Thursday 11 February 2010
Thursday 21 August 2008
Tuesday 8 July 2008
The End
So the MBA is over
We graduated on Friday, celebrated, said our goodbyes and people are starting to take off to their lives and careers in all corners of the world. After a busy first year and a long second year, it all seemed to end too suddenly and it left me with a sense of nostalgia and with a -frankly unexpected- sense of pride for being a London Business School MBA 2008.
Was it worth it?
A lot of people ask me these days. I ask myself too. The answer is clearly "Yes". However, as I reflect on the last 22 months, I realise that the MBA really was really a transformational experience, and as such it is not easy to weigh its value straight out of it. The magnitude of my "Yes" will probably only become clear in the next 5-10 years or so.
Have I achieved my goals?
(1) Like most of us, I came into the MBA with a decent career track, albeit limited to a very specific functional area. My first objective was to improve my understanding of business and general management. No question that the objective has been completely achieved, 100%, dead in the middle. LBS gave me the opportunity to study some fundamentals (finance, accounting, strategy, OB, ...) which I lacked, and many great electives. To all applicants reading this blog: if your goal is also to broaden your business understanding, an MBA is the right thing to do.
(2) My second objective was to advance my career, in terms of role, responsibility and salary. I guess most applicants have the same objective. As far as I am concerned, it has been partly achieved. Off course I am now off to a fantastic job, which I would only have dreamed about before, but the process of advancing career, role and salary is an ongoing one, and this is where it will take 10 years to evaluate success or failure of the MBA. The main learning I guess, and a word of warning to the applicants, was that there is a lot of hype surrounding business schools: salaries are not not likely to double the day you graduate and you are not likely to become CEO straight out of school. It takes time, and a lot of effort.
What was the hardest bit?
Without any doubt, the job search process, and particularly the amount of rejection that I had to deal with. A few numbers: In the second year I interviewed with approximately 28 companies. An average of 2 interviews per company. 56 interviews! Eventually, I received 4 offers. That means I was rejected 24 times over a period of about 10 months, or 2.4 rejections per month. I had never been turned down so much before, and I guess I am no exception compared to the rest of the class. In the end of the day, most of us have found fantastic jobs, but it was such hard work. So back to my advice to applicants: don't believe the hype and prepare to be turned down, battered, criticized, offended, ...
What was the best bit?
The people. Some of the class mates, with so many different backgrounds and so many different things to say. It has been a true privilege to share the past 22 months, they have added so much value to the whole experience, and I leave now confident that they will be happy to pick up the phone in the future when I will call. I guess this is probably where London Business School gets it so right with their emphasis on internationality and diversity.
What happens next (to fran and to this blog)?
Fran is leaving the UK after 4 years. I am off to the Netherlands, to work for one of my favorite brands in the world and to achieve extraordinary things. I am not sure I can disclose which brand on this blog (haven't told them about it yet), but there are clues here and there for those readers who really pay attention.
Franonmba (the blog) ends here. I thought about keeping it alive, but the truth is that the MBA is over and so should be the blog. I hope it was useful to someone reading. At least it was useful to me writing it, as it helped me reflect on what was happening and to crystallize a few ideas. So there will be a new blog coming soon, dedicated to the next experience. Check these pages every now and then: I will post directions.
farewell.
We graduated on Friday, celebrated, said our goodbyes and people are starting to take off to their lives and careers in all corners of the world. After a busy first year and a long second year, it all seemed to end too suddenly and it left me with a sense of nostalgia and with a -frankly unexpected- sense of pride for being a London Business School MBA 2008.
Was it worth it?
A lot of people ask me these days. I ask myself too. The answer is clearly "Yes". However, as I reflect on the last 22 months, I realise that the MBA really was really a transformational experience, and as such it is not easy to weigh its value straight out of it. The magnitude of my "Yes" will probably only become clear in the next 5-10 years or so.
Have I achieved my goals?
(1) Like most of us, I came into the MBA with a decent career track, albeit limited to a very specific functional area. My first objective was to improve my understanding of business and general management. No question that the objective has been completely achieved, 100%, dead in the middle. LBS gave me the opportunity to study some fundamentals (finance, accounting, strategy, OB, ...) which I lacked, and many great electives. To all applicants reading this blog: if your goal is also to broaden your business understanding, an MBA is the right thing to do.
(2) My second objective was to advance my career, in terms of role, responsibility and salary. I guess most applicants have the same objective. As far as I am concerned, it has been partly achieved. Off course I am now off to a fantastic job, which I would only have dreamed about before, but the process of advancing career, role and salary is an ongoing one, and this is where it will take 10 years to evaluate success or failure of the MBA. The main learning I guess, and a word of warning to the applicants, was that there is a lot of hype surrounding business schools: salaries are not not likely to double the day you graduate and you are not likely to become CEO straight out of school. It takes time, and a lot of effort.
What was the hardest bit?
Without any doubt, the job search process, and particularly the amount of rejection that I had to deal with. A few numbers: In the second year I interviewed with approximately 28 companies. An average of 2 interviews per company. 56 interviews! Eventually, I received 4 offers. That means I was rejected 24 times over a period of about 10 months, or 2.4 rejections per month. I had never been turned down so much before, and I guess I am no exception compared to the rest of the class. In the end of the day, most of us have found fantastic jobs, but it was such hard work. So back to my advice to applicants: don't believe the hype and prepare to be turned down, battered, criticized, offended, ...
What was the best bit?
The people. Some of the class mates, with so many different backgrounds and so many different things to say. It has been a true privilege to share the past 22 months, they have added so much value to the whole experience, and I leave now confident that they will be happy to pick up the phone in the future when I will call. I guess this is probably where London Business School gets it so right with their emphasis on internationality and diversity.
What happens next (to fran and to this blog)?
Fran is leaving the UK after 4 years. I am off to the Netherlands, to work for one of my favorite brands in the world and to achieve extraordinary things. I am not sure I can disclose which brand on this blog (haven't told them about it yet), but there are clues here and there for those readers who really pay attention.
Franonmba (the blog) ends here. I thought about keeping it alive, but the truth is that the MBA is over and so should be the blog. I hope it was useful to someone reading. At least it was useful to me writing it, as it helped me reflect on what was happening and to crystallize a few ideas. So there will be a new blog coming soon, dedicated to the next experience. Check these pages every now and then: I will post directions.
farewell.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Nike+ better
Ok. I spent a lot of money on Nike kit recently. Partly for research, partly for brown-nosing, partly because I like it. The best piece of kit I find is the Nike+ sportsband. I love the way technology makes my running gear better. I love that it lets me plot my runs, map them, keep track of them, share them with my friends back in Milan and see who is fattest and slowest. So you thought there was no room to innovate in running shoes? wrong!
But there are some limitations I think.
About a month ago I put down a little training program in order to run from zero to 5k comfortably in one month. The screenshots below show my progress:
The following thoughts spring to mind:
But there are some limitations I think.
About a month ago I put down a little training program in order to run from zero to 5k comfortably in one month. The screenshots below show my progress:
The following thoughts spring to mind:
- I am painfully rubbish. Although I am running quite regularly (green bars) I am behind on my program (blue bars). That's my problem I guess.
- But hey: I am actually doing quite a lot of cycling. Last week I rode 225k and didn't run. (yeah ... I am on a 4 months holiday)
- Hey. I am also swimming regularly. Yesterday 2k. Normally about 6-8k/week.
- I am sure there are a lot of people who run, cycle and swim. Not just triatletes, but also normal people who try to get/keep fit like me.
- Does exactly what Nike+ does for running
- Integrates with my bike computer, to let me plot my cycling workout and share it with others online
- Works for swimming, for example by helping me keep count of how many lanes I swim (I tend to forget), my speed, etc ... and lets me sink all the above online.
Friday 23 May 2008
c2c ride. wow
Came back last night from the coast to coast (C2c) ride in northern England. I am taking advantage of this holiday before I start work in September to cycle around a bit. Nice weather, great ride, very stiff legs. Here a map of the ride (use this website to plan the ride: it's very good).
Day one: Workington to Keswick
The ride starts in Workington, a fairly ugly town on the irish sea. You cycle from there to the lake district on b roads and cycle paths. The road is pretty much up and down, so quite tiring, but to be honest I should have cycled a few miles more on day one and do the whole thing in three days instead of four.
Lovely scenery. I stopped for the night at the Twa Dogs Inn in Keswick for the night. Not exceptional
Day two: Keswick to Alston
This was the first day of climbs, and the longest stage on my ride. This is a picture taken from the top of the Hartside, a big climb on day two, and my struggling face. I stayed in a very nice B&B for the night.
Day three: Alston to Bee Cottage
This is when you think the climbs are over and you are wrong. There are at least two more big climbs as you leave Alston heading east, and to make things worse your legs are still in pain from the day before. The scenery is rough, mountainous and with few scattered mining villages. Stayed at bee cottage for the night. Glad to get there.
Day four: Bee Cottage to Sunderland
pretty much 50k downhill to sunderland, on dirt (although very manageable with a road bike). Nice to eventually get to the north sea in Sunderland.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
Thursday 10 April 2008
Wednesday 19 March 2008
Blocked YouTube/2
A few days back I commented on an Economist article. I wanted to know more about how internet censorship works. Nick left a very nice comment to that post. So nice I thought it should be an entry in its own right. Still, it leaves me with a desire to understand how censorship works in the west.
Thanks Nick, good luck at LBS next year.
--
(guest writer: Nick)
I'm a US/UK citizen living in China (actually, I'll be starting my MBA at LBS this August...)
Anyway, I thought I'd share a little about the whole government censorship thingy. Living here in China, I'm subjected to it a lot and have to resort to various tricks to get around it.
Sites that are permanently blocked here (and no matter what tricks I try to get around the censor, I can't):
The US Democratic or Republican Party's webpages. Absolutely impossible to get to. Also, BBC News. No way, no how, I cannot read it.
CNN.com surprisingly almost always works, however when certain stories about China or democracy in the US are posted, the links are broken.
This past week with the riots in Tibet and the protesters that were shot, the central government has tightened restrictions more that usual. Two months ago a law was passed here that said any website showing streaming video had to be government controlled or owned, essentially shutting down YouTube and Chinese versions of it. This ban however had yet to be implimented... until this week. The government wants to make sure that there is not way that anyone living in Tibet can send photos or video out to the rest of the world (foreign media is banned from Tibet and Xinjiang Provinces due to "unrest"). There are some protest groups that if I were even to google their names, the government would take immediate note of my IP address and I would not be surprised if I had a knock at my door in the middle of the night from some special police. I'd be wary of even typing them here because I don't know what their ability is to read blog comments automatically.
Blogger's publishing tool is not banned here, but most of the time the actual blogs are. I have to use a tool called Anonymouse.org in order to view your blog or even my own.
You were wondering about the mechanism they use...
There are 4 levels.
Beijing central government has a list of banned sites. This is where the US political parties pages are blocked. Because Beijing is doing it, you'd have to have some serious hacking skills to get around it.
Next down, Provinces. Each capital city has an office dedicated to "cleaning" up the content of the internet before it reaches the masses. They have staff who search the internet all day long. If they find a webpage with "objectionable" content, they simply put it on the black list and anyone in China that tries to access it will not be able to (and will have their IP address noted by authories).
Then we come down to the city level. Same as the Provincial level. What the people in the city can see on the internet is up to a few people sitting in a office somewhere in the city. One week blogger and other blog sites may be blocked. The next week, one of the filter administrator's sons starts a blog so Daddy unblocks blogger for one week. Its arbitrary.
Then it comes down to a district level. I live 15km away from my office, but I can view different things in my house (different district). The powers that be in the district where I work will often block hotmail... as they have the power to read all email sent within China, if they read something that doesn't match the Communist Party lines, they will just shut down the email system for a week.
At each of the levels above, a select few have control over what millions of people are able to access. They can even control the content on Chinese forums and message boards. If a Chinese student writes something pro-democracy, their posting will be taken down within seconds and they will receive a warning. If they do it again, it is VERY likely that they will have a surprise visit in the middle of the night and be carried off to the police station were they may be kept for a few days.
I love this country... I love living here, I love the people, I love the food... but in order to live here and maintain your sanity you have to ignore the oppression by the government. If I thought about it as much as I have to write this comment to you, I'd spend my waking hours being furious on behalf of the Chinese populace.
Thanks Nick, good luck at LBS next year.
--
(guest writer: Nick)
I'm a US/UK citizen living in China (actually, I'll be starting my MBA at LBS this August...)
Anyway, I thought I'd share a little about the whole government censorship thingy. Living here in China, I'm subjected to it a lot and have to resort to various tricks to get around it.
Sites that are permanently blocked here (and no matter what tricks I try to get around the censor, I can't):
The US Democratic or Republican Party's webpages. Absolutely impossible to get to. Also, BBC News. No way, no how, I cannot read it.
CNN.com surprisingly almost always works, however when certain stories about China or democracy in the US are posted, the links are broken.
This past week with the riots in Tibet and the protesters that were shot, the central government has tightened restrictions more that usual. Two months ago a law was passed here that said any website showing streaming video had to be government controlled or owned, essentially shutting down YouTube and Chinese versions of it. This ban however had yet to be implimented... until this week. The government wants to make sure that there is not way that anyone living in Tibet can send photos or video out to the rest of the world (foreign media is banned from Tibet and Xinjiang Provinces due to "unrest"). There are some protest groups that if I were even to google their names, the government would take immediate note of my IP address and I would not be surprised if I had a knock at my door in the middle of the night from some special police. I'd be wary of even typing them here because I don't know what their ability is to read blog comments automatically.
Blogger's publishing tool is not banned here, but most of the time the actual blogs are. I have to use a tool called Anonymouse.org in order to view your blog or even my own.
You were wondering about the mechanism they use...
There are 4 levels.
Beijing central government has a list of banned sites. This is where the US political parties pages are blocked. Because Beijing is doing it, you'd have to have some serious hacking skills to get around it.
Next down, Provinces. Each capital city has an office dedicated to "cleaning" up the content of the internet before it reaches the masses. They have staff who search the internet all day long. If they find a webpage with "objectionable" content, they simply put it on the black list and anyone in China that tries to access it will not be able to (and will have their IP address noted by authories).
Then we come down to the city level. Same as the Provincial level. What the people in the city can see on the internet is up to a few people sitting in a office somewhere in the city. One week blogger and other blog sites may be blocked. The next week, one of the filter administrator's sons starts a blog so Daddy unblocks blogger for one week. Its arbitrary.
Then it comes down to a district level. I live 15km away from my office, but I can view different things in my house (different district). The powers that be in the district where I work will often block hotmail... as they have the power to read all email sent within China, if they read something that doesn't match the Communist Party lines, they will just shut down the email system for a week.
At each of the levels above, a select few have control over what millions of people are able to access. They can even control the content on Chinese forums and message boards. If a Chinese student writes something pro-democracy, their posting will be taken down within seconds and they will receive a warning. If they do it again, it is VERY likely that they will have a surprise visit in the middle of the night and be carried off to the police station were they may be kept for a few days.
I love this country... I love living here, I love the people, I love the food... but in order to live here and maintain your sanity you have to ignore the oppression by the government. If I thought about it as much as I have to write this comment to you, I'd spend my waking hours being furious on behalf of the Chinese populace.
Friday 14 March 2008
Thursday 13 March 2008
Sneakers (superficial impressions)
I am researching sneakers these days. Fascinating stuff.
I Bought this book off Amazon ... it's a bit of a crap book (it costs a lot, it is not particularly well edited and I am not sure how reliable it is in terms of dates), but it gives one very interesting insight: all major sneaker brands are very old and have bags of heritage. For example:
- The sneaker was so-called for its noiseless quality when it was first made with elastic rubber soles. In 1892 GoodYear manufactures Keds, the first sneaker (I think) with a vulcanized rubber sole.
- Converse is really old. It was founded in 1908 by Marquis M Converse. The Converse All Star was designed in 1917 (although somewhere else in the book it says 1915). In 1918 (end of WW1!) it was endorsed by basketball player Charles "Chuck" Taylor, who later joins the Company. His signature is added to the star patch on the shoe in 1923. In 1935 Converse releases the Jack Purcell (badminton world champion). It's a wonderful shoe.
- Adidas was founded in 1920 by Adi Dassler. In 1948 Adi falls off with his brother Rudolf, who goes on to found Puma.
- In 1962, Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman start Blue Ribbon Sport (BRS). Initially they import Onitsuka Tiger to the US, later they start manufacturing their own shoes. Nike is established in the early 70's. In 1971 the Nike swoosh logo is purchased for US$35 from an Oregon University design student (she will later be rewarded with an undisclosed amount of Nike shares). In 1972 Bill Bowerman pours rubber into his wife's waffle iron, creating the basis for the popular Nike Waffle Racer. She must have been pissed off!
Having read the book, I was curios to find out what these brands are up to today. Particularly, I was interested in finding out how this wealth of brand heritage is managed nowadays. I took a trip down to central London. Without pretending to give a thorough analysis, here are a few random thoughts:
- Nike Town is in Oxford Street, just opposite the tube entrance. It can't be missed. Needless to say it is a masterpiece of brand display. Several sports showcased in different sections of the store: rugby, running, tennis, golf and there is a whole section dedicated to female athletes.
- Very interesting to see how Nike might perhaps be abandoning their exclusive focus on sport to enter the territory of style (I don't dare call it fashion) with two major sections of the store: the Sports Culture Section (which revisits the historical Nike products such as the AF1 in a modern key) and the Nike ID studio. I would love to discuss this with a Nike brand manager.
- Nike ID studio is just brilliant. It's multi-level glass environment in the middle of the store, in which you can design your own shoe. It's essentially the same concept of the online Nike ID, with the benefit of having a personal design consultant helping you through the motions and showing you samples of the materials you can work with. This is my creation. It retails for £80.00. The white bit is fake snake!
- Round the corner from Oxford Street, in Carnaby Street, you'll find a small Onitsuka Tiger shop and a larger Puma shop. The recurring elements are: 1) Colour and style over sport (particularly with Onitsuka Tiger) and 2) Very explicit references to the brands' heritage (with historic models on display under glass cabinets for Onitsuka). I leave thinking that the tree brands are blurring into the same space. Again, would love to discuss it with the above brand manager.
- Converse stands out. I found a small branded shop next to a multi-brand retailer. Like the other shops, there are plenty of references to the brand's heritage: vintage pictures around the shop, historic models like the All Star, One Star and the beautiful Purcell (I am tempted to attribute all this to the new Nike ownership). However, whereas the other three brands are all somehow blurring into the same sort of 70's-80's retro-colorful style, Converse style is somehow Punk-rocking. You may like it or not, but the Converse brand is definitely the undisputed master in its own space. I resist the temptation to part with £40 for a 90-years-old shoe.
I Bought this book off Amazon ... it's a bit of a crap book (it costs a lot, it is not particularly well edited and I am not sure how reliable it is in terms of dates), but it gives one very interesting insight: all major sneaker brands are very old and have bags of heritage. For example:
- The sneaker was so-called for its noiseless quality when it was first made with elastic rubber soles. In 1892 GoodYear manufactures Keds, the first sneaker (I think) with a vulcanized rubber sole.
- Converse is really old. It was founded in 1908 by Marquis M Converse. The Converse All Star was designed in 1917 (although somewhere else in the book it says 1915). In 1918 (end of WW1!) it was endorsed by basketball player Charles "Chuck" Taylor, who later joins the Company. His signature is added to the star patch on the shoe in 1923. In 1935 Converse releases the Jack Purcell (badminton world champion). It's a wonderful shoe.
- Adidas was founded in 1920 by Adi Dassler. In 1948 Adi falls off with his brother Rudolf, who goes on to found Puma.
- In 1962, Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman start Blue Ribbon Sport (BRS). Initially they import Onitsuka Tiger to the US, later they start manufacturing their own shoes. Nike is established in the early 70's. In 1971 the Nike swoosh logo is purchased for US$35 from an Oregon University design student (she will later be rewarded with an undisclosed amount of Nike shares). In 1972 Bill Bowerman pours rubber into his wife's waffle iron, creating the basis for the popular Nike Waffle Racer. She must have been pissed off!
Having read the book, I was curios to find out what these brands are up to today. Particularly, I was interested in finding out how this wealth of brand heritage is managed nowadays. I took a trip down to central London. Without pretending to give a thorough analysis, here are a few random thoughts:
- Nike Town is in Oxford Street, just opposite the tube entrance. It can't be missed. Needless to say it is a masterpiece of brand display. Several sports showcased in different sections of the store: rugby, running, tennis, golf and there is a whole section dedicated to female athletes.
- Very interesting to see how Nike might perhaps be abandoning their exclusive focus on sport to enter the territory of style (I don't dare call it fashion) with two major sections of the store: the Sports Culture Section (which revisits the historical Nike products such as the AF1 in a modern key) and the Nike ID studio. I would love to discuss this with a Nike brand manager.
- Nike ID studio is just brilliant. It's multi-level glass environment in the middle of the store, in which you can design your own shoe. It's essentially the same concept of the online Nike ID, with the benefit of having a personal design consultant helping you through the motions and showing you samples of the materials you can work with. This is my creation. It retails for £80.00. The white bit is fake snake!
- Round the corner from Oxford Street, in Carnaby Street, you'll find a small Onitsuka Tiger shop and a larger Puma shop. The recurring elements are: 1) Colour and style over sport (particularly with Onitsuka Tiger) and 2) Very explicit references to the brands' heritage (with historic models on display under glass cabinets for Onitsuka). I leave thinking that the tree brands are blurring into the same space. Again, would love to discuss it with the above brand manager.
- Converse stands out. I found a small branded shop next to a multi-brand retailer. Like the other shops, there are plenty of references to the brand's heritage: vintage pictures around the shop, historic models like the All Star, One Star and the beautiful Purcell (I am tempted to attribute all this to the new Nike ownership). However, whereas the other three brands are all somehow blurring into the same sort of 70's-80's retro-colorful style, Converse style is somehow Punk-rocking. You may like it or not, but the Converse brand is definitely the undisputed master in its own space. I resist the temptation to part with £40 for a 90-years-old shoe.
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