A blog about the .. ups and downs ..
fun and sun..woe and snow
of an MBA at the University of St Gallen (HSG)in Switzerland!
Mirror site: http://mbahsg.wordpress.com
On Wednesday we had a presentation by senior executives including the head of Business Processes and Analysis division of Novartis.
They were here to sell their Finance development program (FDP) for executives and were keen for talent from St Gallen.
The FDP is basically a starting point for high profile financial executives into Novartis and intends to groom them to step into CFO roles within a period 5-6 years..
The presentation was interesting and the program seems to be well thought out.. basically the FDP participant starts in Basel (which is the group HQ) and works there for about 15 months in different divisions and then be posted to another country as head of FRA (Financial Reporting and Advisory)..
From there to another international division (like BPA) and finally as a CFO for a company, which is when he/she will have graduated out of the FDP program.
Interesting huh? Yeah.. esp if u are a typical bean counter and like book keeping .. the responsibility , career growth and responsibility. Some guys were interested in M&A and strat planning which had other entry points…
Takeaways: just three weeks and we have the first company trying to sell itself to us.. great way to start ur MBA! And it helps to have a small batch.. u get to interact with these people one on one… so if u r keen to get in at least u could face an interview.. where u can sell urself .. and possibly land a job.
The first week at HSG (University of St Gallen) was really a lot of fun..
We had sessions with "Klaus Elle" on unleashing creativity through the St Gallen Creative challenge. On the first day Klaus gave us an audiovisual stimulus which comprised of vivid patterns drawn from sub-atomic particles upto the cosmic spheres.. then , all of us were split into groups and each group had to work on a painting .. the canvas and all materials were ofcourse courtesy the MBA office (I'm starting to really like these guys!)
The theme was " Reaching Places others only dream of" And suddenly we..the group of aspiring future entrepreneurs … CEOs (or Picassos? Huh?) grabbed brushes and started working on our masterpieces… What more should I say.. let the pictures unfold the story…!!!
This is the video
and this is the photo album of our experiences at the creative challenge...
The first very day had two short group assignments for us.. one was to form groups, get to know each other and present the team profile to the rest of the batch.. The second was during Winfried's session where we were asked to team up and come up with our expectations from the MBA program.. which was followed by St Gallen's strategies to help us get us to our dream aspirations post MBA. Hmm interesting!!!
Anyways , later in the evening we the MBA team organized a dinner for all of us… well well well! that's being very generous I'd say (no wonder the MBA fees the world over is at an all time high!!)
We met at the Fondue Beizli.. the very famous Fondue restaurant of St Gallen.. To add to the fun it started drizzling and the weather became pleasantly cool..
For the uninitiated, a Cheese Fondue is the dish where in a large bowl of molten cheese is placed in the centre of the table and a flame is lit below… bread crumbs are picked using a long fork and dipped in this molten cheese and eaten… another variation is a meat fondue.. where u use meat instead of bread and dip the meat into the cheese
While the sweeter variation is the chocolate fondue.. where fruit pieces like banana, apple etc are dipped into a bowl of molten chocolate…
It is a must try if u want to get a taste of the Swiss way of life.. most swiss guys swear by it..
The dinner was a blast.. The Fondue, the wine, the drizzle… ah it was as if the Swiss gods (& HSG MBA team) were trying their best to make it a memorable first day for us all at St Gallen.. We had such a great time… we just sat for a long while drinking .. talking… dipping our bread and spirits in the swiss fondue! This was also symbolic in the sense that being a small group of carefully selected people .. we look forward to harmonious life long friendship…and nothing better than a fondue to mark the beginning of our shared learning experience!
The first introduction week had much more in store… don't go away.. stay Tuned!!!
Sorry for not writing in earlier folks.. Stuart is a little mouse in a very new place.. and it takes me a little while to settle in..
Finally touched base at St. Gallen…. and the very first day at the MBA class we had such a good time..
Our class comprises of about 35 people representing 15 nationalities… with people coming in from the US from one end and Japan from another… Russians, Indians, French, Italian....quite a fair representation I'd say!!!
Most people have credible work experience… and their resumes already look very very impressive!!! (wonder why they need an mba then ???) ;-)
Well the first week at the MBA HSG was the introduction week…
First day .. first impressions:
We gathered for breakfast at the cafeteria in the ground floor of the MBA office and introduced ourselves to fellow MBA students and reps from the MBA office… over donuts and sweet nothings that would tempt even Hansel and Gretel back to the witch's cottage ;)
Wolfgang, the new Exec. Director of the MBA program and the rest of the MBA team welcomed us to the class… The HSG MBA is quite new and they really need to work hard to push it onto the world stage in league with the best… and Wolfgang's very first slide made it very clear that St Gallen knows what it has to do..it said
"We will do everything in our power to facilitate your learning and help you have a great learning experience."
Now that's an impressive opening line anyway you look at it…! I'm impressed!!!
We were then addressed by the head of career services.. who gave us inputs about our overall incoming class profile and also our projected career profile..
Basically about 4 weeks ago we were sent a detailed questionnaire by the career services to gain a feel about our career aspirations as well as our target companies etc..
Which was then followed up by a class profile CV template.. the career services started working even before we got in!! good initiative..no wonder so many companies recruit at St Gallen…
We then went for a lunch to “Wok” ( http://www.wok-stgallen.ch/) - a popular Chinese restaurant at “Marketplatz” in the heart of the buzzing shopping district.. and just a stone’s throw away from the MBA office at Blumenbergplatz… All of us had a very exquisite Chinese buffet meal with lots of wine… courtesy the MBA office.. these guys are so very nice (or is it the wine in my veins that makes me them appear nicer???) ;-) The post lunch session had more people …Our German instructor, the Academic Director etc.. etc.. St Gallen organizes a German (or Italian/French) language beginner’s course for all of its students. This course (worth CHF 600) is conducted by Klubschule Migros (http://www.klubschule.ch/) is aimed to enhance the employability of the MBA students… that’s money well spent … what say???
Much more happened in the evening.. stay tuned!!! Cheers!
