Weekend with Colby and Rebekah

Our friends Colby and Rebekah came to visit us over the weekend and it was a very nice break from MBA life. It was pretty intense too.

Friday we went to a Formal Hall at Magdalene College, courtesy of my colleagues Carlo and Amane. It was the first formal for Miriam too and the first time Diego and Leo stayed with a babysitter. Everything went well and we all really ejoyed it. Colby and Rebekah were quite impressed by the scenary and the college master saying grace in latin, among other things.

Saturday we enjoyed the best weather of the year, a true spring day. I played football in the morning at Parker's Piece while other MBAs practiced ultimate frisby for the MBAT. For lunch we decided to improvise a picnic in the park and got massive and delicious burgers from GBK. They make probably the best burgers I've ever eaten.




In the afternoon we went punting. The river was packed and it was quite funny because we had a few crashes with other boats and also saw a couple of people falling into the water. It was the first time I went punting this year and I did pretty badly. I was going from one side to the other of the river. Colby was doing it for the first time and did actually quite well.

Sunday the weather changed and it poured rain most of the morning. After church we went for lunch to a pub and finally decided to stick to our plan and take a train to Ely. We were lucky because entry to the Cathedral was free and we even managed to see the kids choir singing. Finally we took a tea at almost five in a very nice courtyard just behind the cathedral.

I love having friends at home. It's the only way I actually unwind.

First week of the Easter Term

The first impression is that the Easter Term is quite different from the previous two terms. People are more relaxed -and tired- and courses don't run evenly during the term but just for a few days over a week or a few weeks.

We have five core courses, four electives to choose from a pool of 25 and a few seminars and workshops. Inevitably the class is much more streamed and in some electives we are only 10-15 students.

This week we have started -and finished- Cost Accounting and Negotiation Skills.

Cost Accounting was taught by Dennis Oswald, an American who has an impressive CV and used to teach at London Business School. The Negotiation Skills course was run by David Venter, a South African who teaches in Belgium and assisted Mandela and de Klerk in the negotiations to dismantle apartheid.

Lent Term and GCP are over

Time is really flying. I can't believe that in less than two months lectures will be over and my colleagues will start to go back to their home countries and/or their new jobs. But that's the essence of the Cambridge MBA, one year that will last you a lifetime.

Yesterday we did the GCP presentation and both the client and our tutor seemed quite impressed. We as a team also felt everything went quite well. At least we celebrated afterwards as if it was a success. We went to the nearby Hotel du Vin and then had dinner at Fitzbillies. I was so tired at the end that I missed the end of term pub night.

But there is no time to rest. Monday the Easter Term starts with the first Cost Accounting and Negotiation Skills lectures. And of course, there are already pre-readings to do.

Jo left JBS

Jo Grantham - the MBA Admissions Coordinator - has left the school after 21 years. She's going to work elsewhere within the University of Cambridge.

All the MBAs from this and previous years love her. She was almost our only contact with the school since since we applied till we started the program. She was ever so helpful answering all of our emails, allocating us to colleges and helping us in all ways.

There have been a couple of interview days after she left and though everything went well it didn't look the same. It was amazing how she would know all our names since the very first time.

When the sun shines

One of the funniest things of Cambridge in particular and the UK and other "cold" countries in general is that as soon as the sun shines everyones goes out and sits in the sun.

That has always been a quite funny thing for somebody like me who comes from Sevilla, where the sun shines over 300 days a year and people actually runs away from sun.

But now I live in Cambridge, I endured snow the day Spring begun, and now I also act like a leezard and go out as soon as I spot some sunshine.

That's exactly what we did the other day. It was still cold and the grass in the park was wet, but we decided to have a picnic.

The GCP continues in Amsterdam

During the last two weeks we have been reviewing literature and interviewing people at Saatchi & Saatchi in the London offices. It helped us to get into the right "change management" mindset and to know a bit more about The Lovemarks Company.

Sunday we flew to Amsterdam and Monday and Tuesday we interviewed seven people at the Netherlands office.

We basically decided to fly a day earlier to take the day off in Amsterdam. Robyn and Andrés had never been in Amsterdam before and though Will and I did we also thought it was a good idea.





We stayed at the The Gresham Memphis Hotel, that by the way is quite nice. It's close to the museums and a big park and at a walking discance from the center. The price was very good too.

The interviews went very well and now we have to focus in writing the report for the school and preparing the presentation to the client.

I really enjoyed the three days there. As you know I love bikes, and I completely fell in love with this one.

GCP at Saatchi & Saatchi

These days I’m doing my Global Consulting Project at Saatchi & Saatchi one of the world most reputed advertising agencies with clients like Toyota, Procter & Gamble, the Labour Party or Adidas.

I can’t tell much about the project because there are things that are confidential but I must say it’s being a very interesting and challenging experience.

We are working in a team of four: Will, a former plastic surgeon from the UK; Robyn a physical therapist and psychologist from Australia; Andrés, an economist from Chile; and myself.

As part of our work we are going to interview a dozen of people in the London and Amsterdam offices. We are meeting CEOs, creative directors, human resource managers, account managers, head strategists, board members and other members of staff.

Our project is about Lovemarks and The Lovemark Company, new concepts developed by Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide CEO, Kevin Roberts. Basically it’s about going beyond trademarks and brands and beyond creative and ideas companies and produce Lovemarks that create loyalty beyond reason.

Kevin Roberts is a very interesting character and an amazingly inspiring speaker. I already wrote about him at the beginning of the course when he came to talk to us. He’s going to come a couple of times more I believe, one of them for the Creativity Workshop.

And yes, you have read well, we are going to interview people in Amsterdam. Apparently Saatchi & Saatchi Netherlands is doing very well and we are going to spend two days there to find out why. Actually we are going to spend three days in Amsterdam, because we are flying on Sunday to get into the right mindset before the interviews on Monday. ;-)

Apart from that we are enjoying the fact that we don’t have lectures during one month so you can get organised to do other things apart from work. I’m spending a bit more time with family, going running at least three days a week and playing football when the opportunity comes.

Right now I’m flying to Seville and writing this post in Word to copy, paste and publish it when I get Internet connection. I’m going to spend 24 hours there to see my previous boss, go to the orthodontist, meet the people from Talentia, get some pictures taken for a magazine, see the family and hopefully some friends, eat good food, get some sunshine and hopefully survive the experience!

Oxford vs Cambridge

El sábado fue la regata Oxford-Cambridge, conocida aquí como The Boat Race, y además el partido de fútbol entre las selecciones de ambas universidades, el Varsity Match.

Oxford confirmó los pronósticos y se llevó la carrera. Cambridge ganó el trepidante partido de fútbol por 3-5.

El plan era ir toda la familia a echar el día en Londres pero al final el tiempo se puso muy malo y fui yo solo. Bueno, solo con otros 50 o 60 MBA.


El partido se jugó en el estadio del Fulham, que está literalmente pegado al río cerca del puente de Putney. El estadio tiene una especie de terraza con bares desde donde se ve el río y desde allí vimos pasar la carrera. Esto es como el ciclismo, una hora esperando para verlos pasar a toda leche durante unos segundos. Afortunadamente los bares tenían pantallas y en cuanto pasaron nos metimos dentro para ver terminar la carrera por televisión.

Como comentaba antes el partido de fútbol fue trepidante y Cambridge acabó ganando 3-5. Cambridge se adelantó tres veces en el marcador, pero Oxford empató las tres veces hasta que Cambridge marcó el cuarto en el 87 y el quinto en el descuento.

El mejor jugador del partido fue un chaval de Cambridge, un tal Stock de St. Catherine's College. Marcó los cuatro primeros goles en las cuatro ocasiones que tuvo y dio el quinto. Todo lo que hizo lo hizo bien. A mi personalmente también me gustó mucho uno de los centrales de Cambridge, Turnbull, y el nueve de Oxford, que según las niñas se parece al Prince Henry y tiene un nombre un poco pedante, Toogood.

De todas formas yo esperaba ver un poco de más nivel en el partido. Evidentemente los chavales eran buenos, pero no se veía demasiada rapidez ni precisión. Y no estoy comparando con el fútbol profesional, sino por ejemplo con el Cambridge United, que juega en el equivalente de Segunda B en España.

En la carrera de barcos prácticamente no hubo historia. Oxford era favorita y confirmó los pronósticos. El tiempo era muy malo, con mucho viento, y de hecho fue la carrera más lenta desde 1949. Oxford salió muy rápido y tomó un poco la delantera. Cambridge recuperó y se llegó a poner por delante al paso por el puente de Hammersmith. Sin embargo no consiguieron adelantar y tuvieron que coger la última curva de la carrera en paralelo por la parte de fuera, lo que los reventó.

Nosotros los MBA tendremos nuestro Varsity Match particular contra la Oxford Saïd Business School a finales de Mayo.