INSEAD insight

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I’ve joined the Singapore alumni association, which is pretty active. They organise a number of social activities, culminating in the annual Monsoon Ball which seems to be getting bigger every year. Usually, paid alumni members get a discount on tickets to these events.

And even though we’ve graduated, the learning continues (not just the partying!) as you also get invited to guest lectures. Also, this may sound nerdy, but you get to use the library services 24/7.

Classmate K stopped by in Singapore, so some of us met up for dinner with her at Din Tai Fung. The restaurant was noisy and we had to talk loudly to be heard.

An amusing dialogue began between K (polite Japanese), C (Singaporean Fonty elf) and M (outspoken Aussie).

C: (to K) Can you teach me to swear in Japanese?

K: (can’t hear properly) “s-wear?”

Me: Like, to say really bad words.

M: (matter-of-factly) You know, like F**K?

:-D

Despite some cajoling, politeness won out. Gotta hand it to the Japanese…

As an INSEAD alumnus in Singapore, I tend to receive a fair number of requests for help from current and incoming students, alumni/classmates and partners.

Specifically, when it comes to requests for getting a job in my workplace or with local companies I’m connected to, I’ve decided I can help with certain things.

The baseline is that I will help you get your foot through the door. I will forward your CV to the relevant decision makers and mention that you are a fellow INSEADer. If I’ve worked with you before, I’d be happy to add a few good words. I’ve already done so for two classmates I’ve worked with.

If time permits, I can also share with applicants (those interested in joining my organisation) some of my insights on the working culture and career prospects, and the wider context of the health and public sectors. So far I’ve done this with at least 3 people (a current student and 2 partners).

On the other hand, I also have to balance my desire to help INSEADers with the needs of my organisation and the public sector. Remember that I’m wearing two hats now - that of a fellow INSEADer and a prospective employer. So I need to know how you can contribute to our cause, not just how you hope to benefit from getting a job with us. I need to believe you’re serious about contributing and aren’t using us as a short-term stepping stone.

I say this partly because of recent experience shared by an alumnus who has experienced this attitude with other INSEAD grads. It saddens me, because our reputation deserves better than that. Even if we have MBAs, it doesn’t mean we’re automatically entitled to a cushy job - we have to prove our worth through our actions.

So I too will be more discerning in who I refer, and how much I will stick my neck out. In any case, our hiring process is fair, so if you’re the best fit, you will get the offer on your own merit. And that’s probably the best outcome for all of us.

At work today, I listened to two colleagues relating how they spent the past week doing a crash course. It involved situational analysis, defining and categorising the issues, writing and then presenting a proposal. They told me of how they worked past midnight every day. I learned that some of their groupmates came from other parts of the region, and one was even a Belgian who resided in Singapore.

I looked at both of them, and wasn’t greatly impressed. It was not that I was merciless or wanted to put them down - I respect my colleagues. It’s just because this sort of intense work is commonplace at INSEAD. Especially in the first two periods (P1 and P2) - that’s four months, not just 5 working days. And to top it off, we have exams!

It’s just as gruelling if you took the optional INSEAD Business Foundations course prior to P1. In fact I suspect Business Foundations doesn’t just give you a grounding in the basics (for those of us with no business backgrounds) but jolts you into realising, “What have I got myself into??” as you plough through your notes into the wee hours of the night, trying to complete your assignments with your groupmates. It’s not an experience for the faint-hearted.

With crash courses, you don’t just gain vast quantities of insights in a short space of time. Because of the brutal pace of learning, you also bond with your groupmates quickly. One of my colleagues befriended a foreign participant in her group and is meeting up with him tomorrow. And so classmates become friends, across different continents and cultures.

If such international friendships can develop in the space of a working week, with just 18 people, imagine what can happen at an accelerated full-time MBA at INSEAD over a period of 10 months or more, between 450+ students around the world.

Afternote: I have to write a paper involving bilateral relationships (i.e. international relations between countries) within the next day, present and get it approved by senior management by this week, submit it to my Ministry for approval, after which it will be will proposed to the WHO. Is it daunting?? Not quite, because we’ve done this kind of work at INSEAD already.

I look at such challenges through a very difference lens now. And after INSEAD, you will, too.

I’ve created a Google Groups mailing list for those in my cohort (July 2009) who are based in Singapore. This is to reduce the chances of anyone being left out in a mass mailing.

Now we only need to email a single address for everyone to be updated. Members can also choose their preferred format - to receive emails as they come, as a daily digest, or view all discussions via the web only. They can also unsubscribe themselves if they leave Singapore and invite newcomers to join the list. The list is private so only members can view our discussions.

Currently, there are over 40 of us on this list. Most are working in Singapore while a few are living in the region and visit Singapore frequently, so they don’t seem to mind being kept in the loop.

So if you’re moving to Singapore for the long haul, let us know, and we’ll invite you to join our mailing list. If you’re just popping by for a short visit, let us know as well and we can arrange a get-together.

Instead of publicising the link to our Google Groups page on this blog, I’ll post it on my Facebook profile, to minimise the chance of getting spammed.

Last evening I organised a big INSEAD get-together to welcome back my P1-P2 groupmate, RB, otherwise known as ‘the Professor’ - for giving some of us Finance tuition and also for topping the entire INSEAD cohort via mastery of the Z-curve. After travelling the world and making the rest of us jealous, he has taken on a ‘new look’ which will surprise you all.

It was heartwarming to see everyone again and meet a few new people - i.e. the ones who were mostly in Fonty whom I never really got to know. I’m convinced that, with such a large cohort split across 2 campuses (3 if you count Wharton) and relatively little time, it’s not possible to know everyone. But you can still try…

And I used to be paranoid about hosting anything on a large scale, because I didn’t think I was a natural at such things. But it isn’t so bad after all if you can simplify the work, like the choosing of food (we had an Indonesian buffet at Rice Table which catered to all diets) and getting others to help out.

Meanwhile I hear other INSEADers in other parts of the world are pining for some familiar company ;-) If things aren’t so happening where you are, then why not organise a gathering of your own? Or, maybe it’s time to pay some of us a visit!

Every year, INSEAD alumni are invited to a Meeting in Asia where they are updated on what’s happening with the school, ask questions and network.

I surreptitiously took some photos, sans flash (not wanting to look like a tourist, but still a blogger at heart). Let me give you a glimpse into the life of an alumnus:

Prof Ilian Mihov, who taught many of us J09ers and also won the best teaching award, gives us an update on the state of the economy.

Dean Frank Brown speaks.

INSEAD co-founder and Honorary Chairman, Claude Janssen, speaks in the auditorium named after him.

I was moved by a current P2’s speech on how important it is that we keep alumni scholarships going. Many students in my batch gave to the Robin Hood fund, breaking the previous year’s record if I’m not mistaken.

It was nice seeing one of my INSEAD interviewers, SA, speaking next. It’s been over a year since we first met, and she looked and sounded fabulous.

Unfortunately I had to dash off for an appointment, and missed the rest of her panel as well as the final talk by Prof JC Larreche on the Momentum Effect, which seems to be the next big thing after Blue Ocean (at least, from the publicity it’s been getting). Time will tell…

Then in the evening we headed to the Ball. But that is worthy of a separate post in itself!

I met up for drinks with INSEADers over the past 2 days. From our exchanges, we noticed how a particular classmate was very good at networking. Despite the downturn, she clinched a nice job in an industry that many INSEADers would find attractive. Of course, she has relevant work experience and a famous MBA (ahem), but she also seems to know lots of influential people. That surely cannot hurt.

So we asked her how she networked. I will share her tips from a more generic point of view, so it can be applied across industries.

1. You have to meet people. I’m making this the first step even though she didn’t say it outright, because without this you can’t proceed with the other steps. Anti-social people, take heed.
2. Remember the names of the people you meet at each event. Write them down (if you don’t have their name cards).
3. Find out who they are and decide who are the ones who could help you.
4. Among those people, drop a note to the ones you had chemistry with. Those would the easiest to communicate with.
5. The next tier is made of those you had less chemistry with, but could still be in a position to help you. You will have to put in more effort to communicate with them. But do it anyway.

An implicit point I picked up was that you can’t possibly follow up with everyone you’ve met. Instead, you should be selective.

That’s about it for the basics. When I have the time, I’ll add on my own tips as a part 2.

I’m probably one of the few INSEADers who have visited the campus in Second Life. Which is a shame, because it is quite a pretty place - even if there’s nobody else in sight except for some semi-intelligent bots that look like human beings and attempt to make conversation with you.

I teleported back into the virtual campus just now, and heard a familiar voice around me. It was that of our Dean, Frank Brown, being interviewed on a big screen. It’s nice to be immersed in multimedia all around your Avatar.

What have I done on the INSEAD Second Life campus so far? I’ve attended a talk and reviewed some slides from a previous presentation by a professor. I even chatted to employees of the Hungarian company that developed this virtual campus. In fact I think Second Life is a good medium for an international school operating on different continents and timezones.

However, overall, I feel the virtual campus is underutilised because it’s not as easy to access as Facebook; you need to download a huge installation file and hope that your graphics card can support the 3D rendering.

Still, I’ll continue to support our virtual campus because it reminds me of how INSEAD has shown innovation. Being the first (or one of the first) to have an accelerated MBA course and coming up with the idea of Executive Education, INSEAD’s foray into virtual worlds is another far-reaching step, even if it will take some time to bear fruition.

Back in Jan 2009 I was happy that this blog had 40 subscribers to the news feed.

Today, this blog has over 200 subscribers. Woot!

Thanks for your support, even into my post-INSEAD days. I will continue to post INSEAD-related updates on life as an alumna.