Posted Jul 15, 2015
In May 2014, my second step was to attend a lecture in the UCLA EMBA program and to meet the director of admissions. I learned that the UCLA EMBA program requires 5+ years of management experience and admits students from a wide variety of industries, occupations, and educations, including military. This was a positive experience and made me confident that the idea to take an EMBA at UCLA can work. I talked it over with my wife and decided to do it.
In Summer 2014, my third step was to find my transcripts and diplomas from Aarhus University. My BS+MS degree papers needed translation to English and with the guidance of an outstanding staff member in the registrar's office of Aarhus University, I got the translation done.
In October 2014, my fourth step was to attend the application workshop at UCLA. I found out that UCLA will waive the requirements to take TOEFL (because I have taught courses at UCLA for more than ten years) and GMAT (because I have a PhD in Computer Science).
In October 2014, my fifth step was to ask my dean and my former department chair to write letters of recommendation for me; both graciously agreed.
In November 2014, my sixth step was to to write three required essays, fill out the online application form, and apply to the UCLA EMBA program. In January 2015, I attended an interview with the admission director, and soon after I received the news that UCLA had admitted me.
In summary: this was easy! Every time I had questions, the UCLA Anderson staff was helpful.
Posted Jul 15, 2015
Posted Jul 15, 2015
Posted Aug 11, 2015
Posted Aug 11, 2015
Posted Aug 11, 2015
Posted Aug 31, 2015
Sep 1-7 I spent 5 hours to finish my preparation for
the Leadership Foundations week.
I polished my notes and wrote my answer to an assignment
about leadership competencies.
Posted Sep 7, 2015
The Leadership Foundations week, Sep 8-12, was intense!
Each day had lectures or group work from early morning to late evening.
We all stayed in a nearby hotel.
Some keywords that describe the experience:
efficient, eye-opening, collaborative.
Many of the professors are amazing speakers.
I left with a lot of optimism about the next two years.
Posted Sep 13, 2015
The September 2015 issue of the Southwest Airlines magazine has
a section on leadership and teamwork,
which is brief and good, and includes a quiz,
a comedy perspective ("yes ... and"), and
a military perspective (about different strengths as basis for leadership).
Posted Sep 22, 2015
Posted Sep 24, 2015
Weekend 1 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on
Data Analysis, one 3.5 hour on about Marketing,
one 2.5 hours session about such topics as UCLA's honor code and
certificates that we can take, and a lunch session
at which we got to meet representatives of
the many student clubs at UCLA Anderson.
The Data Analysis professor did a good job of explaining the fundamentals
and answering questions.
The Marketing professor explained a systematic approach to Marketing that
consists of ten steps that each can be understood in detail.
This approach appears to stem from that the Marketing professor
was first educated as an engineer!
This is good news for me: I find the systematic approach appealing,
I am eager to learn it, and I sense that eventually I will like it.
Posted Sep 27, 2015
Posted Sep 30, 2015
Mon Sep 28 I attended a two-hour reception for 30+ Executive MBA students from
Mannheim Business School,
Germany.
We were at the lovely Fowler Museum
at UCLA.
I enjoyed hearing about the visitors' motivations and aspirations.
Posted Sep 30, 2015
Wed Sep 30 one of the UCLA Anderson faculty members
went over my Birkman assessment with me in a 1.5 hour session.
This was a highly constructive experience and I left bubbling with optimism.
Posted Oct 9, 2015
From Sep 27 to Oct 8 I spent 36 hours on preparation and homework
for Data Analysis and Marketing.
I see a pattern of close to three hours of effort per day,
on average, between the weekends of lectures.
I am in a study group of six people with diverse backgrounds and occupations.
We have weekly phone calls and work well together.
Posted Oct 9, 2015
We submitted homework this weekend! After being on the receiving end
of homework for many years, I found it refreshing and humbling to submit
homework myself.
Posted Oct 11, 2015
Weekend 2 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Data Analysis,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Marketing, a family dinner,
and one day on Leadership Foundations led by
Odyssey Teams
at UCLA's Challenge Course.
That last day was amazing and included two team-building exercises
that took place more than 10 meters above the ground.
It was a memorable day that
likely made us all think differently about teams and ourselves.
Here is
a description of what a similar day was like three years ago.
Posted Oct 11, 2015
Posted Oct 22, 2015
Weekend 3 consisted of
a 3 hour midterm exam in Data Analysis,
one 3.5 hour lecture on Data Analysis, and
two 3.5 hour lectures on Marketing.
I enjoyed taking a written exam again after a break of many years
and I finished the questions with time to spare.
The Marketing course is steadily building up a suite of mathematical models
and teaching how to apply them to data from business cases.
The idea is to enable recommendations and decisions about marketing
that is based in considerable part on data and math.
Posted Oct 28, 2015
Posted Nov 7, 2015
Weekend 4 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Data Analysis,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Marketing, and one hour about how
to establish a better presence on LinkedIn. The courses have moved into
a phase where the primary goal is to reinforce and apply material
from earlier lectures. A typical lecture was the Saturday lecture in
Marketing which covered the case for the large group project that
we all had submitted earlier that day.
Everybody was well prepared and the amount of insight that flowed from
both the professor and the students was tremendous.
This was a good example of how education can be lifted to a high level
of quality when the room is packed with experienced people.
Posted Nov 8, 2015
Posted Nov 19, 2015
Weekend 5 consisted of one 3.5 hour lecture on Data Analysis,
two 4+3 hour lectures on Marketing, 3 hours about Leadership Foundations,
an hour about how to write an executive resume, and an hour with
Dean Judy Olian.
The Leadership Foundations continues to be an amazing part of the education
that puts gentle pressure on us to move forward and become better leaders.
The Data Analysis professor ended his lecture with these memorable words:
You people juggle many balls. Sometimes you drop a ball; that is okay.
Only one of the balls is a crystal ball: family and friends.
Don't drop that ball.
Posted Nov 22, 2015
Posted Dec 5, 2015
Weekend 6 consisted of a 3 hour final exam in Data Analysis.
The exam was challenging!
The exam called on our ability to think independently rather than
merely to apply techniques in the same way that we applied them in homework.
After the Data Analysis exam, I put some final toches on my answer to
the Marketing exam and was done with the Fall 2015 quarter.
Posted Dec 5, 2015
Posted Dec 14, 2015
Summary of my preparation time from Sep 14 to Dec 3:
Marketing: 106 hours; Data Analysis: 60 hours;
Leadership: 12 hours; Group phone calls: 12 hours; Excel: 5 hours.
Total: 195 hours.
Posted Dec 21, 2015
Posted Dec 21, 2015
From Dec 30 to Jan 7 I spent 36 hours on preparation for Economics
and Accounting.
Accounting is the second course this Winter.
I like the discipline of double-entry accounting;
it reminds me of the saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Posted Jan 7, 2016
Weekend 7 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Accounting,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Economics, a lecture on careers
in asset management, and a lecture by David Glickman,
the founder of multiple
unicorns.
The professors of Accounting and Economics are highly experienced people
and entertaining speakers. The lectures showed in spades how those
qualities can translate into a great learning experience for the students.
I feel lucky with the four professors I have had so far
for quarter-long courses at UCLA Anderson.
A big Aha moment happened in the Economics course.
The professor had asked us a question about our willingness to pay for a beer
in a particular situation, and from that he constructed a demand curve.
Posted Jan 12, 2016
Posted Jan 22, 2016
Weekend 8 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Accounting,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Economics, a 1-hour TA session on Accounting,
and a 1-hour workshop on how to create personal positioning statements.
Our Economics professor explained a host of circumstances, considerations,
and prediction models that are worth knowing ahead of this week's meeting
of the
Federal Open Market Committee.
Posted Jan 27, 2016
Posted Feb 5, 2016
From Jan 27 to Feb 4 I spent 31 hours on preparation for Economics
and Accounting.
We are going to have a midterm exam in Accounting this weekend.
Posted Feb 5, 2016
Weekend 9 consisted of
a 1-hour TA session on Accounting, a 2.5 hour midterm exam on Accounting,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Accounting,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Economics,
and a lecture
by David Nathanson, FOX Sports.
The Economics professor did a wonderful job of explaining some of
what is going on in today's world economy and answering questions of all kinds.
Posted Feb 6, 2016
Posted Feb 21, 2016
Weekend 10 consisted of two 3 hour lectures on Accounting,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Economics, a 1-hour TA session on Accounting,
a 1-hour TA session on Accounting,
a 1-hour workshop on career shifting, and
a 3-hour lecture to prepare us for the trip to China.
In the Accounting course, a large number of the examples are well-known
companies and their recent financial statements, which increases
my motivation to read the material and enjoy the lectures.
The Economics professor switches seemingly effortlessly between explaining
microeconomics and explaining current events in macroeconomics.
The concept of Net Present Value has come up in both Accounting and Econonics,
which has helped me understand both the idea and how to use it.
Posted Feb 21, 2016
Posted Mar 5, 2016
Weekend 11 consisted of two lectures (3+2 hours) about Accounting,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Economics, two 2-hour TA sessions on Accounting,
a 3.5-hour session on Leadership.
A highlight was the Economics professor's explanation of
the Cournot-Nash analysis of two competing companies.
Posted Mar 5, 2016
Posted Mar 11, 2016
From Mar 6 to Mar 17 I spent 39 hours on preparation for Economics,
Accounting, and China.
My group finished the Economics project and managed to reach an
interesting conclusion.
Posted Mar 18, 2016
Weekend 12 consisted of a 3-hour Accounting exam and
a 3.5 hour session about Economics that both a lecture
and two presentations about the group project.
The Accounting exam helped me realize how much I have learned
from the Accounting course.
The two groups who presented their Economics projects had volunteered
to present their findings while knowing that ten other groups
in the audience had worked on the same problem.
Posted Mar 18, 2016
Posted Mar 18, 2016
The traditional teaching method goes lecture, homework, solution.
The last two quarters I have seen many instances of
homework, lecture, solution.
The homework-first idea is a fascinating twist that ensures that every student
is well prepared for the lecture, which in itself increases interaction.
I have learned a lot from trying out homeworks without really knowing what
I was doing.
Later when I got the solution, I understood well why the solution is
nontrivial and better than my first try.
Posted Mar 22, 2016
I am a lot better at Excel now! One of the reasons is that
I have amazing classmates who have taught me a lot.
I like Excel's declarative programming style that smoothly integrates
iteration, search, and database-style queries.
Posted Mar 22, 2016
Posted Apr 2, 2016
Posted Apr 2, 2016
Weekend 13 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Finance,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Macroeconomics,
a 1-hour TA session on Finance,
a 1-hour lecture on personal branding, and
a 1-hour presentation of upcoming elective courses.
The lectures were excellent and promise well for this quarter.
We have new study groups now.
The Anderson staff divided us into groups for the first two quarters
and then shuffled the groups for the next two quarters.
We have many homeworks and project that we must submit as a group;
part of the challenge is to learn to work together.
Posted Apr 2, 2016
Posted Apr 14, 2016
Weekend 14 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Finance,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Macroeconomics, and
a 1-hour TA session on Finance.
The TA session was a good illustration of the honor code at UCLA,
particularly the
UCLA Anderson Honor Code.
The professor had asked the teaching assistant to go over
the solutions to Homeworks 1+2.
At the beginning of the session the TA became aware that Homework 2
was due one hour later.
In response he said "please don't change your answers to Homework 2"
and proceeded with the session.
This all worked and it reflected well on UCLA and its students.
Posted Apr 16, 2016
Posted Apr 22, 2016
From Apr 17 to Apr 28 I spent 37 hours on preparation for
Finance and Macroeconomics.
The Finance course has many homework questions that ask us to
first model and then compute the net present value of realistic projects.
I find the questions interesting and I notice that seemingly small differences
in the models can lead to big differences in the net present values.
Posted Apr 28, 2016
Weekend 15 consisted of a 3.5 hour midterm exam in Finance,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Finance,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Macroeconomics,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Persuasion,
a 1-hour lecture on personal branding, and
a 1-hour lecture by
Julia Stewart, chair and CEO of DineEquity.
This weekend ranks in the top tier for the best lectures
plus the usual great questions and funny moments.
Posted Apr 28, 2016
Posted May 15, 2016
The last two weeks I finished the final quiz and, together with
two group mates, the final report for the China trip.
The final quiz consisted of seven essays while the final report
was a business proposal for starting a business in China.
This was an opportunity for me to review the notes that I took on the trip and
to work on an exciting business idea due to one of my group mates.
Posted May 15, 2016
From May 1 to May 19 I spent 64 hours on preparation for
Finance, Macroeconomics, and the China quiz and final report.
This quarter has been different in a key way:
the China trip meant that I had less than a week to prepare
for the first class.
Fortunately we had three weeks between Weekend 15 and Weekend 16
so now I have finally caught up and am even a bit ahead.
Travel is coming up soon so being ahead is essential.
Posted Jun 3, 2016
Weekend 16 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Macroeconomics,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Finance,
a 3.5 hour session on Leadership,
a 1-hour lecture on executive interview, and
a 1-hour overview of our strategic management research project next year.
During the session on Leadership, each of us received 360-degree feedback
on our leadership skills, via a process administered by
Korn Ferry.
I am grateful to the twelve people who provided me with feedback;
their responses are anonymous, averaged, and amazingly insightful.
Posted May 22, 2016
Posted Jun 3, 2016
Weekend 17 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Macroeconomics,
two 3.5 hours lecture on Finance,
a 1-hour TA session on Finance, and
a 1-hour session with
Jim Moffatt,
CEO, Deloitte Consulting.
The session with Jim Moffatt was a wonderful example of how
one can get a lot out of an hour with a high-ranking, busy visitor.
We went to questions and answers right away;
the session chair asked the first ten questions and
the audience asked the rest.
Posted Jun 4, 2016
Posted Jun 17, 2016
Weekend 18 consisted a 3.5 session on Macroeconomics,
a 3.5 hour final exam in Finance,
a 1.5 hour session on on-campus recruiting, and
two lectures on Mergers & Acquisitions for a total of 5 hours.
In the session on Macroeconomics, we went through most of
the Federal Reserve chairs' testimonies to Congress from 1999 to 2016.
Each step of the way, we analyzed specific causal statements and
tried to back them up or to refute them with analysis of historical data.
The session was an enjoyable, data-driven tour of 18 years of the economy
of the United States and of the views of the Federal Reserve chairs.
The lectures on Mergers & Acquisitions mark the start of two elective
courses that I take in June; the other course is on Real Estate.
Posted Jun 19, 2016
Posted Jun 19, 2016
The third quarter had some of the same feel as the first quarter.
The China course added some work on top of the other two courses.
Each of the first three quarters had one 3.5 hours exam and
one take-home exam
(plus the final report and the final quiz in the middle of the quarter
for the China trip).
The diversity of exams was fortunate
because it enabled me to easily allocate time for the exams.
Posted Jun 19, 2016
Posted Jun 27, 2016
The June Elective Block was from Jun 27 to Jul 1
and consisted of five 3.5 hour lectures on Real Estate.
Additionally, on Jul 2, I took the final exam in Mergers & Acquisitions,
which was take-home but limited to 3.5 hours.
The Real Estate course was packed with insight on how due diligence pays off.
The Mergers & Acquisitions exam helped me realize a key point about
why a certain style of acquisition can work well.
Posted Jul 4, 2016
Posted Jul 18, 2016
My summaries of my preparation efforts excluded work done
on days with lectures.
On many of those days, I spent an hour or two in the early morning
and/or some hours in the evening.
Posted Jul 18, 2016
We had an all-star line-up of professors in Year 1.
Showing up for class was a joy every time.
Here is a happy memory about each professor:
Posted Jul 18, 2016
We had several excellent text books in Year 1.
For example, our
Accounting text book
has three aspects that I found particularly helpful.
First, the book begins every chapter with a page about how
a well-known company deals with the topic of the chapter, and the book
gives many detailed examples based on numbers from well-known companies.
Highly motivating!
Second, the book has many in-chapter questions and a wealth of
end-of-chapter questions, plus answers to the in-chapter questions.
The questions come in many varieties, including multiple-choice,
calls for calculation, and open-ended judgement calls,
which helped me stay on track.
Third, the book ends each chapter with a detailed summary of the chapter,
which I found to be spot on and useful.
Posted Aug 3, 2016
UCLA Andersen provides excellent opportunities for personal development.
For example, this year I have met one-on-one
with an executive coach and with an expert on personal branding.
Posted Aug 3, 2016
Posted Aug 3, 2016
Posted Aug 14, 2016
The August Elective Block was from Aug 15 to Aug 19
and consisted of
five 3.5 hour lectures on Private Equity and
five 3.5 hour lectures on Negotiation.
The Negotiation class had us do eight negotiations, which were a lot of fun.
Those negotiations ranged from a simple, 2-party negotiation
to a complicated, 6-party negotiation.
Additionally, on Aug 20 I attended a five-hour career management workshop
with Matthew Temple.
Last year I attended several of his workshops on similar topics and
yet I attended this one too, in part because
he is excellent at answering questions.
On Aug 21 I attended the 1-hour final oral exam in Real Estate where my group
presented our final project.
Posted Aug 21, 2016
Posted Sep 18, 2016
Posted Sep 15, 2016
Weekend 19 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Operations,
two 3.5 hours lecture on Communication,
a 4 hour lecture on Business Plans,
a 1-hour session on the upcoming SMR project, and
a 1-hour session with
Thomas Priselac,
President and CEO, Cedars-Sinai Health System.
The Communication course has a lot of interaction of the kind
where each student gives a short presentation and gets feedback
from an instructor and from fellow students.
After spending significant time together for a year, we are all comfortable
with each other, which helps make the interactive sessions work well.
Posted Sep 18, 2016
Posted Oct 1, 2016
Weekend 20 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Operations,
one 3.5 hours lecture on Communication, a 2 hour Communication session
where eight students each gave a 6-minute presentation on camera, and
a 3.5 hour lecture on Business Plans.
I made two short video-recorded presentations this week:
one in front of the Hermosa Beach city council (about the SMR project) and
an entirely different one in the Communication course (about persuading
my peers in the course to take a particular action).
Both presentations were just me talking; no slides.
The preparation for those presentations was intense;
I am happy with how they turned out.
Posted Oct 3, 2016
Posted Oct 13, 2016
Weekend 21 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Operations,
two 3.5 hours lectures on Communication, and a 3 hour lecture on Dubai.
The Communication course includes many opportunities to speak in front
of an audience and then receive feedback.
This week we did a team presentation based on less than an hour
of preparation; this was a great learning experience in multiple ways.
In particular, the presentations gave us something concrete to think about when
the professor followed up with a lecture on team presentations.
Posted Oct 15, 2016
Posted Oct 27, 2016
Weekend 22 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Operations,
one 3.5 hours lecture on Communication, a 2 hour Communication session
where ten students each gave a 3-minute presentation on camera, and
a 4 hour lecture on Business Plans.
The lecture on Business Plans included an impressive segment
in which the professor talked about his time as CFO of Packard Bell.
Additionally, each of seven groups gave a short version of their upcoming
company presentation to investors.
Posted Oct 30, 2016
Posted Nov 6, 2016
From Oct 31 to Nov 10 I spent 35 hours on preparation for
Operations, Communication, and Business Plans.
In the Operations course, my group prepared a presentation of some of
the casinos in Las Vegas.
My part was to analyze a large data set that describes the gambling and
hotel stays at those casinos.
As usual, the key is to ask the right questions.
In the Communication course, I prepared a six-minute presentation and
I sensed strongly that I have improved my presentation skills this Fall.
Posted Nov 10, 2016
Weekend 23 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Operations,
a lecture by Derek Herrera,
the final exam in Communication, and the final company presentations
in Business Plans.
Those company presentations were in front of three investors
who asked perceptive questions.
The Operations lectures included an excellent invited lecture by
John Kispert.
Derek Herrera is a veteran and a UCLA EMBA graduate;
he gave his lecture on Veterans Day itself and his words touched our hearts.
Posted Nov 16, 2016
Posted Nov 20, 2016
From Nov 16 to Dec 1 I spent 34 hours on preparation for
Operations, Dubai, and the SMR project.
In Operations we got a couple of old exams such that we can practice.
Those exams have both mathematical questions and conceptual questions.
I am intrigued by this style of exam; we have to both do modeling and math,
and also write concise text that sums up key points.
Posted Dec 2, 2016
Weekend 24 consisted of
a 3.5 hour final exam in Operations followed by
the launch of our SMR project, which consumed most of two days.
The exam in Operations did a good job of testing our knowledge and skills
in a broad spectrum of the course material.
The exam was open book and I brought everything to the exam.
However, the exam required such a high pace of answering questions that
my bag stayed closed.
The launch of the SMR project was exciting.
George Abe gave an overview of what we will do the next six months,
Matt Abbott (Bain & Company)
gave an inspiring lecture on how to do consulting successfully, and
Sara Tucker (UCLA)
gave an encouraging lecture on how run a group successfully.
My group has five members, and one of the staff members gave us a detailed
analysis of what our Birkman reports predict about our group dynamics.
We also met with our faculty advisor,
Terry Kramer,
met with one of the librarians, and
had time to brainstorm about the project and write a team contract.
The librarian showed us links to specific databases that have information
relevant to our project.
Posted Dec 4, 2016
Posted Dec 6, 2016
The Fall quarter did turn out to be a lot of work!
Still, I had a blast and learned a lot.
Indeed, the Fall quarter will be a strong contender for
the quarter that I enjoyed the most.
Posted Dec 21, 2016
Posted Dec 21, 2016
Posted Jan 5, 2017
Jan 6-8 was SMR weekend.
We all assembled at
Rancho Bernardo Inn
near San Diego.
The crowd was bigger than usual; in addition to the students,
we had our senior associate dean
Carla Hayn
who gave an inspiring kick-off speech,
we had the four advisors of the SMR teams, and
we had representatives for all the companies and organizations who
have provided the SMR projects.
As a new aspects this year, UCLA allowed three groups to do their SMR project
by starting a company.
All told, we are 11 groups that will work with set projects
and 3 groups that will start companies.
I am in a group of five people who will work with City of Hermosa Beach
on a business plan to maximize options, incentives, and investments to
lower energy costs in a carbon neutral Hermosa Beach.
One city council member and one city staff member from Hermosa Beach
participated in the SMR weekend and we made a lot of progress.
The project has a tight schedule; we will make our final presentation on Jun 10.
Posted Jan 13, 2017
Posted Jan 13, 2017
Weekend 25 consisted of two 3.5 hour lectures on Strategy,
one 3.5 hours lecture on Ethics,
a 3.5 hour meeting of my SMR group, and
a 1-hour lecture by
Minnie Ingersoll,
co-founder and COO of Shift Technologies.
Minnie Ingersoll had a memorable tag line:
show up, tell the truth, and hope for the best.
The Strategy lectures used concepts from several previous courses,
including Marketing, Economics, and Operations.
The professor is doing a good job of seamlessly integrating the ideas.
Our SMR project is off to a good start.
Posted Jan 14, 2017
Posted Jan 26, 2017
Weekend 26 consisted of a 3.5 hour lecture on Ethics,
a 3.5 hour change simulation in which my group worked to turn a company around,
a 1.5-hour lecture on Leadership by
Marshall Goldsmith,
a 3.5 hour lecture on Leadership by
Karl Kuhnert,
a 1 hour lecture on career managemet
by Matthew Temple,
a 1.5 hour lecture on effective interview and survey techniques
by Corinne Bendersky,
and
a 2 hour meeting of my SMR group.
The change simulation was a great experience;
amazingly, ten of twelve groups managed to get
at least 60 percent buy-in from the employees.
The lecture by Karl Kuhnert was the best lecture I have attended in
the EMBA program, packed with insight, actionable ideas, and good humor.
Posted Jan 30, 2017
Posted Feb 8, 2017
From Jan 29 to Feb 9 I spent 50 hours on preparation for
Strategy, Ethics, Behavioral Economics, and SMR.
The reading material for Behavioral Economics has many examples of
how people behave in irrational ways.
The examples are both entertaining and sobering to read,
and they help us understand how to do better marketing.
In Ethics, the professors do a good job of having experienced people lead
the class discussions.
For example, this week one of the reading materials described
a company nearing bankruptcy;
the leader of the class discussion was a person who himself has led
a company through bankruptcy.
Posted Feb 12, 2017
Weekend 27 consisted of a 3.5 hour lecture on Ethics,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Strategy,
a 1.5 hour lecture on Finance, and
a 2 hour meeting of my SMR group.
For Ethics, one of this week's reading materials is famous:
The Parable of the Sadhu.
The invited speaker was no other than
Bowen McCoy
who experienced the events and wrote the story.
The speaker on Finance was
Jason Lee,
and I am delighted that he picked the financial model from my SMR project
as the main example in his lecture.
As a result, we got his feedback and advice on many aspects of our model.
Posted Feb 12, 2017
Posted Feb 24, 2017
Weekend 28 consisted of a 3.5 hour lecture on Ethics,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Strategy,
a total of 7 hours of meetings of my SMR group, and
a 4 hour lecture on Behavioral Economics.
Our Strategy class had an enlightening discussion of health care
followed by a second enlightening discussion of entertainment.
Once again I was amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge and experience
of my classmates.
My classmates include multiple doctors and multiple executives in the
health care industry, along with multiple executives in the entertainment industry.
My SMR group drafted a list of recommendations to Hermosa Beach and made plans
for the next month of primary research.
We also discussed with Terry Kramer whether the most recent meeting of the
Hermosa Beach Planning Commission should influence our project; the answer was: no!
The lecture on Behavioral Economics was a higlight of the weekend;
I enjoyed the focus on the customer.
Posted Feb 28, 2017
Posted Mar 10, 2017
Weekend 29 consisted of a 3.5 hour lecture on Ethics,
two 3.5 hour lectures on Strategy
plus a half-hour session with questions and answers on Strategy,
a 6 hour meeting of my SMR group, and
a 4 hour lecture on Behavioral Economics.
In Ethics, the invited speaker was
Marx Cazenave,
who gave a wonderful presentation that made us both laugh and cry.
My SMR group made a plan for the remaining primary research and
improved our list of recommendations.
I think we are at the peak of the SMR project this weekend;
I sense that we have an easier path from here.
Posted Mar 12, 2017
Posted Mar 16, 2017
Weekend 30 consisted of a 7-hour and a 5-hour meeting of my SMR group,
plus a 2-hour session in which we gave a midpoint presentation of
our SMR project and listened to the presentation by another SMR group.
The audience consisted mainly of the two groups and the two advisors.
We got many questions, along with positive and constructive feedback.
Posted Mar 18, 2017
From Mar 19 to Mar 26 I spent 38 hours on wrapping up the quarter
and preparing a bit for the next.
I had a take-home exam in Strategy and a final project in Behavoral Economics.
Additionally, I read Advanced Finance and worked on the SMR project.
In Behavioral Economics, we chose a final project related to our SMR project.
Specifically, we wrote a letter from the city to the residents
that nudges them to replace their cars with EVs.
Posted Mar 26, 2017
Posted Mar 26, 2017
The Winter quarter was an intense affair that required careful time management
to stay on track.
I benefited from my notes on the time spent on previous courses,
which I used to forecast how much time I would need.
In hindsight, I am happy that I took no electives in the first year, while I am
equally happy that I am taking electives in every quarter of the second year.
That way, I got used to the pace early on, after which I could crank it up a bit.
The electives have been good so far, and now I have one more to go:
Advanced Finance in the Spring quarter.
The Spring quarter also has a required course on Organizational Behavior,
in addition to the SMR project.
Posted Mar 26, 2016
In the past few months, I have several times sent a grateful thought
to the Communication course.
I have realized that the course's approach to presentations has
two major strengths that I have discovered only by trying.
The first strength is that one can use the approach partially; even if applied
to just part of a presentation, the gain in clarity can be substantial.
The second strength is that one can use the approach to improve
an existing presentation.
Multiple times have I prepared slides for a presentation and then the day before
decided that I would use the approach from the Communication course.
In each case, the result was a good presentation that likely was
better than the one I had originally planned, even though the slides were the same.
Posted Mar 26, 2016
Posted Apr 2, 2017
Weekend 31 consisted of a 3.5-hour lecture on leadership,
two 3.5-hour lectures on Organizational Behavior,
and a 4-hour meeting of my SMR group.
One of the lectures on Organizational Behavior had an excellent
in-class exercise that showed the importance of
asking for more information.
The context for the exercise is that people tend to make decisions
based on the available information.
A better approach is to first determine what additional information
would lead to a better decision and then ask for that information.
For our SMR project, our advisor gave us excellent advice on how
to structure our report.
After that, we revised and submitted our midpoint report
and now we have two months until we submit the final report.
Posted Apr 2, 2017
Posted Apr 15, 2017
Weekend 32 consisted of a 3.5-hour discussion and lecture on Leadership,
two 3.5-hour lectures on Organizational Behavior,
a 3.5-hour lecture on Advanced Finance, and a two-hour meeting of
my SMR group.
The lectures on Organizational Behavior included a thought-provoking exercise
that showed the point of creating a diverse team.
The take-home message was that we should look for snippets of information about
diversity of opinion and then use it when picking members for a team.
In Leadership, we have formed small groups in which we become each other's
peer mentor.
Each of us has picked a leadership challenge that we face over the next few
months and then the goal of the peer mentor is to give input and advice.
My peer mentor is one of my super-smart classmates and already in our first
major discussion, he gave me a couple of key things to think about.
Posted Apr 17, 2017
Posted Apr 27, 2017
Weekend 33 consisted of
two 3.5-hour lectures on Organizational Behavior,
a 3.5-hour lecture on Advanced Finance, and a four-hour meeting of
my SMR group.
The lectures on Organizational Behavior included an interesting discussion
of six approaches to persuasion.
The SMR group meeting concluded with an agreement on the structure of
our final report.
Friday evening we went on a tour of the
Hammer Museum
followed by dinner at the Hammer Museum cafe.
Posted Apr 29, 2017
Posted May 13, 2017
Weekend 34 consisted of
a 3.5-hour lecture on Organizational Behavior,
a 3.5-hour lecture on Advanced Finance, two three-hour meetings of
my SMR group,
and a 75-minute session in which
Janis Forman
gave my SMR group feedback on our project.
The lecture on Organizational Behavior included an interesting contrast
between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in two different companies.
The feedback from Janis Forman was constructive and positive,
and I sense that the SMR project now enters the home stretch.
Posted May 13, 2017
Posted May 26, 2017
Weekend 35 consisted of
two 3.5-hour lectures on Organizational Behavior,
a 4.5-hour lecture on Advanced Finance,
a two-hour meeting of my SMR group,
and a two-hour session in which my SMR group gave a dry-run
of our final presentation and got feedback.
In a break, I took many of my classmates on a tour
to the UCLA Internet museum, which is part of the
Kleinrock Center for Internet Studies at UCLA.
The museum has the machine that sent the first message on the Internet,
still located in that same room where it sent the message on Oct 29, 1969.
The lecture on Advanced Finance was a perfect final lecture for
the entire program:
some math, some finance puzzles that require deep insight to unlock, and
some perspective on how the world of finance really works.
Posted May 27, 2017
Posted Jun 3, 2017
Posted Jun 12, 2017
Weekend 36 consisted of a 3.5-hour exam on Organizational Behavior,
a 2.5-hour debrief of the entire EMBA program, a dinner outside,
complete with a taco truck, 4 hours of meetings of my SMR group,
and a presentation of our SMR project.
For the SMR presentation, our audience consisted of
several highly experienced people, including
our senior associate dean,
Carla Hayn;
a business and technology consultant,
Tom Oser;
a managing director of
Columbia Capital Advisors and Columbia Capital Securities,
Jamie Somes,
and our faculty advisor,
Terry Kramer.
We received a kind note after the SMR presentation that included these words:
"one of the panelists mentioned this was one of the best presentations
he's heard from the many GAP and SMR presentations he's attended".
In short,
I was in an awesome group with a wonderful advisor and a great topic.
The SMR project took a lot of time and was totally worth it.
Posted Jun 12, 2017
Weekend 36 ended with a boat ride with
Hornblower Cruise
in Marina del Rey followed by additional social time at
Marina del Rey Marriott.
It was a wonderful way to end the EMBA program and spend time with the many
fellow students who have come to mean a lot to me over the past two years.
On the cruise, I received an Outstanding Academic Achievement Award
for obtaining the highest grade point average in
the Executive MBA Class of 2017.
Posted Jun 12, 2017
Posted Jun 12, 2017
Posted Jun 12, 2017
I spent the following number of days in class:
Posted Jun 25, 2017
Posted Jun 17, 2017
Posted Jun 25, 2017