The calm before the storm

This weekend was a welcome break for all of us after a tough week that included the 1.5 day marketing simulation. I believe this was the first time my group decided not to meet on the weekend and I for one celebrated that throughout the weekend with a few drinks and dinner on Friday night, followed by our classmate Truth’s son’s 1^st birthday yesterday afternoon and a movie marathon with my wife where we successfully watched not one but three movies (Argo, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and an Indian Movie – Dabaang 2). As a result of the “free time”, I woke up this morning feeling stressed thinking that I wasn’t doing as much as I could this weekend and so decided to finish up my finance homework and some pre-work for the sessions later this week. It’s strange when you start feeling guilty for actually having time to yourself on a weekend….it’s a feeling most of us have forgotten in the past 2 months!

This week promises to be exciting with a live case tomorrow morning for Entrepreneurship class, followed by a chat with an IMD alumnus on Tuesday evening to discuss his current role at Google and his transition from strategy consulting to Google! But truth be told, I think the one thing on all our minds is the upcoming Integrative Exercises, a 2 day exercise that runs from 1:30pm on Thursday until noon on Saturday. I have heard horror stories from alumni about the integrative exercises and some of them even said that we’d be lucky if we managed to get any sleep during the exercise. I tried searching the IMD website for information on the integrative exercises and came up with an interesting article from our Program Director, Prof. Martha (What might IMD's MBA program look like in 2051, when the 80^th class graduates? – December 2011) with some reference to the exercises: “IMD’s hallmark, the focus on self-awareness and personal development, is still evident. Teams work together intensively, with coaches guiding experiences and lessons about leading one self and others. Integrative exercises blow up and are resolved, and we can see the bonds being developed as people experiment outside their comfort zones and react to and support each other.”

And some of us are lucky to have our PDE​ appointments with our psychoanalysts scheduled for right after the Integrative exercises so that we can talk about everything that transpired! Nevertheless, it’s going to be intense, fun, challenging, stressful and an exciting period of 48 hours and hopefully I will be able to tell you more next week!

But for now, I’m cherishing the last few hours of the weekend before the storm of the integrative exercises, startup project and Module 1 exams approach me later this month!

Until then,

Have a fantastic week!

Vikas Menon