Back to the future

I'm back in Seville and hopefully back to the future. I finally took the new job in Seville, my fourth job since last september when I finished the Cambridge MBA. It might sound a bit weird all that changes, but when you know the details I think it all makes sense and in fact I'm very happy with my career progression since then.

The last move was not easy. I was very happy in Madrid in a new and very interesting position and in a great work athmosphere. But at the same time the new offer I received back in Sevilla was a challenging managerial position with lots of international exposure.

So I did what I normally do when I go running at a new place, I took the tougher route. I took the new job, left the flat I recently rented in Madrid, rented a house in Sevilla, and moved, again. That was the 1st of July. I've been quite busy since then. In fact I'm still at the office now, something quite unusual for a friday afternoon in Seville, in summer. But overall I'm very happy with the new job.

Miriam and the kids are also happy with the change. Now we live in a bigger house and near family and friends.

I will tell you more another day.

And from Madrid to?

When I wrote my previous post on my way to Madrid about a month ago I coudn't imagine I would have to take another big decision a few weeks later. On May 16 I was graduating in Cambridge and I was happy to tell all my friends about my new job in Madrid. But a few days later back in Madrid I received a call from Sevilla in what turned to be another job offer, a very interesting job offer 15 minutes walking from my flat.

My head started spinning and in fact is still spinning since then. Both jobs are cool, both jobs are well paid, both jobs involve a challenge and an opportunity, both would allow me to learn and grow my network of contacts, and of course both involve risks and have their downsides.

And the result is a tide. One is near home, but the fact is that I have already rented out my flat in Sevilla and a flat in Madrid, so now I have a home in Madrid but not in Sevilla. One is in a new city and a new administration, but with some old colleagues and bosses. The other one is in my home city, almost same administration but with new bosses and colleagues. One involves working in a team that has been working well and smoothly for years, the other means facing a group that has seen three managers in the last couple of years.

I have to take many things into account: a school for Diego, a nursery for Leo, a University and/or a job for Miriam, my parents and sister, my in laws, expenses, weather, friends, running, entrepreneurship opportunities, mid and long term plans, stability, loyalty, work-life balance, fun, stress, etcetera.

I hope to make the final decision this weekend... and never ever feel I took the wrong path.

See you next month

I just noticed I'll be in Cambridge for Graduation in just one month. Time flies!

I was in Cambridge in May two years ago for the interview day, was there last year too, of course, enjoying the last month of the MBA and some running success, and will return this year for Graduation. Great.

I bought the plane tickets months ago and have already booked a room with views to Jesus Green in the Arundel House Hotel, just a few meters from my old flat in Chesterton Road.

Jesus Green and the riverside are great places for running and that's one of the the first things I'll do on friday when I get there, going running with my friends Giulio, Giacomo, Alessandro and Ben. I also hope to be able to find a race to do on the weekend, so I have an excuse not to get too drunk during the celebrations.

This is going to be a very special weekend for Miriam and me because we'll leave the kids at home with my parents. It will be the first time we go out by ourselves for such a long time since Diego was born three years ago.

I know some of my friends will miss Diego and Leo, but we are waiting for them in Sevilla whenever they want to come. We still haven't received any visit from MBA friends in Sevilla. Looks like Victor and Daniela from Chile are going to be the first ones.

Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm looking forward to go and see everyone in JBS.

Los libros del GMAT ya están vendidos

Disculpadme por no haber borrado el post anterior. Los libros del GMAT los vendí hace un mes o así. De todas formas lo más sencillo es buscarlos por Amazon y lo más fiable es ir directamente a por las guías oficiales.

Os garantizo que es una buena inversión, y si no tenéis mucho tiempo es bueno que los compréis lo antes posible antes del examen. Mientras más practiquéis mejor.

En internet también se encuentran algunos recursos interesantes.

We are alive

We said we were going to keep this blog alive but obviously we're struggling. Many things have happened in the last few months. Probably the one that is making the harder impact in our lives is the credit crunch, financial crisis, economic slowdown, recession or however you want to call it.

This crisis -that probably some MBA colleagues have contributed to create- has frustrated the expectations of many of my friends, my hopes too, and I guess is worrying some of the readers of this blog, people taking an MBA in Cambridge or somewhere else and MBA candidates around the world.

But the MBA is not the problem, the crisis is the problem, and without an MBA things will probably be even harder. Of course we all should lower our salary expectations, should forget about some companies -expecially about the ones that went bust-, but I believe I am better prepared to do any job after the MBA and if you are humble enough to take a job that you can do better than anyone else you'll be fine, you'll be promoted soon, you'll get a real MBA job soon.

Why do I say this? Well, I'm a live example of this. I had a low GMAT, not a quantitave background, little management experience, but was very much into entrepreneurship, diversity, internationalisation, marketing and communication, and about management. And somehow I managed to be admitted in Cambridge and that changed my life for life. I hope for the better.

I have a new job since the 1st of January. The 1st of September I returned to my previous employer in a sligthly different role, but first the mere fact of having a Cambridge University degree and second that, of course ;-) I'm a better manager, took me to a senior management position within three month and now I'm the youngest guy in that position ever. I'm still working in the same sector, almost the same employer, but in a compleletely different role and with plenty of opportunities ahead.

But I have to warn you about the upsides too. I have a better job, I got a 50% salary increase, but I work longer hours and as a consequence my quality of life is much worse. I like my job, I enjoy what I do, but I have to handle lots of pressure, fire people, say no, work long hours, and that affects your personal life, specially your family life. We are ok. Miriam is happy, I'm happy. I try to make the most of the time I spend with my kids. But to be honest I hardly can see them at all from monday to thursday. This is something to think about.

More news. I had a foot injury -a stress fracture in the second metatarsal head of my right foot- last december. Now I'm back but I'm out of shape and with the new job I hardly can train on weekdays.

Miriam is very well, working part time and spending time with the kids. Diego has switched to Spanish but can speak and understand English too. Leonardo is starting to say his first words.

This weekend Miriam and I went on holiday with friends for the first time without the kids. It's being fun. We are in the hills in Huelva -Sierra de Aracena- eating great food, drinking beer, wine and rhum, playing table games, playstation, karaoke, basketball and football. Tomorrow everyone awake at 9:30 to watch Nadal-Federer in Australia.

Let's keep it alive

We have decided to keep this blog alive. The MBA is over but I still have to graduate and above all the Cambridge MBA is one year that will last you a lifetime.

Also a blog is a great way to keep family and friends up to date and to keep a diary too.

I didn't want to lose the MBA archive, as I have received many messages of MBA candidates who find it useful. That's another motivation to keep posting. Current students and alumni were of much help during my pre-MBA and I'm happy to be useful for new candidates now.

As you can see I have changed the "theme" and title to adapt to our new reality. I always talk about "we" or "our" because I believe my MBA wouldn't have been possible without the support of my wife and the joy provided by my kids.

I still plan to publish a few "retrospective" posts to tell you about the end of the MBA, the IP, our holidays, readapting home, jobs and so on.

Also, and I hope sooner than later, I'll start here a series of posts about the MBAs who come to visit us in Sevilla. Who's going to be the first?

I'm an MBA

A few days ago I received the letter from the new MBA Director Jochen Runde, the statement from the Committee of Examiners and the Official Transcript confirming I'm an MBA.

I also received my grade for the Individual Project, which I wrote with the title "Innovative approaches to increase revenues for football clubs - Can good business sense make football better?". It was fun, and I got a good grade.

I haven't been writing in the blog for a long time. Partly because I was busy, partly because I don't want to accept the MBA is over. In fact I'm telling myself is not over yet, because Graduation is on the 16th of May 2009.

Now I'm back to work in Sevilla, Spain. I returned to my previous employer, in a different department and possition, but with the same boss. I left that door opened during the whole year and I'm happy to be back.

As you may know I funded my MBA with a Talentia Scholarship which requires you to return to Andalucía or to an Andalusian company abroad for 4 years after the program. Otherwise you have to return the scholarship, which in my case is worth €56k.

At some point I considered the possibility of finding a job in the UK and repay the scholarship, but given the current work market circumstances and my family responsibilities, that soon became an utopia, especially if I wanted to keep my pre-MBA standard of living in the short term.

The MBA is a long term investment, and I think there are at least two ways to ripe benefits from it.

If you are young, single, come from a relatively low income country and are ready to work like crazy for a few years it definitely makes sense to take any MBA job in London and build your career from it.

But if you have a family, your pre-MBA job was already about MBA level, and you don't want to start from scratch again, it also makes sense going back home, either to your old company or another, and use the Cambridge MBA to grow within your network.

I chose option two, and honestly I still don't know if I made the right decision.

Sometimes I think I should have been more ambitious and try a different job, a different company, a different industry. I can't really stand still, I'm an entrepreneur.

But it's not only about me, so when I go back home from work (sometimes as soon as 15.00) and I meet my wife and my kids in the playground near my riverside flat, I realise that -at least for now- I'm in the right place.

MBA Ball

For me a ball has always been a sphere you can kick around. Here a ball is also a mega-party every college hold in Spring to celebrate the end of the academic year. As there are many colleges and to prevent clashes, they run from April to June.

This year, for the first time, the MBA class organised its own ball. It was another great job from the CBSC, a perfectly organised event. It was held at the University Arms Hotel, and it was a very strange feeling returning there after the Alumni Gala Dinner I went to in October. It felt like if it was a month ago. Time flies.

The party started at the school with drinks and prizes for the students that have contributed the most to the Cambridge MBA experience. Prizes went to Natalie from France and Janine from South Africa. What was the prize? A return ticket to anywhere in the USA with American Airlines.

Before leaving for the hotel we had an unofficial graduation picture, everyone in their tuxedos, rock star or dinner dresses. Actually Oliver missed the picture because he was watching a Germany match in the nearby Browns pub and I forgot to call him, Ofor from Nigeria was late and Dorji from Bhutan was in London. Probaly also a few others missed it. I managed to put Oli back in the picture with Photoshop. Where is Oli?

I was a good party but though there is still one more week of lectures people started to feel sad about the MBA being almost over. Many of us are going to stay over the summer, either in Cambridge or London, on holiday, working on assignments and IP, doing an internship or looking for jobs. But also many of us are going to leave soon and you never know when, if ever, are you going to see them again. It's a strange feeling.

Just in case we got a nice picture taken with our Chilean friends. From left to right, Andrés and Paula, Rodrigo and Blanca, us, and Victor and Daniela. Good friends I'm sure we are going to keep in touch with.

Once in the hotel we had dinner, Oscar Awards Ceremony and dancing.

In order to reduce costs we opted for a buffet dinner and that caused a massive traffic jam, but we all managed to eat and food was not bad for English standards.

The Oscar Ceremony was funny and very well run by David Sabel. I was voted by the rest of the class as Most Valuable Player, and there were many other funny prizes to Andrés as the most likely to be a CEO, Roupen as the best dancer, Juan and Natalia as the most likely to be models, and I can't remember more.

Finally, the dancing with Roupen, Vassily, Ileana and other superstars performing at their best. Music was provided by Cambiando, a salsa band where Oliver Campbell plays. Really good music.

How to contact me

In the last few weeks I have received comments from people who wanted to contact me, but they never left their email in the comments so I couldn't write them back.

I don't have my email on the blog to prevent spam, but if you leave me a comment with your email I will contact you. Don't worry, I won't publish that comment.

This post is especially for changho, chile trademark, dodo and sole.

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.

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!

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.

Muchas cosas que contar

Lo sé, hace mucho que no escribo. Y la verdad es que tengo muchas cosas que contar, pero nunca tengo tiempo. Así que voy a intentar hacer un resumen.

Las clases se han ido intensificando poco a poco hasta el punto de que el miércoles que viene tengo el primer examen del Lent Term (el segundo trimestre), de Innovation.

Ya os conté algo sobre Peter Nolan. También me lo estoy pasando muy bien en Global Marketing con Eden Yin. Es un auténtico crack. La verdad es que está un poco loco, o más bien se lo hace. Nos provoca, bromea con nosotros, hasta se ríe de nosotros, pero sobre todo nos hace pensar.

Esta asignatura va mucho de ver las cosas desde otro punto de vista, de darse cuenta de cuánto influye la cultura en la percepción de la realidad. Y Eden usa cualquier cosa para hacernos ver eso. Por ejemplo puede poner una foto de unos perros en una jaula y un puesto de perros fritos, de verdad, en no sé qué país asiático donde los perros se comen, y punto. En España me imagino que matas un perro para comértelo y te meten en la carcel, ¿no?

Y entonces y se pone a darle caña a los japoneses por cargarse ballenas, a los americanos porque en no sé qué estado hay una ley que prohibe tener sexo con un puerco espín, a los cataríes porque allí se puede tener sexo con una oveja, siempre que sea hembra, etc.

Esta semana hemos tenido que escribir un pequeño ensayo sobre cómo ve el mundo un conejo, un pez o una paloma. Una paranoia. Se ve que el tío disfruta con lo que hace, y te manda correos electrónicos cada día con videos de youtube y presentaciones en power point cachondas.

Cambiando de tema, el fin de semana pasado estuve en Sevilla con Diego. Fui al dentista y a reunirme con gente de Talentia para ver qué voy a hacer cuando acabe el MBA. Estuvo bien viajar con Diego los dos solos. Se portó super bien. Me di cuenta de lo rápido que está creciendo y de la cantidad de cosas que aprende cada día.

También los abuelos disfrutaron mucho con él y le enseñaron algunas palabras en español. Ahora ya sabe decir "jamón" y "pan", que luego lo complementa con un "I like" y queda super cachondo. Por ahora sigue mezclando las palabras. Hay cosas que prefiere decirlas en inglés y otras en español.

Esta semana tuvimos una sorpresa en clase. Estábamos haciendo un caso sobre Cobra Beer, una cerveza que está pegando muy fuerte en el Reino Unido, y resulta que en la clase estaba Lord Bilimoria, el fundador y jefe de la empresa. Nos dio una conferencia sobre el tema y fue una de esas clases que valen la pena. El tío llegó a Inglaterra hace treinta años con 5 libras en el bolsillo y ahora es multimillonario.

Y no es el único Lord que ha estado por aquí esta semana. Otro día tuvimos la presentación de las optativas para el Easter Term, el tercer trimestre, y una de ellas las imparte Lord Eatwell. Su asignatura, Financial Regulation, parece interesante, pero creo que no la voy a escoger. Tenemos que elegir 4 de 20, y la verdad es que todavía no lo tengo claro. Podéis ver el listado aquí.

Esta semana nos han dado la nota de Marketing del primer trimestre y a mi me ha ido bastante bien. Creo que ya le he vuelto a cojer el tranquillo a esto de estudiar y hacer exámenes. Lo que pasa es que las notas de Organisational Behaviour no nos la darán hasta mediados de marzo, y las de Corporate Finance y Accounting a finales.

Se me olvidaba. Este es el trimestre de las consultoras y la semana pasada estuvieron en la escuela McKinsey, Bain y Accenture. Se venden muy bien y el trabajo parece interesante, pero por lo que cuentan no hay una semana que eches menos de 60 horas.

En general todo va bien. El tiempo pasa volando y ya tengo que empezar a pensar en el retorno. Diego y Leo están creciendo rápido. Miriam está bien, contenta, totalmente adaptada con su grupo de amigas. El tiempo está mejorando. Yo estoy intentando salir a correr tres veces por semana.

Por último mañana nos vamos a Italia, hasta el domingo, para el 60 cumpleaños de mi suegro. Nos juntaremos mis suegros, los 12 cuñados y cuñadas, y los 17 sobrinos y sobrinas. Una locura. Ya veréis las fotos.

The cascade effect

Today we have finished Professor Peter Nolan's International Business course. And it's a pity, because he is no doubt the most singular lecturer we have had in the course so far. He really says interesting things and make you think about the global economy.

Peter Nolan is original not only for what he says, but also for how he says it. For instance, he doesn't use slides. And when he talks, he doesn't dictate, he just talk. It's very difficult to take notes of what he says, but it doesn't matter. I gave up the first day and since then I just tried to enjoy the lectures and capture the message.

Professor Nolan has a vast bibliography. One of his favourite concepts is "the global business revolution". I've found this abstract of one of his papers in the Cambridge Journal of Economics: "The global business revolution since the 1980s has witnessed an unprecedented degree of industrial consolidation and concentration of business power at a global level. Firms with powerful, globally recognised technologies and/or brands constitute the ‘systems integrators’ at the apex of extended supply chains. This paper examines the supply chains in four different sectors: aerospace, telecommunications, automobiles and beverages. It finds that these sectors have striking similarities in the way in which the core systems integrators have stimulated industrial concentration across the whole supply chain. This ‘cascade effect’ has profound implications for firms from developing countries in catching up at the firm level."

But, why do I entitle this post the "cascade effect"? Well, because I have noticed that the MBA is also acting as a system integrator and by continously trying to rise its standards, it demands each of us, as elements of the system, to improve our performance. The good thing is that this happens without too much pressure, not as an obligation, but as a motivation.

Finally, today I've also found out that Peter Nolan regularly visits the Universitá degli Studi di Pavia, in Italy, where most of my brothers and sisters in law live.

JBS football team win again

Today 2-6 against Robinson College.

And guess who scored five goals...

Yes, me!. Unbelievable. Today it was one of those days when you just kick the ball and it goes in. Specially if you are in a difficult position. I missed two or three easy chances, but surprisingly, I scored three goals with my left leg.

To be honest I scored four and a half goals. The last one was after very good play from Amane, who could have scored had I not kicked it first.

And what makes it more amazing is that I was feeling so bad today before the match. I almost didn't go. I went to the pub night yesterday and I was hangover. I couldn't run for the first half an hour and we even started 1-0 down.

But the team did a very good job and we played much more in their side of the field than in ours. Also, as in our first victory, this rival played less phisical than others. They let us play and we let them play. Less tackles and as a consequence better football.

Marvin -Janine's husband-played as a keeper. Roupen, Haru, Ahmed and Andrey played defense. Andy, Sina, Ken and Amane midfield. And Dihan and me up front.

Sina scored the othe goal, the fifth, in a very good kick after a clear goal chance I missed.

We all finished the match with cramps and couldnt' run anymore. We really need some phisical training. I definitely need it. I could play much better if I were able to go running twice a week. I'm going to try.

In April we play against "the other place", and in May against other MBA teams near Paris during the MBAT. I still don't know if I could go, but I'd like to. There is also a cross country race. And I definitely need to train for this.

Financial Times Global MBA rankings

Below some info about MBA Rankings from our Director, Richard Barker. I ommited some parts non relevant for this blog.

As you have probably seen, the Financial Times has today ranked the Cambridge MBA 10th in the world, moving up from 15th in 2007 (and from 35th in 2006).

Our strong performance in these rankings will have a significant impact on how potential applicants, recruiters and other schools view the Cambridge MBA; it is very good news indeed.

Our performance is even more remarkable when compared with the greater age, scale and financial resources of the other MBA programmes in The FT's global top ten, especially in the light of the increasingly competitive nature of the business education sector.

As ever, we should be cautious in the emphasis we place on the rankings, which we do not view as objective measures of performance and which do not determine our strategy and direction.

Nevertheless, it is very gratifying that the intrinsic value of the Cambridge MBA, which delivers a distinctive, world class programme, has again been recognised by The Financial Times.

The Cambridge MBA is now consistently ranked in the global top tier; our FT performance is on a par with our two most recent rankings – 7th by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 3rd by Forbes.

The real story here is not one of rankings – which are subjective and can be volatile – but of the Cambridge MBA’s great momentum and excellent fundamentals, which are growing stronger every year.

We will continue to focus on attracting outstanding candidates and to build upon the recognised excellence of our programme, which is combined with the strength of the wider Cambridge University networks.

En el "Top 10" mundial de MBAs

Acaba de salir el Global MBA Ranking del Financial Times y la Judge Business School se situa en el décimo puesto mundial.

Una buena noticia para la escuela y para los alumnos que estudiamos en ella.

Primera semana del Lent Term

Esto no para. Ya hemos acabado la primera semana de clases del Lent Term, que es como se llama aquí al segundo trimestre. Y la verdad es que ha estado bien.

El lunes sólo tuvimos Operations Management, que lo imparte un profesor alemán, Matthias Holweg, especializado en cadenas de montaje en la industria automovilística. Vimos un video impresionante de cómo trabaja la gente recogiendo, envolviendo, etiquetando y empaquetando lechugas sobre la marcha en un campo cerca de Ely. Es un trabajo que generalmente hacen inmigrantes polacos y que al parecer está muy bien pagado, pero el ritmo es realmente alucinante. Tesco, la mayor cadena de supermercados del Reino Unido vende de media unas 250.000 lechugas frescas al día, y cuando digo frescas quiero decir que se recogen el día anterior, durante el verano en España, durante el invierno en Inglaterra. El sistema, básicamente una cadena de suministro, está calculado al milímetro y la gente que se encarga de coordinarlo todo son gente como nuestro profesor.

El martes tuvimos Strategy e International Business. En Strategy empezamos con la profesora Allègre Hadida, una chica francesa, bastante joven, hiperactiva, y da la impresión también que bastante buena. Hicimos un "case study" de la compra de 7-up por parte de Philip Morris y de lo mal que les fue en general con las bebidas gaseosas y sobre todo con el lanzamiento de una bebida de cola en Estados Unidos, Like, que fracasó entre otros motivos porque Coca Cola y Pepsi le dijeron a las empresas embotelladoras y distribuidoras, que si trabajaban con Like anulaban sus contratos, y evidentemente Like no encontró quien embotellase ni distribuyese su bebida. A estudiar este tipo de cosas es a lo que se dedican los estrategas.

En International Business tenemos probablemente uno de los mejores profesores de la escuela, Peter Nolan, un gurú del comercio internacional especialista en China, hasta el punto que el Financial Times llegó a decir que "Peter Nolan sabe más sobre empresas chinas y sus competidores a nivel internacional que nadie en la tierra, incluido en China". El tío es tan bueno que se permitió el lujo de darnos una clase de tres horas y media (con dos descansos de quince minutos) sin usar el Power Point y sin un papel por delante. Y la gente atenta como viendo una película de cine. De esas clases que no quieres que acaben, que te gustaría grabar porque luego eres incapaz de poner en pie lo que el nota ha dicho. Simplemente genial. Eso sí, antes de la clase nos tuvimos que leer como 200 páginas de diferentes libros para ponernos en antecedentes sobre el tema. A la clase hay que llegar con la lección aprendida y el profesor lo que hace es puntualizar, aclarar, contextualizar y hacerte pensar sobre el tema.

El miércoles también tuvimos sólo una clase, Innovation, con el Decano de la escuela, Arnoud de Meyer, y Kamal Munir. Una de cal y otra de arena. De Meyer, que es belga, es bastante bueno y dice cosas interesantes. Sin embargo la clase de Munir, indio, ha sido la más aburrida desde que estoy en Cambridge. No dijo nada nuevo. Se limitó a repetir muy lentamente lo que habíamos leido en el artículo recomendado para la clase, la historia del fracaso de Kodak en su adaptación a la era de la fotografía digital. Pero bueno, la verdad es que el listón está muy alto.

El jueves volvimos a tener Operations Management, y hoy viernes Information Systems and Strategic Change, con Mark Thompson. Es una asignatura corta pero también muy interesante sobre cómo integrar la tecnología en la empresa y cómo cambiar una empresa a través de la tecnología. Vimos el caso de Zara, con su sistema de "inventario cero" y de producción y distribución ajustada a la demanda.

Además de las clases hemos tenido otros eventos relacionados con el Global Consulting Project que tenemos que hacer a partir de Semana Santa, charlas varias y visitas de empresas.

Una cosa que me ha llamado la atención es lo importante que es el "feedback" de los alumnos sobre los profesores y el resto de servicios de la escuela. Al final de cada curso tenemos que completar un formulario online sobre el programa y el profesor. Este año al parecer Simon Bell, de Marketing, no ha tenido muy buena acogida, y se lo han cargado. El año que viene dará todo el curso Eden Yin. A mi la verdad me da pena, porque Simon es muy bueno, pero si es cierto que sus clases eran más aburridas que las de Eden. También en Management Science van a hacer cambios, aunque no se han cargado a ninguno de los tres profesores.

Mañana vamos a ir a echar el día a Londres con nuestros amigos los Levell. Necesito Salir de Cambridge un poco.