what they actually wanted to sell we left quite excited about the project. There is still a lot we need to learn about it as the software industry is new to all of us except Gerald, but we will visit them on Saturday which will be an excellent opportunity to get another load of questions answered.