I gained some, I lost some !!

Well, this morning I finally got myself out of my bed at 8 AM and then rushed for the class. Made it at 9:01 AM :-)

It was a good participation today from my side, thanks to the night spent in reading. It was also our first Spanish Class today - and the class turned out to be good.

And I had Sushi for lunch today :-)

One of the highlights of the day was that I gained another team today - The foodie team for Entrepreneurship Project :-)

After all the classes, I met my LiveBeats [Impact Weekend] team and we discussed about the way ahead. We had a brief encounter with Liz to clarify our doubts. I think it was a good idea to have this meeting, as now we have gained lot of insights about how things will work and what we want to do.
Discussion went on till almost 7:45 PM and then I walked back home.

I had promised Ilya and Kuanbek to meet for drinks at 9:30. When I got home, I felt so worn out [I guess it was the staying up last night] that I decided to first sleep for one hour and then get ready and go for drinks. I set my alarm for 9 PM.

Somehow, when I finally woke up, it was 5 AM in the morning. Bloody Hell !!

I had missed my alarm and I had missed all the messages by my friends and I had got them worried !! That's not good :-(

Sent them a reply immediately and then started writing this post to end my [previous] day, as it was already 5 AM in the morning and I did not feel like sleeping any more.

The Cartels, and the resolve against Lethargy !!

Today in the managerial economics class, as we were studying different markets, the topic of collusive oligopoly came up. This is also termed as a Cartel.

Well, as son as the professor uttered this word 'Cartel', the first thing that popped up in my mind was the Drug Cartel, and when I tried not to think of it, my mind stumbled upon a scene from the movie God Father :-)
More our professor told about how cartels behave, more movie scenes from Bollywood and Hollywood kept popping in my mind. Thanks to this flow of thoughts and also the examples discussed in class, I think I am going to remember the concept pretty well :-)

When I returned, I spent a lot of time goofing around and when I realized, it was already 8 PM and I was hungry. I had my food and then when I was about to start my reading, I started to fill sleepy. Damn this Lethargy !! I have got to fix it and I have to fix it now !!

Well, I finally decided to sleep and set an alarm for 2 AM. I was going to do my reading then and sleep again after I was done. I was not going to class anymore without doing my reading.

So it was that I woke up at 2 AM and started to read for the Strategy Class. Interesting thing was that as I read about the case, it turned out to be about a cartel as well :-)
That kept me awake as I read carefully for next 2 hours or so.
Then was the reading for Entrepreneurial Management Class. As it was a generic article and not a case, I had expecting that I will finish reading it faster. When I actually opened the article, I realized it was 27 pages long !! Damn !! Now I know what my lethargy can cost me !!

By the time I finished all the reading and then writing this blog, it was already 6:15 in the morning. I think I will just lie down for some time, before getting ready for school !!

Rendezvous with Mr Tony Stark !!

Another day when I did no reading. It was so cold today, that I couldn't sit in my room without shivering. Finally, at 1 PM, after having my brunch [thanks to the left-overs from yesterday], I decided to check on the Iron Man 3 movie.

Thanks to many responses by my classmates, about the theaters showing English movies, I knew what to search for. A common place mentioned by many was Yelmo and I searched for it. Showtiming 16:20, and review says to be there early if I want a ticket. What can be a better excuse to go out and have some fresh [and chilled] air :-)

When I reached the cineplex, it was closed. To Stay or To Go Back, that was the question :-)
I decided to stay and kept goofing around in the area between Tirso de Molina and La Latina. There was some Hawker bazaar on those narrow lanes, where everyone from a florist to a magician was there. It proved to be a good pass-time.

Theater opened at 3 PM, I had my ticket and then watched this latest adventure of the Iron Man.

After this rendezvous with Mr Tony Stark, when I returned, I was no more in the mood for any studying. As I am writing this blog, the voice inside me, to get my study schedule right, is growing louder and louder :-)

Unwind !! It's Saturday :-)

For the most part of today, I did nothing but sleep. In the evening, I cooked some Indian food for my flatmates, and then we had a Union Party, enjoying the dinner together with some great Indian food, beers and a lot of chit-chat and laughter.

Today was the day to unwind myself after a continuous busy schedule for past two weeks and I enjoyed it to the fullest :-)

The all-encompassing "Strategy"

Today was our first day of Strategy class - Well, while we had already done our reading on what strategy is and what it is not, what happened in class was quite amazing.

While discussing on how strategy takes into account the market dynamics, and how it is about getting maximum returns, Luis, Our Professors took us through the latest learning's we have had in our Financial Accounting class and our Managerial Economic class and gave us a new perspective on both these topics and he did this implicitly, as part of his class, and not to revise the other classes :-)

So, we not only understood the definition of strategy better, but also got additional information on the purpose served by demand and supply curves and the valuation techniques.

Now that I can see how all the subjects fit together into each other, I guess this is going to be an interesting class for sure !!

By the way, Impact Weekend team has started to work towards arranging our mentoring and other prize items like HUB membership. They sent their first mail in this regards today. So, another thing to look forward to :-)

To whomsoever it may concern !!

Today was again the same combination of classes as yesterday - Financial Accounting followed by Communication skills.

As I skipped the All-Intake IMBA cocktail last night, I had plenty of time to read the F.A. notes and I found that reading thoroughly really really helps during the class !! So, no skimming, specially for F.A. from here on :-)

The simple exercises to improve our articulation skills, taught by Lola during the communication skills class, were all fun and very doable on a day-to-day basis.

And yes, while we saw many speakers, both in form of videos and in form of volunteers in the class, the S.T.A.R. moment of today's class for me was when Lola said: Giving a presentation without knowing your audience is like writing a Love Letter and then addressing it to 'whomsoever it may concern' :-)

The Professors of TODAY !!

Today the classes began with Financial Accounting, and I don't know whether it was because we had already discussed solution to the assignment that was being solved in class, or whether it was simplified teaching of Garen; but the concepts which we took hours to understand yesterday, seemed so intuitive and easier to comprehend.

Besides, Mr. Ramirez and his mustache have now proved to be a convenient way to remember changes in Net Income :-)

After this, was the first session on communication skills. Lola made an excellent point today - As a speaker, specially true for the professors of today, if we cannot explain the audience well enough, and they need to google or visit wikipedia to check what we are really saying, then we have failed in our job.

That's an interesting way to put it, isn't it?

It's still Sexy, it's still Fun !!

And for those, who don't have access to our accounting notes, this is the footer line which we see after the first few pages. And yes, you guessed it right - for the first few pages it says "Accounting - It's Sexy, it's Fun" :-)

Today we had the afternoon off, as there was only one workshop which lasted for 4.5 hours in the morning. So, most of us spent the time understanding the accounting fundamentals and trying to solve the assignment given.

Our workgroup met at 7 PM, back in the school, to do the assignment again as a group. I think it was more fun and more sexy to do the whole thing as a group, as all the questions that we spent a looooong time in understanding and answering alone, were solved faster as a group. We always had someone to take us out of our dead-ends.

Unoma was our star of the day, our expert and our teacher, patiently bearing with all our delays and mistakes :-)

After having all the "fun" doing accounting, when I came back, it was already 10:30 PM; so I just got a pizza from downstairs for dinner.

GO for GOALS !!

At the end of E.M. class today, our professor Rachida, who was one of the judges for the impact weekend, mentioned about our team's win in the event. A moment of Pride :-)

And then after some number crunching and studying the market, we had our first work group lunch-meeting. Yeah, it was lunch, and it was meeting as well :-)

 Next up was the 'GO for the GOALS' session. I would like to remember it as 'GO for GOALS' instead [like A for Apple].

It was an interesting concept, and what was even more interesting was that it was conducted by students who are a year ahead of us. It was a miniature class room version of their new venture, which would be a website and mobile App.

It was fun to read some of the goals that people have, many of the goals seemed cliche to me and some were pretty specific and interesting as well. The most liked goal of course turned out to be of the person, who wanted to propose to his girlfriend and make her say 'Yes'. :-D

I got a few tips on how I should go about my goals and was also able to identify a couple of like-minded people.

All-in-all a good day to start the week with !!

To new beginnings ..

we won !! we WON !! WE WON !!

Our team won the Impact Weekend, so now, we get mentoring sessions with experts from various fields and an entry in to the Venture Lab !! Yippee :-)

All our work over the weekend has culminated into this unique opportunity. And as I said on Friday, the J effect holds true - we are now on our way up :-)

Can't Thank our Mentor Josefina Garcia enough for her tips and guidance!!

Also, our team - despite the fact that we all met each other for the first time only this friday, we turned out to be a pretty good team.

Cheers guyz !! Tonight we celebrate the new beginnings ..

Technology - It CAN change the world

Despite being Saturday, I woke up early today and headed to MM31 for the Impact Weekend, which started with a breakfast at 9:30 AM. Good that they served breakfast, it helped me to sleep for extra 10 minutes :-)

So, we began our research to prepare the business canvas for this mobile app. We brainstormed on various things that can be done, about various technology barriers we may face, about funding and marketing, and lots of different stuff.

The key take-away for me today was that during our research we came across so many technology enablers for the hearing-impaired. Today, I am just going to list them here, so that you all can share it with your friends and family.

While there are so many mobile apps for the hearing impaired [I guess we found them to be around 257], available both in android versions and iphone versions, there is this one particular app, I am really impressed with.

This is an app in Google play store for Android phones - "isy" and its free.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isy&hl=en

Install it and activate the sensor for this app. Turn the vibrator-mode on for your phone and open this app. Then make a sound like a clap and you will feel the vibration of your phone and you will see a colored circle formation on your mobile screen, which tells you the intensity of the sound. Louder the sound, bigger the circle.

This app can be a handy tool, say for someone who is sitting in his or her home and suddenly the door bell rings; or for someone who is crossing a street and suddenly a car honks. Stay with me, and I will tell you the real fun of this app.

We also came across a website by D-PAN, which is an abbreviation for 'Deaf Professional Artists Network'.

http://d-pan.org/

This is a great site too. They have made many videos of songs, where the artist is using sign language to sing the song and they are really good with their expressions.

Now, try this, which I did while sitting in my room: Pick up any song from the video library on this site, start playing it and then turn the "isy" app on. It will vibrate as soon as it hears the first beat, and then for each beat, it will form circles, big and small, as per the beat.

I tried this video "It feels so good":
http://d-pan.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=225

So, if a deaf person is watching this video, he will get the expressions and the words; and with this app to compliment, he can visualize the music.
I think this is awesome.

I am going to show this to our group tomorrow, as it helps our case as well :-)

We also came across some amazing media - youtube videos and movies.

Daniel from our group suggested us this movie - 'Its all Gone -Pete Tong' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388139/?ref_=sr_2] and Saswati confirmed that there is a Indian version of this - 'SoundTrack' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundtrack_%28film%29] : story of a DJ, who goes deaf due to daily exposure to loud noise and re-invents his life after discovering the vibrations on the speakers.

And, as if the clips from movie were not enough to make us all emotional, we found this video on youtube, of a 29 year old girl, who gets the hearing implant and hears herself for the first time:

I joined in the net impact weekend to know about social entrepreneurship, but my experiences of the day have taught me so much more.

The J effect

Today in the economy class, I got to know many new concepts - but the one which made its mark in my mind was the J effect.

To repeat the words of our professor, things go worse before they take a flight towards better times [graphical representation will look like a J].

I kept wondering, that is true in so many cases that we go through or observe around us.

Anyways, finally, the day for pitching was here. As it turned out, I was the first one to pitch. I had gone to IE in formal shirt and trousers today and just before the start of the Impact weekend, put the tie on.

Pitch went well - this was my first time to do anything like this. With help of my classmate Watanabe-san, I also took a video of the pitch, just to help me evaluate how I am doing and to find the areas of improvement.

Selection of top 5 was done by audience votes - either a like or a dislike, and as it turned out, my idea was not among the best voted ideas. No worries though, as my journey has only just begun and then there is the J effect as well :-)

Anyways, I was still interested to experience the impact weekend to its fullest, so I decided to join the club of other participants [without ideas], who had an option to contribute to any of the top-voted ideas.

There is one idea, by a guy, not from IE, but a sound engineer by profession, to create a mobile app for hearing impaired.

I joined in his team to work on the final business plan to be pitched on Sunday evening.

During the cocktail that followed our pitches, I received feedback from many about my idea and the pitch; Some suggested areas of improvement, some complimented me for the pitch; and a few of them also informed me that they would have loved to work on my idea during the weekend.
So, presenting the idea I had, before people, proved to be a good decision after all.

After enjoying the cocktail, when I came back to my place, I decided that anyways I have my handy-cam, so why not create a video of a simple chicken curry preparation. And, I did it. I am planning to use this video as a teaser to make people join-in the idea of teaching and learning recipes.

There hasn't been so much of a response for the FB post, but then today, no matter what it is about, I want to believe in the J effect !!

The Other Side :-)

So far, we have been hearing so much about diversity in our classroom, in terms of backgrounds, in terms of cultures, in terms of nationalities, in terms of gender, in terms of experience, in terms of way we think ..

Today, I got to see the diversity of the "Other Side". Yes, you guessed it right; I am talking about our professors.

3 classes, one after another, by 3 different professors.
Two male, One female.
Two wearing business formals, one in smart casuals.

But that was not the only "diversity" I found in them.

To the same challenge of limited time, each one had a different approach to overcome the challenge;
Each of them had different weights assigned to various aspects of our study and hence their own grading pattern;
Each of them had a different policy for meeting outside the classroom for asking doubts/queries, etc;
Each of them wanted to run the class in a their own unique way;
Each of them had a different penalty for late-comers;
Each of them had their own style of teaching and explaining;
Printed assignments/Email assignments; Printed notes/Use of computers;Group assignments/Self-Revelation - there was a diversity in so many aspects, preferences and methodologies.

But then, there was one thing in common to all of them - their priority. What was clearly evident was that despite all the diversity, the priority for all of them was and will always be 'To make us have the best learning experience, at par with standards at IE'.

And yes, although each of them mentioned their own assignment, exam and quiz timelines, there was also a 'beginning of term' presentation by Steve, where we got to know him better and where he declared the dates for important sessions and exams.

Time to rock and roll !!

Welcome .... to the real world !!

All the goofing around in that illusion of Matrix is now officially over. We have now been unplugged from our sweet sleep and before we could realize, we landed ourselves into the real world.

Classes for term one began today and they were preceded by a requirement to read around 100 pages. They say the number is only going to increase in days to come. I need to organize myself, I need to find my way to handle all the reading and the meetings and the classes.

It was a good start of term one with an important lesson to learn about experience, hard facts and hypothesis people make using combination of these two. "Previous success is as dangerous as previous failure and hence it is important to be clinical all the time" stated our professor when discussing about this classical issue.

And yes, We got our first group assignment today.

Session after this to help us make the best use of all the IT tools and the social network sites was quite informative.

And then came Erik, to deliver a solo session on introduction to General Management. There was already some pre-reading required and so the session revolved around discussing the case. Purpose of this session as stated by Erik, "It doesn't matter whether you choose a general management job or not; you will still end up in positions where you need to think like a general manager. So, it is a good idea to know what it is all about".

Most exciting part of the day - Our opening day photos were made available online today and I spotted a couple of close-up shots of myself in there .... yippee :-)

Dreams, Passion, Commitment & Diversity in Action

Today was the last day of L.A.U.N.C.H. and it started with an unforgettable experience.

Edurne Pasaban - first woman to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders in the world was with us to share not just the stories of mountains and valleys she conquered, but also the ups and downs of her own life.
[https://www.facebook.com/EdurnePasabanLizarribar]
"Without Passion, you are not really following your dream". She talked about mountains, about her teams, her friends, about personal sacrifices she has made to continue with her dream of climbing and about her plans for the future.

Just listening to the problems she faced during her expeditions, about the two toes she lost to her passion, about her spirit which regenerated itself, despite all hardships and troubles she has been through, filled us with so much motivation and so much inspiration. She taught us what team work is, and what commitment means, by narrating her own experiences.

These past few days, we were allowed to sit anywhere we want to in the classroom and I have always chosen the aisle seat in the center of first row. In fact, it was becoming obvious to more and more people during last 2 weeks that I always tend to take the same seat.

But tell you what, No matter what people say or think about this, after today, I will be glad FOREVER that I chose to do so.

Edurne shared her story by sitting on a high chair in front of us. Sitting in that classroom for almost 2 hours, only two feet away from a living legend, I could feel the positive vibe that filled in the air and the inspirational cosmic energy that radiated from one of the most amazing personalities I have ever met.

"This is your K2", She did a magic on all of us, and inspired us, and she did it with humility and affection.

There is a saying in India that a blind man asks for one eye and god gives him two. I also got much more than expected when I asked her if I can have a picture with her. She not only posed with me for the picture, but later also greeted me with the customary peck-on-the-cheek.

After NRN Murthy, this is one person, I would never forget meeting with.

Next up was the Diversity in action session. Blame it on the fact that half the crowd could not listen to what the speaker was saying, or that after having such an awesome session in the morning, our expectations were raised - this session amid all the noise from people talking in the back did not really impress me.

But that didn't mean we did not experience "Diversity in Action" today. In many sessions during past two weeks, we did Action Learning - Learning by experiencing and many a times, the speakers told us that we have a rather greater role (than the professors themselves) to play in our learning process by ensuring participation.

Well, our LAUNCH group CURIE arranged a wrap-up cocktail this evening. Idea was broadcast yesterday by Ben and around half the population showed up tonight. We then had the usual beer and meet-greet session, and got to know each other even better. At around 11:30, when we decided to wrap up, half of those who showed up had already left. Of the remaining, again some more chose to go home or have pizza, and the remainder after all these subtractions [10 people], decided to go have a proper dinner.

Michael suggested an Ethiopian place which was around 10 minutes walk. I liked the food - its very spicy and comes in platters which is kept in the center and everyone digs in with their hands.

So, here's the deal. None of us was Ethiopian. More than half of us were having the Ethiopian food for the first time. We were sitting [or atleast I was sitting] around people whom I knew, but never had even a coffee with before. And then, we all ate the food together, with our hands in the same platter, and we all digged it!! It was amazing !!

As we came out of the restaurant, owner of the place and his Spanish friend were standing there. And guess what this old friend asks us, "where are you from?".

Michael replied "We are all studying MBA at IE, and I am from USA, he is from Hungary, she is from Panama, both of them are from India, she is from Nigeria, he is from Brazil" [Not to forget, there was also someone from UK who left just a few minutes ago].

I believe the guy was impressed. And wasn't that positive impression due to our 'diversity in action'?

Hearts, Spades, Pizzas and Lightning :-)

Start of the day, today at IE, was again a little different - while last week opened on the basketball court, this week, it was "the Stage". A Shakespeare actor from dramatic resources conducted today's session.

Ground rules were made clear right at the beginning. It was not about learning to do acting, or to help faking what we are not. "As a leader, if you are not your true self, if you are not authentic, you are just bullshitting others; and they will know it, and they will know it much before you even realize".

So, what was it about? It was about helping us improve our stage presence, making sure we represent ourselves well and our body language matches our content.

Speaking of the content, I saw the first pizza [as they like to call it in Brazil] of the day. Only 7% of what impresses others in a presentation is the actual content - rest of it is the audio-visual signals they get and the body language we exhibit. Wow !!

So, we began a workshop to help us improve on that 93% part. The Black Card Status - Spades as I would like to remember them, which represents our external outlook and the Red Card Status - Hearts, which represents our internal confidence, were the new concepts for me.

What I liked most about today?

The timing of this session could not have been more perfect. Here I am with my 7% ready for the Impact Weekend, and as soon as the day to practice on delivery of that 7% arrives, I am actually sitting in a session to get tips about it.

I guess even at a subconscious level, I realized that I have to make the most of this opportunity today. So, I raised my hand almost as a reflex action, when a volunteer was needed to make a 1-minute presentation.

Thanks to this volunteering, I have got a feedback on what I need to improve and how I can improve, so will work on those areas in next couple of days.

The Second set of Pizzas came later in the day today, when our class profile and its diversity was being discussed. I think this was more of a session to make us ready for the different personality traits we are bound to meet during our stay here. Anyways, as it was put in the conclusion of the session, diversity is not really that colorful collage which is "nice to have" on our living room wall, but it is a collision of different lightnings, each with a fire in its belly, and the trick is to ensure that we don't burn each other, but collectively create a magical landscape.

I know this post is getting a bit lengthy and that previous paragraph could have very well been a concluding one, but I have got to mention about the third pizza of the day.

After coming home, carrying my heavy bag with laptop and the book which I collected today, I fell asleep on my bed almost instantaneously. When I woke up, it was already 11 in the night and without much thinking I went downstairs to Domino's where they were still open for take-aways.

As I sat there waiting for my pizza, a song began to play - "Anything you want, you got it; anything you need, you got it....."

When I think about all the pizzas I had seen since morning - first to help me get ready for the weekend pitch, second of my class profile, which is going to make me a better person over the period of this year, and the third to help me satisfy my hunger at the late hour of this night, this song felt like a divine signal.

"Anything you want, you got it ........................."

Hello Sunshine !!

Buy Grocery from DesiGourmet - Check
Arrange for Utensils - Check
Have a Kitchen - Check orledddy lah~
Share plans to Cook and Learn - Check
[Although when I read my post after it was shared, it looked too formal to me. Not sure what the response would be].

Also introduced my classmates to this blog. So, a day of lot of self-propaganda ;-)

It was a bright and sunny day today. Unfortunately, my plan to visit the Royal Palace with Miko and take some photos there, got cancelled due to his illness. Nevertheless, I took my camera and took a few shot around IE campus anyways.

I mean it would have been a shame to let go off my chance to use this early summer daylight, which was both pleasant and adequate. Today had to be the day, when me and my camera said "Hello" to the Sunshine :-)

If you are curious to take a look at the pictures I clicked, here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94951116@N04/sets/72157633243447285/

And then, I went through my presentation for Friday. Oh, did I tell you - I got the opportunity of a 2 minute pitch on Friday for the Impact Weekend. Now, I need to make sure, I say all that must be said within this 2 minutes time; Will keep working on the script until I sleep.

Another great week has passed and now the anticipation about classes, which will begin next week, grows.

The Other FB Group .. finally !!

I missed the Scavenger Hunt yesterday for a lame reason which I don't even wish to share and then slept early rather than going to BOTW.

That itch for cooking various recipes and inviting others to try them is back and so, I spent this morning to contact the Indian Grocery Store with my shopping list. I guess I will just go there tomorrow and choose what I want to buy.

Biggest Highlight of the day - it finally dawned on me that if there is no update about so many things happening around in the FB group I have joined, there has to be some other group, where these are being posted. And then, after scrolling a bit, I found a post by Luis to join the common FB group for entire 2013. I joined it in the afternoon and wallah !!

Everything from photos taken by people during opening ceremony to parties and events and outings planned in last few days - its all there !!
I can't blame my ignorance enough, because I can clearly see that I have missed so much !

Anyways, better late than never :-)

The Happy Nomad is back in the town ..

Friday morning - As the Professor entered classroom, he himself resonated with our thoughts - Not a good time to deal with numbers, but then here we are :-)

After we were all done with about an hour of thinking and calculating, results were presented and then the debriefing began.

Take-away from this action learning session - "Do not let your assumptions guide the knowledge you have; instead ensure that the knowledge you have becomes basis of your assumptions".

Considering that we were the only group who found our answer using an absolutely different approach than the rest, we have learned our lesson.

Highlight of the day - An encounter with THE HAPPY NOMAD.

Adam Pervez - of same age as most of us, who graduated from IE not so long ago, and who had what many will consider to be a "dream job".
But, he was not happy with what he was doing, so he set out to do what he knew will make him happy; So far, he has spent almost two years now, traveling all over the world, been to around 20 countries and volunteered for organizations working in each of these countries, to make this world a better place.

What is impressive about this guy is that he took the leap to follow his heart, to live his dream, to challenge the conventional definition of happiness that this world provides and to shout to the rest of this world "My Life - My Way".

That is quite an inspiration, especially for those of us who have come to IE, with some or other dream of our own. The next time I waver from walking towards my dream, I will remember the Happy Nomad and his Pursuit of Happiness and think - If he can do it, So can I.

p.s. Facebook Page to know more about Adam's activities:
https://www.facebook.com/HappinessPlunge
[Tag line says it all: If Life is a journey, why not choose the happiest path?]

Follow the needs of people and the money will follow you

Had two long sessions today and both were wonderful.

Morning was spent in Decision making workshop and it was a great eye-opener for me. The concept of Opportunity Cost is now so clear to me, thanks to the 99:1 distribution proposal I made; I will always keep that aspect in mind while evaluating my options.

Devil's advocate was a new implementation for me.

I was also pretty impressed with all the technology and gazettes used for polling and the later self-assessment/group-assessment during this session.

What followed next was the Revolutionize Your Space Workshop. I had seen videos of this for the previous year, but still was not sure of what to expect. Teachers from Architecture department had come over to conduct this one and by the end of it, I must say, I was impressed.

The workshop started with the theme of thinking something to address the needs of people and developing it, promoting it and by the time we were all done, we had at least four groups with ideas with huge potential to be profitable ventures.

"Follow the needs of people and the money will follow you" - Point well received, I must say.

What also impressed me, were the comments and constructive feedback by Prof Churtichaga and by both the professors with him - they were spontaneous, they were creative, they were witty and they were funny. Not to mention, all the different videos created by all the teams including ours - they were all brilliant :-D

Another day when action learning steals the show !!

p.s. Amid all these happening activities, time just went by and when it was all over, it was like everyone was waiting for someone to say - "I need a Beer". Soon, a gang was formed and we all headed for it.

All Hail the Pirate King

Yes, I know that the Entrepreneurship workshop was kool and our product was great and we did a fantastic job of not only improvising a bad idea and turning it into a good one, but also of creating a name, a punch line and a prototype of the product.
And, we learned that creativity is not just about thinking something new, but also about taking something bad and turning it into good.
And, I also know that getting caught by Marie while sneaking into some other workshop and "borrowing" the tape which we needed was probably something I will never forget; but I have got to admit - the highlight of the day was "Senor Pirate King".

John A. Clendenin - the guy walks into room to talk about being Positive and stuff. And then gradually he takes us to the land of fairy tales.
I remember that in my primary school years, whenever we had a free period, our Majgaonkar teacher, probably around our grand-mother's age then, use to walk into the class and tell us amazing stories - stories of knights and princess, stories of magic, stories of conquests. This big guy, probably in his seventies, did exactly the same.

He told us many amazing stories - only difference was that they were all his stories.

He did not just join the US armed forces, but became a ranked officer in the Marine Corps; He not only played sports, but participated internationally in wrestling and other events; He not only studied psychology, but was a sports psychologist with an Olympic medal winning team; He not only worked for Xerox, but brought a radical change in its profit numbers; He not only taught at Harvard, but is credited with the best selling Business Case of current day; He is not only helping people, but has implemented schemes to reduce hunger, has participated in strategy planning and execution of fair elections in conflict zones of the world; He not only tells stories, but also writes his own Haiku; He is not only a advocate of Sustainability, but has his own farm which grows more than needs of all those involved in the cultivation; the list just goes on and on ..

By being in the same room as this guy felt like a privilege. And he told us about all of this, in such a casual way, we never felt distant from him - He was our own kin, our elder telling us stories and with each passing minute, he was spreading more and more of his magic - Magic of his hugs, magic of his plans for the future, magic of expectations he has from us, magic of possibilities that lie before us ..

Somewhere during the session, he mentioned that we should write down names of those who have inspired us and also those who have influenced us. I was so tempted to say, YOU sir have just made it to both these lists by spending this time with us.
 
And yes, He likes to have a quick huddle rather than a formal meeting, to be called as Pirate King rather than Professor :-)

Speaking of Pirate King, he did give us some Pirate Code to live by during our time at IE. "Without a ship, you are not a Pirate - So, ship first, you second".

Its amazing how just last week, I did not want to be a Pirate - one who is squandering and arguing with his peers; and then now, I want to be a Pirate - one who is full with all the positive energy that the oceans have to offer, sailing freely and confidently, towards the horizon of infinite possibilities. And this is all the "Pirate King" influence.

All Hail the "Pirate King" !!

L.A.U.N.C.H.

Morning began with introduction to LAUNCH by Erik. And he did recap the events that took place last week. I knew that Marie had clicked a photo of me in a group, during the welcome cocktail, and guess what, it showed up during this recap :-)
Of course, I was sober then, so nothing to worry :-D

Next up was a basketball exercise at Club Canoe. This was the first time that I took the Metro in Madrid. So, another highlight of the day :-)

So, there was this Celebrated Spanish Basketball Player, now a Coach and a Scout, who made us do some team exercises on the basketball court. Some dribbling, some shooting, some passing the ball around while running, and it was all to be done as early as possible. He made us do it once, and then challenged us to do the same thing again in lesser time or to collect more points than before.

After we were all done, there was a debriefing by him on our take aways from the exercise.

That was the overall commentary about how the day went. And now about the things I loved :-)

Last time I dribbled on the Basketball court, I was in High school. So, a bit of nostalgia, a bit of feel-good factor that by being in this school, I could connect back to my childhood memories and a lotttt of exercise :-)

This whole drill taught us many lessons from how to make best use of resources and experts, how to plan and how to execute those plans, and also how to overcome our shortcomings with help and support of the team.

Again, it was Action learning - learning by doing and, learning by experiencing; even though the exercise involved seemed unconventional, I have fallen in love with this methodology. It teaches us in a way that the lessons are not just stored in our brain, but in every muscle of our body, because we have already implemented the lesson and it becomes part of our experience rather than just our learning.

And speaking of all those muscles, especially the ones which I never realized are present in my body, but are now aching even when I am home and lying on my bed, I know I would remember this learning for a long time :-)

A Day of Self-Assessment and ofcourse the Fifth Brethren court :-)

Today was the last day of our Orientation program. There was a workshop by CMC on CV and CL, and it was very informative. Magali introduced us with various nuances of CV and CL writing with some tips and examples. The real take away for me from this session was the simple Self-Assessment tool - the piece of paper with some questions that helped me know my areas of improvement. I am definitely keeping this paper for future use.

And then, there was the Action Learning exercise before this workshop. While discussing about problems that our Ice-Cream Bungee can encounter, Ilya came up with a theory from Physics. If we drop from a height more than this, as per laws of Physics, the device will turn upside down. Wow !! I mean I had been in so many discussions and meetings as part of my job, but it was almost after 10 years that I heard some reference to Physics. It felt good. It reminded me that I am back to school and there is so much more to learn from my fellow classmates.

The real take-away of the day was from the posters exercise. We created it and sent out Said as our Rep to fight for our product. And then, when 10 such Reps gathered, the fifth brethren court began.

Our instructor chose to act as Teague, reading out the code and observing the proceedings that followed. Christine started out with a reasonable argument that there is a different objective before us now, but that didn't prevent the brethren court from commencing. Soon, the floor looked exactly the same as the fourth brethren court in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' where every pirate was fighting for himself.
Within few minutes the discussion turned into chaos.
And it is not the Reps to blame. They were doing exactly the same thing that any one of us would have done. They were our representatives and our reflections.
Soon, I realized, I am nothing more than some pirate, if I can't let go off this behavior. The lesson is learnt !!
Of course, we did have a Captain Jack Sparrow amongst us, in form of Emiliano, who kept on saying 'I like that one better' even after the voting concluded. It looked funny initially, but when we came to know that he is actually giving away his prize and saying that some other poster is better than his [which everyone has voted to be the best], the generosity in his act was evident.
And our group also learned another lesson - Don't limit yourself to Black and Blue ink, only because it is stated so. Use as many resources as you can, to make your poster click :-)

The Sunday Impact

"Well, now that I have already decided to jump, why not try my idea for the impact weekend??"
That was the question bothering me ever since I met Tanya in the 'Get to know IE' fair, where she told me about this event.
So, I got going with creating the required PPT and submitted my idea for 'Impact Weekend' - the largest student managed event at IE.
Fingers Crossed :-)

Restful Saturday

It was a good rest day today and the only thing I did apart from sleeping was to build my one page CV in the Career Portal. LAUNCH is going to start soon, so looking forward to it.

A Day of many Get-To-Knows ..

Well, there was this welcome cocktail for our class last night and while the official time was until 10 PM, it went on forever. Last I remember, there were 4 or 5 of us still enjoying and the next thing I know is I wake up in my bed with a hangover and I am late !! Damn !!
I had been knocked off and I don't remember a thing what happened during this period !! Hope, I didn't do anything that was too disgusting :-)

I got ready in record time today - within 15 minutes I was out of my bed and on the road. I had missed the introductory session from CMC and felt awful about it. When I reported about this to IMBA team, they said, don't worry - you can meet the CMC people in the "Get to know IE" fair in the evening and ask them what you missed; and for now there will be no consequences. hussshhh !!

So, there was a fair, and there were booths by all offices of IE and we could just walk over to them and ask our questions, doubts, everything. I did meet the CMC team and told them about me missing the session and they were really kind to explain me what I missed.

Next up was the mandatory 'Landing in Madrid' session, which was supposed to be for 45 minutes, but went on for almost 2.5 hours, thanks to many questions raised by us.
Well, most of the things that Muriel told us were already posted on student office portal and in fact, I had got my accommodation, my phone, my bank account - all of it even before arriving here - all thanks to the information on the portal. And, I had already submitted my documents for the NIE appointment, after consulting with student office in MM4. But Muriel added a few personal experiences and suggestions as well, which were good to know.

Moreover, even though I was free to leave after 45 minutes, I felt like staying back, just to appreciate the patience and compassion that was displayed by Muriel and acknowledge all the efforts that the student office had put to make our life easier in Madrid.

By the time this session ended, it was already the time for Bollywood theme party organized by the IE India Club and everyone was also talking about BOTW tomorrow night.

I am amazed with how people do this - a party every night for 3 days in a row?? I got to know the trick, or may be I just need to learn how to hold my liquor. A lesson learned well and learned early!! For today, all those curious about why I am not at the Bollywood party, I may have told you many things; but in reality there is just one reason people - My brain is still beating against my skull and it aches !!

time to jump off the cliff !!

First Day of Orientation and there were a lot of sessions lined up. Some informative, some to kick start the learning process.

Session on case method was good. I liked the fact that the content of actual session was so different and better from the reference material that we were told to pre-read. Also the fact that even after we thought we had discussed all that is to discuss about the case in our group, when we came back to the class, there was so much new information to process.

But then right after, in comes Erik to talk about Ethics and WOW !!
The ethics workshop never felt like that boring mandatory thing anymore, which I have experienced in company orientations before. It was so much information, and so much fun, and so much learning and the way Erik delivered all of that was simply amazing. He was our star of the day.

But for me, the highlight of the day was not just the case method session or not just the ethics workshop. It was the commonality that I found in them.

We worked for almost 3 hours on a case where a manager sends a specific order to some people and they don't comply with it, and then came out with the conclusions in class that people need awareness, they need motivation, they expect Leadership and they may need a mandate for sub-ordination or compliance to get them working.

And then, Erik gives us this Harvard Ethics Oath - a student initiative, and shows a Jon Stewart video about how people are reacting to it. Of course, Jon Stewart has his own style, but when I watched the actors speak of the Harvard Oath, I could so easily relate them to the executives that did not follow their managers instructions in the morning session.

And then, we get to see why ethical behavior is necessary, and the "Erik factor" brings in that leadership and motivation, and we are also briefly reminded of our enrollment contract which expects us to comply with the IE ethics code. Guess what, even though most of us were not so keen on signing the Harvard Oath, we all sign up the IE Ethics Code within few seconds.

So, we not only studied a case that day, but we also lived it and that for me, was the highlight of our first day of orientation.

I guess, this correlation is enough for me, to let go off that tree in Erik's concluding story and jump off the cliff - because I am now assured that the leap is going to be an adventure. Besides, there is someone up there to watch over us anyways.

The Beginnings ..

During my anticipations of the D-Day, I always remembered a scene from one of the famous Bollywood Movies, where Amitabh Bachchan - the Indian Superstar delivers a opening day speech "Tradition, Discipline, Honor - these are core values of this institution ....."
I wasn't sure if I should expect something similar today, yet the excitement was high (despite the chilling Madrid weather this morning) and so were the expectations. So, here's about the actual experience.

When the bus ride began, I knew this ride of 1 hour was a good chance to begin with "networking" and I mean, I did get the name, background, etc of the Peruvian guy sitting next to me, but then we left each other at that and started enjoying the amazing view on both sides of the road to Segovia - the snow clad mountains, the ancient and rural buildings and the beautiful landscape around. I have got to go back to this place with my camera!!

Day started with breakfast and the time was meant to be spent mingling with classmates - Meet and greet people, ask them names, become friends with them - hmmm - Will I remember these names tomorrow? Not sure, lets give it a try anyways!!

I was never so good at introductions, so instead of individual 'Hi's and 'Hello's I started joining groups and when somebody said, "hey I don't know your name yet", there used to be a round of introductions by all.
During all the mingling sessions today, it was the same pattern for me and at the end of it all, I remembered no names at all !!
There is one exception to this though - When I had just moved out of one of the groups and was hunting for the next group to join in, suddenly a girl walked over to me and said "hi, I am Natalie" and then we talked for a couple of minutes and dispersed. So, apart from the introduction in bus, this was the only one-to-one introduction I got involved into and I remember the name. If I hear too many of them, I forget them all - I think next time, I should go for one-to-one talks rather than group talks.

Opening Ceremony speeches were good - some better than others. In fact the Dean's speech was really a welcome note than a speech.

And yes, although I didn't get an answer to my question/concern right away during the Key Note Speaker's QnA session - when this person Erik, who was coordinating the ceremony crossed me during the break, he immediately said "You are jumping the gun. Don't worry, we will get there".
That was all I needed to hear and He made sure I got my answer :-)

While returning back from Segovia, with a little stimulation from all the Wine consumed at lunch time, I started to process the whole thing.

First thought which came to my mind was the buzzword - Action Learning: Learning by actually doing it, learning something by experiencing it - And then, as per my usual inclination towards finding symbolism and metaphors, the thought process began.

Isn't it more effective to show the cultural heritage which IE has adopted, which it cherishes and which it is helping preserve than to just say, we value culture and tradition; isn't it more fascinating to experience a ride through green landscapes, admiring and appreciating the beauty of mother Earth and falling in love with it all over again, than to hear a speech on conservation of nature.
What can convey the message on strength of the IE community more effectively than the ancient roman era aqua-duct, standing tall for last 2000 years, only because the bond between each of the individual stones is so strong that they have never needed any artificial cementing.
Isn't seeing all those flags proudly pinned to attires of everyone, and the variety in them a better way to communicate the global outlook and diversity at IE?
What can be a better way of assuring that this experience will change our life and will enable us with all the tools and all the help that we want for changing the world, than to take us all within the same walls, where Christopher Columbus met Queen Isabella and solicited her support and funding for his Voyage to the land of golden opportunities.
Isn't this historical event good enough to serve also as a beacon of hope for all the aspiring Entrepreneurs among us?
Wow !! I think I am going to like this place :-)

Day Zero OR Day One :-)

That's correct folks!!

The big question that is troubling our opening day (as if a day can think) is:
"To Be or Not To Be?"

Well, let me help it ease that burden. My personal verdict is "To Be" :-)

And why is it so??

BECAUSE, even the ceremonial proceedings of the day taught us something and so the day counts and hence this blog is about the FOUR-ONE-SIX : a roller-coaster ride, a once-in-a-lifetime journey, spanning a total of 416 days, with each day having its own story.

AND, here is how the story unfolds itself, with each passing day ...