One Month Down, 11 To Go

One month of Ivey is completed. Wow time is flying by! The experience thus far has been exceptional for me. I’m learning a lot about myself, and living away from home is helping me develop in ways I could never foresee. The interesting part is that most of my learning in the first month has been mostly from a personal perspective and not so much from an academic perspective. I didn’t see that coming. In my last blog entry, I talked about how I felt that I was changing as a person in a very rapid fashion. That change continues to accelerate. I feel like my personality is moulding on a daily basis. I want to be more social, more open-minded, and more comfortable with myself.

Geeta came back to London this week. I’m glad she’s back and I didn’t realize how glad I was until she came through the door. The truth is that my time alone was really good for me in a number of ways, and confusing in others (i.e. dealing with all the change). Within an hour of her being back, we engaged in a very deep conversation on everything I felt like I was going through. You know what’s amazing about the whole thing; our talk was a frank reminder on why we are good together and how good we are with being open about things. She totally gets me and encourages me to keep exploring the path I’m on, and the areas that perhaps I missed out on when I was younger. I respect that she is so supportive and I hope I can do the same for her. I’m glad she’s back because we don’t do as well when we’re apart for long periods of time. We also had to make some personal decisions this week and it was definitely much easier doing that in person then over the phone where our discussions often end up stressing the other out.

I just completed a case reading on GE and Jack Welch, and was blown away by it. As many Nortel employees know, Nortel is under a business transformation process that is bringing many of GE’s Six Sigma and operation strategies into the corporation. I never realized that the changes occurring in Nortel were essentially a carbon copy of those that took place in GE. Reading this case was like getting a copy of the playbook or the master blueprint for the company and where we’re going, what the culture will be like, and how decisions will be made….unbelievable. I think I understand the 10 000 foot view of Nortel’s strategy now; how we are traversing from a hardware company to a service-oriented company to get those higher margins and move a way from a commodity market, how we are aiming to be #1/#2 in a market segment or fix, sell, or close it, how we are weeding out those that don’t deliver and share the same values, how we are de-layering the company and making the environment boundary less, how leadership development is being promoted from within, how we are globalizing….all very interesting to read and relate to.

Exercise has become an incredibly lifting part of my days! I’m trying to do something active at least 4 to 5 days a week. These days I’ve picked up the habit of running outside after class or taking a swim in the evening hours when I get home. Not only has it been fantastic stress relief, but it’s energizing me after those long days in class. I put together a new mix of MP3s that seem to pump me up and get me going. I’ve got a new song stuck in my head this last week; “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay. Great intro and a great hook to that tune: Very ‘U2’; hence the reason I probably like Coldplay.

I’m in the midst of doing a number of self-assessments as per a course requirement. I think that often times when we are buried in our day jobs, we don’t put enough emphasis on doing these assessments. They are imperative to identifying changing interests, strengths, and weaknesses and offer an interesting perspective on how to keep yourself relevant, challenged, and happy. Although many of those surveys are painful, they are worth it in the end. Thanks to all that completed my 360 feedback!

That’s enough for this week. Wish me luck on my first mid-term exam this Thursday…..Did I
mention that I’m in the preliminary process of engaging Mike Zafirovski, CEO of Nortel to visit Ivey and deliver a key note presentation? More on that next time.