what is wrong with me?

this is basically the topic of the essay I am writing right now. Writer's block.......
We are supposed to reflect on what our flaws are. I suppose it is a really good exersize, but how good is it to doing it under timre pressure? 5000 words, that is 15 pages double spaced. Damn it, I should have started earlier.
This sucks, having to think about what the hell is wrong with yourself, and put it on paper, all in one day.

martini time!

It's spring again! This means it's time for some good martinis.
Two weekends ago I went to pick up a bottle of Bombay Saphire, and some canned litchi. I figured that a martini is a martini, and I could make it in a regular water glass, and drink it out of a red wine glass. Oh boy, it tasted no good at all.

So this weekend, I went to get a nice bottle of vermouth, and picked up two real martini glasses. I figured, if I spent 30 or 40 francs and get to enjoy my drink all year, it's well worth it. So I went to Globus, a pretty high end department store. They had a good selection of Vermouth, and some really nice glasses. The Vermouth (Noilly Prat) was about twice as expensive than I thought it would be, especially given we are in Europe (b school speak: the transportation costs are a lot lower), but the martini glasses were also a lot cheaper than I thought at $4 a piece.

Hmmmmmm.......

With a nice martini like this, what else could I wish for.

Accounting

Still hate it. The old grumpy irish man accounced last week that hte quiz this monday was going to be on cash flow statement. Somehow I missed that statement, and studied 5 hours for things since the finals (cash flow statement was taught before the last finals, a topic covered in the final, although not tested), obviously wrong. Screwed up the quiz again.

Emailed him after the quiz, he was totally unsympathetic. What an ass. Why doesn't he post what quizes will cover on the MBA web site like all other professors?

Not sure why this guy just hates Asians. In the first class, he said the Chinese are bad in accounting. ..........

making do

They are the things you do when you are poor, especially when you are a student. You make do. You find creative solutions to problems that can be easily solved. I drink a lot of wine. Although I have had to slow down because of the rigor of school, I still find time to have a glass every two or three days.

To help me avoid the "hard work" in using a regular bottle opener (I normally use the screw with an opposing a rest on the bottle, which really isn't much work since you could open the bottle with one hand), my buddies gave me an opener with a giant needle, and a little canister of compressed air. You shuff the needle into the cork, press on the canister, the compressed air gets injected into the bottle, and out comes the cork. Easy. They warned me: "you just can't use it on those rubber corks."

Ok, I will just have a regular tool for that. Most old world wines don't use those rubber corks, and I haven't ran into one until this week. Preparing a spainish mackrel one night, I thought, hey, let me open a bottle of white. Oh crap! After I took off the wrapper, I saw the rubber cork. Having not had to deal with rubber corks so far, I still haven't gotten around to buying a bottle opener. Well, let me try it anyway. Stabbing the needle into the bottle was a little harder than usual, but hey, what the hell. Pushing the little canister, nothign happened. Crap. I want that white with my mackerl.

Pulling the needle out. Well, maybe if I just stab enough holes in that thing, I could get enough wine out for tonight. I put another 5 holes in that thing. The wine was bearing dripping out. I guess the rubber was designed to expand to seal the wine in. You know what, knowledge is accumulated. The smart ass I am quickly came up with an engineering approach. If I stab the need in, tilt the bottle so the compressed air is now trapped at the bottom, there would be enough pressure to push some wine out of the little holes I poked earlier.

And what do you know, the wine was shooting out of the bottle!
(kids, don't try this at home, compressed air is not safe!)

Americano

Today, I felt like a stupid American. Well, I live in Europe, so this should be nothing new.

Background:
As a part of the MBA program, we work with a startup. Be it help them with fund raising, distribution, writing a business plan, or a marketing plan, we do it. There is no fee for the startup. First because we are just a bunch of yahoos trying to figure stuff out, second, they are startups, where the hell on earth are they going to find money to pay us. Most of them are just getting by. The startup I am working with is JMC Guitars. They custom make high end guitars that retail at 8000CHF (around 6,500USD). I met with them this morning. Oh, another piece of important information that might be important, you know how great my french is from my other postings.

So we were talking about positioning and distribution, and comminucation this morning. We talked about possiblly partnering with other luxury goods makers, to display our great guitars. The entrepreneur said: "oh, that is a good idea. You know companies like Vouis Vutton and 'Elmass' funitures. Elmass selects their leather just like we select our wood, and they dry it like we do. You know, there might be something." So, I thought I knew the luxury goods segment pretty well, at least the big names. Never hear of Elmass. But I am going to stay quiet. After all, I really don't know the luxury furniture market at all, and the Swiss have all these ultra expensive luxury goods companies that survive on selling two $200K sofas a year.

Three seat down, Liesal, from Nimbia, asked: 'how do you spell that?" Oh, thank god someone asked. I would love to find out who Elmass is, with a spelling and Google, it wouldn't be all that hard. Christos, the Greek next to him said: "it's h - e - r - m - e - s"

"Ahhhhh." Duh, I thought, and yelled out loud: "Her-mees". The room went silent for about half a second, and man, you should have heard the laughters. Finally the Brazilian next to me picked himself off the floor, and patted me on the shoulders: "you Americans...... Hahahah."

could men and women be just friends?

Yes, yes. I know this is a well discussed topic.

It came up again tonight after dinner with Charlie and Katia. In my experience, it is possible. Althought I have wavered a bit on this topic in the last few years. I have had a diverse set of experiences.

There has been at least one occasion when I fell in love with a good friend. I was 16, I think I just couldn't tell between great friendship and love. But once we cleared things up (or she cleared things up by telling me that she didn't want anything except friendship), we went back to being good friends again. Didn't miss a beat. As a matter of fact, I am actually the godfather of her daughter. See, it works.

I could name a few good female friends whom I have never had a sexual thought about. But, I will also say that as I grow older, I find it more difficult to build profound friendships with women. Not that I don't want to become good friends with women any more, but I think as you get older, the more in contact with the real world you are. Unfortunately, the majority inhabitants of the "real world" don't believe in friendship between men and women. And that has had an impact on me.

For example, my ex-grl friend repeatedly ask me about this good friend I have had since college: "come on, honestly, you have never had ANY romantic feelings for her." No. I can honestly say never. In this case, my ex even knew the good friend since college, but still, she suspected. I think attitudes like this do have an impact.

Imagine you becoming good friends with a member of the opposite sex. Let's say me, with a women. Now I have two things to worry about. First, what does the husband of the women approve of this friendship, and the fact that I have lnuch with her once every other week just to catch up. Second, what do I say when I go home, and my girl friend (or wife) ask whom I had lunch with? I wouldn't question the friendship beyond what it is, but the environment does, and makes it more complecated than it is.

Things just get more completed when you grow up. Peter Pan rules, he never had issues becoming good friends with Wendy.

r u sure you want to buy 8 cans of Guiness?

"It's like making love in a canoe, too close to water."
This is how one of my classmates describes American beer.

So I am in Europe now. You would think I would get a GREAT selection of beer. Guess what, the Swiss aren't all about having different kinds of beer.

I haven't had that much beer since I got to Switzerland. And the beer I had was limited to the plain old lager, or the little bit of Guniness that costs 8 ($7) Swiss francs a pint. I want some ale, or some amber, something that you would enjoy coming out of a Swiss winter.

I decided that it was time to start consuming beer again. It's time to stock up on some beer at home. So I went down to a grocery store down the road. Mhhhhh. Not that many choices if you are looking for alternatives to lager. Not to mention expensive. A six pack of 12 ounces of ale costs 12 francs ($10). But there is was, my trusty Guiness, and it's on sale! At 24% off (yes, that is 24%, not 25%, ok? It's Swiss percision!), a pint still costs 3 francs. But hey, it's cheaper than having it at the bar, and it also means I can have it whenever I am at home!

There I was, with 8 cans of Guiness at the register. What do you know, the register rang it up wrong without the discount. Not only that, the chic was questioning my sanity at buying 8 cans of beer at 4 francs a piece (the dicount didn't come through). She said something like: "U know that it's 4 francs a can, not 4 francs for four cans?"

Certainly, I am not idiot. But how do I tell her that I am aware of thee PER CAN price, and am perfectly willing to pay for that beautiful Irish black gold even at 4 francs a pop. Well, when you can only use sign language you get creative. Wave your arms alot and be animated. You either scare the hell out of them or make them laugh.

Oh well. The bottom line is that I still managed to get the Guiness without a word of French (and only paying 3 francs a can)! Oh boy, do I enjoy it!

deux crossant

Exam week. The bad news is there is a 4 hour exam every afternoon. The good news is that we get the morning off to study everyday. Rolling out of bed this morning, remembering that I ran out of bread, I decided to run out to the corner bakery two minutes away. With a dash of rain, and my trusty Tevas, I got two crossants. And how? Easy.

The nice lady at the bakery doesn't speak a word of english, and my french stops at counting to four. Well, thank goodness, I don't really need to buy five of anything this year. Everytime I go, I use "un" plus the best prounciation I could muster of whatever the sign if front of the bread says. But, today, I was in a much better situation. I knew that "two" is "deux", and crossant is, well, crossant. That was easy. So, I proundly said, "deux crossant" (I don't know how to say "please") while holding up two fingers. Money and food exchange hands, trade completed.

On the way home, I smiled. Crossant in Europe taste just a little better than in the States, I was going to enjoy fresh crescent for the first time in Lausanne (I have class Saturday mornings, and bakeries don't open on Sundays). How nice. What make me laugh even more was, what would have happened if after I said "deux crossant" while holding up two fingers, she replies"how are you this morning?" I would probably be really dumbfounded, probably thinking that something went wrong with the crossants.

I guess it doesn't make a difference how many languages I speak, as long as french isn't one of them, I could be in deep trouble just buying "deux crossant".

so soon?

Two and half months and 5 kg of added fat later (that is almost 10 pounds!), it's final exams time. I hate tests. I am here to learn, not to be evaluated. (and I know how much, or how little I have learned)

We have had 8 subjects, and the exam will include only 5: finance, accounting, OB, marketing, and operations. I thought finance was going to be a bitch until the professor went over the past three years of exams. Just go over them and you will be alright. I think. Accounting, another matter. As someone with an enginneering background, you would think I am good with numbers. Well, I have no idea what is going on in that class. I am not passionate about, I don't care about it, I will never be an accountant. Of course, if I need it, I will find someone whom I can trust, but that is the extend of it.

The rest, I will probably just bullshit my way through it. Wish me luck.

what's on your mind?

Our operations class is taught by various professors based on their areas of expertise. Of the 4 or 5 professors that have taught, Corey Billington was one that proved to be popular with most students. Corey came from HP, where he ran the supply chain, then purchasing. What makes his lectures special are not limited to his extensive knoelwedge of purchasing or supply chain, but the practical management experience he brings to the table.

For those of us with some people management experience, and those who are going to manage teams, the management tools or advice he offers, are applicable immediately. You know, MBAs prefer practical stuff over things like WACC calculation or absorbtion accounting.

The topic discussed yesterday was on layoff skills. Well, a pretty passionate dicussion, as you can imagine. Some of us have been through it (including myself), and have seen plenty of bad examles! So, here is what Crey has to offer. Prepare, prepare, prepare! So when the time comes, you just execute the plan. The moment you know that it might be coming, take your staff aside, and ask them, in a private setting, would you have a preference. Some people might just tell you that they would prefer to take the package. It's better than not asking, and have someone be unhappy, because he/she wanted the package but did not get laid-off, while the person who got laid-off is also upset because he/she didn't want to leave.

If course, there's more complexity (that is why you go get an MBA to get a full explaination). For example, someone asked: "Would you really want to tell your boss your mind is somewhere else?" The answer: "come on, the average adult thinks about sex 6 times a minute, do you really thinkg your mind is at work?" The witty comments make his lecture just so much more enjoyable!

Chinese "commerads" in class

Those of you who know me know that I am still pretty black and white in my political opinions. The operations case today discussed a company's decision to go to China, among the prime reasons, is that most of its clients are in Taiwan, and they wanted to serve their customer better by producing the machine closer to the customers.

So, I asked an obvious question. If they want to be close to their customers, why don't they manufacture their machines in Taiwan? I guess what most people don't know is that direct trade is not allowed between China and Taiwan, and everything must be shipped first to a third country before it arrives at the shore of taiwan.

The professor answered by saying Taiwan is pretty expensive comparing to China. Before he could finish his answer, one of the Chinese classmates in class yelled out loud: "Taiwan is a part of China." Much to my surprise, most of the class boo'ed him out. I almost wanted to say: "well, the fact that he has to make this statement probably suggests the truth is otherwise." But I didn't. I didn't want to make a scene in class. Knowing the Chinese, they will probably never stop arguing. It just wasn't the right forum (although past experiences have proven that they will argue the point in any forum).

What is it with these people? Why is everything political to them?

BTW, my name tag in class says "American".

(Oh, if you want to know, in the case, the company eventually decided to outsource to contract manufactures in China, then ship the parts to Taiwan, and had the machines assembled there.)

Copyright

Again, we had a case about China. This time, it was about a manufacturing company in europe sourcing assembled parts from China. One of it's fears is the chinese habit to copy everything they can get their hands on. The classic total ignorance of stealing someone else's intellectual property "with pride" as they would put it.

The prof made a comment, quoting an executive whose company's product was copied: "for them, the definition of copyright is the right to copy."

I guess that is another definition for copright, as to Free Software Foundation's CopyLeft concept.

pick your future world leader

Here is an interesting exercise we did in one class. After reading the description of three distinctive leaders below, we were asked to vote for one as the best fit for a world leader. (Since the ones now aren't all that great)

Candidate A: associates with crooked politians and consults with astrologers. He's had two mistresses. He chain smokes, and drinks 8-10 martinis a day.

Candidate B: was kicked out of college twice, used opium as an undergraduate, now sleeps until noon and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.

Candidate C: is a decorated was hero. He is a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks only an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs.

So, what's your pick?

If you know me, what do you think I picked?





Here is who the candidates are:
A: Roosevelt
B: Churchill
C: Hitler


So, what's the point?
Perception counts!

Conjugal visits, revisited

Well, maybe I spoke too soon on how wonderful and how much people look forward to conjugal visits. One of the visits from this weekend resulted in some pretty serious heartbreak. Come to find out, two relationships have already been broken since school started less than two months ago. One of them was a 10 year relationship (not mine). I guess they weren't kidding when they told us that IMD does lead to some life changing events!

I must confess that my girl friend of 10 years and I did break up last August, and it was mutually agreed upon (can you use "amicable" if you were not married?). She was starting her MBA program at London Business School, and I was coming to IMD. But there were reasons other than just our MBA programs.

Not to blow my own horn, but based on my own experience, I did tell Charlie (someone from my study group) two weeks ago, that if a relationship has gone on for ten years, and it hasn't led to marriage, chances are something is seriously wrong. I predicted that the person with the 10 year relationship in my class was going to end her relationship sooner or later. What do you know.

Conjugal visits

So, here is how it works at IMD. About a third to a half of us are married or the significant other is here. For the rest of us, me included, well, are here by ourselves. This however, doesn't mean that we have no "significant" other. (Unlike most MBAs in other schools, the average age here is 31.5, so most of us have pretty steady relationships)

We are here from 8am to 5:30pm everyday. After 5:30, most study groups meet after a quick dinner. My group typicall meets at 7:30 and we can go until 1, 2 or 3am. Even on Saturdays, we have class in the morning, and the afternoon are often reserved for project work. For example, we have class scheduled until 5pm this Saturday. As you can see in some of my previous blog entries, this becomes frustrating after a while. I am either here at IMD, or in my apartment. We are pretty much locked in at IMD when we are not taking a shower or sleeping.

So, here is how I call the visits by "significant others": conjugal visits. It's a free pass, or almost. The group becomes a lot more understanding if you show up late, or sometimes not show up at all. Hey, after all, we don't get a lot of conjugal visits. The 90 MBAs this year represent 45 countries. This means most us travel pretty far to get here. This week, a girl from Brazil is visiting someone from my team, and another is visiting from Spain before moving to New Zealand.

So, a lot of action from members of my team this week. (My time will come.......)

inspirational leader?

While reading a case on Ogilvy & Mather for the OB class (they call it Leading People in Organizations at IMD), I came acrss this line:

"Graham Phillips....... was appinted Roman's successor...........But few would describe him as an inspirational leader."

Well. That is an interesting point. I started asking myself, am I, or will I ever be aninspirational leader? Well, certainly, I can't, and don't claim to be an inspirational leader right now. Ask the guys that were on my team in Cendant. I think I am FAR from being an "inspirational leader."

But what made me think was, what IS an inspirational leader? How do you be an inspirational leader? How do you inspire others? I must say that personally, I have met very few inspirational leaders. To name a few that I know? Well, maybe Armin, my high school principle. How about someone else? I can't come up with one right now? Have you ever wondered? Do you know anyone personally who is an inspirational leader? Or is it just one of those story book concepts that seldom exist in real life, the Gandhi types? I don't know. I have been inspired by a few people in my life, but I can't remember who they were. But I am sure they have made an impact on me.

So, if you know how to become an inspirational leader, would you at least post a comment here or just email me? I am sure all the MBAs here at IMD would appreciate it!

Ralf Boscheck

(written way back in Febuary, but never finished it until today)
Ok, you have heard me rave about this guy for way too long. Here he is. http://www01.imd.ch/faculty/vitae/index.cfm?id=127
Don't freak out. He doesn't look like this any more. Not sure why they don't update pictures. Today was his last session with us. He gave us one of his two "quizes". It was, as usual, true or false. I get a feeling that he isn't all too crazy about the idea of exams. (The MBA program director commeneted to me at the beginning of the program that they are trying to have a few more tests during the program this year) Maybe Ralf is just going with policy. Anyway, like I have said, he is pretty damn good. Just like a classmate said, the stuff that Ralf teaches is not really going to be used in our jobs in the future, but it is great as personal development. I agree 100%.

He offered some advice. It wasn't the classic kind of advice that just makes me yawn. He told us a story about his first year here. One of the professors told him that before long, he would lose sight of how quickly time passes, and warned him to treasure his time at IMD. His advice was around how we should learn about life during the year we are spending here, and not just about academics.

It moved us, and the applause didn't stop until Ralf exited the auditorium. I think most of us identified with what he said. In addition, it wasn't some arcane advice on economics. Most of us took a year off because we have reached a point in our lives where we just need to figure out what we want to do. I am no exception. I am spending all my time in class, and I am missing out on what I came here to do: think.

cabin fever

Urgh............
Cabin fever set in last weekend, and took a little bit to get out of it.
I have been in Lausanne for a month and a half. I have only been to center of town once, and it was in a bloody hurry to get some basic supplies at the Coop. I have spent all my time between my apartment, and IMD. Bloody hell. I have not even had the time to go see my god doughter in Basel.
Last Saturday , I spent the night talking to my friends state side. A big thanks goes out to Banjot and Mark. I felt much better after talking to them. Of course, YiChun had the best stuff to cheer me up with.

Got a little sick on Wednesday. I think I just didn't have enough sleep. I actually felt like puking in the morning. I guess my body isn't built to only take on 6 hours or less of rest every night.

8 hours of lecture is just too much if you really listen to great professors like Ralf Boschek. They just have so much to offer. Sitting through one of his 4 hour lectures just takes everything out of you.

Then the unthinkable happened. It was the first time I missed Philly. I listened to WHYY, Philly's NPR station. It was just like I was back in my car, driving back home after class at Wharton, listening to the news, the traffic. Traffic jam from aouth to Girard ave on 95. I felt so home sick. I miss going to PJ's with the guys after work (or during our one on ones). I miss our bartender who always knew what I wanted. I miss going out, I miss the restaurant scene. The guys, and the house, really made me feel like Philly was home. After all these years, living in boarding school in Switzerland, college in PA, then job in Charlott, NJ, moving to NJ. I finally found "home" after I bought the house and made friends with the folks at Cendant.

I miss everyone, everything in Philly. I really hope this year at IMD is going to be worth my while.

Evian and beyond

I miss the Ecole.

It was nice and cold this morning. YiChun made the effort, as she does everyday, to wake me up. Except she called from a plane today. She was heading down to KaoShung for a wedding.

I took the longer path to school to enjoy the view more. I left the house 5 minutes earlier than I normally would. The sky was clear toward the lake, and you could see Evian from this side. The Alps showed up as well. It was beautiful.

It reminded me of the Ecole. I miss the Ecole. All in a sudden, I had the urge to go and visit Armin and Natalie. I just wanted to give up a whole weekend's work and go up to the mountains to decompress. Go skiing. I am in Switzerland, and haven't gone skiing once. I need to get out of this town and just regain some perspective.

I t was a beautiful morning. The first morning I enjoyed taking the walk to school.

I actually enjoy econ?

Well, isn't this amazing?
I hated econ in college. You call that science? Physics predicts that the apple will alwys fall from the tree, you can try this again and again, the apple will fall, and always downward too! Econ? You can't tell me what will happen with, say the S. African rand tomorrow. Or, so I thought.

Ralf Boschek. What a guy! You have to give him credit for getting me not just interested in econ, but excited. It's one of the classes I actually get exicted about. I will have to admit, that it is hard to concentrate at times, but given the circumstances, and I sure you can understand. We have two 4 hour sessions everyday. Sometimes, we have Ralf the whole day. I think once or twice, we had him three sessions in a row in two consecutive days.

Maybe because most MBA types think alike. I talked to a few people, we all like macro better. Maybe we all like to look at the big picture better?

See the picture. This is from today's session on macro. Pretty cool. This guy fills up 7 boards in 4 hours.