We're the Future?

Action!!

2006-05-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here's an action shot of me presenting the LAS business plan.

The worst part, is my team was last to present and it was tough keeping their attention. So I used some of my previous training and used an attention getting step to start the presentation. That consisted of Yelling "Just one more, so please pay attention a little longer!!"

It seemed to work for a while anyway. As you can see from the slide, it's from the beginning of presentation. The slide says "Introduction" in large letters!

This is what I came to Instituto de Empresa for: learning how to develop a business idea. It's been worth it. I may not pursue a start-up, but these things help put making money into perspective. It doesn't just appear in your wallet...

r_m

The LAS Team

2006-05-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

So if you've seen my last post, I promised to talk a little more about my entrepreneurship project. So here's a picture of the team. It took a some time to find the right project but I think in the end it's a matter of doing what you know.

With that said, I was the project management expert, Sergio (in the middle) is the fish farming expert, and Jiong (on the Right) is a CFA and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems expert. Together we developed a business plan to open an ERP consulting company for small-to-medium enterprises in the fish farming sector of Chile.

None of us are from Chile, but the beauty of that country is the openness to foriegn investment. The laws there allow a company to be incorporated with no local ownership. Plus, it's the most stable country in Latin America politically and economically.

After all the research, it turns out that this idea is entirely possible. The problem is that none of has ever installed one of these systems. Even though in theory we have the right expertise, we just lack the experience to have the kind of credibility to get contracts immediately. Although our marketing plan acknowledged this, it's a tough sell. Latin America is a high relationship business enviornment, with the vast majority of the business family-owned, so they aren't going to look at the numbers and just say "Let's do it!"

At any rate, I think we did well and the presentation was as good as we could expect. Let me know if you want to start up a business, I have ideas!!

r_m

Our Start-up

2006-05-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly a month since I have posted anything. This is the symbol of the business my team and I have been working on for the last two months.

The business is called LAS, it stands for Latin American Services.

I'm very proud of this logo because, well, I created it. I used MS Visio, a relatively easy to use CAD program.

So you must be wondering, "What is the business about?" Ahh, that's the Million Dollar question isn't it? What have we been working on all this time that kept me from giving you all the latest insights into the life and work of a student at the prestigeous Instituto de Empresa Business School?

Here's the short version: an IT consultancy for ERP Implementation for SMEs in the fish farming sector of Chile.

If you are thinking, "Huh?" Well, you'll just have to give yourself added-value by leveraging your strategic synergies through a paradigm shift in your operational competencies.

All clear now?

r_m

WiFi and My First MBA Interview

2006-04-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have given much thought as to what happened during my interview with Martin Varsavsky. Is he extremely confident (as opposed to humble)? Yes, but maybe he has to be for the role of a “serial entrepreneur” that he plays. Does he not prefer to deal with IE students because we are “privileged people”? Maybe, but a lot us are exactly that. What I mean by privileged is probably different than what Martin believes. I mean privileged by the opportunity to have this international experience as opposed to income levels. For those of you who are not exactly sure who or what I am talking about you can read up on MV at www.fon.com or http://english.martinvarsavsky.net.

I recently wrote almost two pages regarding the events, but I realized that it did not due justice for Martin, other MBA students or me. Regardless of the situation’s awkwardness there was some real value to take away from the experience. At first I was upset because I didn’t like his interview style nor did I think it was appropriate for the context of the Business Development position I thought I had applied. However, I realized it was irrelevant what I thought. It was his interview and he could conduct it however he so chooses. Therefore, what I should do is learn from it and not let it happen again in the future.

First, size up the potential interviewer and how they might go about the interview. This is where I failed most in this situation. I should have known that Martin is an entrepreneur before a manager, and that his inquisitions could come from anywhere and everywhere (as they did). Second, don’t let this style catch you off guard and force you into a state of nervousness or confusion regardless of who the person(s) is sitting across from you. Next time, take control and guide the interview in the direction that you want it to go in from the start. And when questions about the inner workings of a computer, or whether or not Banana Republic is a brand, are asked; one should answer briefly and honestly, but at the same time take the conversation back to your strengths. DO NOT waste each other’s time by bull shitting and pretending to know something you don’t. It might be even better to just say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, so can we move on to the next question.”

My ego is not big enough to think any different of FON or MV after the botched interview. Actually it drove me to think about one person and how I could change that one person to make him better for the next time something like this happens. And that one person is me. Remember friends, that with the exception of very drastic circumstances we are responsible for 90% of the events that play out in our lives. So take control and move on.

t_h

Spring Fling

2006-04-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was spent in the lovely city of Barcelona. It was quite a shock for a number of reasons. One of them was the fact that all the signs were in Catalan as opposed to Spanish.

By the way, there are several languages spoken in Spain. Catalan, Basque, and Galician are some of the others. So no one in Spain speaks Spanish. They speak Castellano (what everyone else calls Spanish, which is from Castille) and some other language, usually.

Anyway, this was somewhat disconcerting as Catalan is different enough to be unintelligible to an English/Spanish-only speaker. (Although for me, Spanish-speaker is rather generous!)

We came to compete in the annual Spring Fling MBA Tournament with several other schools in Europe. It is hosted by IESE, which is in Barcelona. I was able to meet people from ISEAD, ESADE, HEC, and a host of others. All I can say is "WOW." They are not like us and we are not like them...

It's strange to see people living the same MBA fantasy life that we are and how different that experience is for them relative to us. I know I chose the right school!

As for the tournament, we participated. I was in the Tug-of-War competition, we ended second overall in that event. In the picture is where the Tournament took place. It was in the Parque Montjuic (imagine an umluat over the "i"), the site of the 1992 Summer Olympics. I thought this needle was quite impressive. From the picture you can really get a sense of the scale fo this place, enormous. There's a little bit of the city in the far background.

We, or more properly my roommate Ulrike, drove the 6 hours to a fro. I suspected I would get sick from this trip, but it did happen until Thursday. So I'm taking this opportunity to blog about my adventures whilest I recuperate. Stay tuned for more!!

r_m Instituto de Empresa current student Madrid

I'm Here to Study?

2006-04-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages of living in a city like Madrid is some of the coolest things on earth happen here.

My buddies Guillermo, Esteban, and I went to a PlayboyTV event on Wednesday last week. They had been building this thing up for about a week so the pressure to go was building. I typically don't like to go out before Thursday, but as I came home from the gym that night, all I could think was, "Are you crazy, you need to see this!" So there we were waiting for the show to start. In typical Madrid fashion, things started late, around 1AM. We were there at midnight so we took our places right next to the stage.
As the show was going, there were many thoughts going through my mind. One of them was, "I came to Madrid to study??" Needless to say, after the show we left. Mainly because the male to female ratio was extremely bad!

Strategy

2006-03-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

In May, I'll be heading to France to compete in the annual MBA tournament against some of the other fine business schools in Europe.

Among some of the events that we can compete in: rugby, basketball, rowing, and many others. And yes, CHESS!

This is probably the most demanding and perilous events of the entire tournament. To the winner goes Conquest and Glory for all Eternity...

Okay, maybe not.

But that's what I'm competing in. So I got together with chess event lead, Kapil. He introduced me to the website GameKnot. It's a free chess site and greatly speeds up chess-by-correspondence.

One of the side effects of this has been my renewed interest in the game. Now, it's much more interesting than when my uncle first taught me all the moves when I was very young. My uncle incidently, is rated at the Expert level. He played chess by mail for many years and there a separate Champion for chess-by-mail.

So I'm learning the Ruy Lopez, the King's Gambit, and something called the Hippopotamus Defense (very obscure by chess standards). Anyway, check it out, maybe you'll get hooked too.

WIKI WIKI

2006-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

In my Information Systems class we were assigned to write a paper on a disruptive technology. It was assigned randomly and it was the one I wanted. We got wikis.

Some of the other choices: RFID, XBRL, WiFi, and few others. If you don't know what these are, GO FIND OUT! Seriously, these are going to shape the future of business and life in general.

In the course of finding information about wiki technology, we came across the origins of the name. So here you have it: Wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian, so wiki wiki means "super quick." This is a picture of the wiki wiki buses that drive or used to drive around Honolulu Airport. My team and I thought this was the funniest picture.

And we learned a whole lot about wikis in the process!

r_m

What we're here for!

2006-03-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've been away for awhile but I had to get into this a little bit.

I came to business school to learn about, well, how to run a business. One of the things about IE is that you have to submit a business plan in order to graduate.

Thankfully, it doesn't have to be the next Google or Ebay, but the business plan needs to be rigorous from a research and business perspective.

It is possible that some of those business ideas will be pretty good.

In the picture, it's Masayuki (I hope I spelled it right!) and my roommate Miguel. They are doing a real estate site called Unvistazo.com

It's been running for some time now and there's some pretty sweet places available all over Spain. These are for rent and to buy. What's cool is Miguel wrote the engine that supports the site. Anyway, a little free advertising never hurts right?

For now it's a free site for all, but soon that will change. And that's when the big bucks start rolling in!! Well, for these guys anyway...

r_m

Work Does Happen!

2006-01-22T01:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've put a bunch of pictures of me having all this fun with all my friends in Madrid. But I do actually work here. I'm in business school after all. So as proof of this, here's a picture of my workgroup caught in the act of: working! Well, we're not really working all that hard.

This is our morning meeting. Depending on what section you're in you may meet in the morning or midday. For us, good or no, we meet in the morning. Inevitably, there is always someone late, sleepy, unprepared, or just doesn't show up. So in this picture, we're missing one person, you know who you are! That's okay because sometimes that guy is me.

Clayton in Madrid...

2006-01-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

So after about two and a half years Clayton decided to make his way back to the US. And he took the most circuitous route possible. Via Bali, Thailand, Germany, Spain, and Canada.

Living in New Zealand all this time, Clayton and I were never able to hang out. So he took the opportunity to come to Madrid and see what in the world I was up to here. He certainly got more than he bargained for!

I guess the Kiwis just don't get down like this but after we brought in the New Year in Gran Via/Sol we headed over to Pacha.

Pacha is a branded club, you'll find one in Barcelona, NYC and a few other select cities. Basically, it's THE hottest club in Madrid.

A special shout out is in order for my friend Mike B. for setting us up at Pacha with the table, bottles, and for being just a cool dude all around. New Years was so much better for it!

As for Clayton, he found out that in Madrid, the party doesn't even start until 2AM. It was great to finally spend time with my friend from college. Since we keep up on emails there wasn't much to catch up on, but time together has always been tough living on opposite sides of the Earth and all. I took Clayton and my other two friends through the wringer in Madrid: clubs, bars, museums, Retiro, the endless walking, the Metro. They even got a short tour of IE. Just so they can't say they hadn't been there!

So for all of you who think I'm out here just having a good time and carousing with my friends, well, you're right!

The New Year in Madrid

2006-01-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Passing the New Year in Madrid was terrific. We tried to do the traditional Spanish thing and go to Puerta de Sol in the city center but that was not to be. By the time we finished our dinner and walked there is was too crowded. At any rate, we came as close as Gran Via, a stone throw away, and watched the fireworks and ate the grapes as the bells tolled. Although Fabrizio, my classmate on the far right, had already ate his! I doubt that will change anything for the coming year, but I know we both have a hell of a time coming up in the second period of the IMBA at IE.

In this picture we have an interesting mixture of people from all over, again. On the far left Caesar and Shane, friends of mine from San Antonio. In the middle is Giaciamo, a friend of Fabrizio from Italy. And of course I'm in there too.

This was taken BEFORE all the debauchery began. More on that later.

The other thing you can't see in this picture, you're supposed to wear red underwear for the Noche Vieja. I don't know why. I can confirm that I was NOT wearing red underwear but I can not say with ANY certainty about the others, nor did I inquire...

Catching Up - Part II

2005-12-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

Since starting the IMBA at IE, I have not had too many opportunities to really go out with my fellow students. I did go out, but only to some small get-togethers, or just a couple of us at a time. And I certainly have no documentation, read uncriminating evidence, from those outings.

So here we have another picture of my classmates living it up in Madrid, and there is no shortage of diversity although I think in the case of this picture there is only one person from Europe, the blond girl, she's Croatian. The rest are New Worlders, I think. There's two Mexicans, the other girl is from Trinidad and Tabago and the other guys I think are from various Latin American countries. Sorry guys, I don't know you're names. At any rate, we were at this place called Lolita near the Real Madrid football (soccer) stadium.

Since we had a holiday on thursday, Friday was the Bar of the Week day. The negotiated prices make a real difference in how much your wallet gets beat up! Flash that IE student card and the prices drop like a rock! The other strategy, followed by many, is of course the pre-game.

Also, one of my classmates has started a Friday poker game that's a pretty good time. For the sake of security I can niether confirm nor deny that I have taken part or if the game actually exists, but according to my sources it is a good time!

More to come, stay tuned!!

Catching up- Part I

2005-12-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I posted but here goes. This is a picture of us at the Team Building workshop at the Estudiantes gym. The Estudiantes basketball team is famous in Spain. Our coach and trainer was a team member of a champion team and was a professional player in the Spanish leagues. It's not the NBA, but he did get paid to play. There aren't too many people that can say that.

It was a great experience because it made the week shorter and I got a chance to spend some time with my teammates outside of a work enviornment.

My team is in Blue in the picture. We called ourselves the IE Bouncers, not the best name but I liked it. We did fairly well in all of the events. I have to say it actually made us a better team.

Speaking of teamwork, it's not the easiest thing in the world! There was a real crisis in our group over our performance in some of our classes. But I'm lucky with my teammates. They are all over 25 with real work experience, that gives them a professional outlook on things and makes us much more effective. This is not the case with everyone. I have a friend with the opposite, only one of the team is over 25. Lucky for me I have my team until the end of the second term. Well, lucky for now. The workload is supposed to increase substantially and there are some issues to be worked out as the time gets crunched.

In addition to the increased workload, we also lost a team member. He got an offer he couldn't refuse from his employer, so he deferred to next year. Good luck buddy, he owes us all jobs!

r_m

Halloween Parties, need I say more...

2005-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we all know how Halloween parties go in the US: totally wild! In Europe, it's not such a big deal but we all managed to have a good time regardless. Well, needless to say I found a costume, of sorts, the day of the party and from this picture you can see there's nothing left to say. Most people could figure out what I was, me included. The front of the outfiy had a pirate logo, but I was wearing a witches hat with blond hair. What's not obvious from the picture is that the hat stood straight up with the help of some newspaper stuffed inside. My roommate Miguel came up with that one. So, thank you, Miguel. He didn't make it to the party because he was studying for exams. Soon enough we all will be in the same boat...

As promised Marie has "made" the blog. Maybe this will become a Who's Who of the Instituto de Empresa, but I doubt it. Or maybe it will be more like Wierd Al Yankovich... or not.

Also, this was the last big party before school started on 2 Nov. So we will have to see what happens when a "real" week starts.

It's Good to be King

2005-10-29T03:51:00.000-07:00

Here I am in front of the Palacio Real near Madrid. I toured the reception areas and salons, the armory, and the Farmacia Real. The King had his own pharmacist, not surprising but it was cool to see the glassware since I know quite a bit about glassware for chemical reactions from college. NO, I majored I chemistry, I don't do that other stuff!

The pharmacy reminded me of something else from college. There was a tradition of passing down items with names and class years to the next years group with the names of the all the people that guarded the item engraved on it. The list of Royal Pharmacists dated back over 200 years. Far more impressive than a bunch college kids scratching names on a block of wood for the last 20 years.

I liked the armory the most there was plenty of suits of armor, swords, and small cannons. I couldn't help but compare it to the military museum just outside Vienna (Wien). The Spanish version was considerably smaller and not as impressive. To be fair, it's difficult to compete with the Austrian collection that took 3 hours and over 100 photos and was still not fully covered. Not only that, the actual car that Archbishop Franz Ferdinand (that started WWI) was shot in was in the musuem. There was nothing on that level in Spanish collection, and the Spanish monarchy was subordinate to the Holy Roman monarchs. (Correct me if I'm wrong, please!)

At any rate, I fully enjoyed the visit. The sheer size of the place was by itself worth the trip. As you can see from the picture the plaza can accomodate a large assembly. Also, it occupies a strategic position in relation to the city with views to the north and the south completely unobstructed.

On an unrelated note, yes, I cut my hair rather short but not purpose. I really did tell the barber, in Spanish, what I wanted but I didn't realize how short my request really was. This happens to me at least once a year, I don't know why.

Out on the Town, Again.

2005-10-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

Well, this was the first time we had classes besides our Spanish class at 1630. All the people in the picture were in the Financial Accounting precourse at Instituto de Empresa. We are now grizzled veterans of the financial statement production process... yeah right! Although having the class at 1000 was quite a shock for most of us acclimated to the breezy daily ritual of cruising to the school around 1600 to chat with classmates before heading to Spanish class.

Anyway, we were all in Jazzanova on Castellana in the picture here. A very nice place to have a drink and people watch. There was even a camera crew in the place. I think all of us are in some documentary or indie film being produced somewhere. The only short fall of this bar was the price of the drinks, €8.50 each! Well, needless to say, we had a few and moved on to a discoteca nearby, the name of which escapes me.

Speaking of prices, the standard practice of the "pre-game" needs to come back soon. What's "pre-game?" That's when you have a few at your flat before leaving for the bar or discoteca to cut down on the amount of alcohol you have to pay for. I mean we are students on a budget after all!

I also have to give credit to the photographer, Marie, thank you. She framed this shot very well, but unfortunately she is not in the picture, but next time I'll have to make sure she's in there.

Marie said something great that night, too. In reference to going to other cities in Spain on weekends and what not, the crux of it was she wanted to feel grounded in Madrid rather than feeling like a permanent tourist going all over the place. There were a bunch of trips to Segovia, Salamanca, Sevilla, or Toledo that various people had organized. I was thinking the same as Marie but I just couldn't vocalize my reluctance. So to all the people that invited me to those places, thank you so much, but that will have to wait until I get over this feeling of "I can't believe I live here in Madrid."

r_m

Those were the days!

2005-10-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

Oh, the days of leisure are almost over! This week is the start of my pre-courses before the start of the madness that is the MBA.

This is a picture of my two friends in the program, Denis and Shefali, during a day in El Retiro.

It was a nice summer day, warm, sitting around talking about... POLITICS. No, it was more light-hearted, just what we thought was coming in the next few months, who we were to meet...

And drinking a few beers, of course, what else do you do on a summer in Retiro?

A more serious discussion would be what are the best beers and which country produces the greatest number of the best beers. Anyone want to wiegh in?? Of course, if you're asking Denis, it's Germany and that the end of the discussion.

For me, I like Sam Adams, but I haven't been able to find it here in Madrid. Perhaps I'm not searching diligently enough. Another long time favorite is Harpoon IPA, although this was a regional New England beer and is probably not available in Europe at all.

So here's a suggestion, let's have a beer tasting. Find a place with a wide selection and get to "tasting." Takers??

r_m

Día de la Hispanidad

2005-10-12T23:53:00.000-07:00

Parades are usually pretty cool. I have been in quite a few with my high school and college bands, but the parade on the Paseo de Castellana in Madrid was a beautiful sight indeed.

As you can see in the picture, there were many people and plenty of pomp and circumstance. This is the Royal Guard surrounding the King of Spain and the Prince and Princess. The influence of Roman heritage on military tradition is very clear. Notice the headgear and plummage of the horsemen, very traditional indeed.

Before the procession started, there was an entire military review. I participated in a few of these myself, and it's basically standing around for 2 hours to perform 2 minutes of action. It was still interesting to see it happen in another country.

This holiday has different meanings throughout Spain according to my Spanish roommate from Valencia. Spain is not homogenous throughout the country, there's the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians working for more or total autonomy (in the case of the Basques and Catalans) from Madrid. So the 12 October festival represents different things in those respective areas. I'll leave it at that as I can't claim any significant understanding of the history of all this. I do know that under Franco, use of non-Spanish languages and regional autonomy was suppressed very strongly.

At any rate, people seemed very supportive of the military and especially the King. I can't say I saw the same for Mr. Zapatero, the Prime Minister.

Stay tuned and keep checking back. There's plenty more to come.

r_m

Lost in translation...

2005-10-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last friday night I was perusing the liquor cabinet at our local supermercado when I noticed an interesting brand of Spanish Whiskey. Remember that the "y" in Spanish is pronounced as a silent "i", as in "sick". So you could imagine the laugh I had at this bottle that advertised the ultimate effect of whiskey over-consumption.

Remember in our local store you must approach the cash register, and request your choice of booze. So, to make a long story short I will give you the English version of what took place next.

I asked the cashier for a bottle of whiskey. She responded, "what whiskey?" And I reponded; "DYC, please."

She told me, "I have no DYC here, please wait."

She then asked the other cashier, "Do you have DYC there?"

He responded, "No, I don't have DYC. Ask her over there if she has any DYC."

And of course the last cashier raised the bottle in the air and she shouted, "Here, I have DYC."

Now, here I am bending over the counter in tears from laughter (which not a single person in the store understood what I found so funny). When the cashier tells me, "the DYC costs 6.75 Euros."

I laughed my way out the door and down the street to my flat. Upon arrival I asked anyone if they would like to enjoy some whiskey DYC. Of course, everyone declined. But they insisted on hearing the story from the supermercado.

The Beauty of Madrid

2005-10-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about Madrid is despite the highly concentrated urban enviornment there is still plenty of natural beauty in the city. This is a picture of the Estanque in Retiro. By my understanding, the land was a gift from Conde-Duque de Olivares to King Felipe IV as a place for recreation for the court. It's good to be King! For the full story click here.

So I took this picture in late September on a Sunday afternoon. It really gives a great feel for the size of the pond and the park itself.

For the athletic types the park is perfect. I have gone running there several times now, and despite my lack of enthusiasm for running, rather enjoyed the experience. Besides, trying to run through the streets of Madrid is not the easiest thing in the world with old people, children, and dogs leaving "landmines" everywhere; it's best to walk to the park as a warm-up and get right into the run.

On a technical note: this photo was taken with my phone. It has a 2MP camera, among other things. Pretty good picture, huh?

Madrid Nightlife

2005-10-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

One thing about the Madrid nightlife: it goes on all night, literally. I was having a few with the people in the picture, my flatmate and I didn't get there until 2345 and I didn't take this picture until 0200. Then we went out en masse to a couple of bars and clubs.

All little about the people: they are in the MBA program at Instituto de Empresa. It's a Spanish language program, and they are required to pass an English proficieny exam at the end. So that means the only time they speak English is when they speak to someone like me. The MBA is almost exclusively populated with people from Spanish-speaking countries. The people here are from Mexico, Dominican Republic, and various parts of Spain (Andalucia, Valencia, Galicia, and Mallorca).

As I get to know the people at school I'll add more commentary. More to come....

Those crazy Americans!

2005-10-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

So here I am, the one on the right, with my classmate Susan. She's from Atlanta, or should I say Phatlanta. We're two of a handful of Americans at the school in the International MBA program.

We all make a real effort to speak Spanish and not let the world know we're Americans (or at least not act like guiris), although I think it's unavoidable in the end.

Another side-note: The Instituto de Empresa is located on Calle Serrano and Calle María de Molina in central Madrid. Turns out the school is in one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of Madrid. There's a word in Spanish, pijo, and anyone who lives in or near where our school is located is immediately labelled pijo. Basically, we're considered children of priviledge, but not all of us grew up that way, but it's nice to pretend though!

More to come!!

You're from where?

2005-10-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

Just to give you an idea of the diversity of my classmates, this picture includes an Armenian, a Turk, an Indian, a Colombian, a Brazilian, and a Spaniard. It's a little strange because we all intermingle in English, Spanish, and whatever other language two people may share. Dinner conversation can get interesting though.

What's the World Coming to ?

2005-10-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Alright, this blog is to describe the adventures, misadventures, and development of (hopefully) leaders of the future... Watch out!