If knowledge is power then what is connected knowledge ?
Dear loved one's back home (This is the easiest line to write!)
Countdown for HK party has begun. We have another 27 days to leave Hong Kong. There is palpable excitement in the class. Some of us have put London Business School in the Altar and are near worshipping it. Chinese are actually nervous since for many this will be the first time they will be going to an English speaking country. We had a few speakers (Britishers) who have given us a talk on life in London, how to behave, how to eat, what to talk and what not to talk. If that was not enough, some LBS Profs have emailed introducing them and instructing us on the course outline. From whatever little I have seen the faculty at LBS has some class! Did I mention that LBS was ranked no 2 B School in th world by financial times? Forgive me I have this tendency to sound a little repetitive, and whoever spoke about modesty, forgive me I dont understand the meaning :)
The China and India Factor
The world over, there is this curiosity about China and India. Everybody wants to find out what is it that suddenly escalated these two nations into the new havens of economic activity. We have an elective course taught by our Harvard Prof. Thomas Hout called Business strategies in India and China. The course had been over subscribed so many times that even Reliance IPO's could be put to shame. Students were willing to stand and take the class. Some Alumni's are coming to take the class. Everybody wants to find out what the hell is going on. One of my wise classmate said it's a great time to be an Indian or Chinese just as it was a great time to be a roman in the 17th century, Britisher in the 19th century, American in the 20th century. The Prof. had obviously the same thing to say over and over again. The Chinese have great infrastructure and the Indians have good English. Aparently both of them was a gift from the Britishers! He discussed the Pepsi pesticide case and concluded with a cockneyed face that the Indian government can be very erratic. This will be concluding commetary on the India China debate - India is like a Koala 2 Steps back ward and 3 steps forward and China is a dragon, keeps surging ahead not exactly knowing where it is going!
If knowledge is power then what is connected knowledge ?
Any MBA student can vouch for this, one of the biggest take away from your MBA is your ability to "network" with people. Most of the job offers, business deals and even love happens through networking. In HK and China its so important that MBA office had arranged mock parties within the MBA Batch to teach you the art of socializing. Several organizations and clubs host official networking parties just to help people meet others for the sake of meeting. I have been to a few of them and found it a little perplexing. Everybody is out to sell himself there, not knowing exactly what he is selling or what he is getting. It's so much like speed dating just that we are not looking for love.Typical conversation would be like " Hi my name is Dennis doing my MBA. I have done CFA and have a special interest in derivatives market and like to make a career on collateralized debt obligations.How about you ? " By then you know this is not the person to talk to. You move on to another one and this tete a tete goes on exchanging your name card. At the end of the day the person with the maximum name card calls himself winner in this superficial game of relationship building! It seems life's biggest deals happen through this network and the MBA's are supposed to revel in this. Well I am not particularly bad at this art !!
I have these standard one liners and pre packed answers that I blurt out. " Hi I am Arun from India, Yes yes... I work in IT, Sorry what ? Oh yes India is beautiful, thats true, bad roads, "then my punch lines quoting Friedman and Narayanamurthy" China succeeds because of the govt. India suceeds inspite of the govt (god knows how many times I have told that!), BMW and Bullock cart moves in the same road and same speed." If I struck a chord we have some meaningful conversation else he/she would have moved to another person and then the game continues. "Hi I am Arun from India, Yes yes... I work in IT, Sorry what ? Oh yes India is beautiful, thats true, bad roads,"
Countdown for HK party has begun. We have another 27 days to leave Hong Kong. There is palpable excitement in the class. Some of us have put London Business School in the Altar and are near worshipping it. Chinese are actually nervous since for many this will be the first time they will be going to an English speaking country. We had a few speakers (Britishers) who have given us a talk on life in London, how to behave, how to eat, what to talk and what not to talk. If that was not enough, some LBS Profs have emailed introducing them and instructing us on the course outline. From whatever little I have seen the faculty at LBS has some class! Did I mention that LBS was ranked no 2 B School in th world by financial times? Forgive me I have this tendency to sound a little repetitive, and whoever spoke about modesty, forgive me I dont understand the meaning :)
The China and India Factor
The world over, there is this curiosity about China and India. Everybody wants to find out what is it that suddenly escalated these two nations into the new havens of economic activity. We have an elective course taught by our Harvard Prof. Thomas Hout called Business strategies in India and China. The course had been over subscribed so many times that even Reliance IPO's could be put to shame. Students were willing to stand and take the class. Some Alumni's are coming to take the class. Everybody wants to find out what the hell is going on. One of my wise classmate said it's a great time to be an Indian or Chinese just as it was a great time to be a roman in the 17th century, Britisher in the 19th century, American in the 20th century. The Prof. had obviously the same thing to say over and over again. The Chinese have great infrastructure and the Indians have good English. Aparently both of them was a gift from the Britishers! He discussed the Pepsi pesticide case and concluded with a cockneyed face that the Indian government can be very erratic. This will be concluding commetary on the India China debate - India is like a Koala 2 Steps back ward and 3 steps forward and China is a dragon, keeps surging ahead not exactly knowing where it is going!
If knowledge is power then what is connected knowledge ?
Any MBA student can vouch for this, one of the biggest take away from your MBA is your ability to "network" with people. Most of the job offers, business deals and even love happens through networking. In HK and China its so important that MBA office had arranged mock parties within the MBA Batch to teach you the art of socializing. Several organizations and clubs host official networking parties just to help people meet others for the sake of meeting. I have been to a few of them and found it a little perplexing. Everybody is out to sell himself there, not knowing exactly what he is selling or what he is getting. It's so much like speed dating just that we are not looking for love.Typical conversation would be like " Hi my name is Dennis doing my MBA. I have done CFA and have a special interest in derivatives market and like to make a career on collateralized debt obligations.How about you ? " By then you know this is not the person to talk to. You move on to another one and this tete a tete goes on exchanging your name card. At the end of the day the person with the maximum name card calls himself winner in this superficial game of relationship building! It seems life's biggest deals happen through this network and the MBA's are supposed to revel in this. Well I am not particularly bad at this art !!
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