Exams over, assignments pending, GCP in progress

I wish I were an undergraduate in Cambridge. Their terms really last only two months and they don't have many hours of lectures. Today the city was half empty because the Lent Term is officially over and most of the undergrads have left. We, MBAs, have to finish some assignments and work in our Global Consulting Project, so life is not that easy for us.

Of course I'm simplifiying things a little bit. Undergrads in the University of Cambridge are very bright people, the best students from the UK and around the world. Normally they are mature, responsible, smart and focused people and though they might not have many hours of lectures they still have lots of revisions with their tutors, books to read and essays to write. I kind of like this academic model. You have much more room to focus on your priorities, you have to be responsible and self-motivated, and you always need to be able to integrate distinct information and produce knowledge.

But let's go back to the point of this post. First, we finished the exams for the term. Friday we did Strategy and International Business, two exams that as usual we had to write one right after the other in a three-hour slot. It's not easy to switch from one subject to the other on the spot and above all it's not easy to handwrite for three hours. I'm not used to it anymore and my hand and wrist hurted. My handwriting is even worse than it was when I finished my undergraduate degree and I wonder how the examiners can understand it.

I did the Strategy exam first and chose the question almost nobody else chose. There were two questions, one about strategic alliances, the one I chose, and the other one about strategy frameworks, the one everyone expected and almost everyone did. I was going to do it but I like to go against the stream so finally chose the alliances one. I didn't do the best exam in my life, nor the worse, so it should be ok.

Then I did the International Business part. In this case there were three questions and we had to chose one. I chose again the first one, which was about the shift and blurring of the boundaries of the firms in the Global Business Revolution. It was basically writing about the "cascade effect", the favourite theory of Peter Nolan, probably the best lecturer I have had so far in the MBA. I was a bit tired in the end and though I made all the points I wanted to make I probably didn't organise and express my ideas as well as I could. I still need to improve my English and my essay writing technique.

But thought exams are over, I still have three assignments pending. The People Management group and individual assignments and the Global Marketing individual paper. I'm working on them but they are due next week so I still have some time to waste with my blog.

To be honest People Management has dissappointed me a little bit. It's an elective but I think it overlaps too much Management Practice and Organisational Behaviour. I expected something more practical, more "how to manage people" from the manager point of view, rather than revising again conceps like motivation, leadership, etc. But it's still useful. All the MBA alumni I know always say that while you are taking the course everyone pays more atention to the hard (quantitative) than to the soft (qualitative) courses, but that in the end, when you become a manager, what you really use the most is your soft skills.

On the other hand Global Marketing has even exeeded my already high expectations. Eden Yin is really an extraordinary lecturer. And when I say extraordinary I say good but also out of the ordinary, original, politically incorrect, challenging and fun. Their lectures are highly interactive but for some people his style is too harsh. In my opinion his attitude is part of the course and completely necessary. You need to question your assumptions, cure your cultural myopia and change your mindsets to be a good global marketer.

And as I mentioned before, while all the undergraduates are on holiday, we have to do our GCP. I'm doing it in a team with Andrés, Robyn and Will at Saatchi&Saatchi, one of the world leading advertising agencies. Our project coordinators are two MBA alumni, Jasper and Jane, which I believe is a great advantage because they know our expectations and also our potential and limitations. And our tutor is Allègre Hadida, the Strategy lecturer. She knows very well the company and his CEO Kevin Roberts and is being of great help.

Of course, after all this work and the exams we had a Pub Night at The Anchor on Friday. I went out late because I had dinner at home, put Diego to bed, and wasn't too sure about going out. I was a bit tired. But in the end I'm happy I went out because when I got there the party was at its peak and I had two or three hours of good fun and interesting conversations with colleagues. I even did my internationally famous "flag". I'll post a picture if I find it.