Here is a great video of Jacqueline Novogratz from Acumen Fund talking about women leaders and venture philanthropy. Inspiring!
Check out the article here.
Catch us on FriendFeed
A Woman Leader Dishes on Women Leaders
The McKinsey Quarterly hits the nail on the head again.
Here is a great video of Jacqueline Novogratz from Acumen Fund talking about women leaders and venture philanthropy. Inspiring!
Check out the article here.
Here is a great video of Jacqueline Novogratz from Acumen Fund talking about women leaders and venture philanthropy. Inspiring!
Check out the article here.
Michaelmas down, Lent down, two more terms to go!
For all of you that are considering getting an MBA, I am describing a "week in the life of". This is no ordinary week though (well, maybe for some of us...) but the last and culminating end of Lent term.
For those of you who are my classmates, please do read on. The Friday night pub crawl might have made last week fuzzy in your memory and BELIEVE ME, this is one you want to remember!
MONDAY 9th. March
Wake up to freak out: I have not yet finished my essay for international business and it's exam week. Ha! No time to stress out, I've hit my snooze button twice so I am already late to class...and I have class from 9:00 to 16:00! AHHHH!!! I'm speed walking with my mp3 player, to the Boomtown Rats' "Tell me why (I hate Mondays)".
Results are piling in for Climate Leadership group assignments: a YouTube video to build climate change awareness. The group I am assisting as an audit student is NOT winning the viewership race!
Meeting scheduled for my Services Innovations group to finish project and pitch for an innovative service, Dragons Den style. 18:00 to 22:00 super work session -- thank goodness for domino's delivery! Project looks great, had a blast, we rock! Haven't been this creative since I last owned crayons!
Back home by 23:00pm, just in time to finish writing about the flatness of the world: boy was Galileo wrong!
Tuesday 10th. March
Skipped an extra Strategy class-- that Professor Hadida agreed to, to discuss the not-for-profit sector (yes, we ask for EXTRA classes)-- because I passed out last night before finishing "longest essay ever"! Very upset! Heard from classmates the discussion was great. Also, heard that all students survived the Cap. Markets' exam -- congrats to all!
Run to train to London at 11:45, to attend a GCP intro meeting. Eat on train and daydream while my group mate does insightful reading about project. Key to GCP success? Pair up with diligent responsible team mates and offer them comic relief as your value added. Meeting goes great. Office is awesome, can't wait to work with client who has office on London river, opposite the tower bridge!!!!!!
Return to Cambridge just in time for a final review of "longest essay ever", and a run to the ADC theater to catch "Guys an Dolls". Our classmate Andre is producer! Love the show and return home at 22:30 to correct essay again -- musical puts me in a good mood and I now think globalization is a GOOD thing. By 3:00 I decide that bed is the ONLY good thing.
Wednesday 11th.March
5:00 alarm mysteriously fails to wake me before 7:00. Start...I mean "continue" strategy exam studying in favorite cafe. Staff very surprised when I order 1 cheese and salmon bagel, 1 ham and cheese toastie, 1 large cappuccino and 5 brownie bits all at 9:00. Look at me weird when I tell them I have not eaten since 17:00 day before.
Turn in "longest essay" just before Services class, at 14:00. Instead of paying attention to lecture, start working on blueprints for group project. After class, 30 min discussion with group about tomorrow's presentation -- AHHHH, I'm doing part of the pitch! 16:30 meeting with GCP supervisor. See some classmates who were doing Private Equity: they look tired.
After GCP meeting, gather with small group of friends to review Innovations for exam. Whoever said two brains are better than one was a genius! Leave at 19:00 to power walk back to Jesus College for a Graduate Hall with classmates. Happy to know I am not the only irresponsible MBA'er. Later learn that another group went to Christ's formal. Officially, socialising has become more important than studying;)
Go home close to 22:00 to work on Services blueprints for tomorrow's presentation. Go to bed at 3:00 defiantly believing long and excellent dinner still worth the pain of no sleep.
Thursday 12th. March
8:00 meeting with exam study group to finish revising. Spend 5 mins commenting on how great classmates are: Sam and Cesar shared their own personal review notes for Innovations and Strategy with entire class! Kudos!
11:00 meeting with GCP group to define plan for Monday project start. 11:30 have to run home: my sister has arrived for a visit and is waiting to be let in.
12:00 have to run back to Judge to start rehearsing Services pitch and to pin up presentation. 13:00 Seminar Talk by Rosa Cha -- had to skip because pitch is hard to memorize. 14:00 start Services' class. Everyone did great with their project pitches...including my group;) End session at 16:00 and some student go straight into another presentation for Enterprise Performance Mgmnt. Wow!!!
I have no time for celebrations either. Go back home for dinner with sister a trick her into a "sightseeing" tour of College Library. Study for exams until midnight -- sister very patient!
Friday 13th.March
6:00 studying for exams with 2 large lattes -- cafe staff officially worried. 12:30 run to Judge for a GCP document signing session. Finish at 13:15, just in time for my favorite relaxing walk around Cambridge's old colleges. Make it to exam hall at 13:45 and put my gown on. Classmates make fun of me for wearing gown but I am determined to get money's worth out of darn vestment! Also, hoping gown will make me as smart as it makes me look:)
Finish Strategy and Innovations exam at 5:00. Last major core exams of MBA!!! Do not remember any of the questions or answers...except that I wrote about wonderful Services' group project idea...
Meet sister for dinner at Nando's. Fill belly with chicken before all-class "golf pub crawl". Meet for pub 1 at 6:30 and form females' team with sister. Totally focused on winning category! Made 56 points in 6 bars and one club. Rest of evening is classified!
Saturday 14th.March
Wake up shamefully late. Very resistant to movement. Sister hungry so take her out for tea and scones (yeah, THAT late!). Miss MBAT petanque practice at 14:00. Go out shopping and sightseeing. Day feels beautiful now that studying is over.
Attends Guys and Dolls again with some classmates because it really is THAT good. Say will go home early but somehow ended up in a bar and then clubbing. Apparently, still very irresponsible!...Blaming classmates who are too nice and make me want to spend time with them.
Sunday 15th. March
Wake up less late. Do some needed cleaning and organizing in morning. Take sister punting-- sun is out so take advantage! Go home in late afternoon to review some GCP material for Monday project start.
Early dinner and amazing Bach concert in Trinity College. Get home close to 23:00, write emails, write blog, refuse to go to bed because in denial of tomorrow's GCP start! Good thing classmates are going to be around so we can start planning more fun and games:)
Congratulations to everyone for finishing Lent Term! And good luck with the GCP:)
AJ
For those of you who are my classmates, please do read on. The Friday night pub crawl might have made last week fuzzy in your memory and BELIEVE ME, this is one you want to remember!
MONDAY 9th. March
Wake up to freak out: I have not yet finished my essay for international business and it's exam week. Ha! No time to stress out, I've hit my snooze button twice so I am already late to class...and I have class from 9:00 to 16:00! AHHHH!!! I'm speed walking with my mp3 player, to the Boomtown Rats' "Tell me why (I hate Mondays)".
Results are piling in for Climate Leadership group assignments: a YouTube video to build climate change awareness. The group I am assisting as an audit student is NOT winning the viewership race!
Meeting scheduled for my Services Innovations group to finish project and pitch for an innovative service, Dragons Den style. 18:00 to 22:00 super work session -- thank goodness for domino's delivery! Project looks great, had a blast, we rock! Haven't been this creative since I last owned crayons!
Back home by 23:00pm, just in time to finish writing about the flatness of the world: boy was Galileo wrong!
Tuesday 10th. March
Skipped an extra Strategy class-- that Professor Hadida agreed to, to discuss the not-for-profit sector (yes, we ask for EXTRA classes)-- because I passed out last night before finishing "longest essay ever"! Very upset! Heard from classmates the discussion was great. Also, heard that all students survived the Cap. Markets' exam -- congrats to all!
Run to train to London at 11:45, to attend a GCP intro meeting. Eat on train and daydream while my group mate does insightful reading about project. Key to GCP success? Pair up with diligent responsible team mates and offer them comic relief as your value added. Meeting goes great. Office is awesome, can't wait to work with client who has office on London river, opposite the tower bridge!!!!!!
Return to Cambridge just in time for a final review of "longest essay ever", and a run to the ADC theater to catch "Guys an Dolls". Our classmate Andre is producer! Love the show and return home at 22:30 to correct essay again -- musical puts me in a good mood and I now think globalization is a GOOD thing. By 3:00 I decide that bed is the ONLY good thing.
Wednesday 11th.March
5:00 alarm mysteriously fails to wake me before 7:00. Start...I mean "continue" strategy exam studying in favorite cafe. Staff very surprised when I order 1 cheese and salmon bagel, 1 ham and cheese toastie, 1 large cappuccino and 5 brownie bits all at 9:00. Look at me weird when I tell them I have not eaten since 17:00 day before.
Turn in "longest essay" just before Services class, at 14:00. Instead of paying attention to lecture, start working on blueprints for group project. After class, 30 min discussion with group about tomorrow's presentation -- AHHHH, I'm doing part of the pitch! 16:30 meeting with GCP supervisor. See some classmates who were doing Private Equity: they look tired.
After GCP meeting, gather with small group of friends to review Innovations for exam. Whoever said two brains are better than one was a genius! Leave at 19:00 to power walk back to Jesus College for a Graduate Hall with classmates. Happy to know I am not the only irresponsible MBA'er. Later learn that another group went to Christ's formal. Officially, socialising has become more important than studying;)
Go home close to 22:00 to work on Services blueprints for tomorrow's presentation. Go to bed at 3:00 defiantly believing long and excellent dinner still worth the pain of no sleep.
Thursday 12th. March
8:00 meeting with exam study group to finish revising. Spend 5 mins commenting on how great classmates are: Sam and Cesar shared their own personal review notes for Innovations and Strategy with entire class! Kudos!
11:00 meeting with GCP group to define plan for Monday project start. 11:30 have to run home: my sister has arrived for a visit and is waiting to be let in.
12:00 have to run back to Judge to start rehearsing Services pitch and to pin up presentation. 13:00 Seminar Talk by Rosa Cha -- had to skip because pitch is hard to memorize. 14:00 start Services' class. Everyone did great with their project pitches...including my group;) End session at 16:00 and some student go straight into another presentation for Enterprise Performance Mgmnt. Wow!!!
I have no time for celebrations either. Go back home for dinner with sister a trick her into a "sightseeing" tour of College Library. Study for exams until midnight -- sister very patient!
Friday 13th.March
6:00 studying for exams with 2 large lattes -- cafe staff officially worried. 12:30 run to Judge for a GCP document signing session. Finish at 13:15, just in time for my favorite relaxing walk around Cambridge's old colleges. Make it to exam hall at 13:45 and put my gown on. Classmates make fun of me for wearing gown but I am determined to get money's worth out of darn vestment! Also, hoping gown will make me as smart as it makes me look:)
Finish Strategy and Innovations exam at 5:00. Last major core exams of MBA!!! Do not remember any of the questions or answers...except that I wrote about wonderful Services' group project idea...
Meet sister for dinner at Nando's. Fill belly with chicken before all-class "golf pub crawl". Meet for pub 1 at 6:30 and form females' team with sister. Totally focused on winning category! Made 56 points in 6 bars and one club. Rest of evening is classified!
Saturday 14th.March
Wake up shamefully late. Very resistant to movement. Sister hungry so take her out for tea and scones (yeah, THAT late!). Miss MBAT petanque practice at 14:00. Go out shopping and sightseeing. Day feels beautiful now that studying is over.
Attends Guys and Dolls again with some classmates because it really is THAT good. Say will go home early but somehow ended up in a bar and then clubbing. Apparently, still very irresponsible!...Blaming classmates who are too nice and make me want to spend time with them.
Sunday 15th. March
Wake up less late. Do some needed cleaning and organizing in morning. Take sister punting-- sun is out so take advantage! Go home in late afternoon to review some GCP material for Monday project start.
Early dinner and amazing Bach concert in Trinity College. Get home close to 23:00, write emails, write blog, refuse to go to bed because in denial of tomorrow's GCP start! Good thing classmates are going to be around so we can start planning more fun and games:)
Congratulations to everyone for finishing Lent Term! And good luck with the GCP:)
AJ
We Drank in Blue, We Dressed in Blue
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month in the US, and today is Dress in Blue Day - an initiative started by the Colon Cancer Alliance to raise awareness about the disease...
Which, by the way, is the second most common cancer in men and the third in women. Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the US - but it is also the MOST BEATABLE of all cancers when it is found early through regular screening. Consider yourself aware!
I have been an advocate for colon cancer awareness in the US for the last six years and have been wanting to do something across the pond to spread the message of awareness and prevention. And so it was with the very generous support of our Cambridge Business School Club that we put on "Drink in Blue, Dress in Blue" last night to kick-off Dress in Blue Day.
The event was a marvel, if I do say so myself. It is a true testament to the awesomeness of our class that we could host a party in our MBA Syndicate Room (a rather sad, decrepit room with a zany color scheme that is home to our microwave, foosball table, and a fleet of computers that have possibly been there since I was in middle school. Which is fitting, because as I told my fellow bartender last night, the event was basically like a middle school party but with alcohol! And a karaoke machine! Cake and crisps were also included) and have a great time.
What? You don't believe that we can turn even the oddest of spaces into party central? Perhaps the photographic evidence will change your mind...
Enough said.
Except: a HUGE THANK YOU to the CBSC and EVERYONE who came out last night. Thank you. You are not just now a big fan of Blue Hawaiians, but you making a difference in the fight against cancer.
With big love for the JBS MBAers,
Jen
Which, by the way, is the second most common cancer in men and the third in women. Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the US - but it is also the MOST BEATABLE of all cancers when it is found early through regular screening. Consider yourself aware!
I have been an advocate for colon cancer awareness in the US for the last six years and have been wanting to do something across the pond to spread the message of awareness and prevention. And so it was with the very generous support of our Cambridge Business School Club that we put on "Drink in Blue, Dress in Blue" last night to kick-off Dress in Blue Day.
The event was a marvel, if I do say so myself. It is a true testament to the awesomeness of our class that we could host a party in our MBA Syndicate Room (a rather sad, decrepit room with a zany color scheme that is home to our microwave, foosball table, and a fleet of computers that have possibly been there since I was in middle school. Which is fitting, because as I told my fellow bartender last night, the event was basically like a middle school party but with alcohol! And a karaoke machine! Cake and crisps were also included) and have a great time.
What? You don't believe that we can turn even the oddest of spaces into party central? Perhaps the photographic evidence will change your mind...
Enough said.
Except: a HUGE THANK YOU to the CBSC and EVERYONE who came out last night. Thank you. You are not just now a big fan of Blue Hawaiians, but you making a difference in the fight against cancer.
With big love for the JBS MBAers,
Jen
Head Expansion_ Part II
So here's an update on the growing head phenomenon. I believe we have achieved a stabilizing size...no tipping over with the weight yet!
However, I have lately been thinking about the possibility of applying some MBA knowledge to start tackling my little problem (no pun intended). You see, as I mentioned before, I believe my head has been growing because of all the knowledge and experiences I have accumulated. But the problem is, none of it is quite that organized! Last term I was drowned in facts and academic material. This term -- in which I am sooo much older and wiser -- I have decide to engage with the University and enhance my social life. BIG MISTAKE! At least in the Fall I only had one category of "knowledge" to deal with! Contrarily, in the past two months, not only have I absorbed a s%$* load of school material, I have also been living a rollercoaster of social activities and experiencing all these lectures, debates and cultural events through various Cambridge outlets.
The result: massive amounts of disparate data are now randomly stored in my poor pathetic brain...in complete chaos and disorganization! I don't have time to clean my room, let alone "file" my brain!!! But something has to be done! My verticality is at stake!
So today, while I was finishing off my operations management final essay (due tomorrow) a brilliant idea (not to do with the essay, of course) jumped into a tiny unfilled crevasse of my wobbly top: all I need to do is apply a Kanban system to my brain! Ah yes, the brilliance of a Japanese production model is that it take chaos and waste and turns them into a lean, mean efficient working machine :)
Accordingly, tomorrow morning (after I finish and turn-in the essay ON TIME) I will start my self-operation overhaul. I wonder if I can Kanban in English or if I have to learn Japanese too.... AHHH , brain weight! I'm tipping over, I'm tipping over....
AJ
However, I have lately been thinking about the possibility of applying some MBA knowledge to start tackling my little problem (no pun intended). You see, as I mentioned before, I believe my head has been growing because of all the knowledge and experiences I have accumulated. But the problem is, none of it is quite that organized! Last term I was drowned in facts and academic material. This term -- in which I am sooo much older and wiser -- I have decide to engage with the University and enhance my social life. BIG MISTAKE! At least in the Fall I only had one category of "knowledge" to deal with! Contrarily, in the past two months, not only have I absorbed a s%$* load of school material, I have also been living a rollercoaster of social activities and experiencing all these lectures, debates and cultural events through various Cambridge outlets.
The result: massive amounts of disparate data are now randomly stored in my poor pathetic brain...in complete chaos and disorganization! I don't have time to clean my room, let alone "file" my brain!!! But something has to be done! My verticality is at stake!
So today, while I was finishing off my operations management final essay (due tomorrow) a brilliant idea (not to do with the essay, of course) jumped into a tiny unfilled crevasse of my wobbly top: all I need to do is apply a Kanban system to my brain! Ah yes, the brilliance of a Japanese production model is that it take chaos and waste and turns them into a lean, mean efficient working machine :)
Accordingly, tomorrow morning (after I finish and turn-in the essay ON TIME) I will start my self-operation overhaul. I wonder if I can Kanban in English or if I have to learn Japanese too.... AHHH , brain weight! I'm tipping over, I'm tipping over....
AJ
Our home for the next year...
Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
