INSEAD Blog by Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo ! The Biggest among INSEAD MBA blogs. Insead is over, blogging not.

Merry Xmas to all and good luck with your MBA (INSEAD) application

24th of December today. 3rd year in a row I get to celebrate Xmas in a place where Xmas is not celebrated in the normal way. Xmas in China is a working day like the rest of Asia. You get to see advertisements and hear Xmas songs all over the place, that’s a bit strange. In Singapore where it is summer Xmas is somewhat strange. Xmas decorations and Summer weather do not fit well together. Japan is a different story altogether. You will be amazed to know that Japan the 24th is the biggest dating day. Couples go to hotels have a nice dinner there and then get a room for the night.
That means the prices for room in Japan on the 24th are astronomically expensive. Dinners and drinks receive the same treatment. Everyone is out shopping during these days. 23 and 24th are national public holidays in Japan. Strange isn’t it? It is the emperor’s Bday and you get no work before xmas but then you have to work on Xmas day. That makes not a lot of sense but this is life.
Xmas is not a religious holiday, I repeat it is not a religious holiday at least for 80% for those who celebrate it. Xmas is the spirit of family getting together and having a nice time during the end of the year. It is about giving and receiving, a time where you feel the need to do some good. During Xmas the weather outside is gloomy and cold(unless you live in the southern Hemisphere) and this contrast is what makes xmas fantastic. Families celebrate in the warm houses where everybody is happy to see each other again while outside is cold. Family provides safety and security and if someone has no family he spends xmas with friends and loved ones.
Yes Christmas is a now consumer’s holiday, a reason for everybody to splurge on his new gadget, fo the kids to get the new Rambo doll they saw on TV(if advertising is allowed). I mean the whole atmosphere is great. People smile to you and forget their troubles even for a while. Others find an excuse to eat a bit more the extra cake .
For all of you out there Enjoy today and tomorrow. This may sound bad but at least most of us who can read this text we have our eye sight, we can hear the music coming out of the speakers(I am listening to Nightwish now), we can use our fingers to type, we can feed ourselves, walk, run. There are humans who unfortunately cannot enjoy these pleasures. What we consider normal(the above actions) is like a luxury these people will never have. Remember thqat and try to enjoy every moment of your life. Chances come and go but life is what we make out of it. Like a box of chocolates.

Puppets!

THat is cruelesly funny!

My adventures in Japan! little Zani!

Enough about MBA articles, today I will let you know some of last month’s events. Start from today. At our company, a Japanese one, we hold a morning meeting every day. Each day a manager is making a speech about who he is, what has he done and his role in the company and the performance of his department. For the ones unfamiliar with Japan the above mentioned is something typical so do not freak out. Yesterday I was informed that I would be today’s speaker.
At the beginning It didn’t register to me and played it cool. Cool it wasn’t. I have spoken to crowds before I have made presentations not in my native language countless times. But if you told me last year that I would be standing in front of 203 Japanese, all of them staring at me and waiting for my speech in Japanese, I would have called you crazy. But it happened and I felt overwhelmed. I am sure I made some mistakes because I could hear the insatiable laughter going on during my speech. I didn’t know what was louder the beating of my heart which was getting faster or my voice.
Work has been ok I am just finishing the initial report for a project and presenting on Xmas, a working day. Last week I got a taste of Japanese hospitals. I got extreme gastroenteritis due to a viral infection. It was sad development. I was throwing up in my place for 3 hours. My boss then got worried and took me to a hospital. I was flagger basted. The place was majestic, the waiting area included armchairs and classical music to help you soothe. If I am not mistaken they played Mozart and Debussy. Of course since I was sick I didn’t get to listen and enjoy but at least it made the waiting easier.
I got treated within 4 hours but still I hadn’t recovered. The ward had some of the most relaxing beds I have ever slept on. The nurses were almost too good to be real. I got some medicine during my exit and went home where I finally relaxed after 1.5 month. I slept on Friday for more than 12 hours at night. It was a great chance to recharge my batteries.
Tomorrow I am getting my furniture and my place will be finally inhabitable. I hope the situation turns for the better. On Wednesday I was invited to a Brazilian party and I wanted to go so much but when I entered my place at 19.00 I thought it was a great chance to relax. It was the first time I came home before 23.00 so I couldn’t resist. I sat down and watched a movie and read some books. My loss, the party was fantastic, so I heard.
Expect some pics soon along with some interesting posts about MBA. Also congratulations to a Singaporean friend of mine who got admitted to INSEAD. I hope I was helpful enough.

The best laugter in the world

Hi all, Unfortunately i got a serious viral infection and today i have been in the hospital for 8 hours trying to kill the virus. I am having a really bad time and it gets amplified that i have no friends in tokyo or family to support me. I have to say that my supervisor today left the office took me to the hospital took care of everything and i would be in twice the pain if it wasn't for her.

TO cheer my up i have been looking non stop at this video. I challenge all of you to watch it without laughing.

Google rankings

Yes, it is true. My blog is one of the most concentrated on INSEAD. Readers can browse through a plethora of articles and dig out any information they may find useful. Student life, recruiting, socializing, networking, interesting stories, opinions, waitlist, essays, events, rankings! Anything one might be searching for INSEAD my blog is relevant. One ingredient through is aloof: Your writer is not anymore a student. His insights may be becoming outdated.
As a remedy one should read current applicants and student blogs. They offer the fresh information in the market. Here are some recommendations

Necromonger's is a really organized blog with menus and incredible GMAT archive. If I wanted to apply now that is what I would be reading

Strawberry tint is another blog which is worth checking out but not so many frequent updates.

The bloggerhog is another prolific blogger with a knack for poetry. Do check out his SEX and MBA article. I applaud

Wim de Byrne A more media friendly blog with quite interesting descriptions. No link to me though.

Form my class a must read is DomoDomo and Hallonman. Links can be found on the right menu. Just for fun let me show you some google results. At google.com my blog gets the following number

Rank 37 keywords : Insead

Rank 5 keywords: Insead MBA

Rank 20 keywords: Insead Singapore

Rank 2 Keywords: Insead blog

Rank 4 keywords: blog insead

Why bloggers blog?

Last night I was too tired to continue and I accidentally posted a semi-entry. I will try to stitch the last 2 articles together. Here I will explain and give honors to INSEAD bloggers. Insead bloggers invest their own(precious) time. They do not get anything out of the experience, material items I mean. They are not paid or get any kind of material reward.
On the contrary they do a great service to the school, students, alumni and of course recruiters. All of these stakeholders need some inside information to form opinion for their own specific purposes. There is not best place to get a better scoop and unfiltered than by students themselves. Every relationship though needs to be balanced. Bloggers get nothing in return, but that is the point. Blogging is a hobby not a job(at least for us: INSEAD MBA bloggers).
A biggest reward for a blogger(except money) is to have stable(and increasing) visitors to his blog. Believe it or not we derive pleasure from your comments and encouragement. Just the time spend on composing this entry and formatting it is considerable, on the other had comments from one random reader will provide me with the burning fuel to go on. I implore al the readers not only to read my blog and other current insead bloggers, but also to contact us.

Some blogs I do recommend. My blog is really informative about INSEAD but for better or for worse(don’t know which is better). I cannot be a student forever. I will compile the list in my next post with the blogs to read and some reviews about them.

Respect the bloggers effort and cheer them up. Wouldn’t you like people to do the same? One good word can add many miles of fuel. Keep up!

shoppinggg

Why blog INSEAD and why read INSEAD blogs?

Previous articles in this blog have tried to illustrate clearly that INSEAD is a busy place. Cramming networking, socializing, getting a job, attending an MBA program and studying all in 10 busy months takes a toll. Time management become an art of survival. Adding the task of blogging complicates the situation. At least writing a piece of information requires some time: composing, writing and checking.

Having done that I personally know how much time should be invested on blogging. It takes at least 30 minutes.

The new students now  offer a service.

Why INSEAD? Information about the MBA program!

In the last days I have decided to help all the ones who would like to pursue an MBA at INSEAD. These series of articles, I will call the Inseaders, have covered every angle of the process of an MBA. In the first one I argued fervently why an INSEAD is a Must-have nowadays then delved into finer details by claiming that INSEAD is by far one of the best choices for the world we live in. So far so good, but one must first apply(successfully) to INSEAD and get accepted. If only were it so easy.
This article will try to give more information about the INSEAD MBA. All relevant information(plus the application can be found at www.insead.edu. There are 2 intakes at INSEAD per year of around 450 people, resulting in an increased alumni base to 900 per year, not bad if you consider that 2 year MBA programs lock around 1600 people for 2 years(one may argue for better bonds in 2year programs). The 2 intakes are in January and end of august.
Here is where I disagree with the official at INSEAD. They will probably tell you that it doesn’t matter when you start, but it does, I learned it through my experience. The January batch has the chance to do a 2 month internship during summer break, whereas the August batch doesn’t have the same chance. Moreover December batch’s hiring season, p4 coincides with the banks’ hiring seasons. The August promotion ends up filing applications 3 weeks after starting school, not the easiest of things to do. I do not know also if statistics can back this up but more companies come to hire during September since most business school work that way. According to other students’ viewpoint they agree with my thesis, although I do not want to check whether it really stands out.

The program is consisted of 5 periods, 8 weeks each. Period 1 and Period offer the basic course which is like a fast track undergraduate. Experienced professionals may try to skip classes they are really good at it, after taking a test. P3 students can start having their electives but also getting ready for the big fight online. P4 is mostly when students start interviews and get job offers(hopefully). P5 whether the Dean like it or not is the party period since students have a job by then. Like everybody knows( I hope) insead has 2 campuses. One of them in Europe and the other in Singapore.

Both 2 campuses are independent but also interlinked. The teachers travel weekly to teach at both campuses. Singapore campus is newer but also smaller and not as famous as the one in Fontainebleau . The Fonty campus can be described with one word, Majestic!

INSEAD, hwo to get into and why

In the last days I have decided to help all the ones who would like to pursue an MBA at INSEAD. These series of articles, I will call the Inseaders, have covered every angle of the process of an MBA. In the first one I argued fervently why an INSEAD is a Must-have nowadays then delved into finer details by claiming that INSEAD is by far one of the best choices for the world we live in. So far so good, but one must first apply(successfully) to INSEAD and get accepted. If only were it so easy.
This article will try to give an information about the INSEAD MBA. All relevant information(plus the application can be found at www.insead.edu. There are 2 intakes at INSEAD per year of around 450 people, resulting in an increased alumni base to 900 per year, not bad if you consider that 2 year MBA programs lock around 1600 people for 2 years(one may argue for better bonds in 2year programs). The 2 intakes are in January and end of august.
Here is where I disagree with the official at INSEAD. They will probably tell you that it doesn’t matter when you start, but it does, I learned it through my experience. The January batch has the chance to do a 2 month internship during summer break, whereas the August batch doesn’t have the same chance. Moreover December batch’s hiring season, p4 coincides with the banks’ hiring seasons. The August promotion ends up filing applications 3 weeks after starting school, not the easiest of things to do. I do not know also if statistics can back this up but more companies come to hire during September since most business school work that way. According to other students’ viewpoint they agree with my thesis, although I do not want to check whether it really stands out.

The program is consisted of 5 periods, 8 weeks each. Period 1 and Period offer the basic course which is like a fast track undergraduate. Experienced professionals may try to skip classes they are really good at it, after taking a test. P3 students can start having their electives but also getting ready for the big fight online. P4 is mostly when students start interviews and get job offers(hopefully). P5 whether the Dean like it or not is the party period since students have a job by then. Like everybody knows( I hope) insead has 2 campuses. One of them in Europe and the other in Singapore.

Both 2 campuses are independent but also interlinked. The teachers travel weekly to teach at both campuses. Singapore campus is newer but also smaller and not as famous as the one in Fontainebleau . The Fonty campus can be described with one word, Majestic!

Lazy or incompetent?

OK! Normally I shouldn’t post this but here it goes. I need some things to be done so I made a list where I wrote who should do what, how and by when. A pretty simple list it was. One of the requirements in the list entailed to have some files copied from the hard drive onto a USB stick.
I know, I know most of you will laugh at the “complexity” of this action. Doing Drag and Drop actions require a lot of intellectual capacity. A Phd may even turn out to be handy. I was talking with the person whom I handed the list today and he informed me that the person in question had “trouble” to solve the issue.
I do not want to believe that someone who is using a pc frequently cannot accomplish this mundane task. I rather believe he is too bored to bother himself. I can go on without acquiring this information. On the other hand he will have a difficult life in the future without these skillsets.
But honestly I would like to receive this data to facilitate my work. Oh I got also scolded for not writing explicitly what I want in one line. I went through the list and asked if he was responsible for that according to my directions. He said no but insisted I should give more information. I replied to him letting him know that the one to whom the letter was addressed will know what to do and of course it makes no sense to him since it is not his area of expertise.
Anyway it is getting late and I have to wake up early tomorrow. I am resolved to the fact that person A is either extremely incapable of doing what he is told or that his laziness knows no boundaries!