I started writing this blog - "MBA: Must Bring Adventure!" - as a way to chronicle my experiences during my MBA at the Rotman School of Management, and share my journey with family and friends. My MBA culminated this summer, with a glorious graduation ceremony that had me grinning from ear to ear, surrounded by wonderful family and awesome friends, some watching and cheering for me from the other side of the world, as I finally achieved this long-held dream of mine. While my MBA was nothing short of a terrific, high-adrenaline roller-coaster, I feel like the adventure has only just begun. Life's too short to be just ho-hum; it deserves our best effort to bring an adventurous spirit as we charge ahead to leave our own mark on the world. So, I intend to continue approaching each day as a new adventure, knowing not where it may lead me, but just that it deserves a creative, optimistic and determined spirit. I intend to continue chronicling my adventures, and I hope you continue to join me on the road ahead... :)
MBA: Must Bring Adventure!
To Sir, With Love
Edward Ricardo Braithwaite wrote him, Sidney Poitier played him, Lulu sang him... But are inspirational teachers like Mark Thackeray just confined to our books, our screens, and our stereos? I'm very fortunate to say that I've come across some inspiring teachers and mentors, each one of them playing a role in spurring me on to greater heights. Some of them appeared in the classroom, some in the boardroom, and some of them offered silent wisdom as they went along their way. For me, most of them appeared in the hallways and classrooms of the Rotman School of Management, each one of them inspiring me to do better than I thought I could do, and one day hopefully, emulate their insight, foresight and wisdom. But I wouldn't have found myself at Rotman, learning from these amazing professors, had it not been for one particularly inspirational professor, Roger Martin.
A few years ago, while searching for the future home of my MBA, I perused catalogs, websites, emails, blogs and videos, trying to find something that clicked with me, something that I could identify with, something that would spark my curiosity, and fuel my fire for learning and knowledge. While Rotman was always in my top choices, it wasn't until I saw a video of Dean Roger Martin at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-5) Collaborative Innovation Summit in 2009, that Rotman became the only choice for me. Professor Martin spoke of Rotman redefining business education from "narrow, shallow and static" to "broad, deep and dynamic," and producing business professionals capable of handling today's business problems, but also proactively tackling the wicked problems of tomorrow. After watching that video, Rotman became my only choice, and suffice to say, I was deliriously happy when they sent me their acceptance letter about two and a half years ago.
Over the past two years at Rotman, I have not only acquired a strong foundation in business knowledge, but I have also been very fortunate to learn from some truly stellar professors, many of whom became mentors, as I navigated my way through this roller-coaster, each one of them providing unique insight that helped me along my way. But I do owe Professor Martin a special nod of thanks. Thanks to him, I found myself at Canada's top business school; I understand the incredible value of Integrative Thinking; I discovered my passion and delight for Business Design; I find myself applying Human-Centered Design Thinking principles everywhere I go; I am yearning to tie up Strategy and Innovation in the challenges ahead; I am inspired by the academic pursuit of excellence; and I can't wait to pay it back to my school.
After 15 impressive years as Dean of the Rotman School of Management, Roger Martin stepped down as Dean this summer, and took a leadership position at the Martin Prosperity Institute researching democratic capitalism. Professor Martin, during your years as Dean, you have had innumerable incredible accomplishments that have elevated Rotman through the ranks. However, I think your biggest accomplishments would be the impact you've left on your students; we're better today than when we first walked through Rotman's doors, discovering new skills and passions, and raring to tackle the world's little and wicked problems. And so, it is with utmost gratitude that we say, "To Sir, With Love."
11,111 and counting... Thank You!
I started writing "MBA: Must Bring Adventure!" about 22 months ago, as a way for me to chronicle my MBA journey at the Rotman School of Management. I've loved writing ever since I was a little girl, so this blog naturally became a happy place for me to share my thoughts... happy & sad, frustrated & excited, freezing & melting, bittersweet & joyous. What I didn't expect was so many people sharing my Rotman journey, through every reading, paper, report, project, presentation, along with endless cups of coffee.
Today, mustbringadventure.wordpress.com crossed 11,111 views! That's eleven thousand, one hundred, eleven views, and counting! And for that, I thank you, each and every one of you! :D
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." - G.K. Chesterton
Rotman Design Challenge 2013
After experiencing what was undoubtedly one of the highlights of first year, with the Rotman Design Challenge 2012 (RDC 2012), I was determined to pay it forward when the 2013 edition came along. While the competition itself only took place in March of this year, fervent preparations for RDC 2013 began in earnest shortly after our first year came to a close. From pitching to prospective clients, to liaising with our competition sponsor, to liaising with generous partners, to scouting locations, to inviting judges, to inviting speakers, to developing learning program, to managing internal and external teams, to managing multiple communication channels, to finally putting together "one of the most awesome case competitions ever" (testimonial by an enthusiastic participant!), and I was very fortunate to be a part of the awesome team behind the magic.
As the RDC Sponsor, Target challenged teams to find an innovative solution to, "How can Target leverage it’s 'Expect More. Pay Less®' brand promise and it’s mantra of 'Design for All' to become and be recognized as a leading company in sustainability?" Our eager participants came from schools across Canada, United States and Europe (we went international in just our third year!), from Aalto University, California College of the Arts, Darden School of Business, IIT Institute of Design, Ivey School of Business, McCombs School of Business, Ontario College of Art & Design, Sauder School of Business, Sloan School of Management, and of course, the Rotman School of Management. 125 eager business designers fully immersed themselves in the challenge, using business and design techniques and frameworks, to create amazingly creative concepts inspired by unique user insights. And their presentations resonated the words of our keynote speaker, Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management, offering a creative and "productive combination of analytical & intuitive thinking" to move the business world forward. Innovation was the theme of the day, with Daniel Duty from Target saying how, "engaging with their guests and building brand love, requires constant innovation." Kate Heiny also offered words of wisdom for our eager participants, "Dream big, make it simple, make it look good, and you should be set!"
The Judges did not have an easy task as they deliberated extensively (timing one of the rooms was highly enlightening - so much wisdom & insight from our Judges!) to select the final 5 teams from IIT Design, OCAD, MIT Sloan and Rotman (It was a proud day for Rotmanites when two of their teams went into the final round!). The final round judges had an even trickier task as they reviewed, questioned and debated, before awarding first place to 'Team Meta' from IIT Design, second place to 'We Almost Forgot Our Passports' from MIT Sloan, and third place to 'P-Type' from Rotman! Yay! :D
The RDC wasan incredibly exhausting, yet amazingly exciting experience, and I particularly enjoyed meeting with eager business designers from different schools. In short, the RDC was like a design melting pot, where like-minded individuals came together, to share their curiosity, creativity, and commitment to innovation, and I can't wait to see what the next year's team has in store for Rotman and business design!
Puppy Therapy at Rotman!
Now that school's out, I find myself with a little more time on my hands; going from full-time studying to full-time searching still takes up a significant amount of time, but with a little more free time than before. It's been really nice to spend time with understanding family members I barely saw during my program, catch up with friends for reasons other than group projects & deliverables, get back to cooking for joy & health rather than speed & convenience, get back to working out without worrying it cutting into my study time, read a book not because it related to a course, see a movie without worrying about a paper that's due in a couple of hours, and just take leisurely walks through the neighborhood with my camera and take in everything. Don't get me wrong, I love Rotman, and it's been an incredible roller-coaster ride that I've enjoyed completely... but sometimes, it's nice to enjoy a less manic pace too! :)
It was on one of these neighborhood strolls that I came across an adorable little puppy that took me straight back to Rotman. During a particularly stressful period at Rotman, with exam season just around the corner, the Graduate Business Council and the Rotman Health & Wellness Association brought in Stevie, a St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog. An adorable little 4-year-old female miniature poodle, Stevie loves to cuddle, meeting new people, and playing tug-of-war with her very soggy chew toy! Although the Puppy Therapy didn't last very long, the after-effects lasted quite a while... I had a relaxed smile on my face for the rest of the day, and I was constantly lighting up with glee around puppies & dogs for a good few days after Rotman's Puppy Therapy session. :D
Spring Term Marathon with Strategy & Design!
It's a little bittersweet writing this post... It's taken me a little while to write it, because it marks the end of my MBA courses here at Rotman, and it's a little overwhelming to think about this chapter coming to a close. It's exciting to be finally crossing the finish line, but the last two years have gone by so fast, it feels happy & sad all at the same time. I've met some amazing friends here at Rotman, been part of some awesome club events, learnt from some brilliant professors, and been guided along this entire process with Rotman's cheery staff! In some ways, my second year felt like a marathon, right down to the finish line, with so much to do, so much to learn, and so little time! The same goes for the courses I took during the Spring Term; intense, challenging & demanding, but stimulating, exciting & manageable. Professor Geoffrey Leonardelli takes you into the challenges of designing, managing and leading teams in “Leading Teams.” With the view that teams work better than individuals, and companies shifting from one-man shows to collaborative group structures, the course aimed at helping us identify gaps in team dynamics, and turn them into opportunities to optimize team performance, particularly given the growing prevalence of cross-functional teams. While the course offered a number of simulations and exercises to put into practice the theory that was being discussed, I think the most practical application may have been the team project. It challenged us to act as consultants where we would identify a client, analyze its team’s interactions, and based on our analysis of their team dynamics, make recommendations aimed at improving their team cohesion and building their leadership. Working on a live case for a live client, with a new team, touched upon almost every element of the course, and really put it into practice.
Professor Ajay Agrawal takes you into the analysis and challenges of corporate or multibusiness level strategy in “Corporate Strategy.” The course aimed at moving from competitive advantage to corporate strategy, the boundaries and structure of firms, using size to exploit increasing returns with extreme competition, the strategic advantage of being small, the Innovator's Dilemma, and the role of humanity in strategy. While the Professor covered all the aspects expected from a Corporate Strategy, he certainly upped the ante, with a visit to the TSO to understand multi-stakeholder corporate strategy in the Arts, a visit by Reza Satchu with candid, insightfuls lesson in entrepreneurship, and a case analysis project that had us pull out all the stops to convince a board of directors to purse our proposed course of action rather than our competing team's recommendation. He pushed us, challenged us, and demanded more of us, and I think it's because he believes we're capable of so much more than what we do now... while I did utter an audible sigh of relief when this course was over, I'm going to miss his demanding, insightful tutelage.
Professor Heather Fraser takes you through a practical journey of understanding, practicing, applying and imbibing design thinking in “Business Design Practicum.” While the course covers why design thinking is important to growth and success, and what frameworks and tools can accelerate the innovation and business design process, the best part of the course was how do we apply those principles and tools to the creation of innovative solutions and new business models, through an end-to-end business design project, collaborating with design students from OCAD, for our live client, SAP. SAP called for an exploration of the Future of Work, with a user-centric approach into how might we help utility workers better serve their customers in the future. The project itself was almost like a cake, with business and design forming layers of cake and ganache, and feedback from SAP and industry professionals forming the icing on top... All in all, an exciting experience I was happy to sink my teeth into!
You might have gathered by now that I'm a Roger Martin fan. I picked Rotman as the home of my MBA education after hearing Roger Martin speaking about Rotman’s approach to business education, at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-5), and I loved his course during first year on "Integrative Thinking Practicum." So when an Independent Study Opportunity on Business Design arose, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. Professor Roger Martin, with Mark Leung and Stefanie Schram, guided us as we tackled the user experience challenges of a home healthcare organization with a Business Design Consulting Engagement. It involved expanding our skillset in Business Design, in terms of ethnographic research, prototyping and business modeling skills, and enabled us to apply a structured innovation methodology to a live project. Challenging, exciting, demanding, and insightful, the Business Design Consulting Engagement was an incredible opportunity to learn more about and take a practical approach to the practice of business design, and the response and feedback from our presentations to the client and Dean Roger Martin were particularly insightful. It was a splendid way to wrap up my Rotman MBA, by presenting to the Dean of the school who inspired me to come to this school, and spark this incredible journey of learning about strategy, innovation and business design, and hopefully continuing to practice in my professional life ahead.
So, that’s my view on the courses I took in the Spring Term. Although they were definitely challenging, they were eye-opening in trying to expand my views, exploring different avenues in solving problems, and I particularly enjoyed the live case opportunities. It feels a little odd to have this roller-coaster come to a close, but what an awesome ride it's been! Take care, and talk soon! :D
Business Design Hackathon
There are many reasons why the Rotman MBA is an awesome experience, but I think one of the key reasons is because it teaches you to think and do. It's not enough to just learn something helpful and new, if you don't know how to put it into practice. With that in mind, Rotman DesignWorks hosted its first ever Business Design Hackathon, and they got things off to a creative start with students submitting 60-second video pitches applying to be a part of this challenge.
Over the course of three days spread out over two weeks, we used design thinking principles to solve a live problem for the Rotman Marketing Team. The overall challenge pertained to, "How might we redesign the digital student experience at Rotman?" covering three different areas - Internal Communications, Ambient Experience, and Non-Academic Student Culture. Our team tackled the Ambient (Physical) Experience, with the more focused challenge of, "How might we help students be more informed when it comes to initiatives on the Rotman campus?" We went out and interviewed students in the full-time and part-time programs, to gain deeper insights into their views on learning about school initiatives, good & bad experiences, and the role of different technologies in their lives. The helpful creatives at DesignWorks helped us to synthesize our findings, journey map, ideate and prototype, although just when you think you're done, it's time to iterate! While iterations can be mildly frustrating, they're inherent as part of the business design process, and are stepping stones on the way to helping you build better, more effective & relevant solutions. We capped off this experience by presenting our multi-faceted proposed solution, the Rotman Huddle, to the Rotman Marketing Team and other Senior Rotman Directors. Here's a peek at our solution's intro!
The Business Design Hackathon was a great way to combine my passion, energy and curiosity, with a collaborative, experimental mindset, to gain practice in applying the principles of Business Design, and have some good fun along the way!
Winter Intensive Insights
You know it's been busy when a post on a Winter Intensive course comes just when Spring begins! I am 33 days away from my last deliverable of my MBA here at Rotman, and it's still pretty hectic! Whoever said Second Year is a breeze needs to take their heads out of their textbooks! If all you're doing in Second Year is courses, then of course, it's more manageable. However, if you're anything like the ambitious, proactive, dedicated students of the Rotman community, you tend to get involved in a lot more than academics - there's club leadership responsibilities, club activities, extra-curricular engagements, and lots of networking - all while trying to balance home, school, and the job hunt. However, as crazy, hectic & exhausting as it is, I truly love it. And in 86 days, when I walk across the graduation stage, I'm going to miss it even more. It's exciting to be coming so close, but it's also bittersweet. More than ever before, I value and treasure every experience that's been happening so far, because I know it's probably the last time I'll get to do it. I want to take it all in, and embrace it completely. That's how I approached my Winter Intensive course - Getting It Done - with Professors Brendan Calder & Dr. John O'Dwyer.
Aside from the numerous positive reviews I'd received from my Upper Years (now class of 2012), the fact that it's limited to 25 people only every year with a strong 'Getting It Done' Alumni Network, the Pre-Course Meet & Greet Social, its focus on Integrative Thinking, and the insightful interactions I'd had with the two Professors, one of the key factors that drew me to this course was the fact that it was "a doing course and not a memorizing course." Getting It Done synthesized the knowledge and teachings from Peter Drucker, William Reddin and Michael Kami, and tailored them to help us become better knowledge workers, who go beyond just efficiency with doing things right, and instead embrace effectiveness with “getting the right things done.” The tag team of our two Professors - Brendan Calder & Dr. John O'Dwyer - took us through management tools and methods that would link the practices of strategic planning, business planning, managing for results, and continuous improvement, and use it for personal, professional and organizational management and leadership. We weren't just learning, we were doing something about that learning too - our amazing group took all the insights from the course, and applied them on a daily basis to a management simulation based on running a beach resort. I firmly believe it worked - our group took First Place in the simulation! On a side note, after returning from spending the winter break in tropical climates, a simulation based on a tropical beach resort, while it was ruddy cold and snowing outside, seemed a tad bit ironic and cheeky! :P Alongside the content, exercises and simulation, we also had some insightful speakers, who shared their thoughts and experiences around improving our personal effectiveness, integrating the tools into our teams, making our management styles more effective, continuous improvement, and even courage. Given that this course was designed to help us improve our individual effectiveness, which as such relates to human behavior, it would be unreasonable to expect instantaneous results. However, with regular practice and application of some of the tools over the past couple of weeks, I do find myself being more effective with my time and efforts. Practice it until you perfect it, then practice it more until it becomes a habit, then go learn something new, and then practice and repeat! :)
Earlier, I mentioned that the non-memorizing, doing aspect of the course drew me to it. I didn't want to just learn something, I wanted to take that learning, and do something with it, which is what I believe most of my classmates are aiming to do... take their MBA, and do something amazing with it! I've long believed that merely memorizing copious amounts of notes, swallowing textbooks, and regurgitating them in a 2 hour exam is counter-intuitive to real learning; it does nothing to measure your comprehension and application, but merely tests your powers of memorization. And if, like me, you end up with headaches during the cold, well, there goes all that memorization! (I've come to accept that Canada has cold weather, however, my body still yearns for warmer weather!) I'm really fortunate to be taking courses this year that are testing how I apply what I've learnt on real, live problems, rather than how much do I remember of what I hope I've learnt. In my many years of professional experience, never once did I have a manager ask me to fix a huge problem within two hours without any available resources. I firmly believe, and I'm not alone in that belief, that the effective utilization of education is the application of that knowledge in ways that benefit individuals, organizations and society, not how much you can memorize and regurgitate. Education is meant to be impactful, not bulimic, and it disappoints me when people judge you solely on the basis of your test or exam scores, rather than all your other wonderful accomplishments or your incredible potential. Go ahead, be impactful, make your mark on the world, and believe in your amazing possibilities! :)
Halfway Through Second Year!
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and although it's been a little quiet on the blog front, it's been really quite hectic behind the scenes. The first half of December was occupied with wrapping up the Fall Semester, then the second half of December was occupied with an exhaustingly good trip, then the first half of January was occupied with a fantastic Winter Intensive Course, and now, the Spring Semester is off to a snowy start! While there will be more posts to follow on the events of late December onwards, let me get to the subject line... Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in mid-December 2012, I completed half of my Second Year, which officially had me at 75% done with my MBA! That's an exciting, but scary thought... I really only have a couple more months of school until I'm out of here? But I really like school!
Being in Second Year has its perks... You've gotten used to the pace of the intensive MBA program and all its components, you've settled in to the city, you've figured out all the shortcuts to school, and you've figured out where's the best place to give in to your cookie cravings! That said, it's still pretty hectic & intense, but it's just more manageable. The same goes for the courses I took during the Fall Term; intense, challenging & demanding, but stimulating, exciting & manageable.
Professor Brian Golden takes you into the challenges that prevail after you've planned that grand strategy in "Strategic Change & Implementation." Given people’s natural resistance to change, part of me wondered if it was actually possible to teach people how do they implement strategic changes. We were taken through a variety of cases which illustrated leadership, alignment, strategy, structure, systems, influencing change, knowledge management, and even storytelling. I also loved being exposed to these variety of concepts in a variety of forms, from your traditional business school cases & readings, to the Golden Bear Award-Winning "12 Angry Men," to the entertaining "Jamie's School Dinners."
Professor Nina Mazar takes you through the different aspects of human irrationality in "Behavioral Economics." Unlike its much older brother - traditional economics - which explores the idea that people are “capable of making the right decisions” for themselves, Behavioral Economics explores “the (quite intuitive) idea that people do not always behave rationally and that they often make mistakes in their decisions.” I really enjoyed exploring how behavioral economics could be utilized to better understand the user, by better understanding their decisions related to options, choices, payments, fines, saving, commitment, behavior changes, reciprocity, morals, ethics, and dishonesty, and then applying that knowledge to two live cases. The highlight of the course was probably the Behavior Economics Fireside Chat we had with Professor Dan Ariely, one of the leading behavioral economists of our time, and it was fascinating to hear about his experiments, and his discoveries about "The Honest Truth about Dishonesty."
Professor Alexander Manu takes you into a completely different direction with "Innovation, Foresight & Business Design." He challenges you to think outside the box, and use non-traditional approaches to solving unseen problems, or unidentified opportunities of the future. This class isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I personally really enjoyed learning about innovation as a behavior, foresight perspectives, new context mapping, disruption, behavior spaces, experience mapping, and using the ambiguity in the world around us, to find and capitalize on its hidden opportunities. Our group - 'The Itty-Bitty, Farm and City, Witty Ditty, Nitty-Gritty, Dog and Kitty, Pretty Little Kiddy Show' - took our learnings through a three-phased process of Discovery, Expansion, and Application, eventually culminating with a business pitch for our idea.
So, that's my view on the courses I took in the Fall Term. Although they were definitely challenging, they were eye-opening in trying to expand my views, and exploring different avenues in solving problems and capturing opportunities. Stay tuned for my next post, where I cover the Winter Intensive Term! Take care, and stay clear of the snowstorms!
Sharing the innovative, creative energy of business design
I'm not a born designer. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think anyone is a born designer. However, I do think people can have an inborn appreciation for good design. From my very early years, I seemed to have a strong leaning towards things that were better designed or better to experience. Perhaps it was my perfectionist streak coming through, but my mother tells me that I tended to gravitate more towards things that were simply better. I would avoid playing with building blocks that were too pokey for my little hands; I stayed away from little dinky cars with wheels that would get jammed instead of turning; I salivated at food that was more visually appealing and colorful; I smiled and got engrossed with pictures that seem to have some sort of balance in them; I preferred items that were easier-to-use or just more user-friendly (my only exception were teddy bears & stuffed plush dogs - I had (have) an unbiased appreciation and affection for all of them!). During playtime I would usually hold back on the little stuck dinky car, or the asymmetrical teddy bear, or the pokey building blocks, and let my friend have the better, easier, comfier, smoother toy. I suppose I felt like something that wasn't as well designed shouldn't detract from their experience with the toy, or take away from the joy of play.
You never too young to experience good design, never too young to appreciate design. While my journey into business design and design thinking may have only begun last year, I feel like my dedication and my passion for design have been brimming below the surface, ever since I was little. Does that make me a good designer? I think it does, because I certainly have a unique ability to put myself into the shoes of the user, and figure out if it really works for them, or they're just going through the motions, and whether they're just experiencing something, or truly delighting in that experience.
My passion for design led me to be a part of the Rotman Business Design Club (BDC), earlier as a First Year Associate, and now as a Second Year Director. Club activities are a great way to get involved in your whole MBA experience at Rotman, and a welcome break from the hectic pace of classes and careers. For me personally, it's been extremely fulfilling in terms of satisfying my own personal curiosity around business design, and exploring avenues through which I could get involved in it beyond Rotman. And it's been quite interesting to see it from the other side. As a member, you certainly appreciate all the events that the club executives put on to help you learn and grow. As a senior executive, you develop a much greater appreciation for the events, especially when you see all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make things work, and 'delight' our users. Fortunately, with the Business Design Club and Rotman DesignWorks, we have an amazing group of people, who are really dedicated towards helping students discover and understand the business design space.
The BDC allows me to get engaged in sharing its innovative, creative energy with curious minds, and helping them take it past colorful Post-Its to innovative solutions. The Business Design Bootcamp is always super-fun (and lots & lots of hard work & teamwork) as you not only learn more about Business Design and its three gears, but also put it into practice, by putting your user at the core of your process and better understanding them, in order to develop a product that better meets their unmet needs, and hopefully even wows them! The BDC Fireside Chat Series is always a great opportunity to engage with presenters on a more personal level, and get an inside perspective into their work. The Portfolio Series has been quite exciting in emphasizing the need to engage in the process of design thinking and showcasing that; it's also been an insightful challenge as I reflected upon my own cases and presented them in a clear, concise, convincing and conversational manner.
Aside from studying courses that I'm really interested in and curious about, and earnestly pursuing opportunities that embrace design thinking, I'm generally enjoying my second year at Rotman. It's not headless-chicken crazy like first year, but it's still hectic, exhausting and challenging. It's also more fun, as you develop stronger friendships, and get more comfortable with this intense roller-coaster. It also feels a little bittersweet, as you realize it's not too far off when this chapter of your life reaches its eventual conclusion. All you can really hope for is that the amazing friends and inspiring people you've met along the way continue to be in your life in the chapters ahead... :)
Rotman's New Building
Once in a while, you get to be a part of something amazing, and it's even more awesome when you get to share that amazing feeling...
September 5th, 2012, marked a historic day in Rotman's history, with the opening of the brand new building, and it would be an understatement to say that I was excited! I was so excited about Rotman's new building that I furiously bid for the opportunity to get a tour of the New Building waaay before its opening (early 2012), and get a sneak peek at all the awesomeness that awaited us. It was quite amusing to stomp around the new building in construction boots and a hard hat, and it got me even more excited for the day when we would finally walk these halls. It was reminiscent of my anticipation at walking into Rotman's building for the very first time.
I love Rotman, and everything about it. And I love sharing my passion and energy for the school with everybody I meet. So it was no surprise when I extended my Rotman Ambassador role into being a Tour Guide at Rotman's New Building Opening, and it was so exciting to take new visitors through that same experience, starting from the historical North Building (affectionately referred to as NOBU by Rotmanites), into the brand new South Building (SOBU), taking them up that pink staircase (the pink was taken from the Rotman magazine 'Einstein' issue cover on 'Thinking About Thinking'), through its fancy new classrooms with the perforated city backdrops, through its study rooms & student lounges, through its majestic glass-walled event hall overlooking Robarts & the historic PhD House, the pep of zesty green with Rotman DesignWorks, on to its outdoor terrace & green roof by the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, the invigoratingoutdoor terrace & green roof by the Business Information Center, and the glass-walled courtyard by the Martin Prosperity Institute.
It was an awesome opportunity to be a part of this incredible moment in Rotman's history, and see business visionaries such as Dr. Marcel Desautels (he's also a talented tenor!) and Joseph & Sandra Rotman (Yes, the very same Rotman after whom our school is named! They were awesomely wonderful people to speak with!). It made you proud to be a part of this new wave of transforming business education, and reaffirmed my decision to come to Rotman to learn creative, integrative new ways of solving tomorrow's challenges today!
Summer of Sun, Fun, with Work to be done!
Summer Internship is a phrase that's mentioned a little during the Pre-Program & Orientation phase, a little bit during Q1, a lot during Career Discovery Week, a lot more during Q2, intensively (or not at all) during the Winter Break, non-stop during Summer Internship Recruitment Week, intensely (possibly with interviews) during Q3, with mild panic during Q4, and fearful panic after Q4. If you haven't landed a summer internship by the end of your first year, the above roller-coaster might be the trajectory of your panicky emotions. If you're one of the lucky ones that landed an internship early in the year, good on ya! But not everybody has that feeling of comfort; some have to wait a little longer than others, some have to wait a lot longer than others, but the result is definitely worth the wait! I believe good things take time, and my summer internship certainly took its time in becoming clear & concrete, but it was so worth the wait! My summer assignment took me to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where I was very fortunate to be working on research on the Global Competitiveness of the GCC Region. I was quite excited to be going back home, and although it got a teeny bit hot at times, the heat didn't really bother me... I suppose when you're happy doing what you're doing, all the minor inconveniences like a little heat & humidity fade into the background :) It was certainly a challenging research project (prior to the start of the project, Foreign Direct Investment was an area that I wasn't completely familiar with), but one that I thoroughly enjoyed, as it allowed me to work with a firm that I was in incredible awe of, work in a country I hold very dear to my heart, and to learn about & work on an issue which is of significant concern to the region's future as a whole.
In this part of the world, we have real sun with real summers (30C is kinda warm, not hot!), but after having a long cold winter with sub-zero temperatures, it was nice to see my old friend (the Sun) again :) Another wonderful result of my summer stint was that it took me back home to the United Arab Emirates, and it gave me the opportunity to spend some wonderful time with my family & friends (after the day's work was done, of course!). I am very fortunate to have a wonderful group of family & friends in both, my hometown & gradtown, and it was fantastic to see all the amazing people who encouraged me early on & are cheering me on during this adventure. To all of them, I owe a debt of thanks & limitless bear hugs! :)
My summer experience has been so incredibly amazing, that the thought of going back was a little bit not fun, but once you've started riding this intense roller-coaster, you've got to see it through to its (graduating) conclusion, and I am so excited for this final year and all the awesomeness it holds for us! :D
Summer Intensive 360
After a year spent what can only be described as riding a roller coaster at warp speed, the last thing you might want to do is ride it again for another two weeks. You'd have to be a bit odd & quirky, and have an insatiable thirst for adrenaline and adventure, or in my case, have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and adventure. After about twenty-one intense courses in the core areas of business (okay, so maybe some of those courses were two-part courses, but they still felt like twenty-one trials!), with some mind-numbing concepts, plenty of all-nighters, and very little sleep, the last thing I thought about was diving straight into another course for two weeks, and that too just three days after the last exam of my first year. However, during a Rotman MBA Electives Fair at the end of March, we had the opportunity to learn about the different Electives available for our Second Year, not only from the Professors who would be teaching them, but also from the Upper Years who took those courses. From the mind-numbing Electives selection exercise (there are so many great choices, and it's so hard to limit yourself to ten!), came one course that I was extremely curious about (it came highly recommended by the Upper Years), and when I learnt that it would be offered during the Summer Intensive term, I just had to do it, even if it was right after the Q4 Exams.
Professor Sarah Kaplan picks one organization for each edition of "Corporation 360" and we stick with that corporation (in our case, Nike) for the entire duration of the course, through Observation, Reflection and Conversation, analyzing it inside out and all around, in short, we do a 360 degrees analysis of an organization, an exercise many of us may be called upon to do after our MBA. We looked at the different functions of Nike - strategy, human resources, supply chain management, marketing, finance and accounting - across the course of its corporate history and business trajectory. Not being a particularly sporty person, I was concerned about my ability to immerse myself in a sports corporation, but the extent and variety of readings certainly helped me understand Nike better. Be warned, you will have an immense amount of reading to do, but it's all essential, and not doing the readings will have you looking like a deer in headlights during the class discussions! While unusual, considering our previous courses, it was refreshing to use a case study of one company, and look at all the stakeholders to see the company, in very many different ways, all interlinked with each other, and using them to take different lenses & understand trade-offs better. It cut across a lot of what we learned in our core courses, with integrative questions to develop a holistic view of the corporation, and also highlighted the necessity of cross-functional teams, instead of being siloed in. As in life, so it is in the corporate world - not everything is black & white, but somewhere in between - the grey area - and this course allowed us to start embracing it.
People's Choice Award for the Student of the Month!
Thanks to your overwhelming level of support, I won the People's Choice Award for the Student of the Month in the Blogger category! :D Thank you so much for your support & kind words of encouragement! :)
-Kiran.
Hello!
During the past year, I have bored many of you with my blog – “MBA: Must Bring Adventure!” ;)
A very kind Good Samaritan decided that my blog & I were worth nominating for the Student of the Month Award in 'The Blogger' category. http://awards.campusperks.ca/en/entries/1x0bq
But for me to qualify & win, I need 25 wonderful people to sign in & voice their support for me at the link below… I hope I can count on your support! http://awards.campusperks.ca/en/users/sign_in?after_sign_in=http%3A%2F%2Fawards.campusperks.ca%2Fen%2Fentries%2F1x0bq
Thanks very much! :)
-Kiran.
Why I hope to have your support for this Student of the Month Nomination?
Out of Dubai's industrial oven, into Toronto's deep freeze,
For new opportunities I have come to seize.
Searching for new adventures & challenges,
On life, I have found a refreshingly new lease.
Breaking free of old, comfortable binds,
Reminding myself to keep an open mind.
With new discoveries at Rotman,
This watch of creativity I am beginning to wind.
Waking up before the crack of dawn,
Trudging through snow-covered lawns.
Hopefully paying rapt attention in class,
And studying furiously until every last ounce of strength is gone.
While slaving away on 29-hour projects,
I yearn to be at Rotman's clubs, finding my creative outlet.
I'm excited by little moments of happiness,
Finding no reason to put my enthusiasm to rest.
Time just seems to whizz me by,
In between this crazy roller-coaster ride,
I steal a few moments away to write away to my heart's content,
With caffeine, as my best friend, right by my side!
MBA: Must Bring Adventure I do happily write,
My adventures, someone, someday will cite!
It’s been a time-consuming, sleep-depriving, & physically exhausting ride,
But I shall enthusiastically trudge on with a happy sigh :)
10-4 on Q4
Q4 started right after the much-needed Reading Week, with many of the students still in vacation mode. Let's face it, who wants to go back to class after a relaxing week away from the madness of cramming five courses in just six weeks? But, back to class we must, and we faced the last of our core foundation courses of our first year. Having spent some time developing operational frameworks, processes & policies prior to coming to Rotman, I was hoping "Operations Management" would be a good introduction to the integral role of operations within any organization, and hopefully provide some insight into the latest operational breakthroughs. While it covered the different process measures, distress points, systems variability, inventory policies, supply chains, and process capabilities, this course left me strangely overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. Overwhelmed with the extent of the work required, with the innumerable cases, the Beer Games simulation, and the crazy 100-hour Littlefield simulation. Underwhelmed with the outdated material being used, and not enough attention being paid to the changing technologies impacting operational frameworks. It felt like the ROSE (Return On Student Effort... What? Why can't I invent an abbreviation? Abbreviations are the norm in business school!) for this course was far too low to justify all the mad effort put into it. Everybody knows that an MBA is hard work, requiring a great deal of effort, although sometimes it felt it might be worthwhile for the professor to be cognizant of the fact that we were all dedicated students putting in a lot of effort for his course, and the four other courses also requiring intensive effort.
Although this course did not have a comparably insane amount of work, "Managerial Accounting" was structured in such a way to ensure that you stayed on top of all the material. One of the nicest professors at Rotman, he was committed to ensuring that you were actually able to understand and apply the different elements of Managerial Accounting, relating to the nature of costs, responsibility accounting, performance measurement, budgeting, transfer pricing, absorption cost systems, cost allocation, activity based costing & management, as well as areas you might not consider as being related to the course, such as monitoring employees.
"Global Managerial Perspectives" (like quite a few of the first year core courses) had two different professors, each teaching two sections on globalization, international trade, international business, foreign exchange markets, and exchange rate regimes. I can't speak to the other section, although I'd heard that their professor covered a broader view of international business and the implicit issues involved. Our professor was more focused on South America - while I can't discount the importance of Brazil in the world economy, it felt like a stubborn, siloed perspective, and really is only one of the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India & China) - with the Brazilian Managerial Perspective, I was left wanting to learn more about the rest of the world and the Global Managerial Perspective.
While many may regard "Business Ethics" as an oxymoron, and an idealistic concept, in reality, not adhering to an ethical standard of professional conduct is the surest way to end your career and your organization. One of the most engaging professors of our first year, he really emphasized the critical importance of ethics in our personal and professional decisions, with the ripple effects felt in the general business ethics environment, with cases on whistle-blowers, integrating ethics & governance, ethical decision-making in foreign jurisdictions, and managing ethical risks. He challenged us to ask challenging questions to better understand the ethical mindset of different corporations & their actions. Guest speaker, Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods expected no less from our line of questioning, and provided a rare insight into the difficult life-altering decisions that corporations face, and the critical importance of placing human life above your bottom line.
Okay, I won't lie. I was super-excited when I discovered that Roger Martin, was going to be taking time out from his very busy schedule and his role as the Dean of the Rotman School of Management, to teach our First-Year class with "Integrative Thinking Practicum." I picked Rotman as the home of my MBA education after hearing Roger Martin speaking about Rotman’s approach to business education, at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-5). It was really great to learn from him on opposing models, integrative thinking frameworks, and developing & assessing prototypes, while at the same time being able to constantly test it out on existing problems being faced by the Four Seasons, Fio Corporation and BMO. It would not be unfair to say that this has been my favorite class from the entire first year curriculum, partly due to its practical application to real business & wicked problems, and partly due to its embracing of the ever-present, ever-growing grey areas.
And with that, I completed the first year of my two-year MBA at Rotman! I still can’t believe I’m halfway through! I think by this time you’ve probably realized I’m happiest & most expressive when I write, and so, here’s my commemorative poem at the half-way mark. It's been one crazy, crazy roller-coaster ride, making some great friends, learning from some great professors, and meeting some amazing people along the way, all with very little sleep! I can't wait for second year! :)
Class of 2013, Congratulations on completing the first year of our Rotman MBA!
A year ago, I was relaxing in Dubai,
Today, the first year of my Rotman MBA has just whizzed by.
It's been time-consuming, sleep-depriving, & physically exhausting,
But I shall still remember it with a happy sigh...
To all the family & friends I've ignored over the past year,
Thank you for being such wonderful dears!
It's been a crazy roller-coaster ride,
But thanks to all of you, I've overcome many of my fears...
One more challenging year lies ahead,
Where we'll go from First-Years to being Upper-Years instead.
It's going to be an even crazier ride,
But a new path of success I will tread...
Class of 2013,
Congratulations on completing the first year of our Rotman MBA! :)
Rotman Design Challenge 2012
6 students. 6 weeks. 1 client. 1 enormous challenge. Result? Growing Green with TD! That sounded far more dramatic and exciting in my head, with voice-overs by Don LaFontaine or Phil Keoghan... ;)
The Rotman Design Challenge was an incredibly exciting opportunity, to not only once again immerse myself in business design, but also apply it to a live case. The Rotman Design Challenge is the only student-run competition in North America that incorporates both, business & design concepts, and the organizing team did an awesome job at managing an incredibly collaborative & creative competition. For this year's challenge, we were tasked with developing innovative solutions for TD, to help students prepare for a financially successful and socially viable life after school. Aside from 11 teams from the Rotman School of Management, we also had visiting teams from the California College of Arts, Darden School of Business (University of Virginia), Illinois Institute of Technology, Ontario College of Art & Design, Sloan School of Management (MIT), Stern School of Business (NYU), and the University of Cincinnati.
Given that Team Rubik's Cube comprised of students from the business and design worlds, it was a little easier to put ourselves in that mindset of students, and understand our concerns about all things related to money. With our student interviews, user insights, user personas, concept visualization, ideation, and prototyping stages over, we thought we'd hit the jackpot! Alas, whenever you think you're done, think again! When we tried testing our concept & ideas with our target users, they liked some stuff, but not all of the stuff, and so it was back to the drawing board (or in our case, the stickies, whiteboards & chalkboards... I'm surprised we didn't start drawing out our ideas on the school's walls!). Our concept went through many iterations and user tests, with our journey maps consequently taking a fresh turn with every iteration. In the end, our team came up with and presented to TD "Growing Green," a long-term financial literacy program for young adults, where we would go backwards, in order to take them forwards to where TD is right now.
As exciting as it was to go through the entire business design process for a real live case, develop a creative concept, and present it to senior executives from TD and hear their feedback on our concept, it was just as exciting to see some of the other amazing ideas from the visiting schools, hear their perspectives on the student pulse, and learn from them. It felt like a meeting of like-minded individuals all collaborating together to work on creative ideas and integrative solutions to solve 'regular' business problems, before we all go on and solve 'wicked' world problems.
After IIT took top prize at this year's challenge (Kudos to Team Beta from the Illinois Institute of Technology!), we all went out to the After-Party at the Thomson Hotel, and celebrated our six weeks of intense curiosity, determined thinking, fervent debates, repeated iterations, and innovative solutions, all underlined with constant creativity.
See you at next year's Rotman Design Challenge! :)
Update: 26 April 2012
If you've had a chance to peruse my MBA: Must Bring Adventure blog, you've kinda realized that I probably express myself best when I write... Just a short while ago, there was an article advising against hiring MBAs if you needed to solve a tough business problem, on the basis of the student performance at the Rotman Design Challenge. As an MBA student who's one exam away from completing her first year, and over the past year, has discovered the incredible value of design thinking, and is determined to learn all that she can about business design and design thinking, this article (and the ensuing comments) certainly caught my attention. It got me thinking, and writing...
Is our storytelling lousy? Yes. Do we need to focus more on the user insights? Yes. Do we need to be less bullet-pointy and more graphical? Yes. Do we need to learn more about Design? Yes. Do we need to learn more from Designers? Yes. Do we need to inculcate Business Design as a way of thinking, doing & being? Yes. That's why the Rotman Design Challenge was a great way to start that learning process. And for first-year business school students who, on average, had no more than 20-25 hours of formal instruction on business design (as compared to designers who've spent countless years of being & practicing design), we didn't do an awful job. However, that's only the beginning of our learning journey into design thinking. We do need work, and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. But, we're not afraid to learn and put in the countless hours, the incredible effort, the integrative thinking, and the dogged determination into understanding & thinking like designers, and we'll eventually get there...
I apologize if this offends the author, but I won't apologize for my fervent desire to learn about design thinking, and to try to integrate both, business and design, into this sweet spot where wicked problems can be solved. I know I need to learn, and I am learning, and will continue to learn, all throughout business school and beyond.
First-Year Reading Week!
While some went off to hit the slopes, some went to tan in the tropics, some went home to see family & friends, I decided to stay in town during our First-Year Reading Week, and do a little bit of discovering...
A week of discovering...
the delight of reading for pleasure (not school!),
the joy of good times with great friends,
the pursuit of creativity with new thinking partners,
luxury, modernity & deliciousness at the Distillery District,
serenity, sunshine & sea-yearning vessels at the Harborfront,
industrial peace & reflections at Queens Quay,
barren but hopeful trees & feathered friends at High Park,
fascinated by the myriad of artistic expressions at the AGO,
captivated by a good story on screen,
relishing in the delectableness of maple cupcakes with hot cocoa,
finally understanding the story behind Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons,'
and being completely entranced by the virtuosos at the TSO...
Sounds like some delightful discoveries during Reading Week! :)
A writing spree on Q3!
Q3 has been insightful & memorable for many reasons, some good, some not so good, and some just plain interesting... Hmm, "plain interesting..." Didn't plan on that oxymoron, but it does sound oddly apt... There I go again! Continuing on from Q2 were three courses, the first of which was "Finance II: Corporate Finance." Now, I'm not really a Quants person, so number-based courses don't really come easy to me. I probably have to spend twice as long to understand half of what's being said in class. But I can assure you, whatever was being said in Finance II was definitely important. Even if you don't plan on going into the financial sector, it is critical to understand all the elements revolving around Capital Budgeting, Incremental Cash Flows, Working Capital, WACC, Capital Structure & Taxes, Bankruptcy Costs, Agency Costs of Debt, Signalling and Options. Because when you're contemplating finance options to grow & expand your qualitative-based entrepreneurial venture, it'll come in handy so the Investment Banker doesn't pull a fast one on you! ;)
Another part deux course was "Managing Customer Value II" or Markstrat as it came to be known, based on the simulation which forms the basis for the entire course. The Markstrat simulation is well-respected, was quite engaging, and is representative of what you might end up doing with a career in brand management. However, for me, working for a brand involves developing a deep intrinsic connection with the brand and its core message, because that's the only way I can best represent it to its final users. And that's kinda hard to do when you are faced with a category-less, shape-less product, identified only by names like SELF, SEMI & VERY. I liked it because it was my team's product (and our fabulous team worked very hard at it), but I couldn't bring myself to love it because I couldn't define it, and for me, when I put myself in the shoes of the user, love for a brand is one of the most important value drivers in the marketing space. It's an interesting course, with a fair bit of practical application with the simulations, and the professor is extremely helpful & committed to helping you do better. I suppose the right side of my brain was just itching for some more creativity.
The final part deux course was "Strategy II" and I quite enjoyed the class discussions where we tore apart the cases to get down to the key insights. With interesting cases on Boeing, Airbus, Wii & Disney, we explored concepts on Competitive Dynamics, Game Theory, Cooperative Dynamics, Strategy in Two-Sided Markets, Horizontal Scope, Vertical Scope, Geographical Scope and Corporate Strategy. Because the course was taught in phases by two great professors, in some ways it felt too short, and that you needed to learn more from each professor in order for the course to feel complete.
One of the most interesting courses during Q3 was "Macroeconomic Environment of Business;" until I decided on an MBA at Rotman, I was pondering a Masters in Economics, so economics-based courses are always exciting. Our classes for this course were always held at 8:30am (before Daylight Savings Time went into effect), and when it's dark, dratty & cold outside, you really have no incentive to get out of bed in the morning, but you brace the dark dreariness for this course. Our Professor embraced this course with so much joy, curiosity and excitement, that you were compelled to to be interested in economic concepts such as Long-Run Growth & Productivity, Unemployment & the Natural Rate, the Monetary System, the Open-Economy, the Exchange Rate & Capital Flows, and Monetary & Fiscal Policies. While I did enjoy the course, it is quite unlikely that I will pursue a Masters in Economics - too many variables, and too much politics involved... perhaps I prefer the Austrian School of Thought!
Probably one of my most favorite courses, not just from Q3, but across the three quarters, would have to be "Leadership." While the quants may dismiss this as a "fluff" course, I urge you not to underestimate its importance. You can always acquire technical knowledge, but the opportunity to learn, test & apply these critical soft skills is generally limited to academia, or only if you have an extremely, extremely, extremely accommodating, encouraging manager, otherwise you ought to pay full attention in this class. One important aspect of this course is that it was taught by an incredibly energetic, expressive, dynamic female professor - why is that important? Because with the corporate world dominated by men, who have made enormous errors of elephantine proportions, it's important to get a fresh perspective on leadership, that isn't driven primarily by male aggression. That isn't to say our professor was "soft" on us, in fact, she drove & pushed us hard to dig deep into makes a good leader, and more importantly, what mistakes do you avoid in your quest to become a good leader, and build effective Leadership models around them.
I had a question thrown at me the other day, as to what do I think of the different testing approaches, and what works best... to be quite honest, "It depends." Each individual will have their own opinion, and not everyone will agree on this contentious issue. Perhaps it's just me, but I'm not really a fan of exams that comprise more than 50% of your grade. I almost feel that with exams, it is more focused on your powers of memorization and regurgitation, with limited application post-retention. For me, assignments, essays, projects and presentations are a more apt assessment of your understanding and application of the material, and more representative of the challenges that you will face in the workplace. I suppose that's why I'm grumpy during exams, but bustling with adrenaline just before a presentation, or brimming with excitement at the prospect of writing a 3,000-word essay. Now if I could only find someone to pay me to do that! :)
Poetic Rhymes for Business Design
Out of Dubai’s industrial oven, into Toronto’s deep freeze,
For new opportunities I have come to seize.
Searching for new adventures and challenges,
On life, I will find a refreshingly new lease.
Breaking free of old, comfortable binds,
Reminding myself to keep an open mind.
With this new discovery at Rotman,
This watch of creativity I am beginning to wind.
A merger of the minds from business and design,
Where fun creativity and rigorous analysis begin to align.
Solving both, the world’s most simple and wicked problems,
Is this crucial art of Business Design.
The process is thoughtful, intense, and can be laborious,
With results ranging from the simple & quirky to the grand & glorious.
Cannot wait to be challenged and fulfilled with Business Design Visa,
And for my mind to rediscover the joy and exhilaration of being curious!
For the longest time, I wondered what was I meant to do,
First with BDC Bootcamp, and now with VISA, I am unraveling the clues.
I am ready to curiously explore the possibilities and creatively generate new solutions,
Because for me, this path of Business Design is the right fit and true!