Today's blog entry is from my Cape Verdean brotha - Dorival Bettencourt - about his groups ICP adventure.....enjoy and have a great week!
Diversity is a word that’s frequently banded around these days. It figures in several political discussions, science treaties and definitely in every MBA program’s brochure. But after 10 months at IMD I have really come to appreciate the true scope and intensity that the diversity factor can assume.
We’re currently working on our ICP II project in a 7 man team representing 4 continents and 7 very distinct industries ranging from FMCG and Oil & Gas to Financial Services and Transportation. However, the element that has proven to be the most challenging is by far the diversity of personalities. Some of us are calm and collected while others are more emotional and spirited. Some are professed introverts, others are raging extroverts, some prefer to quietly think things over while others want to leap straight into action.
This rich, diverse and, potentially explosive cocktail of individuals is working with a FTSE 100 company to first estimate the global size of an industry they’re looking to expand in and then present concrete advice on how to tackle the opportunity. The project is highly complex, filled with ambiguity and we have a very demanding client that is expecting a 6 month project to be delivered in 6 weeks.
You would think that under such pressure, a group like ours would quickly begin to crumble like a tower of babel. But I’ve been amazed at how skilled we’ve all become at managing this type of complexity. Every day we get together I witness the tools we learned in class and in our experiential exercises being used effectively. As a result, the team has found its balance and is producing good work while still harnessing the richness that our varied backgrounds provide. Last week we were “parachuted” into a remote part of Holland to spend an entire day at a client site understanding their business and getting up close and personal with the equipment. This week it’s back in Lausanne to finalize our market sizing model and analysis. Next, we’re focusing on the best practices that have made the North American division of the business so successful.
The pressure is mounting but our work is starting to take shape and we’re determined to deliver. If we can keep the group together and capitalize on our variety of strengths and skills, our team may just prove once again that diversity, when managed, can create the type of positive tensions that produce the richest results.
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