Give me a break!

It’s 11pm on a Saturday night and I’m sitting in Spencer (building for Ivey MBA students). What a way to spend a Saturday night. Its been a really rough day, in fact a really a rough couple of weeks. School has been kicking my ass lately and I think I’ve taken on a bit too much on the extracurricular side of things. I haven’t had much time at home or for myself and it’s taking a bit of a toll in a few different ways. The thing is that I don’t see a break in sight and I just seem to be taking on more and more. I recently decided that I will write and finally complete my Professional Engineering designation (i.e. write an exam) in April; yet another stress to add on while I complete the last couple of months of this intense program. The next couple of months promise to be insane, and I’ll have to make some changes to make sure that they are sustainable.

First off, I think I need to unload a bit of the extracurricular stuff; I think it’s about time that I transition the bulk of the Ivey MBAA blogging website responsibilities to the newly appointed team. The initiative has been hugely rewarding but it’s quickly becoming a monster; that said a successful monster as the site continues to grow in popularity by the week! Secondly, I need make the gym more consistent to keep the stress levels down and keep me sane. Thirdly, I need learn to limit my unproductive studying time so I avoid my natural nature of slipping into ‘analysis paralysis’; I tend to hit those late hours of studying which tend to be nothing but diminishing returns and a waste of time in hindsight. Most importantly, I need to make my partner more of a priority; I have been pretty absent from home lately and I don’t feel like that’s fair to her nor has it been easy for me.

Last weekend, ten of us took a trip up to Ottawa for the February long weekend. We had a fantastic time checking out the city and enjoying the winter’esque playground. We went snow shoeing in the Gatineau Park, we hit the Rideau Canal for Winterlude and we got a private tour of Parliament Hill and the Prime Minister’s office thanks to an Ivey schoolmate hook up ;) It was a good time with good friends and a memorable weekend to say the least.

Final exams are fast approaching. I’ve been studying most of the day and will continue to do so basically until the week is over with. I need a break but can’t find one. Oh well, c’est la vie. I’ll suck it up. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. By the way, I got my Operations course midterm back. I thought I did horribly, but somehow I did pretty well. I think it’s a testament to working with my former Team 5 learning team in preparation for that exam; we all managed to do well. I realized that one can excel in the MBA program without necessarily nailing the quantitative side of things (I screwed the calculations up on the exam). Having good qualitative descriptions, a big-picture view, and management insight can substitute for those quant marks. Ok..one more quote from Marketing class…I really like this one:

“ ‘Intel inside’ was the greatest brand building exercise before Barack Obama”

Pics from “Iowa, er, Ottawa” :)

Picture 1: Part time at dad's bar

Picture 2: Snow shoeing the Gatineau

Picture 3: Parliament Hill

Picture 4: The Canadian Prime Minister's conference board room

Giving Back...

Graduation is less than three months away and I’m getting excited. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to attend Ivey. Not only has it been an incredible academic and professional skill builder, but it has also been a builder on the personal front as well.

When you attend Ivey, there are a number of key buzzwords that seem to revolve around you day in and day both inside and outside the classroom: ‘alumni power’, ‘cross-enterprise leadership’,'leadership’, ‘integrity’, 'case-based method', ‘corporate social responsibility’ to name a few. These buzzwords are probably common in many schools, but at Ivey they are really engrained in you. You realize that these buzzwords form the foundation of all past and present Ivey graduates and that this foundation is a primary reason of why the alumni network is so strong, and why the Ivey brand is reputable.

As graduation is around the corner, I found it fitting to have come across a video narrated by Larry Rosen, CEO of Harry Rosen (a long standing Canadian menswear retailer). Mr. Rosen is an Ivey MBA grad and prominent spokesperson for the Ivey Alumni Society. Watching this video made me think about what it means to be apart of the Ivey Alumni society and how the school’s success has been largely based on a set of common qualities exhibited by most Ivey grads; that we share a common interest in being Ivey ambassadors for life, that we strive to be ethical leaders, and that we understand the importance of giving back to the school that has given us so much. If you have a minute watch the video.

I recently found out about an Ivey tradition called the “Ivey Class Gift Campaign.” In 2001, the MBA and HBA students at the time decided that they wanted to do something to give back to the school and show support for incoming students. They wanted to leave a legacy - Well they succeeded! That initiative has continued ever since and has been hugely successful. What inspires me most about it is the fact that it is completely student-driven, and that despite mountainous debt loads students still want to give back. Since 2001, outgoing MBA and HBA classes have given back over $180k and have initiated a number of improvement programs; setting up new scholarships for incoming students, improving the school’s furnishing, and constructing new lockers to name few. I find that inspirational.

As graduation is around the corner, I’m excited about graduating, I’m excited about taking the Ivey pledge and earning my Ivey Ring, I’m excited about becoming an Ivey alumnus and Ambassador for life, and I’m excited about taking part in the Ivey Gift Campaign and doing my part to continue this legacy of giving back to the school and to future students.

I Can See the Light at the End of the Tunnel!

It has been a while since I last posted. I kept waiting for a time when things would calm down in school but that never seems to come anymore. This module has been particularly tiring, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel; yes – only 3 months to go until graduation. Frankly, I think I am ready to move onto the post-MBA phase of my life but at the same time I already know that I’m going to miss coming to school everyday. I realize more than ever that I love coming to school everyday; socializing with all the great people in this program, listening to the engaging class debates, and absorbing life in an unfamiliar surrounding. I know that life is about to get way more routine very soon as I venture back in the workforce.

On the first day of class following the Christmas holidays, our IT professor took 15 minutes out of the class to ask each of us what we would remember most from our MBA program experiences. It was incredible to hear what everyone had to say. It made me remember so many wonderful moments that I seemed to have forgotten. It also made me realize how this program has provided value to each of us in so many different ways. Common memorable experiences included: the China study trip, Outward Bound/Ropes day, diversity of the classroom, friendship, ups and downs of the program, being there for each other, teamwork, and alumni interaction.

This module (2B) is composed of a Management Operations course (plant and supply chain operations), a Marketing course, and an IT Management course. All three courses offer very different and useful perspectives about Cross-Enterprise leadership, but I must say that Marketing is my favourite course. The professor is incredibly engaging, and the cases we cover are very interesting. I thought I’d spit out a few quotes that have stuck with me over the last few weeks (one from each course):

“The best technical solution may not work politically and the political solution may not work best technically.” ~Nicole Haggarty, IT Management Professor

“When you think of innovation don’t think of it in terms of new products, think of it in terms of new market segments” ~Niraj Dawar, Marketing Professor

“Culture is what people do when no one is looking” ~Larry Menor, Management Operations

Here’s one more from marketing class, but it in fact comes from some professor in Chicago: “All communication between human beings is persuasion.” I couldn’t agree more. I guess with this blog entry I’m trying to persuade you to go to Ivey and do your MBA because it’s so memorable and because you will be enlightened by your professors’ cool quotes :) By the way, I just wrote my Operations mid-term exam yesterday and my brain is fried. It was one of the most tiring exams I’ve ever had, and I’m still not recovered from it.

Until next time…

Sacha