The quest for wisdom, from France to China, of an HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA dual degree student (class of 2011)
Archive for the ‘MBA’ CategoryHey there! What can I say, I’m very glad I could pack away my coat and enjoy again nice walks around the campus. Flowers are just about everywhere these days. Everybody is in good mood :) It is also time to look back as we have now completed our second Core phase. During this period, I have learned about: Like in Core 1, I didn’t know much about any of these topics. I confirmed my strange taste for Financial Accounting as I enjoyed the classes we had in Management Accounting. This is big news for me and I’m now starting to include this skill into future career options. (Seriously, who’d want to include Accounting as a career option!) I may say that this period has been as life changing as Core 1. But maybe as a continuation. I felt that Core 1 was a “Reset” time, while Core 2 was about (re)building my expectations. Tags: Academics, Life on campus Last week, we went to something truely unique about the HEC MBA: The Leadership Seminar at St-Cyr, where we spent two days. One in the Coëtquidant center, in the forest. The other one at the Penthièvre fort, by the sea of Brittany. And, yes, it was a blast :) I can seriously say I felt priviledged to be part of such a programme. PS: Yes, I had my share of cramps and bruises afterwards. Tags: HEC events Last week we had a conference cycle called Visions of Leadership. This week long event was opened by Theodore Zeldin and saw leaders from a broad range of sectors. I was certainly impressed by the diversity of ways one can be a leader in. We had, of course, people coming from the corporate world, but also from smaller businesses and start-ups. Further from the typical MBA target, we saw ambassadors, sportsmen and a former head of the French army in Afghanistan. It was a very interesting discovery for us. Not all leaders are charismatic and the “Follow me to my vision!” type. Some were more collected and exhibited a more serious demeanor. Some came with the notes and presentations while others could just sit in their chair and start talking. Some were shy. One of the things this week left me thinking about was, actually, how we started the cycle. Anyway, philosophical ponders… Tags: Academics, Books, HEC events A few weeks ago, the HEC MBA students participated in shooting this trailer. We were about 100. We discovered how tough a movie shot can be but the result was really worth it. Wahoo! Looking on Youtube, I found another MBAT 2010 trailer, this time from LBS. You can tell the celebration is getting closer! :) In case you’re wondering what Morgan Freeman says, it comes from Invictus, beautiful poem by Henley: Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance Beyond this place of wrath and tears It matters not how strait the gate, Tags: HEC events, MBAT, Students As you may have noticed everywhere around the world, this week was full of Chinese New Year celebrations. Well at the HEC MBA too where the (extended) Chinese community organised the Chinese Week. Happy Chinese New Year! Hail to the Tiger! Tags: Life on campus, Social One of the thing I did not really expect from an MBA was the exposure that one can get to great minds. I remember seeing information about conferences when applying to MBAs, but I was often doubtful, as it could be little more than clever marketing. I’m not sure how true this is for other business schools, but HEC has certainly shown its ability to gather awesome speakers. Last week on Wednesday, Daniel Bernard, former CEO of Carrefour and HEC alumni, came to speak to MBA students. We learned about his evolution from a young manager pioneering “Modern Retail” in the 70s, to the strategist which orchestrated the expansion of Carrefour from third hypermarket chain in France to the world’s most globalised retail group, with unparalleled growth in Latin America and Asia. On the next day, I was part of a small group of MBA students who travelled from Jouy-en-Josas to middle Paris for a conference on Social Business, co-organised by HEC. Speakers were gathered around professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for inventing microcredit. Most notably Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, and Martin Hirsch, French High Commissioner for Active Solidarities against Poverty. Again, yesterday we had a conference with Bernard Bourigeaud, founder of Atos, as he explained us how he grew this company from a small French IT service company to the 3rd largest IT consultancy in Europe through well executed acquisitions. It can be argued that events dedicated to MBAs, such as the ones with Daniel Bernard and Bernard Bourigeaud, are rare. They mostly target HEC as a whole and are often in French, not always with English translation. But the experience, and inspiration that one gets from such moments, is priceless. Tomorrow, as part of the TEC programme, we will meet Avivah Cox, a Senior HR consultant and CEO who will tell us about women empowerment. Cool ! :) Tags: HEC events, TEC You may have noticed that I’m getting to blog a bit more regularly. Well, part of it is because many interesting things happen. Yesterday and today HEC hosted the recrutment “Carrefours“. Carrefour means crossroads in French and is also the name of France’s largest supermarket chain. And indeed, the whole event seemed like a big marketplace. However, persistence (and a sustained smile) is key, as well as good preparation. On another note, while I went to the Carrefours fairly light-hearted, mainly looking for information as I’ll finish my studies from Tsinghua only in June next year, we (of the September 09 intake) noticed many old faces from the September 08 batch who finished class in December. I didn’t want to ask to many questions but it seems like the job market is tough for those who just graduated…
So what’s the deal with fajitas? You may ask. Well, I just wanted to (at last) comment on the social life at HEC, since it’s something that we’re most most proud of in our MBA. Just two days ago, we received an e-mail from the president of the Latin Club about a fajitas party organised at the Piano Bar (it’s a bar with a piano) by the dorms. That came in as a total surprise out of some ideas that emerged during the week-end (which was the January 10 integration week-end in the Alps). Here you go: fajitas, sangria, caipiroska, margarita, pisco… Total succes! Latin Club! We love you! :) Tags: HEC events, Job search, Life on campus, Social Some of you may know of my interest in China. In particular, the proposition of a double degree with the Tsinghua University was a factor in my selection of the HEC MBA. After writing 3000+ worth of more essays, sending the university my 60 euros of application fees by post, and applying to the Tsinghua SEM IMBA independently, back in December, I received their response this week:
Me happy! (^__^) I feel like I just took a step further toward China! Tags: Academics Just a quick article about the Tracks. Some of you may know that the HEC MBA curriculum is composed of 4 phases: Basically Core 1 and 2 are made up of mandatory foundation classes and Personalised Phase 1 and 2 are elective time. Until recently, only Personalised Phase 2 allowed for specialisation where we can choose between Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management Innovation, Marketing and Strategy. However, since last year, and more this year, we now have the possibility to also specialise during the Personalised Phase 1. The new tracks are planned to be more professional and one key factor is that they are HEC cross disciplinary tracks. Meaning that unlike the PP2 tracks, they are open not only to MBA students but also to other programmes from HEC such as the Grande Ecole or Specialised Masters. Now I’ll let you guess to which one I’m going to apply ;) Tags: Academics First of all Happy New Year 2010! :) It gives me the opportunity for me to look back at my Year 2009 where many things happened. So what’s your new year resolution? Mine is to learn Chinese. I really hope to become more conversational with my Mandarin this year. Time will tell if I succeeded. :) So that’s it! Now I’m (hardly) back from my end of year holidays and ready to take over Core 2! The least we can say is that, academically, Core 2 starts slowly. And this is a good thing since I happen to be hammered with ever more club activities. In parrallel, I need to seriously look for a July-August summer internship. Finally, the newcomers from the Jan 2010 intake arrived last week. It’s a bit strange to now be considered as the “seniors”. Tonight we have a special “buddy” event to meet with the younger intake people we will give advices to. Otherwise, I think I’ve never seen so much snow for so long in France… Tags: Life on campus, Students |