OK... Time for an update

Bonjour! Seeing that I have not written this blog in over 9 months, I realize I owe my audience some new information and insights. What can I say, these past 9 months have been a total whirlwind, as I've had life changing experiences that have altered my worldview going forward. For now, I realize that reliving all the stories of the last few months would be impossible, so i choose to move forward (I wanted to do this earlier, but i always felt guilty about stopping in the first place)...

First things first, a few thoughts on life...

ON INSEAD
This is easily the hardest section for me to write. Let me start off by saying that I came to INSEAD as a very proud card-carrying Cornellian, and expected to find Cornell in Europe/Asia. INSEAD is not that... However, there are quite a few strong reasons that I came here, and they all, for the most part, ring true...

#1 - INSEAD is all about diversity - How trite... Nearly every school in the galaxy says their program is diverse, but only INSEAD has truly achieved it. There are people from every major nationality on earth here, creating an MTV Real World-type atmosphere (usually, without the fistfights). If you don't believe me, check this one out...

My group for the first two months was six men (somewhat common on the Singapore campus, as the women tended to flock to Fonty for some reason in our promotion) on different nationalities - German, Spanish, Chilean, Japanese, Indian, and American (myself). I lived with seven people over the course of my 10 month MBA, including people from Japan, Canada (2), Iran, Spain, Israel and Belize. I played poker regularly in Singapore with people from Korea, Australia, South Africa, India, US, Canada, France and Germany. There is no place on earth that I have been able to get this kind of exposure to different nationalities in such an open and easy setting. I now can honestly say I have friends from every single continent on earth, which was definitely not the case last year (although, I did have friends from every borough of NYC last year). The value of the experiences I had with colleagues from all over the world cannot be underestimated, and should hold to be incredibly meaningful for years to come.

#2 - The Two Campus Model
The two campus model is also unique (for now), and is a great element of the INSEAD program. The value to all students to get exposure to Asia, Europe, and the US (through Wharton exchange) is invaluable and again, sets this experience apart from competing programs. However, the downside to this model is the logistical complications that become quite numerous. Think about it - how often do you see listings for 2 month rentals in big cities or towns. Even though INSEAD has some dedicated rental agencies in Singapore and France, the situation is not ideal, with students often paying a substantial premium for short-term rentals. Additional issues such as car rental (necessary for Fonty, for the most part) further complicate these logistics a bit. I can honestly tell you that I have personally spent in the avenue of 20-30 hours of my time in INSEAD, through condensed periods of time. figuring out logistics, which is quite a lot.

An additional pro/con to the whole campus exchange is the subsequent travel culture at INSEAD. Students from nearly every background have extensively traveled to the most common destinations across the globe (e.g. New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Jerusalem, Dubai, Beijing, Delhi, etc), and are eager to further explore the world around them. This makes the culture quite exciting and great to be a part of. In Singapore, I participated in trips to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Thailand, UAE, and India. My travel schedule was fairly light, relative to my colleagues, so you get a sense of how this all works. Nearly every weekend, you're out of Singapore, b/c there's little to do there that is special on a particular weekend. Add to that the numerous cheap local airlines (TigerAirways.com, AirAsia.com and JetStar.com are the main ones), and you see why people are out and about all the time... As for Fonty, there is even less to do here, and in Paris on any given Sunday, providing ample chance for students to travel via budget airline, rail or car to Brussels, Amsterdam, various parts of Germany, London, Madrid, Morocco, and other parts of Europe.

This is seemingly a pro hands down. The only con is from an academic standpoint, as students from time to time will not attend friday or monday classes, or otherwise participate in a rather minimal way to provide the opportunity for this extensive travel. All in all, I don't know how to feel about it, since Accounting is not nearly as compelling, nor as meaningful as a trip to Siem Riep in Cambodia. If I had to say anything, it would simply be that this program provides incredible learning "outside the classroom" and as such, is for the "explorer-type" as apposed to the "bookworm-type".

#3 - Academics
I have a strong view on all this, probably stemming from my personal work style, moreso than the program itself. In fact, many have disagreed with me, including members of the administration. However, the power of the internet allows me to share my views with folks who want to read them, so here goes...

INSEAD's average student in 29 years old and has more than 5 years of experience in consulting, banking or industry. While a good number seek a switch of some kind (firm, industry, geography, position, etc), most have a good idea of who they are, what their general strengths/weaknesses are, and what they want out of the MBA. Additionally, the program is only 10 months, and the core takes up almost half of the credits required to graduate (24-25 classes, of which, 13 are core). Finally, the classes are focused on giving basics in each area, and aimed at achieving the impossible - keeping "experts" interested and teaching "novices" at the same time. As we all know from other places in life, this rarely works, and at INSEAD, it does not, by and large. As such, I'd argue that the value of the core-curriculum is somewhat diminished, and actually detracts from all students on average.

A model like that used at U of Chicago would probably be more fitting, since it allows students to take courses within specific disciplines, but at their level of both interest and skill (ironically, the reason i did not apply to u of chicago was the fact that I was not convinced this model would create a cohesive group over there, like the sections at INSEAD, HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, etc). At INSEAD, the cohesiveness would likely be met anyway, given the inquisitive nature of the students and the "Real World"-like environment.

In terms of academics, the school has some incredibly talented professors, a few OK profs and some who can stand to improve. I doubt that is much different elsewhere, and students tend to flock to profs that are good, when choosing electives (often more than the course subject matter). I'd say that overall, my academic experience was quite good and challenging, with a focus on entrepreneurship and finance.

In Finance, I found the courses to be fairly strong, but preferred those with heavier workloads, because I have trouble learning finance from lectures alone. The finance profs I enjoyed the most were: Pierre Hillion (Finance II - Corporate Financial Policy, Applied Corp Finance, Hedge Funds, Options), Claudia Zeisberger (Hedge Funds), Jake Cohen (Financial Accounting, Applied Corp Reporting, Business Law), Zhang (International Financial Management/FX), Kim Wahl (Leveraged Buyouts) and Kevin Kaiser (Corp Restructuring and Value Creation).

The entrepreneurship profs I enjoyed the most were: Phil Anderson (Venture Opps and Business Ventures - best class at INSEAD, I thought; Global Trends in Private Equity), Randall Carlock (Entrepreneurial Leadership) and Patrick Turner (Entrepreneurial Field Studies, Realizing Entrepreneurial Potential/Buying a Company).

The other outstanding profs I found were Gabriel Szulanski (Intro to Management, Making of Strategy), Pushan Dutt (Microeconomics), and Doug Guthrie (Leading Organizations).

Last thing i'll say here - the classroom environment is quite distinctive from a traditional US business school. Although we use many cases, class discussions are usually formed around the prof, with commentary coming in between student comments often. Unlike HBS, the prof is quite active here, and many choose to lecture outright. On the student side, participants are a bit more lax and collaborative. There is not as big a stress on grades and high academic excellence for its own sake, rather a focus on gaining value from each class in any which way it comes. This could mean jumping off the topic at hand to discuss something on the students minds at times. Its not bad, just a tad different.

#4 - Career Services
This is a work in progress in Asia, as the school begins to benefit from its excellent placement in the earth's new hot growth market. However, we're not quite there yet. The staff works extremely hard, but is still somewhat dependent on a good economic environment to ensure placement at choice firms. Honestly, i'm fairly certain every school has this problem, but some are slightly further along with some key employers in finance and in particular regions. INSEAD acknowledges and is filling this gap, so I can't be too hard on them, although the end result can be frustrating as they work to make it better.

In Europe, INSEAD is a force to be reckoned with, and the school seems to have made strong inroads with all the key employers. There is still work to be done, and obviously, as the hot markets shifts from Europe/US to Middle East/Asia things will need to change accordingly here. I think the staff knows that quite well and is working to make it better.

One note - for students interested in working in Asia, specifically Hong Kong, Shanghai or Tokyo, it is critical that you pick up the language skills and ideally spend significant time, if not all your time in Singapore. This is not an easy market to break into, especially in a tough economic period, since locals are more than happy to work in these companies and stay in these countries now, as apposed to several years ago...

OK... I am done on INSEAD. I've loved the experiences i've had here, but do wish some of the rough edges were a tad more sharpened when i entered...

Hope to post again later this evening or tomorrow on a few more topics - Singapore, Israel, Life & Women... keep in touch...