A trip to London, career fair and OB

Soon after recovering from MBAT, I went to England for more formal discussions on the nature of my summer internship and it looks like this summer is going to be an exciting one. My training and work experience before the MBA are going to be put to test besides using elements from the MBA program. I will be travelling to Alaska for a short period to familiarise myself with the intricacies of exploration and production. This trip will also give me the opportunity to talk to people in the field and get data to carry out my work - the work part is confidential so no details here! :-) I am excited and keenly looking forward to it but, right now, I have some nitty gritty details to sort out like where to live, how to commute to work, and how to manage my time so that I can return to Paris as often as possible. Following the discussions, I went to the HEC Paris career fair at J P Morgan in London where I caught up with my classmates, alumni and representatives from companies who were looking to recruit us. I am also beginning to find these visits to London on the Eurostar quite intellectually stimulating. Last time I went to London, I happened to sit next to a full-time mum (by choice) who has an MBA from INSEAD and discussed work-life balance in great detail. This time, I sat next to a medical doctor, American by birth, trained in the UK and resident in Paris, who commutes, though not everyday, to London for work. His job is to introduce cost cutting measures by transfering technical know-how and operational schemes from countries like France to the UK so that hospitals under the NHS become more efficient. So, as a person living in Paris with his family but working in London, which could very well be my situation in the future, he had some good advice to offer.

Today, we had over six hours of Organizational Behaviour. It was interesting with lots of opportunities to work in little groups and reflect on one's past career but, as with any course that is this long, there was also the occasional moment or two when one was just daydreaming. Now, my group has a research case to prepare studying the OB of a company that is the result of a merger between a French and an American company. Next week is also when we present our final work on the marketing project we have been working on for the last few months and then we have exams coming up soon after. It is as if, at HEC Paris, one is always a bit stretched whether it be a test of academic rigour or sporting vigour.

PS: There are now a lot of videos available online from MBAT 2007. Click here to watch the videos.

MBAT - Destination Unknown

What an event! What a show! What a great time we all had!

Ladies and gentlemen, HEC MBAT has just concluded...and I am exhilirated, and knackered! Over the last four days, we have hosted over a thousand students from some of Europe's finest business schools and NYU Stern. The tournament started on Thursday evening with a boxing match during which we invited volunteer boxers to box against international boxers from the French team. We then partied all night before the games started, in glorious sunshine, on Friday. The tournament turned out to be not just a contest of talent but also the ability to last over four days with very little sleep, a lot of booze, and physical endurance. As one of the events officers, I found myself hecticaly scrambling during every entertainment event sorting out backstage issues. I also averaged three hours of sleep each night and I am the lucky one! There are some officers and coordinators who did not sleep at all! Some of us looked, look, like zombies, wearily loitering around campus but putting in our best efforts to make sure that everything remained smooth and calm on the surface for our guests. And, what brilliant guests we had. We had the extremely excited Latin spirit from the Spanish and Italian schools, and London Business School, who came with a London double-decker loaded with beer and a jeep for a trailer, provided us with some competitive spirit and they did end up winning the tournament. HEC Paris came third and IESE came second. And, we had a small but spirited participation from NYU Stern. It has been a fantastic event and, though, I am so tired that it hurts to wink, I take great delight in reporting to the world how much fun we have had! And, for this, I thank the participating schools and the players, and all those who came to the tournament. Personally, being involved in organising the parties has been a great opportunity to network with some of my own colleagues at a level that only a demanding, stressful, and cooperative environment can facilitate. Things did not always go right - we had far too many impromtu events within events, and unexpected delays in setting up the party venues but when the time came to open the doors, we were there, with a smile, to welcome our guests. And, we have performed beyond expectations (yes, we will have to work on the food though) to give you the best ever MBA Tournament. I am glad I was part of it, and I hope you will someday choose to help HEC Paris organise another such event. What a wonderful experience it has been! And, at the end, everyone was a winner.

The schools that made MBAT possible and a lot of fun are:

London Business School
Oxford University Said Busienss School
Manchester Business School
INSEAD
IMD
SDA Bocconi
Instituto de Impresa
ESADE Business School
Cambridge - Judge Business School
IESE
Cass Business School (London)
New York University - Stern Business School
...and Tias Nimbas (Utrecht, the Netherlands)

PS: This is my first and last blog as a resident on campus - we had rooms for events organisers to make things easy but it is time go home. The campus is now very quiet and it tickles my sentiments to think that this was a once in a lifetime experience, one that I will remember forever.

Ubuntu, No Ubuntu

Just as I was getting a hang of this wonderful new Linux Operating System, the wireless system failed and it took hours to fix, only to fail again. That's when persistence, uncomplimented by reward, gave way to frustation and I eventually ended up moving back to Windows! But, I can now say I know something about Linux and the other world of 'geeks'.

So, what have I been up to in recent days? Apart from continuing to enjoy Core II but, mind you, there are a 'frillion' chapters to read, I have also been invited back to London next week for another round of discussions with my sponsoring company. This one will be more focused on what I am going to do this summer as, now, we are pretty sure I will be based in the UK. Berkeley, California, would have been great but the set-up there is a bit too new for me to make any noticeable contribution and will not get much opportunity to learn about the company in two months. I will also be heading to Switzerland for a brainstorming session. The hotel, overlooking Lake Geneva, would be quite a relaxing (really!) change so I must say I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday, we went to explore a national park just south-east of here. Enjoy the slideshow from the visit. Coordination for MBAT, at least for moi, is also picking up as the event is only a few days away and we are heading back to Cap 15 in Paris this evening to discuss 'crowd' logistics for the big party.

Below is a picture from the BOOM party we had last Friday.

Core II has come with a bang!

My fellow bloggers and visitors, I am back! Last weekend we had a severe thunderstorm here in Jouy en Josas and lighting fried the Wanadoo Livebox that we have. That is why I have not been blogging. That and the fact that my son has not been very well and I decided to spend more time with him. Apart from the one evening when we had the fiery fist of God hit us in multiple bolts and volts, the weather has generally been very good and we have been trying to make the best use of it. We took our son to the Jardin d'Acclimatisation in Boulogne where he had a chance to see the goats, cows, birds {caged - :-(}, and be naughty! Interestingly, there was also an exhibition on 'Incredible India' so we watched a few of the shows too.

May is a very relaxed month here in France...Tuesday was a holiday for Labour Day and next Tuesday is also a holiday. So, long weekends interrupted by a working Monday is the norm right now. We also went for a long walk in the countryside near Jouy to give the boy a chance to get some fresh air but he got so excited that he was running all over the footpath until he fell and ended up with a nose bleed! The first of many to come, I guess, but not a pleasurable sight to see...not when he has blood all over his t-shirt and my t-shirt.

Coming back to the course, after last week's venture with various leaders of our time, Core II classes have started. And, with no offense to ourCore I professors who were fantastic (apart from a few), it appears as if the HEC MBA has shifted into a higher gear with great ease! Our Corporate Finance professor is a part-time faculty member and he is aprt-time because because he runs an accounting/auditing firm in France and another company in Geneva, where he is based. What was surprising was when he slowly mentioned that his company in Geneva deals with investors from the Middle East (immediately in my mind sprung turban-clad, robe-wearing, and cash-rich Arab men from oil-rich states - I know they are not all like this but, then again, this is what Hollywood does to us) and whose money he helps to invest in Asia. Anyway, here is a professor who is in the middle of things that are unfolding today, and an expert on Islamic (Sharia) banking laws. And, our Business Economics professor is a mechanical engineer who worked in the former USSR, and has an MBA and PhD in business management from Berkeley. He taught there for a while, then came back to France, and helped found an investment bank, and then a merchant bank, before settling in at HEC to be a professor. As for the Management Accounting professor, he is a young Austrian PhD who seems quite smart and hardworking, probably trying to open his own niche area of research. So, I am very pleased with the level of education we are getting and I am ready to move up a gear or two myself! :-)

Fantastic!

I have also been visiting the local golf driving range in St Aubin to practice hitting shots and am hoping to go play football in the next few minutes, just for fun! Ain't Spring fun, bright, and cheerful and isn't the air all around full of optimism and hope?! Nice way to go...la belle vie!

The walk to Vauboyen


Jardin D'Acclimatisation


Footpath I take to HEC Paris - bet other MBA schools don't have such a green path to class! ;-)