Two McKinsey Quarterly Articles For Your Consideration...

A classmate forwarded the links to two fantastic articles from the McKinsey Quarterly... check 'em out!

The first - Centered Leadership: How Talented Women Thrive - was written last September. As part of the McKinsey Leadership Project, the firm has developed the five dimensions of leadership - a new approach that helps boost self-confidence and efficacy in business leadership roles.

The second contains the McKinsey Global Survey Results of how executives put centered leadership into action.

Give these two articles a read, and get inspired!

Two McKinsey Quarterly Articles For Your Consideration...

Operations Management Factory Tour: Cadbury

Hello all!

So, my trousers may be a little tighter, but I have to say the Cadbury factory tour was one of the highlights of my MBA so far.

Factory tours were the grand finale of Operations Management, one of our Lent term core courses. Factories on the list this year included Rolls Royce, a brewery, Jaguar, a printing facility, and Cadbury Schweppes.

Due to my airplane-automobile-all-things-macho-fatigue, I chose Cadbury Schweppes... and kept my fingers crossed it would be chocolate, not tonic water.

And chocolate it was! Lots of chocolate! Though we had to be very patient in order to receive it.

Upon arriving at Cadbury, we were greeted by one of the managers (who got his start in cocoa production - love it!) and treated to lunch. Our factory tour followed, for which we had to don fabulous ensembles that included booties, flimsy jackets, pseudo-shower caps, and ear plugs so as not to contaminate the precious chocolate.


Here we are, looking quite like Smurf surgeons I think!

The factory itself was pretty fascinating. My personal highlight was visiting the Creme Egg manufacturing area - yes, the Creme Eggs, Cadbury's crown jewels, get their own section of the plant - and seeing how they create the perfect yellow and white egg-like fillings.

Yum.

Anyway, after the tour we spoke to one of the other big-wigs, who answered our questions. But I was a little distracted during this conversation, as the chocolate arrived! Giant, heavy gift bags full of chocolate. A sweet ending to a very fun day.



Jen

Operations Management Factory Tour: Cadbury

The Big Snow

As you may have heard, we have been on the receiving end of LOADS AND LOADS OF SNOW these past weeks. Right. Well, I guess it all depends on your perspective.

The snow that fell here is nothing compared to the huge amounts that bombarded my mom in Michigan (not to mention the thick ice that built up on all her windows), but nevertheless it has been a remarkable winter here. And remarkably photogenic! See below...


Frozen berries at Downing College


Frozen bicycles en route to Judge


What would a snowfall be without a snowball fight?

Thinking Spring,

Jen

The Big Snow

The WIL Interview: Robyn Hudson, MBA '07

Jen recently interviewed Robyn Hudson, a Cambridge MBA alumna from 2007-2008. She has some great insights for prospective students, current students, and others - check it out!

JB: Your MBA ended last September. What are you up to now?
RH: I am working in London in a large NHS Foundation Trust in a strategy development team - so a mix of business and clinical knowledge is proving handy!

JB: What has been the best thing about entering the professional world with a Cambridge MBA?
RH: It is so lovely to be paid again! It is good to be able to understand what the finance team is talking about, and also being able to open an excel document and not pass out through fear is proving useful. Handy to have a broad bass of knowledge, without the burden of having to be the expert.

JB: How well did the Cambridge MBA equip you for post-MBA life?
RH: I think it is not so much the ability to run an NPV - I have pretty much forgotten how to do that! It is more about knowing that you can if you have to, and this belief in your ability is what I have taken away from that amazing year.

JB: What was your favorite part about Judge Business School? Your favorite part about Cambridge?
RH: It is all about the people and the adventures that you had togther - both good and bad.
My favourite part of Cambridge is down by the weir. I am also a huge fan of Grantchester - although not technical Camrbidge.

JB: Looking back, what would you have done differently and why?
RH: Nothing - it was brilliant, I did just about everything possible.

JB: What advice would you give to a current MBA student at Cambridge or anywhere else?
RH: It is going to be the hardest you have ever worked and played - and you will truly get out what you put in (you have to love a cliche!). Do absolutely everything - you can and will sleep after.
I would also say that after the MBA is as much of a change as the first few weeks of the MBA. I say this for a number of reasons. All of a sudden you are back in a hierachy, there are people who are not use to or comfortable with 'management practice' moments as we called them in our year. And all of sudden all of the people you have lived, worked and played with are spread all over the world. Which is sad - so good to be prepared for that.

JB: What advice would you give to prospective MBA students, especially women?
RH: Don't be intimidated. You have been through a highly selective process - so trust the people who know! And talk to everyone - as guaranteed they will be feeling as overwhelmed as you in first term.

Thanks so much, Robyn! If you are a JBS MBA alumna and would like to be featured here, email us at jbswomen08{at}gmail{dot}com!

The WIL Interview: Robyn Hudson, MBA '07

Steve and the business model of social works

I attended a lecture at Enterprise Tuesday last entitled "Increasing the odds", about social entrepreneurship and the challenges of financing for research and Not-for-Profit ventures.

http://www.cfel.jbs.cam.ac.uk/events/index.html

Let me tell you about one of the speakers:

Steve Shirley came to the UK as a WWII Jewish unaccompanied child refugee. Steve did not speak English, yet learned and thrived in education. Steve received a degree in mathematics and started a software company in the 60's that became highly innovative and a leader in its field. Steve became a social entrepreneur after a son became diagnosed with autism, starting a series of support infrastructure for patients of the disease. Steve retired and is now dedicated full-time to funding autism research and support, and software initiatives, donating millions of pounds to these causes.

Any person with a story like this is admirable, but here is the catch: "Steve" is actually Dame Stephanie Shirley. And there are three more things that Steve makes clear:

1) She acquired her nickname when, during the first years of her business, she discovered that she received more favorable responses if she signed her communications under a male acronym.

2) She received her title for services in technology, not for her philanthropic work

3) She is an entrepreneur by heart: she "starts" things

As mentioned before, the lecture focused on financing for social entrepreneurship. As a ardent philanthropist, Dame Stephanie proposed her view that any social venture she agrees to finance has to have a viable business model, clear goals and strategy, and a plausible plan to measure success. Results are, in her view, as important in traditional for-profit businesses as they are in social entrepreneurship and the not-for-profit sector.

So, I'm sharing this experience with you all today, not because I can summarize any of it to a satisfiable extend by because of the very interesting topics that emerged from the lecture. On one hand there is the case of this woman, who overcame a male-dominated industry (and cultural era) with some rather innovative and unconventional methods. Secondly, there is a question of the business nature and returns that should be expected from a modern social entrepreneurship model.

I'm opening the blog to discussion and encouraging your exploration of Dame Stephanie's website and a December NYTimes Nicholas D. Kristof opinion column on social giving:
http://www.steveshirley.com/default.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/opinion/25kristof.html?_r=1

AJ

Steve and the business model of social works