Thankful for Firsts

The point of this series of blog posts is to highlight some of the things I'm thankful for these past two years and hopefully find some reason/purpose/"so what" for all this gratitude.

When I think back to my London years, I generally remember all the new things I've seen, done, tasted, etc. And these "firsts" are memories I treasure.  Here's a sample...

First MBA rugby world championship tour.  This was one of the FUNNEST weeks I've had this year.  Here's a group of my stream (B)est teammates...love these girls.

First half marathon.  Ran the Edinburgh race with my AMAZING friend Joyce in 2:21:40.  We've worked together quite a bit here in London.  I feel like we've been through it all, to hell and back.  And, it was great to symbolically cross the finish line with her.  This was such a happy moment at the end of such a happy Scotland trip with friends.

First Pimms.  One of my new favorite pasttimes is meeting up with this awesome chick Phillipa at the Windsor for an afternoon Pimms.  So British.

First costume competition.  In our first year, a group of ~10 stream B classmates decided to dress up as Charlie Chaplins for a Halloween party where there was a group costume competition.   We chose this costume because it was relatively easy to put together.  And, it was the first of many costume parties in business school.  I don't know what I'm going to do with this suitcase full of random costumes and accessories if/when I move...

First time organizing a hen do (a.k.a. bachellorette party).  Our fearless captain Carolyn (a.k.a. de Vil) got hitched this year.  And the women's rugby team couldn't not celebrate with her before the big day.  Lynnie (a.k.a Casper) and I put together an...err..."special" post match social at the Windsor.   That was a day never to forget.  Like our tour motto, what happens on tour stays on tour, I've got to keep mum about the shenanigans.  However, I will say I haven't laughed so hard or much in a very very long time.

First trip to Paris.  In all my previous travels, I had always avoided Paris and really the whole country of France.  The truth is that I wanted a boy to take me there.  Well, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and my dear friend Lis was working there in the fall of 2010 and invited me to spend a weekend with her.   And, it was love at first sight.  Any chance I get to go to this charming city, I'll jump at.  Here's a photo of us in front of one of the many gorgeous buildings and parks Paris has.  J'adore Paris!

First time to cut loose.  Our recent Scotland trip was one of my favorite trips I've had the past two years (and I've traveled alot).  I think it was because it was such a great group of people, and I decided to leave my work behind to enjoy the weather and company.  Boom.

First Thanksgiving abroad.  Even when you're away from home, you can find a group of people to celebrate the holidays with.

First Indian wedding abroad.  My mom recently came to London, and we traveled to a family friend's wedding in Birmingham.  It was good to get out of student mode and do some normal people activities.  This is a photo of us from one of the ceremonies.  First time I've worn a sari too.

First Aggie Muster abroad.  Who knew there was such a large Aggie community in London?!  I met some great folks, and it was great to see maroon, boots, and rings!

First TED conference.  I cannot believe I spoke at a TED conference (dream come true) with some amazing classmates and fellow speakers.  Such a happy day.

First Pride & Prejudice moment.  Like most girls, I have a thing for Jane Austen.  Our trip to Yorkshire / Derbyshire was one of the MANY great UK and international trips I've taken.  This photo is from Chatsworth House where Pride & Prejudice was filmed.  Aww.

First time leading a group of 35 students to India.  This India trek last December was a highlight of my time in school.  I met so many great people, worked with my awesome partner Sherene, and got to show others the greatness of India.

First time skiing.  The Swiss Alps aren't a bad place to learn.  Though I will need to take more lessons to truly pick this sport up.

First time bartending.  On Thursdays, we have a weekly (free) schoolwide happy hour.    I thought about taking bartending classes in Houston years ago, but I'm glad I didn't.  I picked it up here in London.  Here's a photo with Kieran (a.k.a. Moses) who taught me how to pour a beer and the fabulous Dina (a.k.a. Winner).

First alter ego.  Nicknames are a big deal here.  And mine is "Pi".   Long story of how I got it, and it's one of the more unique ones that's been given.  These nicknames that we give each other are a great way to quickly get to know each other and bond.   And some of them are SO funny.

Thankful for Interesting Conversations

I graduate from London Business School on Friday July 13 (yes, I'm wondering why that ominous date was chosen).  The most common question I've gotten over the past two years is along the lines of "what are you doing afterwards?"  And there's a subtle but overemphasized presumption in all of this that business school is solely a means to an end.  Yes, it is a great way to transition careers, advance in your current discipline, start a new venture later, etc.   But, for me, the point was rarely (close to never) about the afterwards part because I saw it as a truly transformational life experience.  One of my former clients (a great guy who got his MBA from Stanford) said this to me way back, and it's proven right (even for the cynical ones in my class).  I learned frameworks, how to articulate points, appreciate diversity and differences, question everything, realize there can be multiple "right" answers based on frame of "right", etc.   I also believe I'll be a better leader, manager, wife, mother, patron, volunteer, advisor, and friend because of this experience.

I go into nostalgic mode often these days as I'm sad to see these amazing two years end.  I am SO thankful for this experience that it brings me close to tears, and I don't know what to do with all of this thankfulness.  Since I've fallen off the cliff in blogging lately, I'm going to use this blog to explore that.  There has to be a "so what" or logical next step for me given abundance of gratitude.  I can give back to LBS with my time and resources later on.  But, is that it?

Reason #1 to be thankful: Interesting conversations

I was invited to a dinner at the Dean's home this evening and Terry Neill was one of the guests of honor.  Mr. Neill graduated from LBS in the 3rd MBA (formerly MSc) class and went on to join Anderson Consulting where he helped build the company from 300 people to +200,000 plus as Chairman of Anderson/Accenture.   He is a GREAT guy, and we had an interesting, interactive discussion with him + 10 students.  Some of the stickier things that I learned:

-Stanford professor Ray Levitt once said people don't change for rational reasons but rather emotional reasons (love, fear, hate, worry, etc.).  I don't quite agree with it completely but do think people are more likely to change and do so more quickly if there is an emotional hook.  Ideally, the rational arguments are packaged nicely with the emotional messaging.   There are so many examples I can think of that back this up from my Class Gift 2012 campaign...

-Accenture has two projects that are each worth +$1 billion.  One is helping the US Dept. of Homeland Security setup their systems and the other is with an energy company.  (Aside...hope my taxpayer dollars are  being used wisely.)   We now have organizations willing to spend a BILLION dollars to change systems/technology but not willing to make similar investments in people.  And people are infinitisimally more complex that binary computers.   Think about it.

-Notre Dame legendary coach Lou Holtz was giving a speech to business leaders at Harvard Business School once, and he was asked "How do you motivate your players each Saturday?"  Holtz thought a second and then replied, "My job is to not demotivate them on game day."   He then drove home the point to the corporate executives in the audience by asking them how many of their employees are motivated on day 1 of the job and whether they are still motivated.  Most aren't, and company leaders are responsible for this loss in motivation.  And, Terry argued (and I agree) that lack of trust is a driving force in this.

-A question to ponder:  Is human behavior predictable?   Some say yes...doesn't a stadium of football fans go crazy in sync when a goal is scored?  At the same time, I can think of so many situations where people react to situations in different ways based on their background, motivations, etc.   There's validity in both these points, and I feel the truth is in the middle.  I think there are certain universal human reactions to events and generalizations on how different people (ex. nationalities) will react to situations and make decisions.  Good managers can identify these broad buckets of predictable behavior.  Great managers are able to take this understanding a step further and can understand/read people within these categories.

-Employees must understand the customer and know "why" they are important.  Terry brought up an example of an Accenture client engagement with McDonald's many years ago.  The average tenure of a burger flipper in NYC was 32 days.  (Whoa.)   Some forward thinking McDonald's managers knew they had to bring some meaning to the daily task of burger flipping, so they invested in educating these employees on the customers - who they are, the economics of the business, best practices, etc.  Eventually, average burger flipper tenure rose to 4.5 years.  People (and customers) don't care about what you do as a company, they care about the why.

-There are 15 million Jews in the world.  That number seems surprisingly low to me given how strong, pervasive, and influential they are globally.   All over, most Jews have rich traditions, generally consistent behaviors, much recognition, etc.  Jewishness transcends the small (national) borders of Israel better than any other religion.  This factoid came up as we were discussing this trend of people identifying more with lifestyles than nationalities...call them glomads ("global nomads").

I had no idea what this evening was going to entail.  I thought it was just drinks but then found out it was a formal dinner event.  It was a lovely evening, and I came home energized after the interesting conversation with such an accomplished, curious, diverse, and helpful group of people that I feel blessed to have in my personal community.