Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Random thoughts

Since I was just reminded that I do in fact have a blog (in case I'd forgotten) and told that I should post something, here are a few random thoughts:

- The current exchange rate is scary. I've stopped checking it.

- My original plan to study my 3rd language prior to starting seems to have completely backfired. It appears I will get to report on regretting this decision while I loose additional "networking"/sleeping time. Something to look forward to :)

- US student loan programs are not as bright, shiney and simple as I once thought. Beware future applicants, you cannot borrow money for the deposit, so be prepared to beg family and friends (or however you prefer to get extra cash) if you don't have your own cash sitting around in the bank.

- Before going to INSEAD, do consider long and hard all your options to take time off to travel before the program begins. Even if you would be short on funds, it is entirely possible to find a few couches to sleep on with a bit of networking with other future students. I did, and I know I'm not the only one.

- Check into around the world plane tickets if you've never heard of them.

It's hard to believe that there's just a few weeks left...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Ok ok ok...

So if anyone is still reading this, you've probably noticed I haven't posted in awhile...

My first excuse: When you leave your job, it is true that they take back the company computer (Why do they have to do that??). Then the Lenovo tablet I ordered a few months back (copied Necromonger) is finally on the way to my house after a 2 month wait. - If you want one order it WELL in advance of when you actually need it.

Second excuse: For the past few weeks I've been traveling. To get computer access, I have to manage to borrow one from a friend or find a computer lab. Ok, so neither is THAT difficult, but after leaving a job where I was on a computer all the time, I don't really have the attention span to look at one for very long especially when the keyboard is very different from what I'm used to.

Anyway, as I visit some of my expat friends as the new television season starts, it's interesting to see how they all manage to keep up with US TV. Since missing my favorite shows makes me sad (not that I'll have time to watch much TV at INSEAD) and I may not be alone, this is what I know so far:

1. To access all the US TV you could possibly want, you can set up a connection to a US cable box and send everything to your computer via a slingbox with the help of a friend in IT.
2. You can download off the internet...
3. You can learn to like French television :)

The other thing I've been thinking about is the language requirement. I've signed up to take the test for my second language days before the final deadline, and given my relaxed mental state and my procrastination on studying for it, I'm a bit worried...

A few months ago, I did take a language test and scored a B1 level but not quite high enough for INSEAD's requirement on that particular exam. Logically, if I can manage to focus, I should be fine. However, the risk of failing the exam and not being able to go to INSEAD after paying the deposit, putting a deposit on an apartment, and quitting my job wouldn't be fun to say the least...

A tip for anyone, who may be applying to INSEAD and doesn't speak multiple languages, passing an exam in advance would be a great idea for piece of mind... :)

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

D'08 Bloggers

Anyone else out there blogging for the December 08 class yet (or any others)? Let me know, and I'll add more links. Will we get enough to rival the July 08s???

Monday, August 27, 2007

OB Lesson One: The Myth of Sisyphus

A new friend recommended today that I add something application realated to my blog to help future applicants. This afternoon I was inspired by a phone call from HR as it relates to the failure essay I wrote for my INSEAD application...

So to begin in somewhat general terms: When I graduated from college, I got a nice job in a relatively new training program intended to develop the next generation of company leadership. The job sounded like a great opportunity as the retirement statistics showed an aging workforce, with no trained replacements, leading to plenty of opportunities for the new hires to advance rapidly through the ranks. What could be better??? (At least in my opinion :)

Skip to a year or so later and all of the sudden, the good retention rate plummets once the first batch of the program hires hit the 3-year mark. Everyone talks, so those of us following in the program had a pretty good idea of what was going on in each case. I liked my job, my boss, and had had some success making minor changes to the program (still an acknowledged work in progress), so I discussed the issues with my peers, researched objective opinions about what was happening in other industries, etc. and scheduled a lunch with my boss to discuss. It all boiled down to a generation gap, and I, silly me, came up with a bulleted list of ideas to make the work environment more inviting to my generation that just required a few changes to company culture... What ever could be difficult about that? (Note: my boss while great had lived that company culture his entire career...)

If you're applying to B-school, hopefully you can imagine how miserably this plot unfolded, and I definitely took away valuable lesson #1: Only bring up the points that all of my peers will support in public as the rest will be viewed as "my" problem, not a flaw in the program, and stay far away from bullet points. Obvious, yes, but I was new...

(This is about where I ended my failure essay.)

From then on out, I stuck with dropping hints about 1 or 2 key issues that would be relatively easy to change, or so I thought. It's amazing how creative senior managers can get when making up excuses for why something is the way it is when it could be fixed by a little bit more than a phone call. Still no one made the phone call!

Over the last year, Murphy's law really had a field day with me winding up in situations that "only" affected me, so I put these issues on the table as they came up. I would say the common denomonator to all was that when multiple people followed a rarely used company procedure and got a bad result, I was told it was "my fault" or "not even a valid problem." After all, why would there be an error in company policy? etc., etc.

Despite wanting to scream "Stop the insanity!!" I tried, though not always calmly, to explain how the situation could/would occur again in a similar situation and should be addressed or, at the very least, acknowledged to be a problem. I might as well have been pushing a boulder up a steep clif!! In most cases, that seemed like it would be more productive.

Meanwhile, I actually picked out a date to apply to INSEAD years ago to give me an appropriate amount of pre-MBA experience, without unneccessary over kill, and it just so happened to align fairly closely to when the flickering light in my head turned on high beam:

While the company culture might be rancid (my opinion) now that we're in the 21st cetury, I am actually the "problem," as my efforts to change what everyone else accepts makes all of my efforts as ineffective as Sisyphus. By the way, this is still true even if all of my peers feel the same since we're still only a tiny minority in the company.

So finally to my inspration today for sharing:

My resignation letter (upon receipt of the INSEAD admit letter) finally made it's way to a certain someone's inbox... I received a phone call today where in a very negative tone I was told that HR was not happy with my decision. (I was under the impression I was under the terms of voluntary employment? :) However, they were not surprised based on the many mistakes management had made in handling those "Murphy" situations (think that was actually a first). I gather HR views leaving for a top MBA a poor excuse since OBVIOUSLY you can get the same degree part-time in just a few more years.

Then I was asked to please be honest in my exit interview since my feedback could help management improve in the future and to please call as soon as I graduated to see if they could set me up in my dream job with the company... Hmmmm...

For the record, they already have all of my feedback and recommendations for improvements if only they cared to recall it, and they already determined that none of it was valid (See above where I'm a "problem" in their system). The show is practically in sindication at this point, and I don't like reruns that much :)

Maybe the idea is starting to hit home that the retention rate is only 5% (equals 1 person)? Or maybe it's that as the last girl standing, my departure might hurt someone's bonus for diversity? (This is all pure speculation with no basis, by the way.)

The question is, though, how should I approach my exit interview?

A. Bring documentation of INSEAD's global ranking and average salary at graduation in an atempt to "justify" my choice.
B. Explain my actual career goals, which don't align with the CEO's vision, but it's possible HR won't realize this in case I actually do find myself unemployed and extremely desperate after graduation.
C. Tell them I really always wanted to study abroad and thought now was an appropriate time.
D. Some combination of the above.

Any thoughts? :)

P.S. I guess what was most surprising to me is that I always assumed HR's job is to handle things, like resignations, professionlly. My boss took it much better, and he's the one I actually work for :)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Reconsidering

Maybe I spoke too soon about my anxiety level... I found out tonight that it looks like I'll only have 3 weekends to packup and move instead of the 5 I'd planned. It's not like I have a ton of stuff to go through and organize. In fact, every time I move, the movers laugh as they ask "this is it????"

But I'm not sure how I'm going to manage, when I was planning to be drinking all of those weekends and actually pack the last two!! (FYI I love to procrastinate...) Maybe I should take some comfort in the fact that it only takes movers an hour to pack up all my earthly belongings. How many days could it possibly take me?

To cope with this new anxiety inducing realization, I spent about 10 min cleaning tonight! Ahhh... much better :)

On my to do list for tomorrow: 1. Resign again!

Anyone have thoughts on luggage?

My Identity

Ok, so I've never been to Kansas and my name isn't Dorothy in case anyone was wondering... ;)

I'm not going to be able to pull off an anonymous blog as some try to do, so this blog is going to be "anonymous." People will probably figure out who I am, but I'm not publishing names, etc.

So if you do figure out who I am, pinky swear to keep it to yourself :P

(I do find it funny that I feel the need to post this the day I start the blog...)

Anxiety...

In the days since the admit from INSEAD, my anxiety level has dropped suddenly from 100++ to 0.

Obviously this is a good thing, but one downside would be that I don't seem to wake up in time for work anymore. This has been a progressive type thing in that my start time has been getting later and later, so that this morning, I arrived at work at a NORMAL hour for MOST people. For me though, I was 3 hours later than my boss and an hour later than my usual.

Why is this? Well, the night of my admit, obviously, I went out drinking... By looking at my cell phone records, I must have gone to bed at a normal time (got off the phone with my sister at 11PM, and yes, my cell phone was the only way I figured that out...)

The next morning, I was so relaxed and hit snooze so many times my alarm stopped going off. This morning (after going to the gym last night), I was so tired I slept for probably 10+ hours...

All I can say is I hope this wears off by January otherwise I'll be looking for roommates that are willing to wake me up every day...

Welcome to OZ

Thank you to my friend "Accipiter," who helped me make it through all the procrastinating moments (read: hours) at work waiting for the much anticipated email... (Yours will be arriving momentarily!)

But seriously, yesterday, INSEAD's adcom finally sent me an admit email!!! :D So I guess I can start my blog now!!

Right now I'm still in shock, but just wanted to make my first post! More to come...

P.S. Forgot to mention... I'll be in the promotion starting January 2008...