<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>...the random musings of an unconventional MBA. &#187; UK</title>
	<atom:link href="http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/category/uk/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba</link>
	<description>What's it all about?</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:03:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0</generator>
		<item>
		<title>On Safety: Fire (?) at the British Library</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2010/03/16/on-safety-fire-at-the-british-library/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2010/03/16/on-safety-fire-at-the-british-library/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:40:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[british library]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modern life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[safety]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2010/03/16/on-safety-fire-at-the-british-library/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Situation I was working (actually, eating soup and planning my workday) at the British Library half an hour ago when the fire alarm went. We all packed up and left, quietly, orderly, in a very British fashion, milling around in the courtyard. I tweeted about it. Here&#8217;s the funny thing Potential Fire in a library? [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Situation</strong> <br/>I was working (actually, eating <a href="http://twitter.com/gmehn/statuses/10571620346">soup</a> and planning my workday) at the British Library half an hour ago when the fire alarm went. We all packed up and left, quietly, orderly, in a very British fashion, milling around in the courtyard.</p>
<p>I tweeted about it.</p>
<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the funny thing</strong> <br/>Potential Fire in a library? One of the world&#8217;s greatest? With three of the four courtyard exits closed tue to improvement works? Surely there should be some panic? Some worry?</p>
<p>Nope. Mostly eye-rolling, looks of disbelief, checking of watches to make sure it&#8217;s not just time for a drill.</p>
<p><strong>Our modern life has made us feel incredibly safe. Usually.</strong> <br/>I experienced much the same thing about ten years ago in Victoria station. This was before Sept 11th, but after London bombings had pretty much faded away. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republican_Army">IRA</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA">ETA</a> had gone fairly quiet. But still.</p>
<p>The odd thing, to me, is that act irrationally in these sorts of cases, where we may be in actual danger, but we personalise false dangers.</p>
<p>Most people are convinced that crime, and in particular, violent crime, is <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8368310.stm">on the rise</a> in Britain, but it&#8217;s been <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8472007.stm">falling steadily</a>.</p>
<p>The chances of an American being killed (or even endangered) by a terrorist attack are approximately the same as being eaten by a shark whilst simultaneously hit by lightning, but we still <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/11/emergency.supplies/">ran out of duct tape</a> that one time.</p>
<p>The &#8220;best experts&#8221; provide a good <a href="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/airport_securit_12.html">image</a> that they&#8217;re providing airport security, but fail to <a href="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/12/airport_securit_11.html">deliver</a> <a href="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/06/fixing_airport.html">improved</a> security, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/the-things-he-carried/7057/">again</a> and <a href="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/03/airport_passeng.html">again</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Why is this? <br/></strong>We seem to be rational in the face of danger&#8211; no fire, no smoke, no fear. But we&#8217;re irrational when facing the unknown. We rely on questionable expert opinion rather than analysing the problems ourselves and coming up with workable solutions, we give in to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt">FUD</a>, which, far from solving problems, creates hidden problems.</p>
<p xmlns="" class="zoundry_raven_tags">  <!-- Tag links generated by Zoundry Raven. Do not manually edit. http://www.zoundryraven.com -->  <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Technorati</span> : <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/british+library" class="ztag" rel="tag">british library</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/modern+life" class="ztag" rel="tag">modern life</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/safety" class="ztag" rel="tag">safety</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span>  <br/> <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Del.icio.us</span> : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/british%20library" class="ztag" rel="tag">british library</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/modern%20life" class="ztag" rel="tag">modern life</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/safety" class="ztag" rel="tag">safety</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span>  <br/> <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Zooomr</span> : <a href="http://www.zooomr.com/search/photos/?q=british%20library" class="ztag" rel="tag">british library</a>, <a href="http://www.zooomr.com/search/photos/?q=modern%20life" class="ztag" rel="tag">modern life</a>, <a href="http://www.zooomr.com/search/photos/?q=safety" class="ztag" rel="tag">safety</a>, <a href="http://www.zooomr.com/search/photos/?q=strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span>  <br/> <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Flickr</span> : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/british%20library" class="ztag" rel="tag">british library</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/modern%20life" class="ztag" rel="tag">modern life</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/safety" class="ztag" rel="tag">safety</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2010/03/16/on-safety-fire-at-the-british-library/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I&#8217;m speaking at Africa Gathering in London</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/10/08/im-speaking-at-africa-gathering-in-london/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/10/08/im-speaking-at-africa-gathering-in-london/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:45:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uganda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speaking engagement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/10/08/im-speaking-at-africa-gathering-in-london/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Hub, York Way King&#8217;s X, London 9th-10th Oct, 2009. I&#8217;ll be speaking about, in general, the challenges that investors and entrepreneurs face in Africa, with a specific focus on my partner organisation Appfrica Labs. Come out if you can. Details at Africa Gathering and on the EventBrite page. I&#8217;m on at 11 AM on [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>The Hub, York Way <br/>King&#8217;s X, London</strong></p>
<p>9th-10th Oct, 2009.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be speaking about, in general, the challenges that investors and entrepreneurs face in Africa, with a specific focus on my partner organisation <a href="http://www.appfrica.net/">Appfrica Labs</a>. Come out if you can.</p>
<p>Details at <a href="http://www.africagathering.org.uk/">Africa Gathering</a> and on the EventBrite <a href="http://africagatheringlondon.eventbrite.com/">page</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m on at 11 AM on Saturday&#8211; and to be quite honest, the lineup of speakers puts me in pretty esteemed company.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/10/08/im-speaking-at-africa-gathering-in-london/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SoCap09: Metric-tastic</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/09/16/socap09-metric-tastic/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/09/16/socap09-metric-tastic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:11:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blended value]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monitoring and evaluation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[roi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sroi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/09/16/socap09-metric-tastic/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My final post from (10000km and a two weeks after) SoCap. Sorry this is late&#8211; I&#8217;ve just been indundated by the types of things that inundate your life at the end of five months on the road: I hadn&#8217;t slept in the same place (and mostly in the same country) for more than three weeks [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My final post from (10000km and a two weeks after) SoCap.</p>
<p>Sorry this is late&#8211; I&#8217;ve just been indundated by the types of things that inundate your life at the end of five months on the road: I hadn&#8217;t slept in the same place (and mostly in the same country) for more than three weeks between April and September. A lot of laundry, <a href="http://www.bitliteracy.com/">email management</a>, and general decompressing time needed to happen.</p>
<p><strong>Metrics <br/></strong> MBA-ism is filled with metrics. In fact, there is some research on the impact of metric-heavy MBA thinking on entrepreneurship, and the basic idea is that the two schools of thought are are diametrically opposed.</p>
<p>Dr. Saras Sarasvathy from the Darden School of Business posts her findings at <a href="http://www.effectuation.org/">effectuation.org</a>, which broadly suggest that for a certain type of entrepreneur, the whole idea of finding markets, estimating market sizes, and attempting to essentially pre-plan the value of a business is opposite to disruptive models of innovation where marekts are created&#8211; i.e., no MBA would have invested in an ice machine because the value of the harvested ice market was too big.</p>
<p><strong>Metrics, Development-style <br/></strong> Monitoring and Evaluation (M&amp;E) is a tricky, hard thing. It&#8217;s a nightmare for lots of international NGOs as the data collection is done from far away, sometimes by people who don&#8217;t understand the value of the information they are gathering (<a href="http://appfrica.net/">Appfrica</a> may be on to something with their new <a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/08/12/the-future-of-philanthropy/">approach</a> to this&#8230;).</p>
<p>Now, add to the difficulty of collecting metrics the ability to compare several projects:</p>
<p>- A clean water project <br/>- A new ICT training centre <br/>- A new delivery system for vaccines <br/>- A new collective agriculture scheme</p>
<p>All of these may cost the same, and have variable outputs&#8211; some will have smaller effects on more people, others might be drastically transformational for the lives of a very few. How do you compare them? How you choose between them? How do you decide which was more successful after they&#8217;ve run?</p>
<p><strong>Measurement metrics <br/></strong> There are a few different approaches to this, many of the latest (ish) are in things like Blended Value and SROI. These attempt to monetise the outputs, so if you increase someone&#8217;s productivity (training), then their increased productivity can be measured, turned into dollars, and compared against the increased sales prices that the agriculture scheme generates for its members, and then you report them along with your financial statements. You can add them so that you achieve &#8220;profit&#8221; in &#8220;social returns&#8221;. It&#8217;s crude but it&#8217;s something.</p>
<p>(if you have any better ideas, then by all means suggest away&#8211; I don&#8217;t think anyone&#8217;s particularly tied to these, although they do yield some kind of apples-to-apples comparisons, although the methodologies for each monetisation vary so they end up being apples-to-pears all to often&#8230;)</p>
<p><strong>Operational metrics</strong> <br/>These are, generally, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These should be the sorts of things that tell you what&#8217;s going on while you&#8217;re working&#8211; cost per vaccine delivery, cost per avoided pregnancy, cost per trained person. This lets you know if you&#8217;re on- or off-target, and then you can start to adjust your thinking and approach based on what&#8217;s happening in the field.</p>
<p><strong>My question <br/></strong> The question I had with all of this was &#8220;What does it all tell you?&#8221;</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the thing: Saying you trained 100 people to use the Internet is almost meaningless when you&#8217;re 5000 miles away. Saying that you created $50,000 worth of increased productivity is even worse. What you&#8217;re trying to get to is a deeper understanding about the effect thatyouvé had on people&#8217;s lives.</p>
<p>You want to get to people&#8217;s stories. You need the context to know exactly what it means to increase someone&#8217;s effective wage $100 a month.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s an important thing happening at and around SoCap about creating better, more comparable metrics, but it&#8217;s important to not just be stuck in the Excel sheet, but to also communicate what it is that you&#8217;re trying to change. There are too many &#8220;successful&#8221; projects on the ground that achieved exactly what they set out to on the Excel sheet, but didn&#8217;t create lasting change.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/09/16/socap09-metric-tastic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>(un)managed expectations and your brand</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/08/07/unmanaged-expectations-and-your-brand/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/08/07/unmanaged-expectations-and-your-brand/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:19:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/08/07/unmanaged-expectations-and-your-brand/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ExpectationI had the fortune to go to Sardegna recently for a friend&#8217;s wedding. Everything about this place is pretty awesome. The service is attentive yet chaotic&#8211; it&#8217;s hard to instil a strong series of values when you have four hours off in the middle of the afternoon in 40 degree (C) heat. When there&#8217;s a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Expectation<br/></strong>I had the fortune to go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardegna">Sardegna</a> recently for a friend&#8217;s wedding. Everything about this place is pretty awesome. The service is attentive yet chaotic&#8211; it&#8217;s hard to instil a strong series of values when you have four hours off in the middle of the afternoon in 40 degree (C) heat. When there&#8217;s a queue at any café, the whole system bogs down&#8211; although it&#8217;s rather forgivable as it&#8217;s probably bogging down because the owner has decided to hop out from behind his counter to get in the photos being taken &#8220;with the pretty ladies&#8221;. This is OK, because it&#8217;s <em>expected</em>.</p>
<p>On the way, we had a stopover in Milan. And they had an interesting thing there (as we were transferring from international to internal flights we had to pass through the baggage claim area). And this is what I noticed on the way out</p>
<p><a href="http://glen.mehn.net/images/Copy_(2)_of_IMG00090.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Copy (2) of IMG00090.jpg"><img src="http://glen.mehn.net/images/Copy_(2)_of_IMG00090_tn.jpg" title="Copy (2) of IMG00090.jpg" height="150" width="200" alt="Copy (2) of IMG00090.jpg" border="0" id="urn:zoundry:jid:Copy_(2)_of_IMG00090.jpg"/></a><br/><em>You can see when your flight arrived and when the bags should be out.</em></p>
<p>This was an incredible revelation to me&#8211; sometimes it takes 5 minutes for bags to start rolling out while other times it&#8217;s more along the lines of 20 minutes. Someone at the Milan airport noticed this and did something about it. Now you can decide if you want to run to the restroom or queue right at the conveyor belt for your bag. If you want to get a coffee from the vending machine or sit down and wait.</p>
<p><strong>Alitalia bag handling at Heathrow</strong><br/>On the other hand, when I returned to Heathrow, Alitalia&#8217;s ground crew (they were handling the bags as well as the flight in this case), notified us the bags would be delayed 15 minutes.</p>
<p>After 15 minutes, they said 20-30 minutes.</p>
<p>After 25 minutes, they said another 20-30 minutes. At which point I went to the counter to inquire. I got the most amazing story.</p>
<p>What had happened was this: The computer indicated that there were about 20 bags missing from the flight. As the baggage barcodes are read automatically in a baggage sort centre, someone was poking at the computer (probably without the appropriate permissions or something) trying to figure out which bags were missing and which weren&#8217;t. Meanwhile, no one was taking the bags off of the aircraft&#8211; the plane and passengers sat for over an hour before they got the crew together to unload the bags.</p>
<p>Of course, if they&#8217;d done this in the first place, then they would have avoided annoying the 120 or so passengers whose bags <em>weren&#8217;t</em> lost. And focussed on fixing it for the 20 people whose bags were lost.</p>
<p>Because of this inability to handle the situation at the time, the ground crew was off unloading another flight and they coudln&#8217;t unload the bags for the longest time. Me? My bag was fine. The delay, however, made me the last train from Victoria and had to decide to take three buses home or a £25 taxi.</p>
<p>Terrible handling of expectations, Alitalia.</p>
<p><strong>Zeitgeist, biker bar, San Francisco</strong><br/>This is a bar that probably has the worst customer experience ever&#8211; if you use typical views of service. There&#8217;s a sign saying that regulars (friends of the bar staff) get preferential service. The hamburger counter is open at odd times, and when they have too many orders they shut down&#8211; and they&#8217;ll shout at you if you hang out waiting for it to reopen.</p>
<p>Why? They pour great vats of beer and cook a damn good $5 burger. It screws them up to have too many orders pile up, get lost, get greasy. The only can make so many burgers, and their back garden ensures that they&#8217;re packed 180 days a year.</p>
<p>They provide pitchers of a wide variety of great beer at decent prices, amazing bloody marys, and good burgers and home fries. They provide a great environment to hang out, drink, and meet people. The experience is what matters. If you&#8217;re rude or slow, they&#8217;ll shout at you.</p>
<p><strong>Experience and expectations and brands</strong><br/>The Zeitgeist experience is what you want, though. They know who they are and provide exactly that.</p>
<p>Alitalia, of course, doesn&#8217;t care. Air ticket purchases are based on price. Once you&#8217;re receiving your baggage you&#8217;re locked in. Still, though, this is the level of screw-up that puts people off of airlines. Almost every frequent traveller I know has one or two airlines they just won&#8217;t fly. Alitalia&#8217;s on mine until I see how they respond to my note.</p>
<p>*update* To top it off, the customer service emails they gave me three days ago all bounce.</p>
<p class="zoundry_bw_tags">
  <!-- Tag links generated by Zoundry Blog Writer. Do not manually edit. http://www.zoundry.com --><br />
  <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Technorati</span> : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/customer%20experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/customer%20service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/managing%20expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Del.icio.us</span> : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/customer+experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/customer+service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/managing+expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Ice Rocket</span> : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/customer+experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/customer+service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/managing+expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Flickr</span> : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/customer+experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/customer+service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/managing+expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Zooomr</span> : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/customer%20experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/customer%20service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/managing%20expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Buzznet</span> : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/customer%20experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/customer%20service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/managing%20expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Riya</span> : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=customer%20experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=customer%20service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=managing%20expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">43 Things</span> : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/branding" class="ztag" rel="tag">branding</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/customer+experience" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer experience</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/customer+service" class="ztag" rel="tag">customer service</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">expectations</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/managing+expectations" class="ztag" rel="tag">managing expectations</a></span> <br/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/08/07/unmanaged-expectations-and-your-brand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What you learn on the Oxford MBA &#8211; Part 3</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/05/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-3/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/05/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:38:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lessons Learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ox1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/05/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-3/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You don&#8217;t get to know the rules; deal with it. For most of my academic life, I had some idea of what the grading policy would be for my work-I always lost all the penmanship points, but got most of the rest of them. You could, of course, use this to game the system-you&#8217;d get [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="MARGIN: 10pt 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; COLOR: #4f81bd; FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">You don&#8217;t get to know the rules; deal with it.</span></h2>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">For most of my academic life, I had some idea of what the grading policy would be for my work-I always lost all the penmanship points, but got most of the rest of them. You could, of course, use this to game the system-you&#8217;d get to know your lecturers, what they liked or didn&#8217;t, and you knew what to focus on.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">The Oxford system, like life, is much more complicated and difficult to navigate. To start with, we had to tread a fine line between business writing and academic writing. Secondly, your papers are all double-blind double-marked. You hand them in at the exams schools with only a number on them, and you receive them back, without comments, with only a mark on them. You had to read others&#8217; papers and intuit what you may have done wrong. Third, you didn&#8217;t get to know who marked them, so you couldn&#8217;t ask. The lack of a grading scale meant that it was that much harder to deconstruct what you didn&#8217;t know.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Yes, it&#8217;s unfair. And frustrating. Welcome to life. It&#8217;s a little glib, but it&#8217;s also a bit of a dose of reality.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Just like you might go out and start a business or get a job and it&#8217;ll turn out wrong, you&#8217;ll fail, lose all your money, your grandma&#8217;s house, and whatever else, so it is with work.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">On the flip side, you might end up with a great mark for something that you thought was terrible. Maybe you hit on some nice insight, or maybe you just got lucky. Sometimes overanalysis is worse than underanalysis. Sometimes you just manage to start Friendster and have a decent run on VC money while you figure out what to do with your life.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">This series is all be tagged &#8220;Lessons learned&#8221; if you want to read all of them.</span></p>
<p><br/>
<p class="zoundry_bw_tags">
  <!-- Tag links generated by Zoundry Blog Writer. Do not manually edit. http://www.zoundry.com --><br />
  <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Technorati</span> : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Del.icio.us</span> : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Ice Rocket</span> : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Flickr</span> : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/What+you+learnlessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learnlessons</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Zooomr</span> : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Buzznet</span> : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Riya</span> : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">43 Things</span> : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/05/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-3/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What you learn on the Oxford MBA part 2</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-2/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:12:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lessons Learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ox1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The most important lessons are learned, not taught. You can only be taught so much in life, but most of what&#8217;s important you&#8217;ll have to learn yourself. A lot of people were frustrated in our core Financial Reporting course-the accountants were upset that the course was teaching that their science was all tricks, smoke, and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="MARGIN: 10pt 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 1em; COLOR: #4f81bd; FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">The most important lessons are learned, not taught.</span></h2>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">You can only be taught so much in life, but most of what&#8217;s important you&#8217;ll have to learn yourself.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">A lot of people were frustrated in our core Financial Reporting course-the accountants were upset that the course was teaching that their science was all tricks, smoke, and mirrors. The poets were terrified that the final exam was a detailed review of the mechanics of accounting standards.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">The lectures consisted, for the most part, of a Japanese and Italian man making jokes and examples about how the science of accounting is really a grey area, as the values of things change depending on the business operations.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">The lessons learned were to think critically about everything-especially the hard numbers on a balance sheet. What is your inventory really worth, when it was purchased at different prices at different times? What does &#8220;goodwill&#8221; really refer to? Define revenue (you&#8217;d think that one would be easy). The other lesson learned was the bootstrapping-you had to learn all the mechanics of accounting yourself (there was an evening class for those with trouble), but Tomo wasn&#8217;t going to sit with you each week and go over adding and subtracting columns of figures-his work was on strategic accounting-what a manager needs to know about what his accountant is doing.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">This series is all be tagged &#8220;Lessons learned&#8221; if you want to read all of them.</span></p>
<p><br/>
<p class="zoundry_bw_tags">
  <!-- Tag links generated by Zoundry Blog Writer. Do not manually edit. http://www.zoundry.com --><br />
  <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Technorati</span> : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Del.icio.us</span> : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Ice Rocket</span> : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Flickr</span> : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Zooomr</span> : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Buzznet</span> : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What you learn on the Oxford MBA part 1</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:09:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lessons Learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ox1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-1/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What you learn at Oxford&#8217;s Business School (The most important parts of which they don&#8217;t teach you) In my final set of posts about Oxford, I take a look back, six months out, and reflect on what I learned at Oxford. I suspect that some of this applies to all business schools, though much of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1 style="MARGIN: 24pt 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 1.2em; COLOR: #365f91; FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">What you learn at Oxford&#8217;s Business School</span></h1>
<p><em><span style="COLOR: #4f81bd; FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">(The most important parts of which they don&#8217;t teach you)</span></em></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">In my final set of posts about Oxford, I take a look back, six months out, and reflect on what I learned at Oxford.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">I suspect that some of this applies to all business schools, though much of it will certainly only apply to Oxford. I feel very fortunate to have the gall to apply, raw intellect to get in, persistence to succeed, and perhaps the wisdom to let a little of what I&#8217;ve learned sink in, not to mention a great heap of humility in the face of so many talented and fascinating classmates.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Business school &#8211; like any school &#8211; is an experience, not a lesson or a set of skills. If you want to learn the skills of an MBA, you can do it on your own, with books. I&#8217;d start with a good micro- and macroeconomics primer, an accounting book, the McKinsey book on valuation, <em>The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People</em>, and then start working through the</span> <a href="http://www.personalmba.com/"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Personal MBA.</span></a><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">You can teach yourself strategy, operations management, valuation, management, statistics, economics, and marketing all on your own. What you won&#8217;t get out of that is the experience of others&#8217; experiences, the network, and the time off/huge student loans. It&#8217;s up to you.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Some of what you&#8217;ll have the opportunity to learn at Oxford is here. This is beyond all the cool guest lecturers, the</span> <a href="http://www.oxford-union.org/"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">Oxford Union</span></a><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">, the</span> <a href="http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">speakers</span></a><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">,</span> <a href="http://www.skollworldforum.com/"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">conferences</span></a><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">, and amazing</span> <a href="http://users.ox.ac.uk/~econpco/"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">professors</span></a> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">you would encounter there.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri">This series is all be tagged &#8220;Lessons learned&#8221; if you want to read all of them.</span></p>
<p class="zoundry_bw_tags">
  <!-- Tag links generated by Zoundry Blog Writer. Do not manually edit. http://www.zoundry.com --><br />
  <span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Technorati</span> : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/strategy" class="ztag" rel="tag">strategy</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Del.icio.us</span> : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Ice Rocket</span> : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Flickr</span> : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Zooomr</span> : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Buzznet</span> : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">Riya</span> : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=What%20you%20learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford%20mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/><span class="ztags"><span class="ztagspace">43 Things</span> : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/What+you+learn" class="ztag" rel="tag">What you learn</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/lessons" class="ztag" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford+mba" class="ztag" rel="tag">oxford mba</a></span> <br/></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2009/04/01/what-you-learn-on-the-oxford-mba-part-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Please Stand by&#8230; Technical difficulties</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/08/15/please-stand-by-technical-difficulties/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/08/15/please-stand-by-technical-difficulties/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:50:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ox1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/08/15/please-stand-by-technical-difficulties/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[and in more ways than one! Sorry for the long and slowness on the update. Since coming to London I&#8217;ve had&#8230; Long hours Long commute Limited Internet access at work (it&#8217;s an investment bank&#8230;) Super-limited Internet access at &#8220;home&#8221; (Imagine a 64K ISDN line shared by a 100 unit apartment building with DNS servers powered [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>and in more ways than one!</p>
<p>Sorry for the long and slowness on the update. Since coming to London I&#8217;ve had&#8230;</p>
<ul>
<li>Long hours</li>
<li>Long commute</li>
<li>Limited Internet access at work (it&#8217;s an investment bank&#8230;)</li>
<li>Super-limited Internet access at &#8220;home&#8221; (Imagine a 64K ISDN line shared by a 100 unit apartment building with DNS servers powered by hamsters on wheels. The line is, seriously, *that* slow, and when it&#8217;s up, there&#8217;s no name resolution&#8230;)</li>
<li>And, to top it off, the hard drive (or something) in my laptop died. Yay, backups.</li>
</ul>
<p>So that&#8217;s that, but I am updating now.</p>
<p>Warning: no obligatory picture (not even food porn) due to aforementioned hard drive dying. The IT manager in me excluded pictures from my backups. What did that blank DVD cost me? Oh. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Update: Jobsearch</strong></p>
<p>There isn&#8217;t really one of these at the moment. It&#8217;s going onwards. There are a few things that I&#8217;m really excited about, and a few things I&#8217;ve turned down because it&#8217;s not really the sort of thing that I&#8217;m looking for. Plus, as I don&#8217;t fit so well in boxes, people don&#8217;t quite know what to make of me.</p>
<p>I am completely OK with that. Broadly. The source of some stress, but as my friend says &#8220;Boxes are for s&#8221;&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Update: Project</strong></p>
<p>Working on this project, and it just gets more and more interesting. It&#8217;s really great having people who are working on OB issues who are really data- and results-driven. We even managed to take transcripts of 70+ interviews and compile them into a quantitative format, so we are blending qualitative and quantitative data, which really helps, as Man is very quant-driven.</p>
<p>I am remembering my love for technology (hard drive failures notwithstanding), and seeing great fruits of my year at Oxford soaking through. It&#8217;s hard to describe exactly what the difference is, but I&#8217;m fundamentally approaching problems in a much more structured way, with a much deeper understanding of what&#8217;s going to keep the execs (myself included!) awake at night worrying.</p>
<p><strong>Sharepoint</strong></p>
<p>So what I&#8217;m doing is, largely, heading up the knowledge management part of the project. The company&#8217;s using Sharepoint, which has come quite a long way in the last couple of releases. I expect that it&#8217;s been significantly rebuilt. It&#8217;s faster, has better usability, and integrates with Office.</p>
<p>Sort of.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s my open letter to Microsoft. (warning:tech-geeky heavy)</p>
<p>Dear Microsoft,</p>
<p>I love you. I really do. Despite years of slagging you off, touting the benefits of AIX, Linux, Oracle, Solaris, and Java (not J++), you do some great things. And I started out my IT career managing windows systems! The clustered system built on .NET that I worked on was a dream, and it really was better than Java, most of the time. Some of the slagging off comes from frustration about stability or customisation, but, really, much of that is just a difference of opinion. And often you&#8217;re addressing most of those problems.</p>
<p>But there are a few things you&#8217;ve got to get straight.</p>
<p><em>Please stop assuming that everyone upgrades to the latest release of everything as soon as it comes out</em>.</p>
<p>Seriously. There are all these great features in MOSS (Sharepoint 2007) but they don&#8217;t work so well if you&#8217;re running, sa, 2003. Even though it was state of the art less than a year ago. Don&#8217;t get me wrong! 2007 is great. Except that it&#8217;s slow. Especially Outlook. But when you&#8217;ve got a thousand (or ten thousand) seats, you only want to move one thing at a time. The MOSS upgrade is a significant, architectural change. Office is going to wait. So half of the features won&#8217;t work. What about backporting some of those features? Even cut-and-paste from Word 2003 into MOSS wiki doesn&#8217;t quite work. Almost&#8230; but not quite.</p>
<p><em>Please stop writing software for future releases.</em></p>
<p>Even with Outlook 2007, Sharepoint 2007, and Microsoft UC server:</p>
<ul>
<li>You can only access past chats and message boards as read-only. Write access is coming in Outlook 2009. Or you can buy a third-party app to fix this.</li>
<li>Authenticated RSS requires 2003 server and an upgraded 2003 AD installation.</li>
<li>Probably some other things&#8230; That&#8217;s as far as I got.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Please support other common software!</em></p>
<p><em>Oracle. PeopleSoft. DB2. SAP. They don&#8217;t really compete with you, do they? No, no they don&#8217;t. There are lots of reasons why companies use these packages and other software&#8230; not the least of which is organisational inertia&#8211; &#8220;We have it, it works, why change?&#8221; So please stop making me write connectors and jump through hoops to make it work.</em></p>
<p><em>Please make core features work out of the box&#8230; especially when we *are* using all MS products!</em></p>
<p>I really appreciate your new decision to lock down the boxes so that they&#8217;re closer to &#8220;secure by default&#8221;, but I should, really, be able to punch up a Sharepoint installation to test it and have the people search, skills, blogs, wikis, etc. work right after turning them on, without having to write any code to do it. We had to get a senior developer to work on that.</p>
<p><em>Please support this year&#8217;s open standards&#8230; or at least last year&#8217;s?</em></p>
<p>You&#8217;ve put blogs, wikis, forums, and other &#8220;Enterprise 2.0&#8243; functionality without tagging? Really? Is it that hard? And on that, why on earth can I get <strong>read</strong> access to ical servers (google calendar) in Outlook, but not <strong>write</strong>?</p>
<p>That&#8217;s pretty much my list, at least for now.</p>
<p>I do love you, I really do. SQL Server is great. It&#8217;s not Oracle, or DB2, but then it&#8217;s not meant to be, is it? It does a great job as what it is. 2003 Server, loves it. Excel&#8230; I want Excel to have my babies. Word: Fantastic (except when I alt-tab and the system just hangs for no reason). I&#8217;d love it if you wrote a lightweight PDF viewer. XPS is OK, but you&#8217;ve sort of lost that battle, haven&#8217;t you? Silverlight looks really cool, and just the thing to keep Adobe moving and innovating. Yay!</p>
<p>Just try to remember the poor schlubs who are&#8230; well, I guess you do keep us in work, don&#8217;t you? If everything were easy&#8230; less of us would have jobs. So keep up the good work, and keep Project Managers, Developers, and Sysadmins employed.</p>
<p>Love, us</p>
<p>Technorati : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Unified%20Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/open%20letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Del.icio.us : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/Unified+Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/open+letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Ice Rocket : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/Unified+Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/open+letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Flickr : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/Unified+Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/open+letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Zooomr : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/Unified%20Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/open%20letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Buzznet : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/Unified%20Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/open%20letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
Riya : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=Unified%20Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&#038;searchText=open%20letter" rel="tag">open letter</a><br />
43 Things : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/Intern" rel="tag">Intern</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/MBA" rel="tag">MBA</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/Oxford" rel="tag">Oxford</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/Sharepoint" rel="tag">Sharepoint</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/Unified+Communications" rel="tag">Unified Communications</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/microsoft" rel="tag">microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/moan" rel="tag">moan</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/open+letter" rel="tag">open letter</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/08/15/please-stand-by-technical-difficulties/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Waaaaaaaaay past due&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due-2/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been reliably informed that I&#8217;m waaaaaaaay past due on my blog updates. So. Leonard Cohen OK, first of all, I got to see Leonard Cohen, because the giant investment engine I&#8217;m working for has a box at the O2. And there was much rejoicing. Seriously. The man is so humble it&#8217;s humbling. And [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been reliably informed that I&#8217;m waaaaaaaay past due on my blog updates. So.</p>
<p><strong>Leonard Cohen</strong></p>
<p>OK, first of all, I got to see Leonard Cohen, because the giant investment engine I&#8217;m working for has a box at the O2.</p>
<p>And there was much rejoicing. Seriously. The man is so humble it&#8217;s humbling. And I don&#8217;t humble easily. It was an honour and a pleasure and just generally awesome to get a chance to see a living legend on stage. He sounds better in real life, mostly just gets up there and does his job, and gives lots and lots of credit to his peeps.</p>
<p><strong>SCP: Man Group, PLC (the biggest company you&#8217;ve never heard of)</strong></p>
<p>At Oxford, part of the MBA is doing a Strategic (or Summer) consulting project. We get in groups of four and try to solve a problem or three for a real live company. We get to see that all the frameworks and theory and best practices go out the window in the fae of reality, and that&#8217;s OK.</p>
<p>So there&#8217;s this company, the <a href="http://www.mangroupplc.com/">Man Group</a>, which is the world&#8217;s largest publicly listed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund">hedge fund</a>. Which it&#8217;s not, really, but sort of is. They&#8217;re big and growing fast and they need a hand with their organisational design and organisational culture to find and keep what it is about the &#8220;stuff&#8221; that makes them so successful.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s really interesting, and the people are really great. Will it turn into a job? Who knows? Possibly.</p>
<p>This means I get to live in <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stratford%2C%20london">Stratford (not upon Avon)</a>, in what is kindly called &#8220;Greater London&#8221;. I was less-than-enjoying the Tube, but am now commuting by bike to work, which is&#8230; exciting, to say the least.</p>
<p>Yes, I&#8217;m wearing a helmet. And the wrong-side-of-the-road thing isn&#8217;t really that hard&#8230; mostly.</p>
<p>And I get to go to Switzerland next week! For about ninety seconds. Carbon footprint: Ho!</p>
<p><strong>Future plans</strong></p>
<p>Just. Don&#8217;t. Ask.</p>
<p>Though I all know that you want to know. Or some of you do. Or maybe you do. I don&#8217;t know who all reads this thing, but it&#8217;s a fair number of people, from all over the world.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m applying for jobs all over the world, although I&#8217;m treating it less as a numbers game and more applying very specifically to companies and positions that are really intriguing to me. My <a href="http://glen.mehn.net/CV">background</a> is fairly unusual, and I don&#8217;t fit very neatly into many boxes, which I think is a strength, but difficult for someone who&#8217;s a career and location jumper (and I am finding, on my SCP, some less career-jumping prospects that may make sense for me&#8230; we shall see).</p>
<p>And I do continue to consider starting my own business. That would mean, probably, SF, New York, or London, but could happen a number of other places as well. So.</p>
<p><strong>Obligatory (food porn) picture</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://glen.mehn.net/images/n689970705_991604_120.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="n689970705_991604_120.jpg"><img src="http://glen.mehn.net/images/n689970705_991604_120_tn.jpg" height="200" width="150" alt="n689970705_991604_120.jpg" border="0"></a></p>
<p><em>Glen fails to look coy while drinking British sparkling Rosé</em></p>
<p>Went to <a href="http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste2008/events/london/index.html">A Taste of London</a>, which was really great. Food porn. Knife porn. (I very nearly spent £100 on a Santoko knife that I could not afford but which cut tomatoes like&#8230; like air, really. The butter wouldn&#8217;t have sliced that thin). Pig trotters.</p>
<p>Very soon, an update from <a href="http://www.stjohnrestaurant.com/home/">St. John&#8217;s Restaurant</a>. I cannot wait.</p>
<p>all, for now.<br />

<p>  Technorati : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Del.icio.us : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Ice Rocket : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Flickr : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Zooomr : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Buzznet : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Riya : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />43 Things : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Waaaaaaaaay past due&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due/</link>
		<comments>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:09:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>glen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Oxford University]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mba]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have been reliably informed that I&#8217;m waaaaaaaay past due on my blog updates. So. Leonard Cohen OK, first of all, I got to see Leonard Cohen, because the giant investment engine I&#8217;m working for has a box at the O2. And there was much rejoicing. Seriously. The man is so humble it&#8217;s humbling. And [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been reliably informed that I&#8217;m waaaaaaaay past due on my blog updates. So.</p>
<p><strong>Leonard Cohen</strong></p>
<p>OK, first of all, I got to see Leonard Cohen, because the giant investment engine I&#8217;m working for has a box at the O2.</p>
<p>And there was much rejoicing. Seriously. The man is so humble it&#8217;s humbling. And I don&#8217;t humble easily. It was an honour and a pleasure and just generally awesome to get a chance to see a living legend on stage. He sounds better in real life, mostly just gets up there and does his job, and gives lots and lots of credit to his peeps.</p>
<p><strong>SCP: Man Group, PLC (the biggest company you&#8217;ve never heard of)</strong></p>
<p>At Oxford, part of the MBA is doing a Strategic (or Summer) consulting project. We get in groups of four and try to solve a problem or three for a real live company. We get to see that all the frameworks and theory and best practices go out the window in the fae of reality, and that&#8217;s OK.</p>
<p>So there&#8217;s this company, the <a href="http://www.mangroupplc.com/">Man Group</a>, which is the world&#8217;s largest publicly listed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund">hedge fund</a>. Which it&#8217;s not, really, but sort of is. They&#8217;re big and growing fast and they need a hand with their organisational design and organisational culture to find and keep what it is about the &#8220;stuff&#8221; that makes them so successful.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s really interesting, and the people are really great. Will it turn into a job? Who knows? Possibly.</p>
<p>This means I get to live in <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stratford%2C%20london">Stratford (not upon Avon)</a>, in what is kindly called &#8220;Greater London&#8221;. I was less-than-enjoying the Tube, but am now commuting by bike to work, which is&#8230; exciting, to say the least.</p>
<p>Yes, I&#8217;m wearing a helmet. And the wrong-side-of-the-road thing isn&#8217;t really that hard&#8230; mostly.</p>
<p>And I get to go to Switzerland next week! For about ninety seconds. Carbon footprint: Ho!</p>
<p><strong>Future plans</strong></p>
<p>Just. Don&#8217;t. Ask.</p>
<p>Though I all know that you want to know. Or some of you do. Or maybe you do. I don&#8217;t know who all reads this thing, but it&#8217;s a fair number of people, from all over the world.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m applying for jobs all over the world, although I&#8217;m treating it less as a numbers game and more applying very specifically to companies and positions that are really intriguing to me. My <a href="http://glen.mehn.net/CV">background</a> is fairly unusual, and I don&#8217;t fit very neatly into many boxes, which I think is a strength, but difficult for someone who&#8217;s a career and location jumper (and I am finding, on my SCP, some less career-jumping prospects that may make sense for me&#8230; we shall see).</p>
<p>And I do continue to consider starting my own business. That would mean, probably, SF, New York, or London, but could happen a number of other places as well. So.</p>
<p><strong>Obligatory (food porn) picture</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://glen.mehn.net/images/n689970705_991604_120.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="n689970705_991604_120.jpg"><img src="http://glen.mehn.net/images/n689970705_991604_120_tn.jpg" height="200" width="150" alt="n689970705_991604_120.jpg" border="0"></a></p>
<p><em>Glen fails to look coy while drinking British sparkling Rosé</em></p>
<p>Went to <a href="http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste2008/events/london/index.html">A Taste of London</a>, which was really great. Food porn. Knife porn. (I very nearly spent £100 on a Santoko knife that I could not afford but which cut tomatoes like&#8230; like air, really. The butter wouldn&#8217;t have sliced that thin). Pig trotters.</p>
<p>Very soon, an update from <a href="http://www.stjohnrestaurant.com/home/">St. John&#8217;s Restaurant</a>. I cannot wait.</p>
<p>all, for now.<br />

<p>  Technorati : <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Del.icio.us : <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Ice Rocket : <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://blogs.icerocket.com/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Flickr : <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Zooomr : <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/tags/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Buzznet : <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />Riya : <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=food%20porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=man%20group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.riya.com/search?btnSearch=tags&amp;searchText=oxford%20mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> <br />43 Things : <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/SCP" rel="tag">SCP</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/food" rel="tag">food</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/food+porn" rel="tag">food porn</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/man+group" rel="tag">man group</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/mba" rel="tag">mba</a>, <a href="http://www.43things.com/tag/oxford+mba" rel="tag">oxford mba</a> </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://glen.mehn.net/mba/index.php/2008/07/22/waaaaaaaaay-past-due/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
