Montreal, Molson & Masti!

A quick background: We receive mail from Caleb about John Molson MBA Case Compeitition from Concordia University, Montreal - Elims based on CV and some case. I apply. I get invitation for elims presentation. I end up with wrong slides. Maintain my cool. Get selected to represent NUS.

Cut to: January 1, 2010

What a way to start the year! Flying 32 hours through 2 different countries finally to reach -25 degree celsius from +26 degrees! Finally reach Montreal, Canada! For a person who never saw snow, it was exciting! To see snowflakes! To see inches of snow lying on roads! To feel the feet freezing and mouth go numb! To expose less than 4 square inches of body to open air and with 4 layers of clothing!

We dint do great at the competition but the experience was amazing. A quick quote from roomie - At competitions, either you win prizes or earn experience!

But seriously, never we had been so productive! 3 hours and we could present situation, complications, analysis, alternatives, risks and mitigations and the financials! All without Powerpoint or excel! Thats a different story that we could never adapt so quickly and maintain the level judges expected us to! And with agility, it also promoted thinking outside the box (with concrete proof of things happening inside the box as well) ! But if we had this approach to all case studies in MBA, we would have not only been far more learned but productive and efficient as well!

Not forgetting to mention the best team for so far - a team so diverse, a team so brilliant, a team where complementary skills was not just another adjective - With Hugo on broader strategy, to Suveer on detailed operations and Gaurav on Marketing, my role was mainly to stick with financials and I loved it! Thats in the room! Outside the room, it was a laughter riot! Some phrases will just stick with me for life! And the situations especially with Hugo with darker side! Notable Mentions: Italllyyyy Schooool of Businesss and Have you considered Mexico?

And oh the coach - Paulo Molson.. oops Paulo Magalhaes! A guide and a friend - but most important a great host! How comfortable it feels in a new city when you have such a warm host! Never mind his driving skills :-)

A North American city with great architecture, it seemed so European! And while city was freezing, the underground city concept was very unique! We did not get much time to explore around, but whatever we saw was simply 'beautiful'!

All in all, a trip to remember for all reasons!

A picture is worth thousand words....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yza7BwErgAI

I wont say more!

The Sunscreen Song for NUS MBA

The original lyrics -http://www.lyricsdownload.com/baz-luhrman-sunscreen-speech-lyrics.html

The song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

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Ladies and Gentlemen of the class 2009 (or 2010)… Use “depends”

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, “depends” would be it. The repeated benefits of using the word “depends” have been proved by MBAs across the world, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your student life at NUS; oh nevermind;
You will not understand the power and beauty of your student life until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at randomly tagged photos of yourself on Facebook
and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked...
You’re not as unlucky as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry,
but know that worrying is as effective as trying to crack Prof. Nitin’s case by eating Calbee or Rice Crackers in MBA Lounge.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind;
the kind that blindside you at 2 AM on your walk back to Heng Mui Keng terrace after worthless project meeting.

Ask one question in every lecture that scares prof

Drink

Don’t be reckless with other peoples hearts don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Eat at Edwards

Don’t waste your time on jealousy on jobs, CAP or awards; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind...the race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive on your creative projects, forget the insults from individual tests; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old Gtalk chat transcripts, throw away your projects and case studies.

STRETCH

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know if you want to be in Marketing, Strategy or Finance...
the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 26 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year old alums I know still don’t

Get plenty of caffeine from Toscana

Be kind to your own MBA Lounge, you’ll miss it when you’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry someone you met NUS, maybe you wont, maybe you’ll have multiple promotions, maybe you wont, maybe you’ll turn entrepreneur at 40, maybe you’ll address the parliament on your 75th birthday...
what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either - your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your brain, use it every way you can...don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance...even if you have nowhere to do it but in Student Activities event after half a bottle of wine.

Read the mails from Arthur Wong, even if you don’t have a clue where NUS Museum is.

Do NOT read placement statistics (outside NUS), they will only make you feel ugly.

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Get to know your project group mates, you’ll never know when they’ll be gone for exchange.
Be nice to your roomies; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you when you are frustrated with internship scene.

Understand that exchange students come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in Boon Lay once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Pasir Panjang once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, fees will rise, students will cheat, you too will graduate, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young fees were reasonable, students were honest and juniors respected seniors.

Respect your seniors.

Don’t expect anyone else to give you a job. Maybe you have a CAP of 5.0, maybe you have a connection with a partner; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your laptop, or by the time semester ends, you will be running to Sim Lim.

Be careful which alum or seniors’ advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the best parts from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling the “gyaan” for more than its worth.

But trust me on the “depends”...