F.G.H. = Finally Going Home

Transitting at Dubai Intl' Airport - the city I came more than a month ago, probably the most global city in the world with aournd 90% foreigners in the city. You do feel want to go home because everybody is going home:-)

Finally, Going Home!

Home is not where you live but where they understand you. ~Christian Morgenstern

He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” ~Maya Angelou

E - the END

IMD campus in snow

“There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.” - Tennessee Williams (American playwright, 1911-1983)

Prof. George Kohlrieser introduced this quote to us at the beginning of our Leadership Finale Day on 2nd Dec 2008, just one day before the graduation. It was quite an emotional day filled with thanksgivings, public appraisals, reconciliations, reflections and surprises. He also kindly gave each of us an English copy of his award-winning book “Hostage at the Table”. Being in a Catholic seminary for 8 years, a Ph.D. in psychology, a Police Psychologist and Hostage Negotiator, 10-year hosting of “Matters of the Mind" - a radio call-in talk show in the US, and a past president of the International Transactional Analysis Association, he drew a lot of examples from his rich experiences in this fascinating book. I highly recommend it to the readers, even your non-English friends & colleagues (it is now available in French, Romanian, Hungarian and Chinese with German, Russian and Korean editions to be published soon).

On a personal note, I just finished my last interview and am now on the train from snowy Zurich to warmer Lausanne. Since 6 months ago when we first attended On-Campus Recruiting company presentations before discovery expedition to Kenya, each of us has gone through numerous interviews, followed by Dings, hiring freezes and of course offers. In fact, these six months at IMD (ok, we’ve officially graduated two weeks ago:-) had been an even more practical and more challenging part compared to the hundreds of real business cases studied through the building blocks. During expeditions, ICP and job searches, we have been exploring new geographical territories (for me – East Africa, East Europe, North America, Middle East) and we have been exposed to the tough macro-environment (my six final round interviews opportunities in different countries were killed one by one within 10 days due to the crisis). However, with the professional assistance of career service team (Katty, Celine, Julia & Barbara) and our individual career coaches, mutual supports from within the class, constant encouragements by family & friends around the world, we made it – so far so good! In the midst of economic crisis, IMD 2008 MBA class still had a very high percentage of job offers upon graduation and the number has been going higher and higher each day as some of us are still in the process of interviews. Now we all deserve a good break and I am confident that we will all get there, sooner or later.

On 16th Dec 2008, as many faculty and staff of IMD paid their tributes to the longest serving full-time faculty member Prof. Xavier Gilbert (37 years with IMD) during his “graduating ceremony”, one colleague shared the following “bon mots” (good words) of Prof. Gilbert, “It is precisely during times of adversity that companies cannot afford to neglect their people. Look at it this way: Why is a company in trouble in the first place? Is it really only the fault of the economic environment? Were the employees perfectly competent? In reality, being in trouble points to an urgent need to learn.”

Even the last two weeks post-graduation, there still have been a lot of happenings: round after round interviews, round after round farewell dinners, house after house hand-over inspections (I went to four apartments in a single day receiving and giving helps) and of course the Christmas parties. Together with Mathieu Pointeau (French), I also attended my first IMD MBA Info Session as an alumnus. But as we say in Chinese, “the most glamorous banquet will also come to an end” and Mathieu has already introduced you the new diary authors from MBA 2009 Class. Like movie sequels, you never know what does the new episode like until you go and watch it. Of course, you can learn some real options techniques from Finance Prof. Arturo Bris for better forecasting!?

A Time for Everything – by King Solomon from the Book of Ecclesiastes (Old Testament):

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

D - Dubai, Desert, Deflate

I was in Dubai a month ago, my first visit to the Gulf Region. During the flight, I already saw massive yellow coloured the navigation map after Istanbul. Indeed, that's the theme colour of Dubai - the booming hub between Europe & Asia. Desert is seen everywhere, even the green plants are dusted by the sand. One of the interesting experiences we had there was "Desert Safari". I was expecting to see animals running in the desert. Instead, we were put on a jeep and driving towards the centre of desert.

After arriving at a stop point, the driver double-checked everything and began to deflate all tyres. "What are we going to do?" "Oh, we're going to enjoy the sand surfing!!!". That's the essence of a desert safari. Somehow, I related it to the leadership development approach during IMD MBA. The course was built in such a way to "destroy" you first, from inside out, challenging you on where you're most proud of and then "build" you up, through reflecion, counsellig, practcing. It's also a good analogy to the current economic situation. In a crisis moment, we'd better get back to the core, down-to-earth and be releastic.

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944)