I haven't blogged for some time now. I wonder why?

Could it because of the lack of time or is it because I thought I could utilize the "blogging time" to do something else. Or is it just that I am concerned about the workload and I feel I should be working towards completing an assignment. Or is it that I am just bored ! ?

I honestly don't know. But blogging helps me relax, unwind and feel good. So, here I am on a Saturday night typing my thoughts on the computer.

The Stage 2 of the MBA program is almost like the previous one - classes are as hectic, there is lots of work load, lots of pre-readings. But, most of us have got used to it and don't panic much now. J We have either learnt to handle pressure or are getting better at time management or just don’t bother thinking too much about it !

The shift now in the class is towards placements. The consulting club and the finance clubs are the most active ones these days. Plans are being chalked out as companies are confirming dates for the campus information session. One can see people talking about the "stories" they want to share in the interviews. Or can watch folks following the newspaper and events regularly. You can also people working on their networking skills.

The best class of last week was the "Managing IT" session. The course is being taught by Prof Salman Mufti - one of the best professors in Canada. Before the start of the class, he took a survey to understand the pulse of the group.

He asked us to label ourselves into one of the 4 groups
A- I am an IT professional
B-I was directly involved in 1 or 2 IT projects
C-I was indirectly involved in one or more IT project
D- What is IT.?
Interestingly, the class strength was equally distributed.

I look forward to this course as the course takes a "management" perspective and not a “techie” one. In the first class, we discussed about the role of technology in Business. We talked about the “Strategy and Internet" Harvard Business article by Porter and concluded that Technology is a complement to business. The second session was on IT Leadership that resulted in very interesting class participation. We had a case where we had to find the person responsible for the failure of an IT project – CEO, CFO or the CIO. There were mixed opinions in the class. We also talked about what qualities CIOs should have. Prof Mufti is highly knowledgeable , and uses research cases from HBR,LBS for the class. I look forward to the remaining sessions.

The interesting part about this subject is that for the individual assignments we have to write “journals”. We need to reflect on what we learnt ( or did not learn) in the class and write a journal on it. We also need to relate what we write to our past work situation. For the entire class, this is a new concept. Prof Mufti told us that he decided on this style of assignment after discussing it with Henry Mintzberg ( Author of the book "Managers NOT MBAs"!!. )

Last evening , as part of the Marketing Fundamentals class, we talked about an article called "The craziest ad guys in America" I found some ad commercials created by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky's. Have fun watching them.

On the Volkswagen
“Unpimp Your Auto” : Helga and Wolfgang introduced the hatchback !

Ad 2

Ad 3

The Rabbit is back !

The Jeta Ad -"Holy..."

V iral Marketing - subservient chicken for Burger King. Type in nearly anything at this website and get a response from the chicken. He could do jumping jacks, dance, do push-ups and even watch television. !!