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.