Return of the Unicorn (AMP work blog no. 5)

Will be back in about 3 weeks, so I guess I should give a sense of what a day over here looks like before it's too late!  M asked me to bring along his unicorn pencil case - so the pencil case has actually attended AMP twice now :D

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Bzzz... bzzz... bzzz... bzzz...

It's barely light out, and I reluctantly pry open my sleep-encrusted eyes.  Outside, I hear the muted sounds of activity, as one or two hardy souls head out to their morning spinning class. 

I roll over and tap the snooze button.

Bzzz... bzzz... bzzz... bzzz...

Rats.  Really time to wake up now.  Brush teeth, gather files, take the lift down and walk to class.  Breakfast?  Who's got time?!  Though if I'm really peckish, I can grab a banana and a coffee...

Here I am in class.  The blackboard is still pristine, but in a short while, 9 banks of dense text will populate the boards which the professors raise and lower at the push of a button.  The high quality chalk doesn't squeak like they used to back in school - must be some high-tech innovation in the chalk industry :D

Some professors cold-call the students, but most don't need to - my classmates are highly engaged, highly opinionated.  We talk strategy, marketing, finance, managing corporate performance, leadership, developments in digital technology, macro-economics and government.  I am impressed by the speed of thought and breadth of experience of my classmates!

The class discussions are supplemented by plenaries led by business leaders, many of whom are current or past CEOs, Presidents or Chairmen. 

Jeff Immelt of GE, Steve Beeks of Lionsgate (The Hunger Games), David Yoffie of Intel, Wang Hongzhang of China Construction Bank, Leo Mullin of Delta, Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, Nando Parrado (one of the heroes of the 1972 Andean plane crash, and the subject of the movie Alive). 

The leaders who impress us most tend to be those who are authentic, don't crow too much about their achievements, recognise their mistakes, and acknowledge the help they received along the way.

We agree with some of the things they advocate, disagree with others, and the diversity of opinion makes it a particularly helpful exercise for me.

The cases also continue to surprise me.  We examine the turnaround of Henkel by Kasper Rorsted (now Adidas CEO), and how his hard-driving, performance focused leadership revives a complacent company. 

Then in the very next case, we study the amazing out-performance of Handelsbanken, a bank that's run almost like a co-op (they don't even have performance bonuses!).  My mind is opened to the possibility that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

The Europeans and Americans seem to like the sun, and you'll see them out on the chairs and tables scattered around the campus quadrangle, working hard on their cases. 

Here I am with one of the Marines!  We have a handful of people from the military, either Australian or American, and a fair number of people from the public service and non-profit sector.  But the vast majority are from the private sector.  As a sample size, the Singapore contingent (excluding the expats) comprises 3 who work in the public sector, and 4 in the private sector (one of whom works for the quasi-philanthropic arm of his employer).

But enough about class - will write more about takeaways in another blog!  It's hard work, but it's not ALL work.  The cafeteria food's pretty good, and there's time to meet up with people from all over the world to chat over lunch and dinner. 

Being cooped up all day and night in the lecture halls can trigger cabin fever and general grumpiness, so there are times after class, and especially on weekends, when I just give up on reading and go for a run.  The weather is amazing, and I try to run as much as I can - I already like running normally, but the weather and scenery here makes running an even better experience.

But it always comes back to the cases, which occupy a lot of our attention - an enormous amount of time is spent reading up on the next day's discussions.  It's common to study till midnight or past that, because classes last the whole day, followed by social activities in the evening, and then a team meeting discussion for the next day's cases.  These team meetings sometimes start only at 9 pm, and take a couple of hours.  Only after that, or during the weekends, can we actually get any reading done.  Here's a picture of my Living Group!

And finally, at the end of each long day, some mundanities still need to be done.  Laundry and ironing among other things...

And so ends another eventful day in the life of the unicorn pencilcase.  Up and at 'em for tomorrow again!

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