Recently in Business schools Category

Actually I noticed that Interviewbay.com linked to this blog a while ago, but it’s nice to receive an email acknowledgement from them:

Hi Vanessa

You have created a great resource for MBA applicants, and especially for people who are looking to get into INSEAD. We have added your blog as one of the best blogs to help INSEAD applicants. You can visit http://www.interviewbay.com/interview_resources.php for more information.

Read on for more info about Interviewbay, based on the email they sent me.

Our career rep Abs just posted this on Facebook and I’m so pleased I have to share it with everyone. Among employers in Europe, INSEAD is the most preferred b-school (LBS coming in second). Likewise, INSEAD is the most preferred b-school in Asia, among all the business schools in that region.

Walk tall, INSEADers…

In my final Ethics class I raised the question of whether anyone would sign up for the MBA Oath. I added that I had just read a media report saying that even students from even INSEAD have signed up. Curious, I went to the website and found one INSEAD signatory*, from a much earlier promotion. Would the rest of us sign it?

My question brought mixed responses. Some would sign it, and felt that most of our cohort would, too. Others said there was no need to sign it, and just because some signed it and others didn’t, doesn’t mean that the non-signers were unethical. A good point raised by a classmate was that, in contrast to other Oaths like the Hippocratic one for doctors, how can this MBA Oath be enforced?

While surfing around for opinions on the MBA Oath I read a comment from another b-school student that signing the Oath may imply that his school’s curriculum is lacking in an ethics focus, i.e. it would backfire.

Our professor threw a question back at me - Should there be an INSEAD Oath? I said, on its own merit that was feasible, but now, why have an INSEAD Oath when the Harvard Oath has already gained so much publicity? Launching our own INSEAD Oath may imply that the Harvard version is lacking somewhere. (And wouldn’t it look like a ‘me-too’ reaction?)

Finally, another classmate said that we should re-iterate INSEAD’s existing values and that should cover it. There’s no need for a separate Oath. I think most of us agreed with that.

Personally, I am curious to see if, many years down the road, any signatories from this oath are able to stand by what they’ve sworn. Their names are on the website and the media can hold them accountable. Many are Harvard MBAs, likely to become top executives of major companies. Hopefully the Oath will reduce the chances of another Enron. But a once-off signing with no follow-ups and no enforceability would make it less effective.

Another cynical comment I read online said that this Oath was cleverly set up to help MBA grads look better as they search for jobs in a difficult climate. I disagree because many employers won’t necessarily prefer someone who signed it as opposed to someone who hasn’t. There are so many other qualities; no MBA grad, even from the same school, is exactly alike.

So the conclusion is, if you want to sign it, by all means, go ahead! It may improve the way we do business, or it may not. But if you don’t sign it, it doesn’t mean you are unethical either. Nobody is perfect and even those signing it may one day be forced to make an uncomfortable decision.

In the meantime, I am following the MBA Oath on Facebook and Twitter to observe it.

[ Update: 3 INSEAD alumni have signed the Oath ]

So I finally went out and partied a bit on Thursday. It was a brilliant idea to put 6 business schools together - NUS, NTU, SMU, Essec, INSEAD, SP Jain. How could I resist it?

Strangely, for all it was worth, I didn’t think there was much voluntary integration. When I arrived I saw the Indians sticking with the Indians, the ethnic Chinese sticking with the ethnic Chinese, and large groups of French people who did not look like they were from INSEAD, also sticking together. It was a good party but next time I suggest the organisers make us play a game, whereby we have to meet 5 new people, each from different schools and exchange name cards!

Also, the alumni from local schools were invited, whereas when I emailed 2 INSEAD alums they were not aware of it. Which is probably why INSEAD was a little under-represented. Of course the other reason is that the rest of you have already left for Cambodia this weekend!!!

Anyway, I bumped into 2 INSEAD guys and we decided to get drinks. While waiting at the bar, I introduced myself to 2 strangers and learnt they were from Essec. Then I introduced myself to 2 Indians standing nearby, thinking they were from SP Jain but turns out they were from NUS. Then another Singaporean INSEADer arrived with many friends and I had a long conversation with one of them.

Then I edged further out to an ethnic Chinese group and learnt they were really from China, studying at NTU. We discussed Chinese energy needs, then I moved on. Another couple was from Cornell but I didn’t get to chat with them (what’s Cornell doing at this bash?).

By this time half the section was occupied by Essec students who were talking among themselves. Where were the other INSEADers?? They were fashionably late. I headed out to greet them and we went to another section of Mimolette.

Then I went outside and saw many Essec-only groups. I decided to join a group of nice-looking young men who were very polite, and had a long chat with them. I learnt more about Essec. I think INSEAD is much more international - they told me Essec is about 75% French. I like French people but if you want diversity there must be more nationalities represented. We discussed living in France as well as French football, which I also like.

The P4s started to leave but the P2s were now in full swing so I met a couple more of them and their friends. Then I bumped into more P2s on my way out and chatted to them at length about some plans we are planning to execute on campus. You will hopefully get a surprise next week.

So now I am home, happy and glad I met new people outside of INSEAD and within INSEAD, and got to know the wilder side of some classmates whose moments of joy may now live on forever in Facebook, untagged or otherwise ;-)

Have a good weekend!

I met up with a university senior of mine who completed his MBA in London a few years ago. He was telling me how an MBA isn’t just about studying - in fact that was a relatively small consideration (!) compared to the networks that one could build.

The premise is: We are all strong and weak in different areas. We should therefore help our classmates in areas that we’re strong in, and in turn they might help us in areas where we’re weak.

My senior helped a Korean classmate who was a high-ranking exec from a MNC. As this Korean’s English wasn’t as good, he asked my senior to vet his work, which he did. They didn’t keep in touch after that.

Years later, though, my senior received numerous business leads from this classmate of his, because the classmate remembered that in his first week, my senior had helped him. My senior had even forgotten the precise details of how he helped his classmate, but the classmate never forgot his act.

These are the sorts of friendships and alliances forged in business school and I hope I’ll have my own stories to tell, in the years to come.