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Flash Forward: Looking back on Michaelmas term

The first term seemed to just happen, in the flashes of flashes. It has been a period of both getting settled into a new home and experiencing a unique curriculum that has given me invaluable insights into the makings of great leaders and managers. Yet it has not been until well into the winter break that I have found the opportunity to reflect on the past few months. Before any of us realized, the first term was over, and we all dispersed to the far corners of the world; whether to visit familiar faces or discover new places. So now, chugging through the Slovakian countryside, journeying by train from Prague to Budapest, I am finally able to fully realize the extent of my learning in Michaelmas term.

Slovakia

The classes of the MBA glue us all together. For many, it is the reason we are taking the course: to learn the fundamentals in business topics that we have not worked on before. And although there were great teachings gained in class, for me — the courses, the projects, and the funky building — all seemed to be the playground for our ideas. It is in this safe environment that we are ideally placed to experiment with leadership, teamwork, and management. The business school, a kind of personal development laboratory.

One of the key insights to share about the Cambridge MBA is that it is very much a self-motivated, experiential learning opportunity. It is an experience in which you get back as much as you give. Something to this effect was mentioned in the entrance interview but it never sunk in until the courses began in full force. In such a program, there is the risk of just shrugging and letting learning opportunities fly by, only later to regret in retrospect. Fortunately, during the first project of the year, I was on a team that never let me settle into my comfort zone.

Cambridge Venture Project team

During the Cambridge Venture Project (CVP) I was designated the role of project lead by my peers. The purpose of this project was less about the subject matter of the case itself, but rather team dynamics and the challenges of managing a group of high performing individuals across cultural divides. Through practical learning — facilitating differing opinions and managing towards tight timelines — I was able to try out various types of leadership tactics and understand where my strengths lie. For the purposes of learning our teams were selected to highlight the challenges of cross-cultural communication and cross-sector “ways of doing things”. Even beyond the project, my team pushed one another to discuss our ambitions and weaknesses and had open dialogue on how best to address our own personal development goals. After three intense months working together, my teammates were ultimately best placed to judge my abilities, and their feedback was immensely useful in understanding myself as a professional and a leader.

Of course, aside from the business school, Cambridge has had much more to offer. From world-class debates at the Union and rowing on the river Cam to the many black tie events; Michaelmas was the quintessential Cambridge experience. But looking back, it is the transformational learning that has really made this journey across the pond worth it. I am keen to see what new gains I will make in the months to come.

Selwyn College

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The Judge B-school Building

This is what the Judge business school looks like. Charming, warm, a bit chaotic. No one would create a building like this now, which is also why I love it. You discover new corridors every so often. No route is direct. You see where you want to go, but there is always a roundabout way to get there. There is always so much going on, the noise, the colours, yet somehow you can always find your own little corner of solitude. The building is a lot like life, in particular this year of the MBA. It's not perfect, but nothing is.

It has been two and a half months now and I have really enjoyed my time here. There is something about Cambridge that is quite magical. I was at a formal dinner the other night and struck up a conversation with a visiting fellow from Sweden. When he realized that I am studying business, he began to press me about the meaning of the word 'cost.' As in profit = revenue - cost. The ensuing dialogue a bit too convoluted to paraphrase, but there is something refreshing about questioning the fundamentals of everything. He also went on to make many assertions that has really turned my perspective. This type of conversation is not atypical of Cambridge.

There are many ways to find oneself. You could go on a walkabout in the Outback. But for me, at least now, I feel that Cambridge is the right place to contemplate and soul search. Over this year, I hope to have more life changing conversations, clarifying thoughts, and ah ha moments.

This isn't just an MBA, it's a life junction.

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My first MBA blog post

It's been a while. Now that I'm away from friends and family, I feel that I'm again in need to sharing my thoughts. So this account has come back from the dead. Here is my post from 1 month before starting the MBA, published on the Cambridge MBA Stories site. Will be back soon.

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As I write, I am six weeks away from starting my MBA journey, a journey that I knew for quite a while that I wanted to take. All along the application process, the MBA felt like some far off adventure, not quite in the material present.  Even as the interview session passed, the acceptance letter was received and the celebratory nights flickered away, the gravity of it all did not register. It still hasn’t sunk in that I’ll be spending my next year on the cobble stone streets of Cambridge, where it’s not an exaggeration to say that much of modern science was born. No, I don’t think it will sink in until I am there, come September, a book bag on my shoulders again.

I chose Cambridge for a variety of reasons, including its history as one of the oldest educational institutions in the world. I am most definitely looking forward to the opportunity to interact with the greater university as well as Cambridge Judge Business School. When it comes to CJBS, the location in the UK definitely helped form my final decision. My top aim in pursuing an MBA overseas is to learn about international business through immersion in a different culture. Granted, the UK and Canada both have the Queen on their money; but the international connections that the UK has as a nation, and by extension through its businesses, are much greater than that of Canada. Canada is small nation population-wise, and thus must look internationally to grow. More and more, it is not into the US market that Canadian companies expand, it is into the global arena. There are great lessons to learn from European companies on this front. On top of the location, the incoming class is a smorgasbord of cultural and professional backgrounds. I know I will be able to learn as much from my peers as the professors.

I am also looking forward to exploring growth stage startups as well, whether as part of the curriculum or through practical consulting projects. I have founded a couple of early stage startups and have experienced first hand the difficulties in scaling a company. How do you, as a business owner, take yourself out of the day-to-day minutiae of the company and focus on growth strategies? The many technology firms in the Silicon Fen, surrounding the business school, inevitably face such challenges and it will be highly rewarding to work alongside these.

The transition from working life will be challenging. By it’s nature, the MBA is designed for those with a proven professional track record, and as a result, typically the students have established lives. In my year away, I will be taking an non-guaranteed leave of absence from work, or in essence, quitting. It was a tough decision to risk my tenure and career growth, but I’m sure the Cambridge experience will allow me to pursue greater opportunities.

As the days draw closer to departure for Cambridge, my to-do list for the coming year grows longer. Next year, when I read this back, I wonder how many of them I will have accomplished, and how many unexpected experiences will have formed my MBA year at Cambridge. Stay tuned.

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I recently said goodbye to an old friend. It was done in a bit of a hurry and so I don't think I ever had the proper chance to contemplate the significance of this fair well. We had spent a lot of quality time together and through the years we were able to get to know each other quite well. Although there were some tough moments towards the end, I never doubted our bond.

A week ago I sold my first DSLR, my Oly, my Olympus E-510. There is something really special about one's first SLR (be it digital or not). Cameras aren't just tools, like a drill or a hacksaw, you interact with it on an entirely different level. You look through the viewfinder and see the world through it. You travel to exotic places and raise it to your face at the best moments. The mere fact that it is an accompaniment to most of life's greatest experiences makes it so much more than an inanimate object.

I spent a wonderful three and a half years with my Oly, but last year was the year we really solidified our relationship. Coincidentally, we started and ended our year in Peru, documenting the family and country of my favourite person. We climbed mountains, witnessed raging rivers, came up close to wild animals, and together felt the ethereal joy of standing in Macchu Picchu.

In February we travelled to Southern India to participate in a colourful wedding. My Oly captured the vibrant details of the culture and customs of a place so unique and awe inspiring. My Oly tagged along to Goa and helped me get to know someone special, helped me figure out that some things in life are worth fighting for. My Oly also got to have some fun with a family of monkeys, holy cows, and giant elephants.

Throughout the rest of the year, both my Oly and I spent a substantial amount of time in Montreal. We hiked in the Laurentian forests, strolled through villages around Mount Tremblant, and lost track of time in Vieux Montreal.

As technology goes, three years is a substantial amount of time. Unfortunately my Oly has been eclipsed by so many other cameras. In a hurry to upgrade, I sold my dear friend to some blokes on craigslist. I sincerely hope they put it to good use and allow my companion to live out a wonderful last couple of years.

Cheers Oly. You've been great to me.

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This small clip from Seinfeld does an incredible job of explaining why Facebook, and frankly all social media, is such an irresistible life-resource hog. (via Jerry Seinfeld Explains Facebook’s Success in 1992!)

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Here is an article from Fast Company on Best Buy's ROWE (Results Oriented Work Environment). In a nutshell, Best Buy allows their employees to come into the office whenever necessary and as long as they deliver, no one cares when they work or where. The article goes into a bit more detail on the measured benefits realized at Best Buy.

My thoughts on the subject is...well, good job Best Buy! Finally companies are realizing that the 8 hour work week is a remnant of the industrial revolution and is only relevant for pure operations jobs (like assembly line worker or back office loan adjudicator). Why must a coder ever need to sit at a permanent site? Can't a project manager manage from anywhere that has WiFi and cellphone reception? Providing flexible work hours allows employees to get on with their lives and work without any distractions on their minds.

Perhaps one day Starbucks will full-on enter into the co-op workspace market. It's my favourite office at this point.

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Elegant solution!

I buy many cups of coffee and habitually cringe when reaching for a plastic lid. It’s pretty hypocritical to make a point of avoiding Styrofoam, only to slap a petroleum disc on a paper cup. (And yes, I know that carrying a travel mug would obviate the issue.) Fortunately for me (and my eco karma), a designer named Peter Herman has come up with a greener, all-paper disposable cup that folds closed like a takeout container to form a sipping spout.

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Duolingo! from the people that brought us reCaptcha. Where reCaptcha digitizes books while providing authentication that a user is an actual human being, Duolingo takes crowd sourcing to a whole other level.

Duolingo is a system that uses individuals to help translate webpages from one language to another (English --> Spanish). If you are a beginner, you get simple sentences, and as you get better you get harder sentences. There is a system of help functions to assist you if you don't know some words. As people translate content, they learn the language, creating a win win situation. Apparently they claim to be as effective in teaching a language as the leading software available (um...Rosetta Stone?). They also estimate that with 1 million users they can translate all of English Wikipedia to Spanish in 80 hours!!!

I can see this being awesome. Free language learning software in which you learn by reading and translating interesting content from Wikipedia, New York Times, etc. Duolingo is only in beta test right now, I can't wait till it launches!

This is what excites me. I would love to be working on projects of this calibre!

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Mark Twain is from Missouri, I lived in Missouri, therefore we are homies.

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Man looks out on to Alhambra, Granada

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Portugal captured my heart...

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Uni of Utah Awesome at Startups "With roughly one-third the budget of MIT, the University of Utah was named the number 1 school in the U.S. for creating startup companies. It’s the second year in a row that the University claimed the top spot." I think this is a strong case against startup hubs (in the general sense). Yes silicon valley will deliver some bang on tech startups, but anywhere that has a strong support network from local government and educational institutions can create successful companies too. The key is to provide an environment where working on a startup is not considered being unemployed. Huh...I think I'm going to go create that t-shirt: 'I'm not unemployed, I'm trying to do a startup.' I'm mean Dwolla was started in Iowa of all places! *nothing against Iowa, I've driven through it, I love corn fields.

The University of Utah is The Startup King (via thenextweb)

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This is reblog from full article here

The best way to come up with startup ideas is to ask yourself the question: what do you wish someone would make for you? There are two types of startup ideas: those that grow organically out of your own life, and those that you decide, from afar, are...

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Qualities of a Good Startup Founder

I came across this essay by Paul Graham on what he looks for in founders (previously published in Forbes). If you are not familiar with him, Paul Graham is the founder of Y Combinator, a seed fund for young wantrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. He's a really well respected man of thought when it comes to startups and all that is associated with the subject.

The article lists the following as the most valuable qualities: Determination, Flexibility, Imagination, Naughtiness, and Friendship. I completely agree with this list...well, maybe I would reduce the importance of Naughtiness. I think a better term would be Jugaad, a form of Indian resourcefulness. Anyways, on to the other points.

Determination and flexibility go hand in hand. Lowering your head and just charging in a single direction won't bring about great outcomes. I love the analogy to a running back that side steps and weaves his way to his destination. There is never a straight road to success. The path to success is inevitably riddled with failures.

Imagination has to be the single most unique characteristic to an entrepreneur, especially the I-want-to-conquor-the-world types from silicon valley. I believe entrepreneurs are kids who never fully grew up. Kids naturally think outside of the box, but somewhere along the way to adulthood most of us seem to lose our imaginations.

And friendship... if not for the fact that a lot of founders are actually geeky straight guys, I'd say that entrepreneurship is about building a good marriage. In what other situation are people so tied together and are forced to work through so many issues?

Anyways, I'm glad I discovered Paul Graham's extensive, albeit blandly designed, website. There's a lot of ripe knowledge there for the picking.

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A man rolling tobacco in Goa, India. The stuff was grown on his plantation...fresh

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Goa India, I loved the collision of Portuguese and Indian cultures