Its late Saturday night and I’m writing a blog entry...Don’t ask me why. I stayed home tonight which is pretty untypical for a Saturday night in the Ivey MBA program. Geeta joined me late in the evening after she put in a long day helping out with the Canadian MBA Leadership Conference (more on that later). We decided to keep it low key tonight and so we rented ‘Harold and Kumar’; pretty funny and silly….exactly the type of movie we were looking for tonight. Geeta fell asleep during the movie (she’s been on her toes non-stop for a number of days) and hence I’m burning off some excess energy as I write this. Today was a weird day. I think I got really bored! Life passes by really fast in an MBA program with school work, friends, and all the related class social events. Many of us call it the “Ivey Bubble”, a year of unprecedented learning, socializing, networking, and classroom drama. The truth is that I haven’t really sat at home doing nothing in a really long time. I almost feel like today was a bit of a detox session from life in the Ivey bubble ;) The weird thing is that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I tend to become restless when I’m doing nothing. The good thing was that the Senators were playing the Leafs. The unfortunate part is that the Sens lost again! It has been pretty depressing to watch them this year (so far). I hate it when my team is on a losing streak.
I thought I’d mention that I’m now an uncle for eighth time over. My sister-in-law delivered a healthy baby boy at 9lbs 8oz in London, U.K. Baby Adrian is doing great and hopefully we’ll get to see him soon!
When Geeta (my wife) lost her job at Nortel earlier this year, she was as happy as could be. I didn’t understand why. I had just taken a leave from work to pursue the MBA and we had gone from two good incomes to zero in a relatively short period of time. In honesty I was a bit scared. She told me that she wanted to do a career switch; that she was done with tech and that she wanted to become an event planner! She had talked about it for years and I guess it was a good time to explore it… but I’ll admit that I was a bit sceptical. I’ve always been a believer that anyone who is passionate about their job will be a success at it. I never really understood Geeta’s passion for event planning until she took on a volunteer position to be an event planner for the first ever CMLC (Canadian MBA Leadership Conference), which was hosted at Ivey this past weekend with students coming in from 13 Canadian MBA programs across Canada. Our MBA student council here at Ivey were pleased to have Geeta helping out and warmly integrated her into the role. Geeta did a fantastic job in helping to plan and organize the event, and it was a huge success. Above and beyond everything though, I realized how passionate Geeta was about the role. She’d been working really hard at it for a couple of weeks now and I hadn’t seen her like that in a long time. If there’s one thing I get inspired by, it’s watching people’s passion for things they love. My wife’s passion for event planning inspired me this week, and I’m really proud of her. I know now more then ever that event planning is what she’s meant to do. For those of you contemplating a post-MBA career; don’t lose sight of your passions despite the $$ that other careers may offer in the short run. I truly believe that following one’s passions is a long-term gain perhaps in exchange for some short-term pain.
Speaking of the CMLC conference; it was an initiative originally conceived by some past Ivey MBA student councils (now graduated). This current MBA council actually made it happen and it’s a testament to the strength of the students in this school. The American schools have been hosting conferences like this for sometime now; sharing best practices and strengthening the MBA experience across their country and across many schools. Hopefully, the CMLC will achieve the same objectives here in Canada and will continue on for years to come.
Brian Tobin, former Premier of Newfoundland and Minister of Industry & Fisheries and Oceans kicked off the CMLC conference on Friday with a heart-felt speech. He spoke candidly from his experience, and offered many wise words of wisdom. He was polished, honest, and simply a fantastic speaker! I guess I know where his daughter (a classmate of mine) gets it from ;) The one thing I will take away from his speech was some of his words about what constitutes a successful leader…it went something like this: “A good leader is someone who can sail the ship through the rough waters and is not afraid to jump into tough conditions. Any leader can sail a ship through calm seas.” I couldn’t agree more. He spoke highly of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his work ethic as a leader. He shared accounts of how there was never a bottleneck in Chretien’s leadership (i.e. his desk was always clear at the end of the day and all his work and decisions were made before he left the office). He spoke about leaders that navigated through the rough seas and that had to make tough decisions that weren’t popular; Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Brian Mulroney in Canada with the introduction of the GST. He talked about achieving the impossible; Canada eliminating its $42 billion deficit in the 1990’s and producing ten consecutive surpluses. It was a fascinating speech to say the least, and you could really see the passion come through from all that he’s done in life…inspirational to me!
I wanted to share a quick story from class this week. Last Thursday, our Professor came down with laryngitis. We were studying a case on the 2004 NHL Hockey strike. As a solution to the problem, she asked a classmate to lead and teach the class. One particular classmate stepped up to the challenge and did a fantastic job that really blew us all away. This student actually worked for the NHL Players Association at one time (the union side of the strike). What impressed many of us wasn’t so much his in-depth knowledge on the case (which was incredible), but rather how well he did acting in the role of a case-based facilitator. The role of the professor in a case-based school like Ivey is not to lecture or to provide answers but rather to facilitate a class-led discussion by probing, challenging, and pushing the subtle intricacies of the case. It’s this method that makes the students think in new ways and consider new angles; the perfect method to developing an effective decision maker. It’s amazing how well this student did, and its further evidence of the depth of the students in this class.
Until next time…
Sacha
Check out other Ivey MBA Student Blogs @ http://iveymbastudents.blogspot.com .
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
The MBA Pays Off....
October has been a good month for blog writing ;) As you can probably tell, I’ve got a lot more time on my hands these days. We’re currently in the GLOBE module studying economics, technology, and demographics amongst other topics and it is definitely less intense then the first 5 months. I find myself free most nights which has given me time to watch some t.v.; something that I haven’t really done since I’ve started the MBA.
Lots of news to report! First off, I’ve decided to take up a job offer from IBM!! I still can’t believe it myself. I’ll be working as a consultant in the telecommunications sector of IBM’s’ Global Business Services division, and yes that means that I will be leaving Nortel after six years of service ;( As many of you know, I am a Nortel loyalist and it was an extremely tough decision for me to make. I’ve loved every minute of my career at Nortel and its company that is very close to my heart. Many things have changed over the last month at Nortel and I feel that IBM will be a good move for me both from a career progression perspective, but also from a security perspective. Working as a consultant in the telecommunications sector will give me a first hand look into the business operations of our primary carriers in Canada including BCE, Telus, Rogers and others. Having spent the majority of my career in the technology and networking side of telecom, I am sure that it will be a wonderful learning experience for me to work to understand how the carriers operate and the business issues that they face day to day. I feel like the consulting position is a good fit for me as it aligns with my strengths, and I feel that it will allow me to enhance and fine tune the skills I will need in order to achieve my long term goals (to become an executive one day). Geeta and I will be moving to Toronto in May! Its kind of nice having a job locked in six months before graduation, and I think its proof that Ivey has a great brand/reputation and that there are always jobs out there even in a bad economy.
I thought I’d mention something about negotiations while I’m still on the topic of accepting a job with IBM. I recently completed a negotiations elective course in the MBA program and learned a number of invaluable tips. Despite not doing very well in the course from a grading perspective, I did find it very useful. I attribute my offer negotiation success to the some of my key takeaways from that course as follows: firstly to hold your cards close to your chest (i.e. not being too eager to give away too much information about what you want), being patient (i.e. taking a couple days to think about offer/counter-offer), knowing your starting point/resistance point/low point and a best alternative before engaging in talks, framing your case positively, and using a number of negotiation tactics including the ‘flinch’ techniques and ‘vise’ technique. I won’t elaborate on all of that because I don’t want to ruin the course for prospective students, but I will say that I was able to negotiate a better package as a result of my negotiating efforts. Furthermore, during the course itself we had to partake in an offer negotiation simulation with a classmate and we also got to watch our Ivey recruiting director, Sharon Irwin, engage in a simulated job offer negotiation with some lucky volunteer classmates. Both of these exercises were very valuable. What worked most effectively in my case was my patience, the fact that I had a job in my hand (at Nortel; which gave me ability to negotiate confidently), and understanding my value/being well-researched (Vault message board site rules!). The toughest part of the negotiation was when I wanted a one level promotion above where they were coming in at. I didn’t like the level IBM was bringing me in at based on my experience. This negotiation point was a deal breaker for me if I didn’t get them to go one level higher, and I had to really fight for it. I had to justify my position by positively framing my prior experience, and by sending in additional information including a more detailed resume. Ivey’s recruiting office typically has students put together a one page ‘business resume’ that makes it very difficult to squeeze in all your experience in. The ‘business’ one page format resume is great for many MBA jobs, but in my experience I found that tech companies typically preferred the two page detailed resume. Anyhow, I am very pleased with my negotiations and I’m happy to be joining IBM!!
I haven’t really mentioned the market turmoil all that much so I thought I’d comment on that. The stock market has erased 42% of Geeta and I’s portfolio over the last month. It hurts and our spending habits have been affected! I just count my lucky stars for not investing my tuition money ahead of the MBA ;) Prior to the MBA, Geeta and I sold our rental property in Ottawa in order to finance my MBA (amongst other reasons including a string of bad tenants). I decided to keep most of that money in cash on the advice of a very good Ivey finance professor (thanks Prof. Hatch). Some recent good news is that the LIBOR rate spread (the spread between the Central Bank interest rate and the rate that banks lend to each other) is coming down, which is an indication that the liquidity crisis is hopefully being resolved by the interest rate cuts and bailout $$ injected by the world’s governments. Now we just have to deal with that pesky recession that we’re in ;) I have a feeling that markets are at their lows and I’m envious of anyone that has the cash to jump in now. We recently had a special class on the credit crisis (delivered by Prof. Hatch), and I find myself far more knowledgeable about what’s going on. The other day, I flipped on CNBC and found myself understanding the economics lingo of the credit crunch…which was really cool. Ever heard of “jingle mail”? That’s when someone forecloses on their house (i.e. decides to go bankrupt and abandon their mortgage) by mailing their keys to the bank…hence the ‘jingle’ of the keys in the mail ;) I guess excess ‘jingle mail’ is part of what started this mess.
I recently participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure. It was my first time fundraising and doing something for a good cause. I ran 5km for breast cancer. Who knew that it would be so fulfilling? I felt good about the whole thing and I know that I will continue to participate in more events like this in the future. The Ivey Circle team raised over $2700 for the cause. If you haven’t done something like this before, I promise you that you’ll feel good about yourself after you do it.
On a side note, we’ve recently been talking about AIDS in Africa a lot in class. In particular, we’ve learned about how severe this pandemic is and how 30% of the African continent has AIDS and will die in the next 20 years. This is wrong and we must do more as a generation to rectify the situation. Bono is one of my idols and I particularly respect the work he has done to raise awareness on the issue. He is using his celebrity and power to lobby governments to open their wallets and minds to work around the political corruption in many African countries and to ensure that help is reaching the people. Bono was recently interviewed on CNN. What blew me away were the facts about how the work everyone has been doing over the last decade has made a difference….something we don’t hear as much about. How has the world’s efforts helped Africa over the last decade? Debt cancellation (i.e. rich countries cancelling the debt of poor African countries) has resulted in 29 million more African children in school! In addition 2.5 million Africans are now on AIDS/HIV drugs as result of initiatives like the ONE campaign and Project Red. It is estimated that $25 billion would put almost every African in school, would eradicate malaria, and dramatically increase clean water supplies. That’s not a lot of money considering the combined $3.1 trillion that the U.S. and the EU have recently announced as part of the credit crisis bail out. I know that money is not the entire solution to this problem; dealing with political corruption in Africa, and educating the people are also keys to this puzzle….but I’m blown away with the progress and I’m more confident that we can help beat this issue down. Check out Bono’s CNN interview @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14lXAy_9vKc .
Last Friday was the Indian festival of Karwa Chauth! Karwa Chauth is a fast practiced by Indian wives around the world to ensure the well-being, prosperity and longevity of their husbands. Based on the website http://www.karwachauth.com/ , it’s also a festival that provides an opportunity for all married women to get close to their in-laws. Having been married for four years now, Geeta (my wife) has taken part in this festival four times…thanks for wishing me long life honey! On the day of the festival, Geeta didn’t eat all day until the moon comes out. When she sees the moon, she does a little prayer with me and then opens her fast. It’s really fascinating to take part in the festival (especially since I was born in Canada and haven’t done a lot to keep in touch with my roots). I never knew much about the festival until I was asked to explain it to some of my peers at school the other day. Of course the first question I got was why the men don’t have to do the same thing for their wives….good point….I guess its just tradition ;)
That was a long one! Until next time…
Sacha
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Its Thanksgiving weekend and I’m sitting in a coffee shop in downtown London called Coffee Culture. It’s one of my favourite spots to chill out at on a Sunday. I often come here to prep my cases for Monday’s class, or just to catch up on email etc. It’s become a bit of a habit and its one of the things I’ve come to really appreciate while living in downtown London. Of course tomorrow is a holiday and I’m exploiting my time off to the fullest; 10 hours of sleep per night baby!
When Geeta and I took the plunge to accept the Ivey MBA admission and make the move to London, Ontario, Canada we came down twice to scope out locations to live at. Neither one of us had ever lived in a downtown core before. We are both more of your suburban goers and taking the decision to live in downtown wasn’t an easy one. Coming into the MBA, Geeta and I decided that we wanted to live out of our characters; to take more risks, and to try out new things/experiences. As part of the motto we decided to take up an apartment downtown and we love it. If you’re considering Ivey for your MBA and if you have a car, be sure to consider living downtown. Most of our social events are downtown and you rarely need to drive anywhere except for class! Furthermore, its quieter then typical downtowns in bigger cities and you are privileged to be within walking distance of a number of great restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and food markets. While we’re on the topic of ‘living outside our character,’ I guess it’s fair to mention that the two of us have become far more outgoing this year. For example, Geeta and I grew out of the clubbing/partying scene many years ago and were more of the hang out at home with friends/dinner/occasional drink type of people. With 70 new friends in the MBA program, we find ourselves clubbing it up, attending theme parties, and doing things we stopped doing so long ago. We realized that when you have so many good friends, things that we didn’t typically like doing become super fun! We are already worrying about the end of the program when this fantastic experience will come to an end. Since over half the class will end up in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) post-MBA, there is definitely a huge incentive for us to move to Toronto so we can continue living it up.
The last week has been really interesting. I’ve been interviewing outside Nortel and I’m faced with some tough decisions on whether to leave Nortel and go elsewhere. Moreover, I’m being faced with a dilemma’s around $$ versus passions/interests versus job security. The stock market crash and pending economic crisis are weighing heavily on my mind. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to hold out for that perfect post-MBA position. I’m a believer that the perfect job lies in the intersection of where one’s passions intersect with one’s strengths. If you find a job in that sweet spot, the $$ will surely follow. Considering that unemployment is likely to rise, and wages will thereafter fall (thanks to my recent macro-economic training at school), I’m thinking that I maybe better off financially locking into a job earlier rather than later. Couple that with the fact that Geeta is in the midst of a career switch (it will take a bit of time for her to bring in income), I’m thinking I ought to sacrifice and compromise a bit on my post-MBA passions. Wow…who knew it would be so hard not to sell out. Keep you posted.
About a month ago, I had an opportunity to attend the World MBA Fair in Toronto with some of my student ambassador colleagues. We were representing Ivey, and what an experience it was! The Ivey booth was by far the most popular at the fair (including many prominent U.S. schools). The sheer volume of interest in Ivey reconfirmed the power of the Ivey brand and I think we all felt proud to represent the school. There were approximately 15 of us there representing Ivey (students, admissions staff, faculty, dean), and I don’t think any of us had more then 10 minutes to rest our voices over a six hour period as there were constant line ups of prospective students looking to talk to us. Pretty awesome experience! The next one is in Toronto on Nov 8 at the Convention Centre (downtown) for those that are interested; http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/mba/contact/fairs.htm .
On a side note, Slice TV has been filming a reality show at Ivey for the last few weeks and will continue to do so for a few more weeks. Its not The Apprentice, but it’s still kind of cool being able to tell your friends that they are filming a show at your school (although despite numerous attempts I haven’t been able to get into the background while filming….;)). The annoying part is that they are using our gym and common room for six weeks during the daytime hours. It’s put a bit of a damper in my workout schedule since the showers and workout equipment aren’t available 8-5pm daily. What’s impressive is that the school has been quick to listen to the student complaints and have made amends by setting up some treadmills in an alternative room with shower facilities….definitely makes me happy!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sacha
When Geeta and I took the plunge to accept the Ivey MBA admission and make the move to London, Ontario, Canada we came down twice to scope out locations to live at. Neither one of us had ever lived in a downtown core before. We are both more of your suburban goers and taking the decision to live in downtown wasn’t an easy one. Coming into the MBA, Geeta and I decided that we wanted to live out of our characters; to take more risks, and to try out new things/experiences. As part of the motto we decided to take up an apartment downtown and we love it. If you’re considering Ivey for your MBA and if you have a car, be sure to consider living downtown. Most of our social events are downtown and you rarely need to drive anywhere except for class! Furthermore, its quieter then typical downtowns in bigger cities and you are privileged to be within walking distance of a number of great restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and food markets. While we’re on the topic of ‘living outside our character,’ I guess it’s fair to mention that the two of us have become far more outgoing this year. For example, Geeta and I grew out of the clubbing/partying scene many years ago and were more of the hang out at home with friends/dinner/occasional drink type of people. With 70 new friends in the MBA program, we find ourselves clubbing it up, attending theme parties, and doing things we stopped doing so long ago. We realized that when you have so many good friends, things that we didn’t typically like doing become super fun! We are already worrying about the end of the program when this fantastic experience will come to an end. Since over half the class will end up in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) post-MBA, there is definitely a huge incentive for us to move to Toronto so we can continue living it up.
The last week has been really interesting. I’ve been interviewing outside Nortel and I’m faced with some tough decisions on whether to leave Nortel and go elsewhere. Moreover, I’m being faced with a dilemma’s around $$ versus passions/interests versus job security. The stock market crash and pending economic crisis are weighing heavily on my mind. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to hold out for that perfect post-MBA position. I’m a believer that the perfect job lies in the intersection of where one’s passions intersect with one’s strengths. If you find a job in that sweet spot, the $$ will surely follow. Considering that unemployment is likely to rise, and wages will thereafter fall (thanks to my recent macro-economic training at school), I’m thinking that I maybe better off financially locking into a job earlier rather than later. Couple that with the fact that Geeta is in the midst of a career switch (it will take a bit of time for her to bring in income), I’m thinking I ought to sacrifice and compromise a bit on my post-MBA passions. Wow…who knew it would be so hard not to sell out. Keep you posted.
About a month ago, I had an opportunity to attend the World MBA Fair in Toronto with some of my student ambassador colleagues. We were representing Ivey, and what an experience it was! The Ivey booth was by far the most popular at the fair (including many prominent U.S. schools). The sheer volume of interest in Ivey reconfirmed the power of the Ivey brand and I think we all felt proud to represent the school. There were approximately 15 of us there representing Ivey (students, admissions staff, faculty, dean), and I don’t think any of us had more then 10 minutes to rest our voices over a six hour period as there were constant line ups of prospective students looking to talk to us. Pretty awesome experience! The next one is in Toronto on Nov 8 at the Convention Centre (downtown) for those that are interested; http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/mba/contact/fairs.htm .
On a side note, Slice TV has been filming a reality show at Ivey for the last few weeks and will continue to do so for a few more weeks. Its not The Apprentice, but it’s still kind of cool being able to tell your friends that they are filming a show at your school (although despite numerous attempts I haven’t been able to get into the background while filming….;)). The annoying part is that they are using our gym and common room for six weeks during the daytime hours. It’s put a bit of a damper in my workout schedule since the showers and workout equipment aren’t available 8-5pm daily. What’s impressive is that the school has been quick to listen to the student complaints and have made amends by setting up some treadmills in an alternative room with shower facilities….definitely makes me happy!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sacha
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Out with September and into the Fall...
It’s October, and the weather has taken a sudden turn toward winter. The mornings and evenings are cold and I’ve pulled out the old fall leather jacket to cope. It’s been a really interesting two weeks to say the least. We’ve started the GLOBE module in the Ivey MBA program. One week into this module and we’ve already overviewed macro-economics; who knew that economics would come so naturally to me? I guess having two parents with PhD’s in economics has rubbed off on me as much as I hate to admit it ;) GLOBE has been a nice break as I assumed it would be based on the word of previous outgoing students. There’s far less preparation and I feel like I’m getting more time for myself.
We had a week off in late September for recruitment activities. I spent the majority of the week in Ottawa. It was a crazy week. First off, a piece of good news; I successfully managed to throw Geeta a surprise birthday party….wow who knew that it would take so much coordination! The important part is that Geeta was surprised and we all had a great time; it was really nice catching up with friends and family. I figure it was time I surprised her with a bday party considering that she threw me a surprise birthday party three years in a row! The funny thing is that in all of those surprise bday party’s, I was in fact caught by surprise ;) As a joke, one of my best friend’s thought it would be funny to throw me a fourth surprise party in a row, and yes I was fooled again. I guess I’m just gullible.
Life at Nortel has taken a dramatic change to dark side in the last two weeks. The company is selling a major business unit and is enduring difficult times. The stock has plummeted over 50% and additional restructuring is likely pending. It’s heart-breaking for me to watch. I feel very passionate about Nortel and I want to see it succeed. I really wanted to be a part of the rebuilding process of that company post-MBA, but I'm feeling like it’s too late for this Canadian icon. Nortel gave my first job in high school, gave me a scholarship for my undergrad engineering studies, hired me back as a full-time employee after graduating, promoted me quickly, put me through their accelerated leadership program, and gave me a leave of absence for a year while I pursued my MBA. Do I feel loyal?....you bet and it hurts to watch this company falter. The full impact of the news was quite visible during my visit to Ottawa, Nortel’s R&D headquarters. I’m still on a leave of absence from Nortel while I pursue my MBA, and I spent three days out of my recruitment week catching up with colleagues, executive mentors, and my internal network. Having lunch with my former Leadership program teammates was an eye opener. We were supposed to be the cheerleaders for Nortel; the bunch that represented the new leadership and that motivated others to make Nortel a great Canadian company again. We were supposed to help make a difference. It was really hard for me to witness that even our most enthusiastic future Nortel leaders had suffered from the morale blow. Mind you, the news release is fresh in everyone’s head and I realize that with time the morale will go up but something seems different this time. Moreover, meeting with some of my executive mentors was also an eye-opener. When talking about my post-MBA plans with them, I was told off the record by multiple mentors that I should probably start considering companies beyond Nortel. That was really hard for me to hear, but I appreciated the non-bias advice. I have started looking beyond Nortel but am sticking to my guns when it comes to finding a position that aligns my strengths with my passions. I started interviewing with a few companies…keep you posted. On a side note Lauren Flaherty, CMO of Nortel, has had to cancel her visit to Ivey as a result of all that’s happening in Nortel. I’m hoping to reschedule her for a visit sometime in 2009.
The topic of friendship versus acquaintances has been a topic on my mind lately. Over the years, I’ve developed a lot of acquaintances (i.e. people that I socialize with but don’t consider close enough to open up to). Over that same time period, I would say that I’ve developed few ‘close’ friends and lost many others. I feel lucky to have married my best friend and I know that I can talk to her about anything, but I realize that it’s healthy to have and to keep good friends beyond one’s marriage. Throughout my life I’ve had many solid friends; mostly childhood friends that I continue to stay in touch with to this day. The unfortunate part is that many of my friends have become acquaintances over time and I’ve become more closed off and less trusting as a person as I’ve gotten older. Recognizing this, I’ve made a conscious effort this year to become a more open person, and I guess this blogs serves as part of that purpose. I’ve also made a conscious effort to make new friends and I feel that the MBA program has allowed me to make new ‘close’ friends. One thought that has been on my mind lately is how I’ve seemed to lose a few good friends over the years for really shitty reasons. It bothers me that I’ve let some friendships go over the years. Four years ago I stopped talking to one of my best friends after having a really dumb argument on a camping trip. Knowing that she and I are both stubborn in nature, it doesn’t surprise me that we still haven’t talked to each other four years later or that we threw away our friendship over an insignificant argument. I decided to put aside my stubbornness and finally reach out to her last week. I haven’t heard back and I guess I was a bit disappointed. It did however put things into perspective for me; it’s not worth throwing away a good friend because you’re too stubborn or because you want to prove a point. Good friends are hard to come by and I know that moving forward I’m going to make more of an effort to not let the little things get in the way.
Since the MBA program started, there have been a few people that have really influenced me both inside and outside the classroom. Without mentioning names, I though it would be neat to reflect on three of these individuals and how they’ve impacted me. I hope to follow-up with some descriptions of some others that have influenced me in a few blog entries from now down the road…here are the first three.
The first person is someone I respect and admire very much. She comes from a prominent Canadian family, but you’d never know it based on her grace, her diplomacy, and her tact. She’s modest, she’s confident, and she’s down to earth. She works hard, and puts a lot of pressure on herself to perform and seek excellence. She’s there for her classmates when they need her, and she takes on a lot of extracurricular responsibilities not because she has to but because she likes to add value. She’s nice, but gets strong when she needs to; the right mix of softness and strength. She’s serious, she’s professional, but she knows how to have fun as well. She’s a got a bright future written all over her. I find myself learning from her everyday.
The second person has taken a prominent class role; a tough job with little recognition. Few people realize the amount of work that is required for the job, yet he continues to work long hours to ensure that things run smoothly. He responds to emails late at night, with the Ivey brand on his mind at all times. He doesn’t need recognition or fame; he just wants the class to succeed and it is. His work ethic and responsiveness are contagious and I’m glad that I gave him my vote on class election day. I know that he’ll keep it up and I hope everyone recognizes his work.
The third person is an entrepreneur. She knows what she wants, and she’s driving forward with her dreams. She’s not concerned with all the others; she’s focussed on her objectives and you know she’ll get there. She’s appreciating the program and absorbing as much as she can get out of it. Her passion and energy make me that much more excited about the program. She’s an energy booster and she works long hours into the night to ensure that she’s learned what she’s needed to learn…my type of person.
Until next time.
Sacha
We had a week off in late September for recruitment activities. I spent the majority of the week in Ottawa. It was a crazy week. First off, a piece of good news; I successfully managed to throw Geeta a surprise birthday party….wow who knew that it would take so much coordination! The important part is that Geeta was surprised and we all had a great time; it was really nice catching up with friends and family. I figure it was time I surprised her with a bday party considering that she threw me a surprise birthday party three years in a row! The funny thing is that in all of those surprise bday party’s, I was in fact caught by surprise ;) As a joke, one of my best friend’s thought it would be funny to throw me a fourth surprise party in a row, and yes I was fooled again. I guess I’m just gullible.
Life at Nortel has taken a dramatic change to dark side in the last two weeks. The company is selling a major business unit and is enduring difficult times. The stock has plummeted over 50% and additional restructuring is likely pending. It’s heart-breaking for me to watch. I feel very passionate about Nortel and I want to see it succeed. I really wanted to be a part of the rebuilding process of that company post-MBA, but I'm feeling like it’s too late for this Canadian icon. Nortel gave my first job in high school, gave me a scholarship for my undergrad engineering studies, hired me back as a full-time employee after graduating, promoted me quickly, put me through their accelerated leadership program, and gave me a leave of absence for a year while I pursued my MBA. Do I feel loyal?....you bet and it hurts to watch this company falter. The full impact of the news was quite visible during my visit to Ottawa, Nortel’s R&D headquarters. I’m still on a leave of absence from Nortel while I pursue my MBA, and I spent three days out of my recruitment week catching up with colleagues, executive mentors, and my internal network. Having lunch with my former Leadership program teammates was an eye opener. We were supposed to be the cheerleaders for Nortel; the bunch that represented the new leadership and that motivated others to make Nortel a great Canadian company again. We were supposed to help make a difference. It was really hard for me to witness that even our most enthusiastic future Nortel leaders had suffered from the morale blow. Mind you, the news release is fresh in everyone’s head and I realize that with time the morale will go up but something seems different this time. Moreover, meeting with some of my executive mentors was also an eye-opener. When talking about my post-MBA plans with them, I was told off the record by multiple mentors that I should probably start considering companies beyond Nortel. That was really hard for me to hear, but I appreciated the non-bias advice. I have started looking beyond Nortel but am sticking to my guns when it comes to finding a position that aligns my strengths with my passions. I started interviewing with a few companies…keep you posted. On a side note Lauren Flaherty, CMO of Nortel, has had to cancel her visit to Ivey as a result of all that’s happening in Nortel. I’m hoping to reschedule her for a visit sometime in 2009.
The topic of friendship versus acquaintances has been a topic on my mind lately. Over the years, I’ve developed a lot of acquaintances (i.e. people that I socialize with but don’t consider close enough to open up to). Over that same time period, I would say that I’ve developed few ‘close’ friends and lost many others. I feel lucky to have married my best friend and I know that I can talk to her about anything, but I realize that it’s healthy to have and to keep good friends beyond one’s marriage. Throughout my life I’ve had many solid friends; mostly childhood friends that I continue to stay in touch with to this day. The unfortunate part is that many of my friends have become acquaintances over time and I’ve become more closed off and less trusting as a person as I’ve gotten older. Recognizing this, I’ve made a conscious effort this year to become a more open person, and I guess this blogs serves as part of that purpose. I’ve also made a conscious effort to make new friends and I feel that the MBA program has allowed me to make new ‘close’ friends. One thought that has been on my mind lately is how I’ve seemed to lose a few good friends over the years for really shitty reasons. It bothers me that I’ve let some friendships go over the years. Four years ago I stopped talking to one of my best friends after having a really dumb argument on a camping trip. Knowing that she and I are both stubborn in nature, it doesn’t surprise me that we still haven’t talked to each other four years later or that we threw away our friendship over an insignificant argument. I decided to put aside my stubbornness and finally reach out to her last week. I haven’t heard back and I guess I was a bit disappointed. It did however put things into perspective for me; it’s not worth throwing away a good friend because you’re too stubborn or because you want to prove a point. Good friends are hard to come by and I know that moving forward I’m going to make more of an effort to not let the little things get in the way.
Since the MBA program started, there have been a few people that have really influenced me both inside and outside the classroom. Without mentioning names, I though it would be neat to reflect on three of these individuals and how they’ve impacted me. I hope to follow-up with some descriptions of some others that have influenced me in a few blog entries from now down the road…here are the first three.
The first person is someone I respect and admire very much. She comes from a prominent Canadian family, but you’d never know it based on her grace, her diplomacy, and her tact. She’s modest, she’s confident, and she’s down to earth. She works hard, and puts a lot of pressure on herself to perform and seek excellence. She’s there for her classmates when they need her, and she takes on a lot of extracurricular responsibilities not because she has to but because she likes to add value. She’s nice, but gets strong when she needs to; the right mix of softness and strength. She’s serious, she’s professional, but she knows how to have fun as well. She’s a got a bright future written all over her. I find myself learning from her everyday.
The second person has taken a prominent class role; a tough job with little recognition. Few people realize the amount of work that is required for the job, yet he continues to work long hours to ensure that things run smoothly. He responds to emails late at night, with the Ivey brand on his mind at all times. He doesn’t need recognition or fame; he just wants the class to succeed and it is. His work ethic and responsiveness are contagious and I’m glad that I gave him my vote on class election day. I know that he’ll keep it up and I hope everyone recognizes his work.
The third person is an entrepreneur. She knows what she wants, and she’s driving forward with her dreams. She’s not concerned with all the others; she’s focussed on her objectives and you know she’ll get there. She’s appreciating the program and absorbing as much as she can get out of it. Her passion and energy make me that much more excited about the program. She’s an energy booster and she works long hours into the night to ensure that she’s learned what she’s needed to learn…my type of person.
Until next time.
Sacha
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