I thought it might be interesting to update my dear reader as to some random facts and comment on INSEAD logistics.
Diversity
In terms of diversity we are up to 70 nationalities for the class of Dec 2008. There are representatives from all the major continents. It is interesting to note that there are large number of students from North America (Canada and USA), perhaps indicating that INSEAD's profile in the US is rising?
Language Requirements
INSEAD requires you know 2 languages to get in and a basic knowledge of a third language before you exit. Also your English must be fluent as demonstrated by TOEFL or a University education in English. Presently a large chunk of "my" class are attending language courses to certify that they have reached the required level for their second language. Others are working on their third language so that they can clear the third language requirement during their first week at INSEAD. I think its fair to say a lot of people are working on their language skills.
Financing
There are a lot of scholarships available at INSEAD - most of which will help provide considerable financial help to the recipient. Some scholarships are industry specific, others region specific (e.g. Africa) and a large chunk of them are country specific. Additionally, there is a needs based scholarship fund. INSEAD is undertaking a large drive to raise funds such that they can provide more scholarships to more students, thereby ensuring that funding does not act as a barrier to entry to capable applicants/students.
The deadline for applying for scholarships was in mid September. Let us say a large number of students submitted a lot of essays and cashflow statements to try to get some additional funding.
Otherwise most people are borrowing from banks (international or domestic), parents and using up all their savings. The only (minor) complaint I, and other students, have so far against INSEAD, is that INSEAD does not have a deal with a major bank to ensure that all students are guaranteed funding. For example, something similar to the deal LBS has with HSBC.
My understanding is that this is causing the most headaches amongst us. I think those students not based in their "home" country are facing real problems in getting the funding, or having to go through multiple hoops to be granted the funding. You could argue that its just a fact of life or view it as preparation for the mad rush of challenges at INSEAD, but its something that the school may want to review. Of course the school may already be taking steps, and if so I apologise to AdCom.
Logistics
As mentioned in an earlier post, there is a large to do list involving multiple form filling and document gathering, as well as immigration and medical issues. Then there is the finding of accommodation, wiring of funds and sorting out the affairs in which ever country you are in. On top of this is the packing and trying to work out what you are going to take, then packing this and then arranging freighting it to either Fonty or Singapore. Of course given shipping times, you might be sending things without yet knowing the final destination address!?
Socialising
A fair number of the class seem to already be travelling having left their jobs. So as they travel this gives more reasons for people to get together - so there are, from a quick skim of NV (the INSEAD student intranet) currently get togethers planned for New York, Tel Aviv, Milan, London, Beijing and Kuala Lumpar. Yes, we do seem to be a bunch of networking social butterflies.
Hope this helps those applying and those who just got in (congrats Bluey).
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Monday, 29 October 2007
Leadership and Sport - Part Deux
Seeing as I am presently in a "sports" kind of mindset, another potential case study would be the recent handling of the management change at an English football club.
Before we continue, I can confirm that I have no interest in this team (other than abusing close friends who support the team for the team's lack of success) and have no particular axe to grind. Its just reading about this recently, it did lead me to wonder whether this is classic material for a case study on how not to manage change.
For those of you not interested in football (i.e. 260 million North Americans (I am talking about the continent and, so that this is very clear, not bracketing Canadians with Americans in order to avoid a diplomatic faux pas) and some Australasians) the most commercially successful football (soccer) league is the English Premier League. Its watched by millions in the UK and ridiculous numbers in the rest of the world. The aim in this League (apart from winning) is to finish in the top 4 positions in the League, thereby qualifying for very a lucrative intra-Europe competition. Hopefully, the above makes sense.
One of the major clubs is Tottenham Hotspurs (aka Spurs). Spurs are an old established club who have not had success in years - think Miami Dolphins (for the last 20 years) or Boston Red Sox (for about 70 years). Spurs regularly change managers (head coach) (6 in 12 years?) unlike more successful clubs (Manchester United same coach for 21 years (?), Arsenal same coach for 11 years (?). However, in the last 2 years their coach got them to 5th in the League twice in a row, way better than they have done for about 15 years - and had they not had some very bad luck they may have finished 4th. So this summer they spend GBP£40 million (approx €60m or $80m) and look ready to become a really powerful club. Looking good, things progressing on an upwards trajectory, right?
Fat chance.
A couple of days before the season kick- senior Spurs directors are seen in Spain having dinner with a very successful coach. The directors say its a coincidence, the Spanish coach says he has been offered a job (but then back tracks), the club administration "leaks like a sieve" with all leaks agreeing the Spanish coach was offered a job and the press have a field day.
The incumbent coach, behaving with admirable dignity, says that the directors are behind him, while the Chairman of the Directors initially gives the coach very little backing, followed by "total support". Surprisingly enough the club makes a very poor start to the season and any chance of a top 4 position is out of the window. Could it get better?
Well the club continues to leak like a sieve that the coach is on "borrowed" time and will be sacked. The players perform even more badly. Then prior to an important game last week, the radio/tv press report the manager is to be sacked at the end of the game - or in fact has been sacked but is still in charge for this game. the players are even more rubbish, the crowd support the manager by chanting songs for him and abusing the directors. After the match it is confirmed that (despite, I believe, their being a requirement for the UK Stock Exchange to be notified first) that the coach has been sacked. A few days later, the Spanish coach mentioned above is appointed head coach. If it was a soap opera you would not believe it.
This is surely brilliant management in operation? You wait until the last moment and then undermine/humiliate your manager/coach. Then you support him and finally sack him. All the while, the team tipped to do well, are losing lots of games and so have lost any chance of achieving the stated goal.
If you think this all seems pretty incompetent management by a board of directors, well........you join a lot of people.
It is irrelevant whether you think the original coach was good or bad. Its all about how you manage the situation. If the directors thought they wanted someone else, why not do it in May/June when the season is over? Why wait until days before the season begins to approach a new coach? By changing coaches in the summer, the new coach has time to settle in. Also by handling it so badly, you undermine the coach's authority, in effect, making him a lame duck, such that the players could ignore him. Not surprising that the players do not perform, thereby ensuring the main aim for the season cannot be achieved.
This an example that, I think, can be applied to any business on how not change senior management. If you do not show public support for the the Chairman/CEO/director/manager you might as well fire her/him. Also timing and confidentiality are key points.
As for Spurs, who knows if the new coach will meet the directors' aim? What we do know is that the directors look less credible and that the team has "failed". Oh, and they allegedly paid GBP£4m to the sacked manager (his remaining contract for 2 years), compensation to the new managers club and have increased the salary proposition to the new manager (allegedly GBP£4m per year). *
Genius.
*Please note that these numbers are as alleged in the UK papers and I cannot confirm the veracity of these figures.
Before we continue, I can confirm that I have no interest in this team (other than abusing close friends who support the team for the team's lack of success) and have no particular axe to grind. Its just reading about this recently, it did lead me to wonder whether this is classic material for a case study on how not to manage change.
For those of you not interested in football (i.e. 260 million North Americans (I am talking about the continent and, so that this is very clear, not bracketing Canadians with Americans in order to avoid a diplomatic faux pas) and some Australasians) the most commercially successful football (soccer) league is the English Premier League. Its watched by millions in the UK and ridiculous numbers in the rest of the world. The aim in this League (apart from winning) is to finish in the top 4 positions in the League, thereby qualifying for very a lucrative intra-Europe competition. Hopefully, the above makes sense.
One of the major clubs is Tottenham Hotspurs (aka Spurs). Spurs are an old established club who have not had success in years - think Miami Dolphins (for the last 20 years) or Boston Red Sox (for about 70 years). Spurs regularly change managers (head coach) (6 in 12 years?) unlike more successful clubs (Manchester United same coach for 21 years (?), Arsenal same coach for 11 years (?). However, in the last 2 years their coach got them to 5th in the League twice in a row, way better than they have done for about 15 years - and had they not had some very bad luck they may have finished 4th. So this summer they spend GBP£40 million (approx €60m or $80m) and look ready to become a really powerful club. Looking good, things progressing on an upwards trajectory, right?
Fat chance.
A couple of days before the season kick- senior Spurs directors are seen in Spain having dinner with a very successful coach. The directors say its a coincidence, the Spanish coach says he has been offered a job (but then back tracks), the club administration "leaks like a sieve" with all leaks agreeing the Spanish coach was offered a job and the press have a field day.
The incumbent coach, behaving with admirable dignity, says that the directors are behind him, while the Chairman of the Directors initially gives the coach very little backing, followed by "total support". Surprisingly enough the club makes a very poor start to the season and any chance of a top 4 position is out of the window. Could it get better?
Well the club continues to leak like a sieve that the coach is on "borrowed" time and will be sacked. The players perform even more badly. Then prior to an important game last week, the radio/tv press report the manager is to be sacked at the end of the game - or in fact has been sacked but is still in charge for this game. the players are even more rubbish, the crowd support the manager by chanting songs for him and abusing the directors. After the match it is confirmed that (despite, I believe, their being a requirement for the UK Stock Exchange to be notified first) that the coach has been sacked. A few days later, the Spanish coach mentioned above is appointed head coach. If it was a soap opera you would not believe it.
This is surely brilliant management in operation? You wait until the last moment and then undermine/humiliate your manager/coach. Then you support him and finally sack him. All the while, the team tipped to do well, are losing lots of games and so have lost any chance of achieving the stated goal.
If you think this all seems pretty incompetent management by a board of directors, well........you join a lot of people.
It is irrelevant whether you think the original coach was good or bad. Its all about how you manage the situation. If the directors thought they wanted someone else, why not do it in May/June when the season is over? Why wait until days before the season begins to approach a new coach? By changing coaches in the summer, the new coach has time to settle in. Also by handling it so badly, you undermine the coach's authority, in effect, making him a lame duck, such that the players could ignore him. Not surprising that the players do not perform, thereby ensuring the main aim for the season cannot be achieved.
This an example that, I think, can be applied to any business on how not change senior management. If you do not show public support for the the Chairman/CEO/director/manager you might as well fire her/him. Also timing and confidentiality are key points.
As for Spurs, who knows if the new coach will meet the directors' aim? What we do know is that the directors look less credible and that the team has "failed". Oh, and they allegedly paid GBP£4m to the sacked manager (his remaining contract for 2 years), compensation to the new managers club and have increased the salary proposition to the new manager (allegedly GBP£4m per year). *
Genius.
*Please note that these numbers are as alleged in the UK papers and I cannot confirm the veracity of these figures.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Leadership and Sport
Over the last few weeks I've been in Europe a lot and been exposed to a lot of sport.
The biggest event has been the Rugby World Cup. For those of you wondering what Rugby is, imagine American football, with less stoppages, less padding, more creativity and less ferocious "hitting" of each other (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/default.stm). It is a game that is both fun and mental, and can be amazing on television.
The final was played in Paris last week between England and South Africa. SA won a very tight game 6:15.
But, what was more interesting was the England team's "Lazarus" like recovery. Before the knockout games SA had destroyed England 36:0 and no-one thought England had a chance. Then they go win 4 (or 5?) on the trot, including beating more highly regarded teams Australia and France (in Paris). So what happened?
Well, we do know that the entire squad (coaches, players et al) sat down after the first SA thrashing and cleared the air.
However, on one side the story says that senior players took control and said this is what we are going to do, you the coaches will follow this and there we are. The other side is that the English coach was strong enough to ask for the player's opinions and adapted the game plan to what they said. So which version is correct?
As with all these things the truth probably lies in a mixture of the two. The coach is known as a believer in getting players to think for themselves, so perhaps this was just the coach getting buy-in and commitment from a hard core of committed, experienced veterans. Having said that, there probably is truth in the assertion that the SA hammering was because of the players not fully understanding what the coach wanted and hence the need to speak out.
For me this illustrates how leadership can be learnt from all manner of fields e.g. business, sport, politics, charity. You could move this example to any other industry/field and the lessons /issues for analysing a "leader's" actions/responses would fundamentally still be the same. For example, a question raised from this example is when does delegation of responsibly by a leader go from empowerment of subordinates to the abdication of his/her duties?
Is this what makes INSEAD so committed in its push for diversity - so that you can learn from so many unexpected experiences and transfer that learning to almost all other fields? That is certainly one of my reasons for choosing INSEAD.
So if anyone from INSEAD is reading this I look forward to a case study on the Rugby World Cup and the performances of various teams (England, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa) and why they were successful or unsuccessful.
The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born -- that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.
Warren G. Bennis
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.
Peter Drucker
The biggest event has been the Rugby World Cup. For those of you wondering what Rugby is, imagine American football, with less stoppages, less padding, more creativity and less ferocious "hitting" of each other (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/default.stm). It is a game that is both fun and mental, and can be amazing on television.
The final was played in Paris last week between England and South Africa. SA won a very tight game 6:15.
But, what was more interesting was the England team's "Lazarus" like recovery. Before the knockout games SA had destroyed England 36:0 and no-one thought England had a chance. Then they go win 4 (or 5?) on the trot, including beating more highly regarded teams Australia and France (in Paris). So what happened?
Well, we do know that the entire squad (coaches, players et al) sat down after the first SA thrashing and cleared the air.
However, on one side the story says that senior players took control and said this is what we are going to do, you the coaches will follow this and there we are. The other side is that the English coach was strong enough to ask for the player's opinions and adapted the game plan to what they said. So which version is correct?
As with all these things the truth probably lies in a mixture of the two. The coach is known as a believer in getting players to think for themselves, so perhaps this was just the coach getting buy-in and commitment from a hard core of committed, experienced veterans. Having said that, there probably is truth in the assertion that the SA hammering was because of the players not fully understanding what the coach wanted and hence the need to speak out.
For me this illustrates how leadership can be learnt from all manner of fields e.g. business, sport, politics, charity. You could move this example to any other industry/field and the lessons /issues for analysing a "leader's" actions/responses would fundamentally still be the same. For example, a question raised from this example is when does delegation of responsibly by a leader go from empowerment of subordinates to the abdication of his/her duties?
Is this what makes INSEAD so committed in its push for diversity - so that you can learn from so many unexpected experiences and transfer that learning to almost all other fields? That is certainly one of my reasons for choosing INSEAD.
So if anyone from INSEAD is reading this I look forward to a case study on the Rugby World Cup and the performances of various teams (England, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa) and why they were successful or unsuccessful.
The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born -- that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.
Warren G. Bennis
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.
Peter Drucker
Insead blog Genius
I have just read the latest blog entry by Le Blog De Hog http://lebloghog.blogspot.com/2007/10/sex-mba.html
I have not laughed this much in a while - Le Blog is definitely braver than me - anonymity or no anonymity.
Brilliant, absolute genius.
I have not laughed this much in a while - Le Blog is definitely braver than me - anonymity or no anonymity.
Brilliant, absolute genius.
Monday, 22 October 2007
INSEAD to do lists...
I admire, and to some extent, am envious of those who are "naturally" organised. They get up in the morning and know what they are going to do, when they are going to do it and how they are going to do it. They possess a permanent mental to do list with a click for more details option built in. It would be nice if I could count myself as falling within this category. Unfortunately I cannot.
I like to think I am organised, and to be fair, at work, I know what is going on. Yes there are days when it all goes out the window, but even then I seem (luckily?) not to miss anything too important (please excuse me while I touch wood and try to convince fate that I am not, in fact, tempting it to prove me wrong). But this is more down to being trained by and working alongside highly talented, driven individuals, whom drilled into me what a "good professional" should aspire to. So while I do have the occasional (daily) lapse in the office, overall, I've got away with it.
My private life is more akin to organisation deriving from chaos theory. I want to be organised. I know its important to be organised. but when I get home I am too lazy to be organised. This means that letters lie in a drawer for weeks, deadlines are missed (thank God for direct debit for credit cards), lottery tickets not checked for so long that you can no longer claim a prize (fortunately not costly yet), enough paper is hoarded to stop acres of Amazonian rain forest being destroyed, expensive flights and hotels are the only option as all cheap options are gone because it is being done in a rush with a few days to go...... I'm sure you get the idea.
I normally get through this by sitting down every month or so and, once I've stopped castigating myself for being so stupid again, sort through everything, dumping or filing papers and writing a to do list. I then action the to do list.
However, on getting in to INSEAD I decided to set a new precedent for my private life and do a to do list at the beginning. The result? Surprisingly, I am doing ok! Trust me this is a wonderful surprise for me - and long may it continue. I find that a large chunk of important INSEAD admission procedures have been completed, while other minor issues (such as getting loans to fund this 12 month "jolly") are also progressing - again I'm hoping fate is not being tempted by the above.
Of course this does not mean that all is light and rosy in my nest. I am finding that my lack of motivation and effort at work ( i.e. zero) is slipping into my private life, such that items on the to do list are looked at 6 pm in the evening i.e. well after office hours so that a number of the items cannot be dealt with. I also spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet and the more time spent reading pointless, enjoyable rubbish*, the more my motivation and will power drain out of me. Call it an internet induced vegetative state.
I deal with this by re-visiting my to do list frequently in order to scare myself into doing something about the aforementioned list. So far this is working - although I really need to get cracking on my third language revision and I need to submit the language declaration form and...
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
Immanuel Kant
*(why did I read the entire wikipedia entry about the Hindu Elephant god and summaries of all the "Alias" episodes when I've never watched the programme?)
I like to think I am organised, and to be fair, at work, I know what is going on. Yes there are days when it all goes out the window, but even then I seem (luckily?) not to miss anything too important (please excuse me while I touch wood and try to convince fate that I am not, in fact, tempting it to prove me wrong). But this is more down to being trained by and working alongside highly talented, driven individuals, whom drilled into me what a "good professional" should aspire to. So while I do have the occasional (daily) lapse in the office, overall, I've got away with it.
My private life is more akin to organisation deriving from chaos theory. I want to be organised. I know its important to be organised. but when I get home I am too lazy to be organised. This means that letters lie in a drawer for weeks, deadlines are missed (thank God for direct debit for credit cards), lottery tickets not checked for so long that you can no longer claim a prize (fortunately not costly yet), enough paper is hoarded to stop acres of Amazonian rain forest being destroyed, expensive flights and hotels are the only option as all cheap options are gone because it is being done in a rush with a few days to go...... I'm sure you get the idea.
I normally get through this by sitting down every month or so and, once I've stopped castigating myself for being so stupid again, sort through everything, dumping or filing papers and writing a to do list. I then action the to do list.
However, on getting in to INSEAD I decided to set a new precedent for my private life and do a to do list at the beginning. The result? Surprisingly, I am doing ok! Trust me this is a wonderful surprise for me - and long may it continue. I find that a large chunk of important INSEAD admission procedures have been completed, while other minor issues (such as getting loans to fund this 12 month "jolly") are also progressing - again I'm hoping fate is not being tempted by the above.
Of course this does not mean that all is light and rosy in my nest. I am finding that my lack of motivation and effort at work ( i.e. zero) is slipping into my private life, such that items on the to do list are looked at 6 pm in the evening i.e. well after office hours so that a number of the items cannot be dealt with. I also spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet and the more time spent reading pointless, enjoyable rubbish*, the more my motivation and will power drain out of me. Call it an internet induced vegetative state.
I deal with this by re-visiting my to do list frequently in order to scare myself into doing something about the aforementioned list. So far this is working - although I really need to get cracking on my third language revision and I need to submit the language declaration form and...
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
Immanuel Kant
*(why did I read the entire wikipedia entry about the Hindu Elephant god and summaries of all the "Alias" episodes when I've never watched the programme?)
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Mutual Support
Since my last missive there seem to have been references to my blog by those doyens of the INSEAD blogerati Necromonger (a direct link) and Res I(p)sa (my previous post).
I would not be honest if I did not admit to a small amount of gratification to have been noticed by these bloggers. However, what was nice was that Res, in her blog, commented that:
".....be afraid, be very afraid (and be sure to practice your not-sleeping, speed-reading and multi-lingual-costume-wearing-alcohol-consuming skills before you get here). You're going to love it." http://resipsainsead.blogspot.com/2007/10/contagious-panic.html
So, why do I appreciate this comment? Well, apart from the fact that Res took the time to comment (and judging from the J'08 blogs time is the scarcest commodity in Fonty), its funny and positive (as always), and, in a very weird way, the comment encapsulates my (and others') emotions while in P0. This emotion is a kind of an incredible excitement (frisson, even) together with mild panic at what the hell have we got ourselves into.
But also there is an anticipation as to the people your going to meet. I've had the pleasure (and it really has been) of meeting and corresponding with a whole bunch of future class mates over the past 6 weeks and they are just a bunch of (Americanism alert) "Awesome" people. Already you can see what the big deal about MBAs (and INSEAD in particular) is. You are sharing information/experiences, helping each other and not necessarily waiting for something in return. The key is sharing.
Of course when I get there, the reality may be different. And my more cynical side is fighting back. But at the moment I'm going to give it a whirl and look forward with unfettered optimism.....
See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day
Beautiful Day - U2 (2000)
I would not be honest if I did not admit to a small amount of gratification to have been noticed by these bloggers. However, what was nice was that Res, in her blog, commented that:
".....be afraid, be very afraid (and be sure to practice your not-sleeping, speed-reading and multi-lingual-costume-wearing-alcohol-consuming skills before you get here). You're going to love it." http://resipsainsead.blogspot.com/2007/10/contagious-panic.html
So, why do I appreciate this comment? Well, apart from the fact that Res took the time to comment (and judging from the J'08 blogs time is the scarcest commodity in Fonty), its funny and positive (as always), and, in a very weird way, the comment encapsulates my (and others') emotions while in P0. This emotion is a kind of an incredible excitement (frisson, even) together with mild panic at what the hell have we got ourselves into.
But also there is an anticipation as to the people your going to meet. I've had the pleasure (and it really has been) of meeting and corresponding with a whole bunch of future class mates over the past 6 weeks and they are just a bunch of (Americanism alert) "Awesome" people. Already you can see what the big deal about MBAs (and INSEAD in particular) is. You are sharing information/experiences, helping each other and not necessarily waiting for something in return. The key is sharing.
Of course when I get there, the reality may be different. And my more cynical side is fighting back. But at the moment I'm going to give it a whirl and look forward with unfettered optimism.....
See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day
Beautiful Day - U2 (2000)
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