INSEAD Singapore

13 January 2008

(See three posts below for explanation for the strange chronology)

So week 1 of my life at INSEAD is over.

First impressions? Well, for once the hype may well be justified. So, as any good potential MBA graduate should do (other than a top power point presentation or excel wizardry), I will comment on various elements of the INSEAD experience.

Classmates

My classmates are, as expected, as diverse a bunch of people one is ever likely to meet. We have backgrounds ranging from the traditional (Consulting and Investment banking), to the different (Entrepreneurs and NGOs) to the way out there (a monk).

The best thing is that everyone seems to be friendly, witty and quite happy to laugh at themselves. A promising beginning.

Also the P3s (i.e. those that joined in August 2007) have been remarkably friendly and have really made an effort to make us welcome.

Campus

The campus is superb. It has been open about seven years and the design has created a modern, open and comfortable facility that has a very warm/positive ambience. All the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful (except, perhaps, the IT staff - although they may suffer because of the ridiculously high standard set by the other groups). Oh and the canteen is inexpensive, tasty and provides a variety of dishes.

The location is good with an MRT (metro/subway/train/underground station - choose your language) station a 15 minute walk from campus and a 15 minute taxi ride to central Singapore. Also the two main residences of choice for INSEAD students (more details later) are a 10 minute walk from the campus.

We also got given a very nice personalised gift from INSEAD - a small, but very nice gesture.

Academics

This has been an induction week, so while full of lectures, its been mostly about informng us about the next 12months and helping s to adjust to Singapore an INSEAD.

We did have a one day case study described as an "Intro to General Management" which was utterly brilliant. It encapsulated everything I hope that the INSEAD MBA is going to be about. A fantastic professor guiding us through a complex case, challenging us, drawing out a wide range of class experiences and then beginning to teach us how to approach and deal with problems. Just a very good day at school.

One interesting angle is that there was a quite focus on "Ethics" and the challenges we will face when we graduate. The professor raised some testing issues and elicited a debate that was surprising in the wide range and vehemence of views expressed. People are always aware that there are large personal and cultural differences between us as classmates, but this debate brought home the magnitude of those differences. Also, perhaps most troublingly, it made you look at yourself and wonder how much you will compromise your personal ethics in the future.

Singapore

I shall devote a whole post (well its more likely to be a eulogy based on how I am feeling at the moment) to describing Singapore. As an indicator, the climate is lovely (well sure beats a North America and European winter), the place is green, safe, efficient and welcoming.

Activities

There is no shortage of opportunities to do things at INSEAD. Whether its professionally driven, social (the social scene here is mental - parties, bars and travelling) or personal, this year is going to be packed.

My Fonty classmates have gone through an almost identical week - the only difference being that we are all walking around in shorts, t-shirts and sandals in a tropical climate, while they are in sub-zero temperatures in the French countryside. It’s a tough life……

Wish you were here......

"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Yet more INSEAD and ranking tables

8 January 2008

(See two posts below for explanation for the strange chronology)

Given the obsession with rankings (see previous posts) I thought, dear reader, that you may be interested in the below.
http://rankings.ft.com/exportranking/european-business-school-rankings/pdf

How rankings are put together:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fa44d838-9ef1-11dc-b4e4-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=ca0d89c8-9f5d-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac.html

World rankings

http://media.ft.com/cms/9753d360-a6ee-11db-83e4-0000779e2340.pdf

The latest FT rankings come out at the end of the month and I am sure that will be another excuse to re-visit this.

As a final caveat, rankings should be taken as a guide and are no substitute for serious research on the individual school, its culture and its unique selling point. For example, for me if you are serious about working internationally, then INSEAD should be near the top of your list.

Have fun.....


"Asked about the power of advertising in research surveys, most agree that it works, but not on them."

Eric Clark

MBA Delusions of Grandeur......

5 January 2008

(see below post for explanation for strange chronology)

As part of my ongoing research (and my tendency to over analyse), I was drifting around the FT.com and found the below.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7ed1600a-b174-11dc-9777-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=02e16f4a-46f9-11da-b8e5-00000e2511c8.html

I do find this amusing and I like its honesty; but what else would you expect from an INSEAD alum (ah....the reflected glory of being at INSEAD).

I suspect the sections about people not believing that they are the Global business leaders of tomorrow is very accurate. Most of us have healthy egos (although perhaps what makes INSEAD special is that most people realise this and are willing to laugh at themselves) and believe that business school will help mould us into what we aspire to be. However, based on meetings with my class over the past few months, another factor that unites us is uncertainty as to where we are going in our careers and the need to make a change. Nevertheless, part of the make-up of a graduating from a top MBA is to believe that you can succeed and that is a very dangerous assumption if not allied to a a healthy dose of private cynicism and self-awareness.

Of course, when applying to the MBA make sure that your career essay says the exact opposite of the above and instead lays out a credible, achievable and reasonable career plan. They are not testing your honesty, more your ability to put a credible career plan together so that they have the raw materials to work with. Call it the "bluster successfully" test (acronym "BS").

Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul.

James Allen from As a Man Thinketh

Catching up.....

I seem to spend half my time on this blog apologising for not posting and so I am proud to maintain this tradition by, again, apologising for not posting.

In fact I have commenced a number of posts that I then leave in draft with the express intention of returning to complete the post "later that day". As with all the best intentions something generally goes awry and of course what is a day, week or month between friends? Therefore, I am now faced with 3 draft posts that were commenced on various days in January, but have yet to be published. So in order to assauge my conscience (which conveniently is very small in this matter) I have decided to publish them now with the date they were originally created.

On a more serious note, when researching INSEAD I know that "delayed/incomplete" blogs used to be a tad frustrating, and that is partly why I started this blog. So its doubly galling to realise that I have been much worse at this than many of those I quietly criticised for their lack of organisation. Any one wish to join me for humble pie?

Apologies again

Accipiter

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.

Jessamyn West

Its life Jim, but not as we know it....

I'm alive. I'm busy and I promise to post properly this weekend.

Short and sweet - unlike my workload......

Merry Xmas

Dearest reader,

A belated Happy Xmas to you! I hope you and your loved ones have both a healthy and a prosperous New Year.

I'll post in detail in the next few days and give you an update of P0 and miscellaneous items (...........I'm sure you just cannot contain your excitement).

Logistics "mini" rant

Dear reader,

I have no idea how long this post will be, I just needed to "let it all out."

A few comments:

a) Apologies for not posting in the recent past - its manic.

b) Housing in Singapore is astronomically expensive.

The favourite haunts for INSEAD students are very close to campus, but boy do you pay for the privilege. Also, the whole rental system is very different to North America and Europe in terms of what different definitions mean (fully furnished vs part furnished).

I think INSEAD students should make try to manipulate the market by grouping together and setting prices. Now this might start an Anti-Trust investigation in the US but if everyone agreed that this was the price for 2bdr or 3 bdr and offered only that we would all then benefit as landlords would be faced with getting no rent or a certain consistent rate. Of course this does bring into play the prisoner's dilemma (or so I'm told by a smarter person than I).

Alternatively, live a 20 minute bus ride away and reduce the rental by 20%. Some might suggest cycling - well a friend of mine emailed from Singapore and advised me that it was presently cold there "mind you its still 75 degrees Fahrenheit" -and given the humidity by the time you get to campus it will look like you just walked out of a sauna/shower combination, although with the added fragrance that heat and exercise bring.....

c) Banks are strange- they know you are going to do a top MBA and may offer pots of cash (at very commercial rates of interest), but then "cheese" you off by making silly, careless mistakes. If you travel a lot you could try the HSBC premier account (I'm looking at it right now - but the requirements could be (and are) beyond me!).

d) I love my laptop -highly recommend Toshiba - competitive price but (with all due respect to Necromonger) a better performance than the Lenovo.

e) Getting a flight to Singapore with Singapore airlines is nigh on impossible presently - its like there has been a run on the seats and everyone has booked one!

f) The potential summer internships with banks in Asia require preparation of CVs pre-mid December.

g) The to do list has hit over 30 items despite working solidly on sorting myself out for the last 2 weeks.

h) I have not read any of the pre-reading (unlike two of my class who began in October!!!) and have not done any work on my third language.

i) Blah, Blah, Blah....

I will try to blog more regularly (again how does Necromonger do it?)

Well , as Shrek said "better out than in" (a challenge for you - which number film and to which scene does this refer)


If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.

Robert Fulghum