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

todays' discussion with Frank

original at http://www.inseadblogger.com

Zanatos is on his way to the airport. will he be on time? time will tell. On the train now looking at the clock and also blogging.

China is waiting for me like always. i just learned I will have to stay at the same hotel like the last 4 years.

Today although it was my day off I had to wake up earlier than normal and attend an Insead event in Ark hills. It was a breakfast session with our Dean. What was really interesting and a bit over the top was the place.

it was an insead event but the hosts wouldnt let anybody enter unless he was wearing a full suit and a tie. I found that rule inflexible and a unecessary. thanl god i always carry a tie with me just for these cases.

Frank, the dean started the session by telling us about Insead, how it is doing and some changhes it is facing. What really surprised me was the emphasis he had on faculty and endowments.

He said that out of the worlds top ten phd programs, 8 of them are in the US and only 2 outside. There is big competition for talented faculty because all the top schools try to get people from those programs. Frank promised even better faculty in the future.

The second issue he reffered to was scholarships. He said and he has a point that Insead, only a business school cannot have a very big endowment compared to harvad, eg. that makes INsead Not able to compete when it comes to scholarships. that rings true for african applicants. INSEAD he said needs to avoid becoming the BUSSINES SCHOOL for the rich world.

Having said he let us know for many new developments. first of Americans are learning hopw to pronounce Insead. This year 10% of the student body comes from the USA. there is a new public relation office in New York.

The abu Dhabi campus has started its function. Insead is going up the rankings. Still the only business school that has two autonomous and independent campuses in 2 different continents.

Here is the hot piece of news though. Remember u heard that first at Zanat0s blog. Singapore campus will start having 3 sections. that means more people will get to start in Singapore. And also according to Frank the taxi drivers now pronounce Insead correct.

The executive education is booming in the singapore campus and everything is according to plan.

By the way i got on the train at the nick of time.

cheers

Brekafast with Frank Brown, Insead dean

In Tokyo Listening Live to frankie, our dean. i am having breakfast with Insead japanese alumni with a view to kill.

i am the only one who is flying to China later today so that means no blog access. He is talking about Phd programs. there is a war for professors with skills.

Preparing for Job INterviews how to land your perfect job after MBA

Original at http://www.inseadblogger.com

After a long time of silence(give me a break) I am back to provide information especially for INSEAD and other MBA students.

When you are trying to make it to the Big League—the one that places you closer to the power centers in a company — after the MBA(or even without it) it is quite probable the interview process will be different. The more senior or powerful the person or people you're interviewing with, the more definite their ideas are likely to be about what they're looking for. They are aware their own success/ accomplishments depend on the people the will give responsibilities to

So how do you prove your ability to enter the big leagues? How do you show that your previous experiences and your newly acquired MBA are a definite plus? By thinking like you are already part of the big league. This interview will be different from others, but it will be your best(and only) chance to impress the gatekeepers, so there are some agreements you want to be certain you get across. Here are what to do during the process:

See the forest, not the tree

Many number of interview candidates may possess specific subject-knowledge valuable to a business. But the candidate who goes beyond mere information and displays an ability to use it well is more likely to get the job. Leaders are the ones who “understand” the big picture and do not get lost in details

advice: Prove the ability to see patterns and understand their relevance; that you know how to take advantage and amalgamate information.

Think like your boss may think

Do your homework so you comprehend not only the position you are applying for but also the job of the one you will reporting to. Do you know what challenges you boss faces and what his boss faces?

advice: Be pro-active do take the discussion there. Show an awareness not only in the semantics of the job, but in the industry you are focusing on. Ask broad questions: "What do you think will influence our growth in Europe in the next 3 years?"

Have answers not questions

Nobody will pay you if you go to them with questions. Every executive wants its direct reports to face challenges and not give up. Have answers to questions and solutions to problems. To understand the problem won’t bring any value unless one can also offer an answer

advice: Be ready to show that you have been there before and that you have the capability of tackling difficult issues who are not yet concrete.

Do not be timid

Speak up. Do not be intimidated. Probably the interviewer will try to corner but never lose composure. To know how to regulate emotions is a must and a skill ones has to master. There will be some tough questions. They can only be dealt with good answers.

advice: Think of it as a game. If you lose your clam you lose your job.

Hard skills are important but they are not the ones one focuses on

Hard skills are a must but not forget that PCs are unbeatable. Humans though have soft skills. Prove it!

advice: People skills are of the essence so that you get people. Most definitely you will be responsible for a team or a division. Without the ability to lead people you will be in trouble

Listen

Just as you want to make it plain in an interview that you are not too timid to speak up, you want to make it clear you are a snart-ass or a guy-who-knows-it-all. Listening is more difficult. Do not be an alpha male(female). Remember what germans say? Speaking is silver, silence is gold.

advice: Ask questions and try to be liked. Ask for advice or try to make the interviewer speak more.

Do no be a cry baby

If there's one thing managers detest with all their heart, it's complaining. Remember, every hiring manager wants to bring in a team player who will bring positive energy and real initiative to the job. Stimorol add: When you have nothing good to say get a stimorol and just chew. Be positive but up to a point.

TIP: Steer clear of any criticism of prior managers, do not point fingers. They will forgive your past if you forgive others’ past.

There is more to the game than the name

Original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

Yesterday at an Event I organized with the help of some friends from Tokyo I was for the first confronted about an Issue that directly/indirectly influences me, my hometown and my country at large.

Most foreigners look at this and shrug and think that one is being bully and throwing around their weight. I do not expect N. Americans, British or anybody else to understand. Yes this issue has nothing to do with them or their countries. For me and my fellow nationals is a different story.

Probably they will never understand. I will definitely agree that the Greek Government is so disorganized that is losing the public battle and the battle for opinions. I can only add my voice to this issue. I only do that because i was piqued yesterday by a person and he brought me in a very difficult situation(which i didn't appreciate).

But this is my point people who do not get this dispute can make fun of it. My advice to the rest of you try to stay clear of sensitive matter that do not relate to you. I can only add my 2 cents of wisdom to this debate. I really did not want to do that. There are some intangible values in life which one cannot keep for oneself.

kopje's insistence on keeping the name Macedonia unsullied by any kind ofqualifying adjective, serves exactly Gligorov's project of 'freeing' one daythe 'unredeemed' parts of "Macedonia". Greece should insist that Skopjerepeatedly, officially and convincingly reject any idea of ever attempting to'liberate' lands that do not belong to them

The Fyrom authorities early last year decided to rename the country's main airport in Skopje into 'Aleksandar Veliki', after the ancient Greek conqueror Alexander the Great, adding fuel to a longlasting dispute with neighbouring Greece
LET US imagine what a scholar from Skopje might write to the Greek prime minister to argue that his country be recognised as the Republic of Macedonia.

"Dear Mr Karamanlis. I am addressing this letter to you both as a leader and as a Greek person with a certain family history. One of your direct ancestors was a 'karamanlis' (with a small k), ie an Orthodox Greek from the Karaman province in Anatolia so named after the 11th-century Seldjukid tribal leader who obliged Greeks to use the Turkish language only. Many complied but only in their speech. The result has been a number of interesting texts, the 'karamanlidika', which are in Turkish but written in the Greek script, the only one known to those who wrote them. When Greece became independent your ancestor left the Ottoman Empire and settled in the village of Kioupkioi (renamed Proti) near Serres. Your family have since become proud Macedonians. Don't you agree that we, who settled in the adjacent area some 12 centuries ago, also have the right to call ourselves Macedonians?

"People sometimes wonder why we reject our Slav identity. The reason is simple: because it serves us no purpose; because it does not bind us together; because Slavs can be Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenes etc and they fight each other like deadly enemies if it comes to that. The main reason we want to differ, however, is that we do not want to be Bulgarians. We want our own nation-state; we want to forge our own destiny.

"Greeks, Mr Karamanlis, are blessed with a glorious past, a prestigious culture and a language whose continuity is not matched by anything in the Balkans. That is why the Greeks were the first, with the help of western philhellenes, to gain their independence from the Ottomans. The other Balkan peoples tried hard to promote various mediaeval kings and heroes in order to forge themselves a 'national' tradition. As you know from your studies, nations are not only formed bottom-up but also top-down. In Italy, at the time of unification, the educated elite were estimated at 2.5 percent. No wonder Massimo d' Azeglio (1798-1866) declared in parliament: 'Now that we have made Italy, we have to make Italians.' In the same way when Yugoslavia disintegrated in the 1990s we moved on from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia to become the Republic of Macedonia, an independent state. In other words, we too made Macedonia and had then to make Macedonians. We chose Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great as our ancestors. In this we ask for your indulgence and your understanding. Allow us to be called Macedonians, let us be Macedonians and not Bulgarians. In a few years time, side by side in Nato and the EU we will enter together the post-national era in the Balkans, leave behind ethno-nationalism and embrace the American type of civic patriotism based on commonly accepted values and rules."

Such a plea could perhaps interest and move: it could not convince. The 'Macedonian' identity these people chose to adopt has not been an innocuous fantasy to assist peaceful state-builders in their task. It has led to xenophobic chauvinism and strident exclusivism. Their schoolbooks present the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) - as the country is officially called after the Interim Agreement was signed in New York in 1995 - as a rump state. They also publish maps with the three Macedonias (Greek, Bulgarian and Fyrom) unified as one. Kiro Gligorov, the then president of Fyrom, welcomed on 14 September 1995 the Interim Agreement which he considered "a decisive step for the future of the Balkans". The selfsame man, however, writes in his Memoirs (Athens, Courier, 2000, p42) that "we have already achieved the freedom of one third of Macedonians, those that live in the Vardar part and have not yet addressed the question: what about our brothers in the other dispersed parts of Macedonia? From this question springs a view of foremost importance: a partly freed people are not free."

This is precisely the issue on which Greece ought to focus. Greece should move the emphasis from the name-as-symbol to the entity it symbolises; from the signifier to the signified, in linguistic terms. Skopje's insistence on keeping the name Macedonia unsullied by any kind of qualifying adjective, serves exactly Gligorov's project of "freeing" one day the "unredeemed" parts of 'Macedonia'. Greece should insist that Skopje repeatedly, officially and convincingly reject any idea of ever attempting to "liberate" lands that do not belong to them. In expensive advertisements published lately in all the major British and American papers the Skopje authorities mention as one of their "substantial concessions" to Greece that their country "has no territorial aspirations towards any neighbouring state and will not interfere in the sovereign right of the Greek government in respect of minority issues in Greece."

In what way, pray, is this a "concession"?

Any international organisation must demand an answer to this question as a preliminary to any accession application by Fyrom. A name for their country that would reflect the real, deep, genuine will of Skopje to live in peace with all their neighbours should be a precondition for membership. As for the Alexander the Great type of folie des grandeurs this is a question for psychiatrists not politicians or diplomats...

Thanx to Mark Dragoumis from Athens News

the gaijin in the bus

original at
http://zanat0s.typepad.com

I am sitting in the bus and it is full. There is a free seat next to me. Nobody though is sitting down.....

It is so strange. It is like i am not there. They do not look at me. anyway let them stand. /way from the white gaijin.

cheers!

Insead Career fair 2008. Impressions, Career Decisions

read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

Zanat0s back in Tokyo!

It feels strange to go the office when you travel non stop. the office is not anymore a place nor a function, just a location.

Last week at Insead I stumbled across the career fair. I can easily say the event was better than the one our promotion had.

The career services pointed that fact clearly to me. It was good last year that we expressed some concers and pointed to some factors which needed improvement.

Career services listened to our feedback and this time they did a better job. still though since the singapore campus is new there is room for improvement; especially for the july promotion.

What was better this time? first of all there were more companies coming to recruit. Not only there were more but of better quality too. i saw some old classmates who were recruiting now and i had a chat with them.

The whole ambience was better and the companies had interesting position to offer. It was more professionally done and a cocktail followed after the event to allow or some more casual chatting.

zanat0s wants to congratulate the career services for theior efforts. but he now has even higher standards.

Airport reviews - Glocal Citizen

http://zanat0s.typepad.com original article

Since I am travelling so much, 2 times per month, why not blog about it?

Airports are a significant part of my life and one that I have gotten used to. Some of them make your traveling experience lighter others make you wish you never had to travel.

On top of that Airports serve other purposes and can help the traveler make some quite interesting inferences. First of all airports are a sign of economic prowess and development.

Every country needs astrong entry point to welcome foreigners ivestors(business people, tourists, workers). How well the airport is run is highly correlated(although I cannot prove it) with how efficent the country is. Also how strike prone the wokers are can be seen at the airport level where strikes can create international hurdles.

some good examples would include Frankfurt, Singapore, hong Kong and Amsterdam.

On the other hand think of Manila, Mumbai, Jakarta.....

For mwe the model Airport is not Singapore Changi but Frankfurt and Hong Kong. Frankfurt tops my list because I am European and I never have to go through the hurdles of immigrations and checks. It is huge and run incredibly efficient. Frankfurt is designed in a way that appeals to me. Yes the stores are not something over the top but in my value chains it is of small interest.

Flights are on time and i have to say that from Frankfurt you can connect to any destination one may desire(please do not forget that i come from a city which economic development has overlooked so i am forced to use a hub). Frankfurt airport connect to more 230 destinations. There is next to the airport a train station which of course has a line which reaches the city within 15 minutes. I should change also that germany has if not the world's most sophisticated railway system definitely one of them.

Frankfurt tops my ratings in these categories.

connectivity to other international destinations: Perfect

Connectivity to city and other domestic destinations: Perfect

Design : Amazing

Lounges : All right(not yet a gold member so i do not kno)

Efficiency : German Standards

Friendlyness to the Passenger : Very friendly staff

Entertainment : since i always have to wait due to being Greek... there are not a lot of things to do.

Food & Shopping: i never buy since prices are always upwards driven. Definitely though a great place to get chocolates. Food is average though and not very international.

I hope my german friends will feel proud reading this. At least they can look at T5 and smile secretly.

Jobs, interviews and rumblings

read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

Previous meeting is over. Now going to the doctor through the manila traffic. this post will be the frst one i wrotte and pusblished in different time intervals. I have to say I enjoy mobile blogging, adds to productivity.

Starting with where I stopped. I will examine the students' claim and build upon that. The students say there are not enough jobs. The above statement may be a bit immature.

First of all I have already explained in previous posts that the July promotion always has a more difficult time than the December one. simple... The companies have their hiring cycle and in most cases it is around the 3rd quarter. Not many companies have standardised hiring processess around April. The july promotion also faces hurdles in getting into finance.

by the way Manila traffic sucks..

Insead students have a shorter time frame than other mbas to find a gd job. More pressure leads to stress. A lot of students find their job after graduation or close to that.

Now to give credit to the students.... There was a record of apicants to Philips this year. 70 applications! Broke all previous records.

Is this application overload justified? one must not look at micro level but at macro. 3 situation1: USA mbas are feeling the pinch so they start looking for jobs outside the states which drives up competition and demands for positions in Europe and in Asia. Also a lot of international MBAs prefer to be outside a dollardenominated country for their own sake.

2:) Companies have stopped hiring not only in the states but also globally. This is the worst scenario possible. This can resemble 2001 and 2202 where it was a buyer's market.

3:)students just believe the hype

MBA job market situation Post 1. zanat0s and students. who is right?

read original @ http://zanat0s.typepad.com

I just found out that my next ,meeting is one hour away by taxi. so instead of sleeping in the cab(something i desperately need) I will post some random thoughts.

It seems i love to blog, sometimes seriously others not so much. I was at Insead last week for a project and was talking with the director of career services. out of the blue a student interrupts us. He asks me if I am zanat0s. I don't deny it....
Then he thanks me for having post so much information online and for being such a strong advocate.

needles to say that the directors was astonished(in a good way! The previous word was wrong since English is Not my first language). Now to another point regarding the job market.

I met some of the July 08 promotion(the one who replaced us) and I heard they were fearing that the job market was in not in a good shape. The students all seemed to have the same fear, finding a good job.

I am not dancing to their tune but probably i am safe and talk while sitting on a cushion. Let me clarify my position and argue.

It is true that the situation in the states is bad. Yes it is bad. Bear steans was bought for 10 bucks per share. write downs are making headlines. The housing market is in turmoil and for the first time the us consumer is stopping to buy.

But look at other countries. Start with the negatove factors. First there is an exportation oif inlfation, food is becoming a luxury(for the poor), staple items are not enough to go around. IMF says the tensions for food will increase. Oil is over 100 dollars and other commodities have become premium priced. Stabilioty is decreasing globally(look at iram, afghan, Iraq, Egypt, and others. Lets not forget global warming(which according to the Bush administration is hyperbole).

But look closer. Europe is still growing all right if you factor in that the euro(my fave currency and I am proud of it, who cares about the pound anyway) is still strong(i hope it goes on like this). Germany is still the worlds top exporter( i totally respect and admire that nation), Asia is busting with growth(with the usual exception of the isolated grey island ). Singapore property market is just a way to become a quick neorich. China is China and even with this negativity still is transforming. Australia is enjoying the commodities(excuse me I meant uncalled appreciation of prices). Latin America is scorning the Usa.

Generally the world will grow this year at above 3%, hardly a slow down or a recession. so what is happenning?

more to my next post which i analyse the situation at different MBAs in the states and @ insead.

Give China a break!

originally posted by Roark at e-roosters

Watching some days ago the angry protestors in London, I thought that after stopping globalization, the activist left has found a new raison d’être: bashing China. It would be funny though to see the faces of these uncompromising idealists when someone tells them that this China-bashing sport was actually invented and funded in US by their beloved neoconservatives and hardcore Republicans that want to see the growing superpower China facing as many problems as possible.

In regards to Tibet, here are some facts for the angry boys and girls that I am certain they never came across before:

• The recent riots in Lasha were nothing less than a planned pogrom against the wealthiest Han minority in the region. As this piece in The (not-especially-friendly-to-China) Economist describes,

"The destruction was systematic. Shops owned by Tibetans were marked as such with traditional white scarves tied through their shutter-handles. They were spared destruction. Almost every other one was wrecked."

To get a picture, remember the pogrom against the Greek community in Istanbul in the 1960’s.

• The reported (13?) dead that were presented in the western media as if they were rioters, were all ethnic Hans that were killed, most of them burnt alive, by Tibetans.

• In this pogrom, the Chinese police was totally absent in the beginning and showed up only after few days, when the destruction of the Han property by the Tibetans was almost complete. Even then, the only victims of violence were the police and ethnic Hans. As the Tibetan head of Tibet's regional government said:

"Chinese police did not fire their guns or use anti-personnel weapons against the Tibetan protesters, even though the Tibetans wounded 61 police officers, including six in serious condition"

In other words, the Chinese police in Lasha was as “brutal” and “threatening” as the Greek police is in riots and looting in Athens.

• The big picture now, China is not your typical oppressor. China consists of 56 nations and minorities tend to have more rights than the majority of Hans -for example, the one-child policy does NOT apply to the minorities. Personally, I find this a bit weird behavior for an oppressor.

• At the same time, Tibet enjoys a very high degree of autonomy in China, it has its own local government and increased legislative rights. Btw. it also has one of the highest economic growth rates in the country, due to deliberate infrastructure development from the central government.

• Historically, Tibet was almost always part of China. Given that China is multicultural with several regions (sthg like Canada), it will be impossible for any Chinese administration to allow the full independence of the biggest region, Tibet.

Now, China is far from a saint country and has a lot to answer when it comes to political liberties, environmental issues etc. But in this specific issue, don't believe the hype -give China a break