Global Study Trip 2 - Sydney

Hi there,

I know I am lagging behind with my posts a little bit. The new quarter has just started, consulting interviews are coming up and I have been coming back to campus with a cold.

Let me nevertheless briefly tell you about the second stop of my global study trip: Sydney.

Being much more urban than Melbourne, Sydney definitely had a big-city feel to it. Here we visited Westpac, Jawun, Saatchi and some start-ups.

I want to focus on our meeting with Gail Kelley, CEO of Westpac and according to Forbes the 8th most powerful women in the world in 2010. Gail told us her story of moving up the ranks from an ordinary bank teller to becoming CEO of one of Australia's largest banks. Having previously met with Jayne Hrdlicka, the CEO of Jetstar, it was interesting to see how those two women differ in their leaderships styles and their values. Gail seemed to have a lot more tenure, seemed calmer and less aggressive. One thing they both had in common was that they acknowledged the fact that being a women made it harder for them to thrive in their careers. It is sad, but at the same time shows the tremendous skill those two actually have. It might also be the reason why both of them mentioned leadership development as one of the key assets a manager can have. Because they might not always have been developed as well as their male counterparts they try to reverse that and create a better environment for that in their companies.

Besides the meetings we also saw the one place I was really excited about in Australia: The Sydney Opera House. I feel it is like the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge. Something one has seen so many times on photos or on TV. The building itself was nice, but nothing too special. I think the fact that it is so strongly connected to the image I have of Sydney is what made it interesting to see.

I am going to finish for now and try to write part 3 of the trip report in the upcoming days.

Cheers + bis bald,
TIM

The Good and The Bad

Let me wrap up the first quarter. Final exam wise it is not fully wrapped up yet, but I assume that my priorities after the last final on Wednesday will be more focused cleaning my room, packing and running last errands. 

The Good

1) I have met some people that I connected with and that I feel can become really good friends. Applying the German (or maybe European) concept of friendship one actually has to get to know another person in order to really be friends. With some people I think I am on a really good way.

Thanksgiving Trip to Big Sur

German(-speaking) Connection

2) I have never been more in shape than right now. Ok, it has actually been quite chilly over the last couple of days (luckily Stanford warns us about ice on the streets), but usually it is no problem to go running in a T-Shirt and shorts. Given one of my first post about the "ripped Americans" I actually feel that I might catch up. Even though the arms of some classmates are still thicker than my legs (Kevin, Clark) I see potential. 

Winter in California

3) I have figured out a couple of things that I care about: 

Food, food processing, developing world, leadership topics, organizational design, big companies, transportation

4) I have figured out a couple of things that I need in order to like a job:

Competition, visibility of my work, significance, strategy, future- orientation

Welcome to Business School!

5) I feel totally secure about my future. I have a feeling that all doors are open and I simply have to pick. There are numerous fall-back options and I really don't have to be afraid of anything. Well, besides getting my teeth punched out by Dutch students that can't take that they are not from Germany.

I wish I had been joking…

The Bad

I have once more realized that even with numerous scholarships people still come from financially well-off backgrounds (which doesn't mean they are jerks, it simply means there might be a lot of poorer people that are overlooked). The application process is costly (and chances are low to get in), tuition is enormous (and chances are low to get a full ride) and the cost of living is one of the highest worldwide (and one doesn't want to sit home and eat toast all day). Stanford will have eight full-ride scholarships for low-income African students next year, which is a start to bring in more low-income internationals. I don't know how to further accelerate that process though...

Even though professors are better than I have seen them anywhere else, they still have the problem of evaluating learning in a way that contributes to the academic experience. We just had our Global Strategy Final. Open book, no clear understanding of what would be on the final. Few people studied, everyone googled the questions, wrote something as an answer (copy&paste not even an option, because we had to write. On paper. With a pen. Like in the middle ages. Can you imagine?). And in two days we will have forgotten everything. I have very rarely encountered professors which found ways to objectively evaluate ones learning while manifesting that learning somehow. Sadly, Stanford is no exception here.

--> Not that many more bad things. NICE! And when I am really sad, Kevin makes me apple pie:

Thanks Kevin!
(Look at the arms, that's what I mean)

What am I up to over break:

SFO-LAX-TYO-KUL-MEL-SYD-CNS-DRW-KUL-SIN-KUL-TYO-SFO

Global Study Trip

Christmas on the Beach

SEA City Hopping in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur

New Years in Tokyo

Skiing in Japan

… yes, it's pretty cool!

Cheers + bis bald,

TIM