Where did yesterday go?

Today the only class we had was the leadership course....but it was a 4.5hr megasession. Many hate this class and write the professor off as a bit of a lightweight. I like the course, and for the professor, well he does a good enough job. He isn't there to teach us leadership per se....but rather there to facilitate discussion and let us decide for ourselves how we will shape ourselves as leaders.

Topic of the day was feedback. In the end, we spend 1.5hrs with our 5 ppl groups giving each member 2 positive and 2 negative feedback points. For most groups, this was very valuable. It is true, this may be the toughest assignment we have this period. Many are not used to or comfortable giving or receiving negative comments. Some people were surprised to hear others perceptions of themselves, I wasn't really. Some of the points for me... I take the lead and encourage all members of the team to contribute, I could do a better job of teaching the topics I'm strong in to the other members, I should be careful to not brush off others opinions when I already have my mind made up.

One thing I didn't hear but I know to be true is that I'm struggling with time management. There is soooo much going on and the days are rolling off before I even realize they began. Wow, tomorrow is Friday already....professors are talking about final papers and exams.....there are 3 company presentations every day from last month until I don't know when....there are parties and other socializing opportunities every evening...there are classes, cases, and group work....I have a partner who deserves so much attention but I can barely keep my head straight. Taking a step back....10% of the program is over; am I closer to realizing the goals I had before coming here? Am I just getting swept away in the current and not taking time to regroup and reprioritize?

This is a really trying time...I need to take a moment to breathe and reset my sights on what is important to me.

INSEAD Transportation

Having a car in Fonty is practically a must. Some try to get by without which requires not only living in Fonty proper but also constantly relying on friends for lifts to house dinners/parties or missing out on the fun.

Most students take up a lease for the year of a Citroen or Peugeut (see pic for the standard issue silver C3). This runs about 4k EUR for the year but takes care of all insurance and registration issues that I for one wanted to avoid. You can also buy a wreck from a graduating student for the 1-3k EUR range, but then you should be a risk taker because these things are really on their last legs. Plus you must consider the addt'l costs of insurance and registration.

One other strategy I've seen is buying a nice used car w/ the intention of selling it at the end of the year for a write down of less than a leased car would cost. Not such a bad idea if you have the extra 15k EUR laying around for the 5 yr old Mercedes CLK convertable. Looks a lot more fun to drive than these Citroens.

Insurance is a must out here! I think the number of accidents in the forest each year w/ wild boars and the occasional stop sign impact a huge percentage of the class, I know one of our classmates is already driving arround in a Peugeot mini-van while his crashed car is in the shop.

P1 Profs

I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews of the professors so far this period. We have 5 of them. They are teaching the P1 core courses which are valuable but by their nature are definitely not the most exciting topics to teach or to learn. The professors are as diverse as the students and you can see that in their teaching styles. Here are some of my initial impressions:

Uncertainty, Data & Judgment (aka Stats), Professor Miguel Lobo : Miguel does a good job of keeping the energy level up in class for such a dry topic. He is teaching a discipline that is not as practical in the business world as, say finance or accounting, but does a nice job at narrowing the scope to what is relevant for a business manager to know. Class is purely lecture format.

Financial Markets and Valuation, Professor Harald “ja” Hau: Harald started off a bit rocky on student sentiment. Pure lecture format. Explanations in the first couple of classes were too reliant on mathematical formulas and would lose most of the class. He tries to insert his German humour into the lectures which is actually funny, just not in a traditional way.

Prices & Markets (aka Econ), Professor Nikos Veltas: Definitely the most humorous prof. Nikos is Greek and is just as likely to start class 5 min. late as on time. He keeps the lectures light with his humour but shows genuine interest that the students are getting value out of the class. There are several practical examples used in class to keep the theory tied to reality.

Financial Accounting, David Young: American. Runs the class like a boot camp. The second day, at least 10 students turned away from class with the phrase “you’re late”. David starts class the second the clock hits the hour and refuses to admit anyone after this point. He also does extreme cold calling where you can expect a string of 5-10 questions before you are granted a reprieve. It is effective though, great on-time attendance now and lots of students prepare for this class before any others.

Leading People & Groups: William Maddux. Another American. This class is the only non analytical class of the period. Professor Maddux seems to be more of a facilitator than a teacher. This is probably a good thing as, in this subject, there is often not a right answer to questions, and the class has more practical experience in the topics than does the professor. Some of those from technical backgrounds are struggling to figure out what to do in this “soft” skill type of course and feel like it is a waist of time. For me, I think it is one of the classes I can learn the most from this period. There is a lot of role playing and other non-traditional teaching methods which keep the 3 hour weekly sessions interesting.

Life in a Chateau

Despite my initial frustration, I managed to find a great place to live this year in a large shared place outside of Fonty. Maybe I was just lucky, but in the end, I can honestly and completely objectively say that I live in the best large house this year...

It seems that there is a theme among this years bloggers; many of us live in one of the large (8+ ppl) shared houses scattered throughout the French countryside. I'm in one, I’m pretty sure that D.T.L.F. lives in Monty, Res I(p)sa is in the newly christened "Club 16". Living in these large shared places adds a lot to the INSEAD student experience. For example, at most of the houses, there are regular dinners where all houseguests invite 1+ other INSEAD participants over for dinner & drinks. We have done a few of these already; they are a weekly tradition at my house. Since my housemates are scattered throughout the 4 sections (our Fonty intake is divided by 4 and we remain with the same group of 70 for the first 4 months of classes), these dinners are a great way for us to meet new people from the other sections.

The large houses provide a non-stop social element that is an important part of my MBA experience. If I ever need a break from the studies, there is guaranteed to be one of my roommates up for a drink. Every night, there is at least one of us out at a party or some sort of late night event. There are lots of house activities going on throughout the week; movie nights, “family dinners”, sporting, etc. The best part is, each roommate is completely different from the next, together we represent N. America, Europe, & Asia with equally diverse professional backgrounds. Of course not all of the large houses are as cohesive as this one, but I would probably take a spot at any of them rather than to live alone.

Welcome Week

Wow, what a week. It is Saturday evening and the general consensus among me and my fellow students is relief that tonight we can sleep for as long as we want. But definitly not until after tonights week closing party in a nearby chateau sponsored by Bain! Here's a recap of my week.


1 house dinner
1 house party
1 group project (we took ~3 hrs to prepare, range from what I've heard is 2hr - 9hr...)
1 class presentation given
1 full day of outward bound (my group is so laid back, similar expectations, a bit supprised by lack of difficulties interpersonally but we'll have to see how we feel in a few months)
2 full days of lectures
1 language exam
2 student clubs booths visited
2 cases read
1 case not read
5hrs sleep per night avg
50-75 people met

I'm leaving out a lot, especailly the painful admin stuff. But it has been a great week. Tiring mentally, physically, and emotionally. You can see lots of people who are putting on acts, trying to invent their new image that starts at INSEAD. But lots and lots of genuine and very interesting people as well.

Well, I'm not proud, but that's all the time I could scrap together for my first weeks blog entry. But guess thats life now, time is my rarest comodity! I must do a better of time mgmt in the next few weeks.