Saturday, March 14, 2009

Now what?

Only 3 weeks of school left and no clarity as far as work is concerned. That is a bit disappointing as one would expect to have everything figured out at this point but considering the economic meltdown around the world, a lot fewer opportunities are available this year compared to past years. However, according to many visiting speakers, the time is right for entrepreneurs to build a business that can work in this economy and then thrive when the economy picks up. This works well for me as I plan to join either a startup/growth company or the very entrepreneurial arm of a larger company. As before, I hope to join a company that creates a social impact and does not simply seek to milk its customers for every cent possible.

I came across a very funny show featuring a former LBS graduate. The links are below and show what happens when you mix the sophisticates of the west coast with the patriots of middle america. If you have some time to kill and you're not too busy paintballing, give a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG2GwSpO7tc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71MTHjvCeyw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHKxqrZQKLw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2zmOK_POpg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXjJDk8ehro&feature=related

I'm living in one of the most famous buildings in Spain by possibly the most famous Spanish architect. His name is Antoni Gaudi. My building is called La Pedrera. Do a Google search to see some photos. I walk through the tourists each day as I go in and out of the front door.

In the beginning of April, 30 of us from IESE are heading to Japan for a two week trip which coincides with the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Its supposed to be fantastic. Afterwards I will meet with Chad in Germany for two days of the Spring Beer Fest then we'll come back to Barcelona for a few days before he departs and my mom arrives. She's leaving north America for the first time. I'm very excited to show her a bit of Spain and to have her see IESE during our graduation. Tessa is supposed to come also but hasn't yet booked a ticket.

A few words about London Business School vs IESE: LBS had fantastic professionals come to campus all the time giving presentations and recruiting. Their career services was more organized and helpful. Their classes were well structured and they had a good balance between academic professors and very experienced practitioner professors. Their entrepreneurship classes were excellent. However, the people were nowhere near as friendly as those at IESE and the relationships created were much less strong. Also, whereas IESE has a huge focus on academics, the feeling at LBS was that academics were secondary to finding a job. Each school is excellent in many areas and each offers a different value to potential students. If I had to make the choice between the two, I would still choose IESE but I absolutely wouldn't change my decision to go to LBS on exchange as the school was excellent and a great place to spend a term.

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