La Sombrerera Loca | The Mad Hatter

Watch my TEdX talk - Emprendimiento y creatividad desde el campus: Oriana Torres at TEDxVilla...

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 18:04:00 +0000

My Journey at BABSON - as described by the President of Colombia

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 14:19:00 +0000

Video where the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, talks about my journey at BABSON, as one of the top colombian students sponsored by COLFUTURO to advance grad studies abroad.

Thanks Mr. President. Honored to see that you considered me to be a case to show among the 7.000 + colombian students supported by COLFUTURO.

My recent workshop on "women in the workplace" for AIESEC - Giving back with intention

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:11:00 +0000

Yesterday I delivered a thought provoking session on "women in the workplace" to the National Committee of AIESEC en Colombia - great discussion, nothing to envy to MBA level discussions we have had covering the topic!

It is amazing how small acts make a difference. When I was the age these guys are (19 - 23) I never had a serious thought about gender in the workplace and IN LIFE. More than managers, these guys will be spouses and parents and I was inspired to see how much they start to figure out what stand they want to take to make our society a more fair one for women and men. We talked about the evolution of the role of gender in society, revised key stats about gender workforce participation, deconstructed what feminism (including post feminism!) means and last but not least revised few strategies on how to build households and companies that value diversity and allow EVERY HUMAN being to develop its very own potential and dreams, regardless of gender.

I just can say .... giving back with intention rules!

Can´t wait to see you guys being a case on how to deal with the "problem with no name".

The ideal Support Network for personal and professional success: a 3-question Test

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:12:00 +0000

By Oriana Torres

If there is something that women can benchmark from men, is how –consciously and mainly unconsciously- they build effective support networks around them. Recently, while interviewing Babson College new President Kerry Healey around key advice for young leaders she could not emphasize enough on the importance for women to build a support network, defined as a unique group of diverse, loyal and enthusiastic individuals that are not only genuinely willing to invest in your success, that are vested in it and that cheer for you while you get it.

While the concept of network might sound overrated and there are infinite sources of information of what a network is and how to build one, this article is all about breaking mental models and inviting women to evaluate their network. Breaking mental models is all about rebooting the idea women self-sufficiency makes us heroes. Evaluating our networks is about recognizing that while many women might already have apparent core networks in our lives, its composition and motivation might not be ideal.

The ideal support network: ask yourself these 3 questions first!

The 3-question Test

Networks are sets of relationships critical to your ability to get things done, get ahead and develop personally and professionally (Ibarra, 1996). While the definition is very precise and assertive, I would like to “spice it up” with 3 key elements that might be taken for granted when it comes to building a network.

We all have families, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances … but does that automatically make them an ideal network to support our development as women, at home and in the workplace? I invite you to reflect on your own current networks and think about how they rate in the light of these three features.

Question 1 - Are they available to invest in your success?

To have people with a true desire to invest in your success is the building block for network building. People that have the readiness to support you succeed as a woman, must not only believe in your dreams and plans but they should have the availability (time, financial resources, other) and conditions (skills, abilities, attitudes) to help you make them happen. As a personal example, I have absolutely no doubt that my two sisters would do anything to see me succeed. But one of them lives miles away in Europe and the other one is autistic and for obvious reasons can’t support me in certain things. And yes, we are talking about extremely practical things here as picking up my child from school or cook a meal, while I am on a heavy workday in a particular season. This might be an extreme example, but it serves very well to illustrate the point.

Question 2 - Are they vested in your success?

Having someone willing and available to help you succeed (as we saw in the past question) does not imply that they are “vested in your success”. To have a vested interest is “to have a strong reason for wanting something to happen because you will gain from it”. While I do not mean to suggest that relationships should be transactional, the notion of vested interest makes willingness to support more sustainable. A professional sponsor or entrepreneurial mentor might be vested in your success: if you do succeed, she/he and industry, company or cause you both fight for might be better of. Another, and in my opinion the most important example is of course your spouse or partner: if you succeed (under the assumption that you both share what success means), your overall relationship, family and household will become stronger. As Sheryl Sandberg said, “the most important career decision a woman can take is deciding who to marry”.

Question 3 - Will they cheer for you while you get it?

On a day-to-day basis, energy is what keeps us going. If someone is helping you, his/her own satisfaction while doing so should exude. Cheering for you means being there just to listen, to give you constructive feedback, or to simply tell you “I am proud of you” or “Keep going” when it is most needed. You do not need robots that just get tasks done inside your network. You do not need people that despite being available and even vested in your success can’t relate to you and can’t have the level of enthusiasm to celebrate you.

Rejuvenating your network

When applying the 3-question Test for the ideal support network there is no wonder that family and mentors generally meet all three criteria. Sometimes however, we might be surprised that people in our core network just meet one or two of the three criteria. What is certain, however, is that there is nothing wrong if your network seems unbalanced right now, as long as you are aware of it and you start working on it. For this, you can use some on these quick strategies to start rejuvenating your network:

“Talk to them”: Explore why some relationships appear so unbalanced. Do they really understand and accept your own definition of success? Are they supporting me out of generic responsibility or politeness, or do they really see this as a “win-win” relationship? If answers are not apparent to you, dare to have these difficult conversations and get to the root of the issues.
“Use the 3-question filter actively to engage with new people”: You meet people daily and time helps you develop a relationship with them. Ask yourself the 3 questions actively and welcome people that can add value to you. Remember network members come in different shapes. In intermediate cities in Latin America, for instance, neighbors are key network members, so give yourself permission to see beyond the family, co-workers and friends circle.
“Let people go”: There might be individuals that after deep conscious analysis, you realize were never meant to play certain roles in your life and it’s healthy to let them go. That does not mean you finish or truncate your relationships, but you might now locate them in a completely different place when it comes to supporting your path as a woman to success.

Vulnerability is power

Vulnerability is power. Many women, especially those of us of the “You can have it all” mentality, still can have the misconception that we can achieve “professional-personal balance” alone, by multiplying or cloning ourselves. Men have created for generations an ecosystem around them to advance in careers (being us women as partners and mothers their principal network members!) and now as women is our turn to move from only from being only “supporters” to be the “supported ones”. As the African proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child”, same way, it takes a village for a woman to make his way into her own definition of success. And this village is your core network. Pick it wisely.

Notes to self! a.k.a. Amazing Quotes from amazing Women Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:32:00 +0000

Spring 2013 - Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership Class at Babson MBA

Today, we had two wonderful Entrepreneurs in Residence of Babson, Sharon Kan and Gail Simmons, who visited a very unique elective class that we have at BABSON called Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership, taught by Professor Candy Brush. I can just say that this has been one of my favorite classes at Babson and one of the reasons have been all the women we have had as panelists around different topcis in nearly every class this spring.

For those who know me, I am a "quotes" person, so here are few of the amazing thoughts I captured this afternoon from these inspiring women. I know they might not make much sense with out the context of the conversation we were having in class, yet I thought you might still enjoy few of them them as muchas I did.

My top quotes from Sharon

[Answering to the question: what did you want to be when you were younger?] "A king (yes, not a queen!!)"
"I always wanted to be with the boys"
"Accidentally I ended up in the right place"
"I usually do what I am not supposed to do"
"For women is hard to say NO, but it seems to be harder to get a NO"
"Do you remember a time when your mother has shared one of her NO's with you? This is where all starts"
"If I saved people's lives, I can handle a No" (referring to her experience in the Israel air force)
"What does it mean/imply when men 'go for drinks'? When we women talk to a man, seems like we have to 'pitch'"
"If you do not take the responsibility to make a change, it's not going to happen"
"The generation of our parents is all about job security. On the other hand I have created jobs for myself, that is what I have been doing all this time. The opportunity for me is to create the job I am looking for"
"Aim for big, it takes the same effort than aiming for small"
"Your most important professional decision is who you will marry"
[Answering how to understand/deconstruct legacy] "Legacy is about credibility"

My top quotes from Gail

[Answering to the question: what did you want to be when you were younger?] "I wanted to be a dental hygienist. When my mother asked why a dental hygienist. and not a dentist, I answered 'dentists are men, dental hygienists are always women!'"
"Where do you see yourself in years? I hate that question. And that does not mean that I am not organized, but I know that it's all about dealing with uncertainty."
[Answering how to understand/deconstruct legacy] "Legacy is about integrity"

About Sharon Kan

Sharon Kan is an entrepreneur and a seasoned operational executive. Sharon was a co-founder of Tikatok.com, which was acquired by B&N in 2009. Tikatok was the fourth startup company that Sharon built from its foundation with a group from MIT University. Before Sharon co-founded Tikatok she was CEO of Zoomix, a data management solution provider that was acquired by Microsoft in 2008. Prior, Sharon was President North America of c-Ark, a product lifecycle management company. c-Ark was acquired by SSA (now Infor). Prior to c-Ark, Ms. Kan spent 5 years with Demantra Inc., a leading global provider of supply chain management and established its activity in NA. Demantra was acquired by Oracle in 2006. Sharon is currently Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson College; a mentor at The MIT Venture Mentoring Service, formed to support entrepreneurial activity throughout MIT University.; and a member of the Advisory Board of Entrepreneurship at Simmons College School of Management. She has been a speaker at conferences and educational institutions on the subjects of entrepreneurship, innovation, core values and leadership. Sharon holds an Executive MBA from the University of Bradford in the UK, a BA degree in Business from the College of Management in Israel, and is a graduate of the French Culture program of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. (Source: Babson Website)

About Gail Simmons

Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality. Since the show’s inception in 2006, she has lent her extensive expertise as a permanent judge on Bravo’s Emmy-winning series Top Chef. Now in its tenth successful season, Top Chef is rated the #1 food show on cable television. Gail is also host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, Bravo’s pastry-focused spin-off of the Top Chef franchise, which aired its second season in the fall of 2011. Gail joined Food & Wine in 2004 and directs special projects for the magazine, acting as liaison between the marketing and editorial teams on magazine events and chef-related initiatives, working closely with the country’s top culinary talent. During her tenure, she has been responsible for overseeing the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, America’s premier culinary event. Prior to joining Food & Wine, Gail was the special events manager for Chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Gail moved to New York City in 1999 to attend culinary school at what is now the Institute of Culinary Education. She then trained in the kitchens of legendary Le Cirque 2000 and groundbreaking Vong restaurants, and worked for esteemed food critic Jeffrey Steingarten at Vogue. Throughout her career, Gail has contributed to several cookbooks, including It Must’ve Been Something I Ate by Steingarten, Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City and The New American Chef, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Gail’s first book, her very own memoir titled Talking With My Mouth Full, was published by Hyperion in February 2012. In addition to her work on Top Chef, Gail makes frequent television appearances on TODAY on NBC, ABC’s Good Morning America, and Fox & Friends, among others. She has been featured in such publications as New Yorkmagazine, Travel + Leisure, GQ, People, TV Guide, US Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and was named the #1 Reality TV Judge in America by The New York Post. She also appears at the nation’s foremost culinary festivals, including the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, New York City Wine & Food Festival and many more. Gail can be seen in the online video series The Pantry Project on www.kitchendaily.com, where she teaches viewers new ways to cook with the staples, both familiar and unusual, in their kitchens. (Source: Babson Website)

When it comes to entrepreneurship - Are you an obstetrician, a pediatrician, or a geriatrician?

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:30:00 +0000

Recently on a casual chat with Rene Rojas, Founder and CEO of HubBog, he shared with me one of the coolest analogies I’ve heard when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Rene and I, both passionate for education, were talking about the concept of “academy” for entrepreneurial context and how it differs from the traditional MBA/business education mental models. So, it was when he told me: “Supporting Entrepreneurs is like being an obstetrician, we are talking about a fragile human being hardly trying to come to life, in a process that is fairly delicate , unexpected and difficult. MBAs in the other hand are full of pediatricians, those who deal with the child when he’s expected to be stable and fit and now it's all about raising her/him healthily” (1)

As a soon-to-be MBA (even from Babson and its differential entrepreneurial approach) I could not agree more with the past point, to the extend that I added that some graduate programs or at least people I have come across, seem to be even “geriatricians”. However in a entrepreneurship movement that eery days leans more towards SCALE UPs (vs. Start Ups) and RAPID GROWTH, pediatricians will be nevertheless in high demand, specially those who hang out with lots of obstetricians.

While many of the greatest things I’ve seen in the entrepreneurial world have risen however from the magic zone of collaborations between obstetricians, pediatricians and geriatricians, such as …

· Endeavor connecting adolescents (High Impact Ventures) with adult doctors (seasoned executives of Large Organizations and TOP consulting firms)
· The IBM Emerging Opportunities Program, for Corporate Entrepreneurship

… I still think that everybody needs to be clear of where its natural space it.

The beauty of all this is not to play cool about being one or another; we need the three types of doctors for the economic system to function!

The real beauty is to understand where our expertise, talent and personal culture relies, as a manager or as a “mentor” (I am pretty scared to use the underestimated/misunderstood M word these days) and offer this expertise in the right context. Just because entrepreneurship is so cool these days, does not mean that you have the right skills set to support entrepreneurs or turn into one.

And thinking back in my own business education at Babson, I can truly say the Entrepreneurial Thought and Action DNA of our school is nothing else as an invitation to understand that in today's world, we'll be many times pushed to be obstetricians (weather we want it or not- "you never know when a pregnant woman in the middle of nowhere we need your help!"). That does not mean that every single person that leaves this school will be an obstetrician, but at least we all are aware that pivoting, and testing and dancing with ambiguity (even in the most stable organizations) is the "new forecasting".

(1) These might not be textual words, but you get the idea.

My definitions of Entrepreneurship and of Social Innovation!

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:46:00 +0000

Entrepreneurship ...

Share yours at http://define.babson.edu/ ...

Social Innovation ...

Share yours at http://definesocial.babson.edu/ ...

My view on the role of Entrepreneurs in a “booming” ecosystem

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:16:00 +0000

Oriana Torres, MBA Student Babson College

December 20^th, 2012

“ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM? Another academic jargon- you might say. I wonder how many Entrepreneurs know the concept … and if they actually should know it from a technical perspective. Probably not. But what I wonder is, if Colombian Entrepreneurs are aware enough to NAVIGATE such ecosystem and make the most out of it – genuinely and strategically.”

Fist of all, I want to open making the disclaimer that I am not an entrepreneur, although, yes, I opened a restaurant in northern Bogota (Colombia) as a side business back in 2010. The business failed and the reasons why it failed are crystal-clear to me today. I guess this is a “fashionable” thing to share nowadays that our culture finally starts to understand that failure is inherent to innovation and entrepreneurship. But this post is neither about my “low-growth” previous entrepreneurial try, nor about me. This post is about all those privileged, real, High Impact Entrepreneurs out there. And even if I just stated that I am not an Entrepreneur, I have spent lots of time around them to the point that I am more than confident to write the following thoughts.

It’s a good moment to be an Entrepreneur in Colombia, specially if you are a Dynamic, High-Growth, High Impact one – “label” it however you want: it’s a good moment to be a visionary leader, who identifies an uncontested market space, captures the extraordinary value around it and makes sure such endeavor GROWS healthy and sustainably. And it’s a good moment because since couple of years things are changing and a solid ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM seems to be emerging in our country.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM? Another academic jargon, might you say. I wonder how many Entrepreneurs know the concept … and if they actually should know it from a technical perspective. Probably not. But what I wonder is, if Colombian Entrepreneurs are aware enough to NAVIGATE such ecosystem and make the most out of it – genuinely and strategically.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, I was born and raised by Endeavor. Great parents, I must say. Right now I’m entering the adulthood thanks to the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project and Babson College where I am doing my MBA (which included a summer sabbatical at iNNpulsa Colombia, the National Agency for Innovation and Dynamic Entrepreneurship in Colombia). And because I have been a lucky apprentice around those who are trying to figure out how to stimulate a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem for Colombia, I would like to offer you Entrepreneurs some advice on the role that you are encouraged to play in such a booming ecosystem.

Make sure you understand YOU are the center of the model

All the institutions and policies around the topic of entrepreneurship exist for a reason: to make sure more and better High Growth Entrepreneurs scale to a point where - apart from fulfilling their personal dreams - the entrepreneur’s companies move the needle of the economy in terms of economic capital (jobs, contribution to GDP), intellectual capital (innovative solutions, patents), cultural capital (powerful narratives, role modeling), among many other societal benefits. So, YOU, Mrs/Mr Entrepreneur, please remember that you are the end consumer, the ultimate beneficiary of the system. Live your role. Claim your place. Often I see Entrepreneurs rather “intimidated” by the organizations that support entrepreneurship, scared of knocking doors or full of paradigms about how those catalyzing institutions work. Rescuing an amazing quote from Wences Casares, an Endeavor Global Entrepreneur, he said that “Theory is when nothing works & we know exactly why, practice is when everything works & we have no clue why”. You Entrepreneurs are the practice, you are the living proof of what works and what doesn’t, and while the best thought leaders in the ecosystem have been entrepreneurs and/or investors, is it you, Mrs/Mr Entrepreneur, who needs to expose yourself to the system so that it always remembers why it was established in first place. Don’t be concerned about “fitting” in a movement that is precisely meant to understand and catalyze you.

Differentiate the “great” from the “not that great”

An ecosystem is an emerging structure, no matter how oxymoronic it sounds when we say that “we are working to build it”. It’s a living process where at times it’s very hard to answer the question weather if policy, programs or access to capital precede the existence of great entrepreneurs or viceversa. But the point that I try to make is that, because it’s an emerging system there are not “gates” to it and it’s hard to control who is in there and therefore, as an Entrepreneur you will be likely to find “great” and “not that great” actors out there. Use your criteria and be wise. Not every program will be well thought. Not every “mentor” will act as a real a mentor. Not every capital offer will be “smart” for your business. And this advice is particularly relevant since some of the programs out there are extremely attractive because they are easily attainable or “free”, to the point that entrepreneurs feel tempted to just participate in whatever they find as a manifestation of the well known “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out). Set your priorities, look for strategic fits and be selective in terms of whom you work with.

Good things come with a price, so do the homework

Often I meet entrepreneurs that just do not want to do the homework. As H. Roark once said, "to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences". Even if institutions in the ecosystem are doing a great job marketing who they are and how they operate (and in my opinion few of them even “babysit” entrepreneurs!) you must put in the hours to do what it takes to benefit from the system. And this goes from basic things such as following the relevant social media channels of institutions to be informed of opportunities, over doing quality applications that really do reflect the reality and plans of your company, over networking to make sure you really understand what the ecosystem as a whole has to offer. You, Entrepreneurs, are thousands and the leading organizations are probably only tens, so there must be standard procedures in place for these organizations to interact with you and you need, if applicable, to commit to those. It is understandable that an Entrepreneur’s main responsibility is to “take care of her/his company” and that time is the one of the scarcest resources, that’s why the key is to a align with those organizations and programs that really fall into your own agenda, so that they become leverage points, rather than “extra random tasks” in your TO DO list. Be organized and proactive.

Help the ecosystem institutions be better

Here is the catch: Because our country is in diapers in terms of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, many of the institutions that foster entrepreneurship are also start-ups and scale-ups themselves. They might be under the umbrella of strong global brands or even under the government, but things are being “professionally figured out as they happen”, these institutions are pivoting too! That means that YOU, as the end consumer, play a key role offering candid feedback though formal and informal channels to those organizations on how to SERVE YOU better. It’s very easy to criticize when we are upset about the content of an event, or about the requirements or outcome of an application process, but it adds more value for all to come back and express what should -in your opinion- be different. Dare to do that, it’s one of the most important roles you can play.

Give Back

Something that I admire particularly from the Entrepreneurs of Endeavor is their fierce commitment to “Give Back”. For them, giving back means belonging to a network where they play a role of a “member” rather than the sole role of a “receiver”, despite their clear condition of benefiter. Giving Back in a genuine attitude and manifests itself in many forms and moments. Here is an example. Few months back I was collecting data from entrepreneurs (applying a survey) that was very relevant for a research I was running for iNNpulsa Colombia: the few entrepreneurs that took 15 minutes of their time to answer my questions were giving back to the ecosystem. Yes, surveys are boring, but do you see the bigger picture of what could be accomplished by that and how this can benefit all of us? Giving Back could also be something way more rewarding such as mentoring/investing in a younger entrepreneur, or doing a public presentation telling your Entrepreneurial story to society. Don’t underestimate the power of your narratives, they might well be the only real driver of change an ecosystem has. At this point my message does not go towards what specifically to do to give back (this can be an interesting whole new reflection), but towards the importance of seeing your “residence” in a particular entrepreneurial ecosystem as a two-way process.

One of the things I loved about the last visit of iNNpulsa Colombia to the President of Colombia Juan ManuelSantos was the fact that they brought along Entrepreneurs, whose stories were actually in the spotlight of the meeting. To me, that sent a strong message, which is the same message I felt like passing through this post. You, Entrepreneurs, are the reason for this entire boom. This is about YOU, not about we, that talk about it.

If there is a moment to become and High Growth Entrepreneur in Colombia, it’s now. Dance with the ecosystem, be bold!

Disclaimer: Opinions presented are my own and do not represent the organizations that are named in this article.

Surviving change Vs. being the change

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 03:56:00 +0000

A short refection on this article
http://www.economist.com/node/21542796 ... warming up for my Strategies for Innovation & Growth Class, this saturday.

After reading the article, one "extreme" and probably naive reflection came to my mind: surviving in a changing environment is all about forgetting "who you are" and simply ensuring that cash comes through the door. Let me explain what I mean.

I might have anchored too much in the example of how Fuji used its capabilities in chemicals for films, to move into the cosmetics space (but I'll still use it). From the technology point of view, the application of the antioxidant "technology" used in films to a skin care products makes a lot of sense. However (besides the technology we just talked about) - what do a film making firm and a cosmetics firm have in common?

Fuji's reaction to the imminent change is indeed impressive, however I see its merit around "staying live", rather than around re-shaping its industry or space. They simply created another business, being smart enough to leverage in an "inheritance" (call it cash, technology, or even a market). And by the way, this new business is not necessarily innovative, from a buyer perspective (despite the detailed features described) to me Astalift looks very similar to what Este Lauder, Clinique or any of those cosmetic companies offer). I am not trying to undermine the brilliance of Fuji. The stories I am trying to contrast is the one of "Fuji moving into new spaces because its space is dead" Vs. "Fuji/Kodak adding smart phone capabilities to their cameras". The first story is about substitution of revenue streams, the second is about real evolution or transformation of your industry.

Any thoughts?

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 03:29:00 +0000

Last July 18th of 2012 was the public launch of "Manizales Mas" ("Manizales Plus", in english), the first initiative of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project in Colombia.

As described in a recent article by Newswise, "the project will seek to enrich the city’s entrepreneurship ecosystem to support ambitious entrepreneurs in rapidly starting new ventures, while accelerating and scaling existing ones". Manizales is a city in central Colombia, capital of the Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis.

Seeing the project becoming a reality was extremely special for me, not just because I am a Babson student from Colombia, but also because the project is one of the manifestations of how the understanding of what entrepreneurship really means is slowly changing. Four particular things called my attention during the launch ceremony:

The "lingo" is changing: Before coming to Babson as a student, I used to work at Endeavor Colombia. The more I learned about the concept of High Impact Entrepreneurship thanks to my job, the more I was exposed to the difficulties that our national ecosystem faced to even understand the term. However, seeing local entrepreneurs, politicians and of course the local project leaders in Manizales giving speeches where expressions like "self-employment is not entrepreneurship" or "is all about sustainable growth" were used, made me positive about key actors now getting the difference between the diverse types of entrepreneurship and their completely different impacts in the economic development of our country.
An example of team work: A quite impressive moment to me was seeing on stage all actors of the project symbolically committing to the project, pasting "+" signs on the main project wall: there were private sector reps, university reps, government reps, among others. Colombia has always been known as a very creative, enthusiastic and hardworking culture, but in my opinion collaboration hasn't necessarily been our strength, specially when it comes to entrepreneurship development projects: there is lots of redundancy and thus, inefficiency. That's why seeing people focusing efforts on a winning project, together, gave me a lot of hope.
The power of the regions: There is the common say that "Colombia is a country of regions", however main entrepreneurship development efforts have been focused around the capital. Even if my home is half "manizaleño" (being my husband from there and knowing through him the potential of the city), Manizales wouldn't be on my top of mind of cities where you would expect an entrepreneurial revolution to happen. But "Manizales Mas" is proving me wrong. The spotlight is now on Manizales and all Colombian regions have an eye on it to learn from this truly pioneering experience.
An "Entrepreneur-centric" model: Despite the multiple players involved "Manizales Mas" is very emphatic about the entrepreneurs being the reason and main beneficiary of the project. I loved that.

The platform is set, the citizens excited, the actors committed. Good luck to "Manizales Mas" and I look forward to witness and support a first in class bet in Colombia.

Rwandan Entrepreneurs of all kinds

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:50:00 +0000

And here I am, in Kigali, Rwanda in a very “comfy” leather couch in a coffee shop where there is fast enough to blog WIFI and - for the record - “the best ginger honey lemon” tea of the world.

Yes, I have been since last 24^th of May in Rwanda mainly living in the countryside in a small town called SAVE, in the south of the country. I have tweeted a lot always using the hashtag #WLPRwanda2012, which is the Program though which I am here: the Babson Women’s Leadership Program. Yet nor the Tweets neither the pictures I have managed to post of Facebook are enough to capture all what has been lived. Luckily despite the technology, we humans will always have hearts and minds where all can be stored forever.

There are too many angles from which I could write about Rwanda, and hopefully I will. But being a Babson MBA student, of course I need to start with our DNA topic: ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Specially because just few minutes ago I finished a pleasant Sunday morning meeting with one of them, and get so motivated that remembered that I needed to blog.

Babson celebrates Entrepreneurs of ALL kinds and my short stay in Rwanda has been a playground to meet Entrepreneurs of all kinds. I want to introduce you some of them.

1. Alphonse, the evidence of the power of Corporate Entrepreneurship

I might be over-excited with the whole idea of Corporate Entrepreneurship as one of the most effective ways to create high impact ventures, just because I just started (my first ever!) independent academic research called: “Anatomy of the Colombian High Growth Entrepreneurs: making the case for Corporate Entrepreneurship”, supervised by Babson Professor Jay Rao. The research is inspired in the need of Innpulsa Colombia, where I will be doing an internship in the second half of my 2012 summer.

But coming back to Alphonse, he is just one of the many cases we expect to find in my research. Alphonse (who is the father of the only Rwandan undergrad student at Babson!) worked for 15+ years in big organizations, being Heineken one of them. He has done Talent Management, Marketing and Corporate Development functions and now he is focusing in developing a conglomerate of Education/Career Development companies, as I see it! Partly with support of Babson he launched already a Business Language Institute in Rwanda, which he put into action right after a team of Babson students helped him with the Business Plan some years back. Heineken is being a true Anchor Firm for him, not only was Heineken his first client, but also they even gave him space in their premises to host the business. “I talked directly to the CEO and he loved the idea”, “I have the network” – are some of the aspects he shared with me and show the powerful role of Anchor firms.

Now Alphonse wants to move on with a Career Development firm, by the way totally in synergy with his current a Business Language Institute. We meet to see how I could help him developing the product and we do have a roadmap for that! I was too passionate since I am also passionate about Education and the opportunities in this space in countries as Rwanda and my own Colombia are infinite. The developed world has so many models that are just waiting to be adapted to our realities, and as Professor Isenberg says, many times is all about “minnovation”.

Me and Alphonse, in Kigali

2. Geraldine, First Rwandan Woman in the Supreme Court

Geraldine was the first Rwandan leader we met after we landed in Kigali. Ben, one of the country directors of the Babson Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center whispered to me after we sat in the table in Heaven Restaurant with Geraldine the following: “She is a very modest person, but she has an amazing story behind being the first Rwandan Woman making it to the Supreme Court”.

My lesson from Geraldine: Balance and family. Although you expected her to talk about all what it took her to make it to Harvard despite her humble origins, she was very emphatic sharing her conscious effort to be a “A” wife, “A” daughter and “A” mother. “I shower my kids, just to make sure every day there is nothing wrong in their bodies” - she said. And her agenda does look like the one of someone that is even in town enough to do that, but she does. Another inspiring aspect is how she talked about her parents, even if not with her, everything she does is oriented to make them proud.

Me and Geraldine

3. Robin Smyth, The social Entrepreneur behind African Bagel Company

Robyn, a nurse by profession, and his husband moved from the USA to Rwanda with their 4 kids to drive social change. I can’t find a simpler way to describe it. She had her family had always been involved I social initiatives to support Africa but at some point they felt they could and needed to do more. After few visits before to Rwanda, they decided one day that they would stay for a longer period of time to see if they could adapt and establish there. And they indeed did adapt and establish.

Roby founded the AFRICAN BAGEL COMPANY (ABC), that is “THE” place to go in Kigali if you want “American style” bakery goods, specially bagels, doughnuts, cakes, chips, sandwiches and all that goodies that seen “common” to us but a rare treat when you are an expat in Rwanda. You have to see how full this place was on saturday. Insane!

Well, but that's not the real success of ABC. Behind ABC there is an institute to train and empower Rwandan women in cooking and customer care - Rwandan hands are the ones that bake, package and sale the goods and they have found in this new activity a gateway out of poverty. It is still a relative small model in terms of the quantity of women supported, yet the more I am in Africa the more I realize the High Scale Change is an oxymoron. You start with a small community and then you replicate. And this is more and less how Robyn sees it happening.

My lesson from Robyn: Impact is to be done in the ground and if you feel that the place where you are at is not close enough to that playground, you need to find ways to get closer, even if it implies leaving your whole life behind for a while. Understand first the people you are trying to help, only through doing that you will be able to support and empower them better.

The Babson WLP Team with Robyn

Life is good. When you are around role models anywhere in the world, nothing can just go wrong.

Hope to have time to blog even often, since certainly the list of entrepreneurs to talk about goes on. For now, it’s time to pay for the delicious tea and go back to my students!

Let’s keep Social Media real: insights from a Social Media User

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:40:00 +0000

During the second “Global Connections Through Technology” (GCTT) class at Babson College, Professor Bala Iyer asked the provocative question: “What do you use social media for?” As a student sitting in his class, I answered that to me the use of Social Media was an extension of my purpose. This answer was in contrast to students’ answers such as “to stay in touch with friends”, “to obtain the latest news” or “to get exposed to potential employers”. My answer might seem pretty “philosophical” but represents what at least to me, matters most while interacting with someone on Social Networks.

I am not a Social Media expert (especially when it comes to the corporate sector). Despite the education I am receiving at Babson, my personal ambition is not to become a Social Media expert. I am though a heavy user of Social Media since the early days and I enjoy introducing friends and family members to the basics of the Social Media world.

With so much emphasis put nowadays into the role and “do’s and don’ts” of Social Networks, I am disappointed about Social Media turning into a space of unreal individuals. Here are some of my concerns:

“But, I do not know what to tweet!”

That’s what many people new to Twitter (as an example) tell me. My automatic reaction to this is that it’s not about what to tweet: it’s about what you are inspired by and ultimately, about who you are. Talking about your purpose on Social Media sounds like a scary and complex concept, but let me give you a real life example that proves it is not.

The mother of a good friend of mine is a housewife. She blogs and tweets about how “to make everything very special” – which also happens to be the name of her blog. The difference between her and any other user, is that she truly narrates stories on how she carefully selects each detail for each occasion in her home (a meal, a gift, a decoration, a medicine), what inspired her to do so, what her family thought, and in general, how she sees a value in making extraordinary things to unite her family.
Her purpose is not to post heartless “meal recipes” or “craft instructions” which you could find in any website or magazine.

To unite her family. That is her purpose.

When you are genuine about your purpose, a community starts to build around it. That’s how followers, contacts and friends arrive.

Social Media is an attitude, not a strategic plan

As much as I value the exercises that we are doing as part of the GCTT class on Personal Digital Presence, I believe that interest for Social Media is not something that you gain by stating it in a written plan, although it’s certainly a start.

Let’s assume the clarity on your purpose is checked. Is that enough? My answer to that is no. More than a plan you need to have the right attitude. When your mind and your fingers are ready to tweet, or to “pin” on Pinterest, or when paragraphs flow while writing a blog post without even thinking of steps and rules. You realize that you not only have the attitude but the habit of Social Media.

Everyday I un-follow and un-friend at least 1 person. The main reason is that those people created a profile, but never cared to share anything. Why follow a “dead” profile? I tell friends that they should not have a Social Media presence if they are not going to care of it.

Attitude for Social Media also means being open to embrace the implications of expressing your purpose, such as critiques on your opinions and loss of followers. When people stop following you on some networks should not always be seen as something negative, because it could be the best evidence that your audience is adjusting based on the topics you chose to share.

The risks of building an image of someone that you are not

Recently during a visit back home, I sat during an 1-hour bus ride next to a person that I know but that I had not seen for a very long time. I have been following him on Twitter and Facebook, so was not an issue to track what this person was up to. As an icebreaker, I asked him to tell me more about an article he recently posted on Facebook about a topic that I also happen to be highly engaged with. “Oh yes, that article” – he said. “I put many links out there, but I rarely read them myself”.

After hearing that, I totally lost my respect for this person.

I want to follow real people, not images of what they want others to see of them. Everything we share or support on Social Networks, should be a mirror of aspects that we are ready to discuss in person.

“Yes” to humanization of brands

My favorite brands on Social Media are those that while interacting with them feel as if I would be talking to a human. One unforgettable example that I have is Coca-Cola.
Last year when doing grocery shopping I discovered a new presentation of Coke on the shelf: a tiny, beautiful can, which I had never seen before and instantly captured my attention. Still in the grocery store I took a picture of it and uploaded it on Twitter, sharing how much I liked it. To my surprise, within minutes, CocaCola had already answered my Tweet, even mentioning my first name.

Evidence of my Coca-Cola Twitter conversation back in May 2011

What a different feeling is to get such a warm response versus getting “automated replies”. I am not intending to say that all companies must have thousands of human beings just dedicated to engaging with customers over Social Media, but in the spirit of “keeping Social Media real” brands should consider including elements that go from static self promotion into an ongoing conversation with clients. And yes, that has a real impact in their economic bottom-line. Coming back to my Coca Cola example, since the day our little Twitter interaction happened, I have NEVER asked for a Pepsi when Coke has been available. Since that day Coca Cola is MY FRIEND, not just a vendor.

As a user which engages with like-minded individuals and brands every day, I can’t stress more that what gives people and companies the edge on social media is keeping a real tone. Social Media is not a shop window, where only a one-way communication happens. Social Media is a playground where thoughts and feelings are exchanged and for that, authenticity is the key.

About the Author
http://www.linkedin.com/in/orianatorres
Oriana Torres (30) is a Colombian MBA Candidate at Babson College, passionate about entrepreneurship and education. She has over 8 years of diverse experience in the corporate as non-corporate sector in 5 different countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Oriana worked from March 2007 to July 2011 at the Colombian office of Endeavor, a global non-profit organization that identifies and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets to facilitate and encourage long-term sustainable growth.

Perseverance: A picture is worth a thousand words

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:16:00 +0000

define.babson.edu

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Enter your definition under www.define.babson.edu

One day (or a short refection on kindness)

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:40:00 +0000

"all my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
for the people to say
that we don't wanna fight no more
they'll be no more wars
and our children will play"

This song video by Matisyahu is everytwhere in the social networks. When I finally opened it (sometimes I am skeptical about the quality of the stuff that is overly shared on Facebook) I understood the reason for such hype. It's beautiful.

Where the heck do you learn to be kind? How the heck to you teach to be kind? How do you scale simple acts of kindness as the ones seen on the video into a higher level of reality? And actually, would our world be better if ...?

First set of lessons from the first quarter of the Babson MBA

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:38:00 +0000

25 % of my MBA time is over and few lessons have been learned. You can scale technology, operations, a business … but the toughest thing to scale is the human brain. BABSON offers you intelectual transformation, personal transformation, professional transformation.

One of three sections of the Babson MBA Class of 2013

Lesson 1: “Academic success is all about strategy”. Despite the overall satisfaction I have with my academic experience and performance (measured not just by a GPA but by the real skills and vision I’m gaining), I would be lying if I say that I prepared for each and every class the way that I would have wanted. When some of our professors told us that for every academic hour of class they are mandated to give approximately 3 hours of preparation in the form of readings or assignments I just could not believe it – considering that we had 4 hours of class a day! But it turned out to be true for most of the days.

Unlike the way it works in undergrad (at least in mine) at an MBA level preparation is not a “plus” or a “nice to have”. Many students might argue about this, but my personal opinion is that without preparing for class you are on one hand losing money (have you ever calculated how much you pay for a MBA hour of class?) and on the hand you just acquire extra stress and frustration resulting from accumulated material that you never managed to understand. With very few exceptions, if I wanted to be fully immersed in a class, it seemed that there was no option but preparing. So what do you do? It took me few months to realize that it is human not to have the time to cover every reading, every exercise, and that it is all about strategy: a strategy sustained on self-awareness and prioritization. Self-awareness to be objective enough to realize what you are good at and what not good at and thus, devote more time to the latter, replacing procrastination by strategic prioritization. Self-awareness to realize if you are better at participating “live” during classes or rather performing on exams. And so you build your strategy around all those variables.

Easier said than done … I know. I still do not master it, but I guess I still have ¾ of my MBA to do it. “At Babson you earn your degree the old-fashion way, you have to work hard for it” – said our Dean during orientation last August. He was very right.

Lesson 2: “Co-curricular experience is one of the strongest ways to really connect with fellow students”. I must confess that I freak out a bit when I think of all the co-curricular activities I am part of (specially after facing the time scarcity I talked about in Lesson 1!), to the point that I feel compromising my own sanity! I am in leadership team of 5 clubs/groups, plus I have a part time on campus job – and I won’t tell you how many opportunities I forced myself to ignore! Saying “no” has always been one of my top weaknesses. Yet feeling involved in leadership roles and creative initiatives does not only motivate me but also is a wonderful way to mingle with people beyond the classroom. Being part of such groups gives me a sense of legacy for the school and to me this is one of the strongest ways to give back to Babson.

One aspect that also I learned to cultivate and keep cultivating is spiritual life. I am so happy that I could find the service of catholic mass on campus and that (as picky as I am regarding the masses I attend) it meets my criteria for actually returning to a certain church: the priest is a good speaker and they have good music. It seems to me that the Babson multi-faith chapel shall offer the same to practitioners of other religions.

Lesson 3: “It’s never too early to start working systematically on career development”. I know this might sound like a “standard” or even obvious advice, but I just want to ratify it. Building a good relationship to the center of career development of your school as early as possible is crucial; I feel that I could have started earlier as a matter of fact. You might be overwhelmed with classes and exams, but in the end, one of the reasons you are doing an MBA is to find a way to impact society through a successful career, and thus, cultivating your career options also requires time since the very first months. By December 2011 however I have applied to 3 internships for the summer (I know many of my colleges have even applied for more) I totally fell in love with and I am excited to see how those selection processes evolve during early 2012. Babson’s Graduate Center for Career Development is there to help, always, and its personalized approach makes a total difference.

Lesson 4: “Getting proactively involved is the only way to discover opportunities, especially in the No. 1 business school for entrepreneurship”.Being an MBA student in the No. 1 school for entrepreneurship does not make you an entrepreneur by osmosis. Even if the Babson “Entrepreneurial Thought and Action in organizations of all kinds” is immersed in the majority of the academic streams, if you are an entrepreneur you have to proactively search and involve in all opportunities the school offers. I am happy to be part of three which are the Babson Venture Accelerator Program, but specially the CATALYZE CHANGE WORKSHOP SERIES and the Social Innovators’ Action Learning Network, the last two designed and lead by the BABSON LEWIS INSTITUE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION. I love the experience with the LEWIS INSTITUTE since both of their programs I am part to are focused on myself, as a person, as an individual that plans to start an entrepreneurial venture and that needs to acknowledge her limitations in a genuine way. The cohort of like minded people involved in those programs is amazing and a great source of inspiration. I look forward to tell more about it in a subsequent post.

"Pitching" as KEY entrepreneurial skill

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

I’ve been an MBA student at BABSON for less than three months. Time might look short, but if there is something that I have done much more often than what I believed I would do in just three months is “pitching”.

The “business pitch culture” at Babson is very strong. I heard once from a classmate that even when one is having a beer at the campus pub (specially during Rocket Pitch season), one could simply be approached by a fellow student, who invites you to do your pitch in front of him/her. And I’m not surprised. If we recall that Babson has been ranked as the No. School for Entrepreneurship for 18 years, such a culture is very consistent with the type of school we are.

Whether you like public speaking or not, business pitching becomes a skill we all develop and some of us master. Formal and informal spaces at the school allow us to do so. For instance, as part of my first Entrepreneurship class (which I had during Module 1, which is the first half of the Fall Semester) I was required to pitch twice. The experience was transformational. At first, you feel under pressure, you feel unprepared, you feel uncomfortable: max. 3 slides in max. 3 minutes is not an easy task (when Spanish is you native language, being succinct is not a particular strength!). But after couple of pitches you realize that the panic just vanished and that the connection between you and your idea is more powerful than anything else.

Babson Rocket Pitch 2011

Another special space at Babson to show your ideas to the world is the Babson Rocket Pitch, which is an annual event where Babson and Olin entrepreneurs (students and alumni) are invited to pitch their business ideas to a large audience of students, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers – also under the 3 slides/3 minutes format. As one of the students who pitched, I can say that this was a particularly special day. One could see how many people were pitching not because it was a class assignment (which as said, tends to be our first experience with doing an elevator pitch), but because they really wanted to do so.

“Idea Live” is also an additional activity that students have available to hone our “pitching” skills, even if it is not an official rocket pitch or business plan competition. It is a less formal event where students can discuss their ideas and receive feedback in a fun and energized environment. Each presenter has 5 minutes to discuss his or her business idea. No Powerpoint slides, but a white board will be available if needed.

I believe it is very important to realize that even if traditionally a pitch is directed at anyone who might want to provide funding for an entrepreneur’s venture, you can pitch for many reasons beyond funding, like for example to find high level advisors, new partners or new employees. Or you simply pitch because you want to get feedback on your idea, being the latter probably the most powerful take away from any pitch you deliver.

BABSON MBA Alumni Entrepreneurs: "The things the way they are"

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:30:00 +0000

BABSON MBA Alumni Entrepreneurs and VCs

1st Year MBA class, Section 2

October 14/2011

Fresh highlights from today's Entrepreneurship class with BABSON MBA Alumni that came "home"... great stories of resilience, team work and of course, satisfaction... "the things the way they are".

"We have grown our venture through validation"
"Convertible debt"
"The 'stupidity' of what was offered at that time is what motivated our launch this product"
"He is the one that manages the finances, I take care of product development ... I'm not a finance guy"
"Nobody was willing to give us money ... we were 'unproven' Entrepreneurs"
"I have been a struggling entrepreneur since 2007 ...the struggle for us has been raising money" (Note: he has raised 4.5 million USD already)
"Professional investors are the nicest people you can even think of! The VCs are the first people to tell us: "you are not quite where you think you are ... they help us understand why we are a 2 Mio instead of a 6 Mio company, as entrepreneurs at times we have a lot of misunderstandings of the industry we are at"
"Boston is known for being a tough climate for a first time entrepreneur"
"We really liked the fact that they recognized the own limitations and hired a CEO and other smart people that had a lot of expertise" (said by the Venture Capital)
"We are not afraid to invest in first time Entrepreneurs, but we understand that they are companies that will need a lot of attention"(said by the Venture Capital)

Some questions done by the students and some pieces of the answers ...

On approaching FAMILY and (good) FRIENDS for initial investment

"For initial friends and family founding, YOU DO NOT APPROACH your poor family members!"
"It's the most 'expensive' money I have got, those investors were the ones that kept me awake at night"
"Forget the grandchildren .. how is the business?" (that's how the conversations with your father start after they invest in you!)
"Treat them carefully, as if they were institutional investors"
"Their exit strategy was important, but they were more proud of seeing our product in the TIME magazine ... they were really investing in us"

On RESILIENCE (How often do you ask yourself if you want to continue, if you are doing the right thing?)

"About 4 times a day!"
"I have a friend that calls me once in a while and what he always asks me is 'Are you still having fun?' And as long as I say yes, that's what matters. We do not feel pity. Those moments of success bring you to the next one ... and your need for success becomes larger ... those moments help you through the dark times ... it is like a roller coaster ... as your company grows, your highs get 'higher' and your lows get 'lower'"
"When your employees start getting married and having kids, and you realize how many kids the company is feeding ... that makes you go on"

On FINDING THE TECHNICAL PARTNERS/EMPLOYEES (I have the idea but, I do not know how to materialize it, I'm not an engineer!)

We were in our BCAP (BCAP is an experiential learning program at BABSON) room and sketched the first idea of our product ... the sketch was awful, it was clear that we needed real design talent.We decided to find a design school that WOULD HELP us. We just called the design schools and asked to speak with the deans ... nobody paid attention. But I got attention of ONE school, I do not know what happened that day, but the dean gave us an appointment. What called her attention was the STORY we could build around working together: we will have a design school and business school creating a company! They liked having a designers understanding how to bring a product to the market. 6 months, 30 students, a professors, and us ... it was a very interesting product development process ... and the result was a 100 USD play table. After that process we had almost 30 designers that were familiar with us and we leveraged on that network.
Recruiting software engineers was very difficult, what would drive them to do something WITH YOU, with a START UP? Are you able to give them the experience they are looking for? It was a sales process, it is about selling a person that at times is smarter than you, that has maybe at the time more opportunities that the one you can give that he/she, the idea that he/she should work with you.

On THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE DIFFERENT

"There are too many things that we would have done different. But this is part of the learning curve, you will never have all the answers, what matters is your ability to react and that is what brings you to success"
"If you are not making mistakes, you must be doing something wrong"

Disclaimer: The past highlights do not necessarily reflect my personal opinions or the ones of BABSON. It is just a blog post to share an interesting class activity.

I am a TECHMARK survivor

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:56:00 +0000

R&D, Marketing & Finance dancing all together to meet the desired targets (our office board)

As an iconic closure to the MBA orientation at BABSON, we (160+ students) participated in a very intense business simulation. The so called "TECHMARK" simulation is suposed to be a tradition among BABSON MBA classes, to the point that the people that go through it join the group of "Techmark survivors".

As any simulation, the goal was to bring a company to meet certain levels of performance, which reflect a good overall strategic management of a manufacturing organization under the always present conditions of market uncertainty (ROA, ROE, Inventory/Assets, Debt levels, etc.). The exercise was divided into quarters (which in Techmark time were presented in 1 to 2 hour slots) where each of the 265 teams had to make decisions the would lead to a cumulative final result.

I must admit that participating in the simulation ratified that I need an MBA! The first two quarters of the exercise I was completely lost. Frustration was obvious. I kept thinking for myself: do I really have a business degree? It was really a challenge to make decisions based on so many variables at a time ... expected market growth, competition, production costs, customer preferences, debt management ... even understanding where to start was an issue! Every time we came back to the plenary and partial performance results were revealed based on our quarterly decisions, I felt however I strong relief as the professor reinforced the fact that "this" and "that" business topic was going to be thought to us in details during the program.

As you know - I am into quotes these days -, so here are some key highlights of the experience ...

"Our classrooms are laboratories. The cost of making mistakes is perhaps a bit of embarrassment bot nothing else ... dare to make the mistakes here!" :)

"Ambiguity, Complexity, Uncertainty, these things will never go away, the difference after BABSON is that you will feel more confortable dealing with them"

"Financial Impact of Business Decisions (...)"

"If winning is not important, then why are we keeping the score? You are in a business school, there is nothing wrong with making money (sustainably)" :)

"Disagree without being disagreeable"

"Do you want to be the first to move? The first to succeed? The first to sustain?"

"We have near term plans for you, do you have a long term plan for yourself?" :)

"At some point, analysis HAS TO STOP and implementation should begin" :)

"We learn better when we are enjoying it"

"Screw it! we do not have time to do the number crunching at this point" :)

"Let's don't play it safe , let's take risks ... I have risk apetite"

"If forecasts would be facts, they would be called facts!" :)

With the TECHMARK simulation I felt that the MBA really started. So much to learn in the incoming 21 months!

My respect to all these savvy managers out there that day after day lead their real businesses to success! Not an easy task!

Team 4, Industry E

Ps. BTW, we did not win, but we were so close that I am just so proud of our team!

First two weeks of the BABSON MBA in quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:40:00 +0000

As many of you know, I started two weeks ago my two Year MBA at Babson!
I am just H A P P Y - I can't wait for the show to go on. You know this good old feeling of knowing you took the right decision.

Processing high amounts of information in very short time becomes a major skill

The following is a compilation of the quotes that have called the most my attention during the past two weeks - in no particular order - ... at this point I am so full of feelings, thoughts, emotions, that if I write the conventional way, I will end up sharing a minute of each class and writing a 50-pages blog post (and well, I am doing my best to write "american style", short and to the point)!

You can scale technology, operations, a business ...but the toughest thing to scale is the human brain. BABSON offers you Intelectual Transformation, personal transformation, professional transformation (Orientation Welcome)
At Babson you earn your degree the "old fashion way": you have to work hard for it
This (BABSON) is an MBA for uncertain times (Orientation Welcome)
How many times in your life will you have so many people to partner with you tu succeed? (Orientation Welcome)
This is an MBA to understand and manage growth (Orientation Welcome)
BABSON IS A TUITION DEPENDENT INSTITUTION, everything we do, we do it because you do it with us (Orientation Welcome)
How many times in your life will you have so many people to partner with you tu succeed? (Orientation Welcome)
This is an MBA to understand and manage growth (Orientation Welcome)
BABSON IS A TUITION DEPENDENT INSTITUTION, everything we do, we do it because you do it with us (Orientation Welcome)
Have I ever thought what my message is “doing” to my reader in terms of our relationship? (Writing class, btw check this hilarious example of terribly bad writing, Exhibit 2!)
Find a job that you love and you will never work another day in your life (Center for Career Development session)
At BABSON you become a good learner and a good listener (Business Case Simulation)
They (professors) will push your thinking to places you never imagined, you will be challenged ... and they challenge you because they know that you can handle it (2nd Year MBA student panel)
Now I know how to connect education to the real world (2nd Year MBA student panel)
Ambiguity is your friend (as a manager) – as also complexity and uncertainty (Business Case Simulation)
There will NEVER be enough information to solve a case (Business Case Simulation)
XYZ students are competitive, on the other hand, BABSON Students and collaborative! Use this value (Business Case Simulation)
I used to be an engineer until I got educated (Business Case Simulation)
There are 3 levels of frustation during a business case discussion. First, when another student just other says what you wanted to say!!! Second, when you say something that was super important to you and the professor does not give a s%#t!!! Third, when the class and discussion goes in a completely other way than the one you developed your case for!!! (Business Case Simulation)
An MBA is a marathon and the judges are your peers! (Business Case Simulation)
GPA is b%$#*@^t! (Business Case Simulation)
It should be called IAD instead of MBA. IAD ... "it all depends" (Business Case Simulation)
To create something that otherwise would not exist if you had not done it (Business Case Simulation)
I do not believe in market research (Business Case Simulation)
How you make critical choices that drive strategic innovation (Business Case Simulation)
Remember the "Economy of words", go to the point (Business Case Simulation)
Do not use "empty" words ... "flexible", "innovation", "entrepreneurship" - what does that really mean? (Business Case Simulation)
Engaging with your class mates during a case is not only about attacking them (Business Case Simulation)
ENTREPRENEURS ARE LOUSY at managing an ongoing business (Business Case Simulation)
If the professor does not call you often, tell him!!! (Business Case Simulation)
Once you have been my student, you have the keys of my office (Prof. JB, Business Case Simulation)
Learning is the destination, a case is the vehicle (Business Case Simulation)
Please, no emotions (Business Case Simulation)

First module books

Ps. Sharing a quote does not mean endorsement :-)

In Colombia you do not have to give your 120%? - a propo Independence Day

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:28:00 +0000

I found the previous video one day - randomly - on Facebook.

As anything that is about Colombia, i went on to see what it was all about. Nice video, as usual, nice to hear foreigners praising your land, your culture.

Yet, there was a comment by one of the foreigners that absolutely called my attention: "In comparison with Europe, Colombia is much less stressful, you are not expected to give your 120% (...)"

I let it sink, even if it stayed in my head for couple of days. Until today, 20.07 ... Colombia`s remarkable Independence Day, where all the people swim in the pride of being colombian (including myself) .. today is a good day however to talk about this 120% ...

Before I go on, I want to clarify that having lived in Europe I (kind of) know what this person tries to express and by no means this post intends to challenge him or his perception. Perception is reality. Period. What I really would like to decode is what it means "not giving the 120%". As colombian, is this actually something to praise? If yes, from which angle?

What does it mean not to give the 120%?

The first thing that came to my mind was "Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral" - in german ("Anecdote to the Decline of the Work Ethic" - english translation). It is a famous short story by Heinrich Böll that I actually learned at school and I never, ever will forget (I graduated from a german school, in my home city, Barranquilla). The story is about an encounter between an enterprising tourist and a small fisherman, in which the tourist suggests how the fisherman can improve his life. It was written for a May Day programme on the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 1963, and is considered one of the best stories written by Heinrich Böll. And hell it is.

The Tale of the fisherman and the Tourist: A tourist looks on a most idyllic picture: a fisherman dozing in the sun in his rowing boat that he has pulled out of the waves which come rolling up the sandy beach. The tourist's camera clicks and the fisherman wakes. The tourist asks: “The weather is great and there's plenty of fish, so why are you lying around instead of going out and catching more?”
The fisherman replies: “Because I caught enough this morning.” “But just imagine,” the tourist says, “you could go out there three or four times a day and bring home three or four times as much fish! And then you know what could happen?” The fisherman shakes his head. “After a year you could buy yourself a motorboat,” says the tourist. “After two years you could buy a second one, and after three years you could have a cutter or two. And just think! One day you might be able to build a freezing plant or a smoke house. You might eventually even get your own helicopter for tracing shoals of fish and guiding your fleet of cutters, or you could buy your own trucks to ship your fish to the capital, and then . . .” “And then?” asks the fisherman. “And then”, the tourist continues triumphantly, “you'd could spend time sitting at the beachside, dozing in the sun and looking at the beautiful ocean!” The fisherman looks at the tourist: “But that is exactly what I was doing before you came along!” The fisherman replies: “Because I caught enough this morning.” “But just imagine,” the tourist says, “you could go out there three or four times a day and bring home three or four times as much fish! And then you know what could happen?” The fisherman shakes his head. “After a year you could buy yourself a motorboat,” says the tourist. “After two years you could buy a second one, and after three years you could have a cutter or two. And just think! One day you might be able to build a freezing plant or a smoke house. You might eventually even get your own helicopter for tracing shoals of fish and guiding your fleet of cutters, or you could buy your own trucks to ship your fish to the capital, and then . . .” “And then?” asks the fisherman. “And then”, the tourist continues triumphantly, “you'd could spend time sitting at the beachside, dozing in the sun and looking at the beautiful ocean!” The fisherman looks at the tourist: “But that is exactly what I was doing before you came along!”

Thanks to my job at Endeavor for the past 4 years there is a term that has become part of my lexicon: THINK BIG. When I reflect on the 120% thing and the short story of Böll, I can´t help recalling of the term.

I think as Colombians we are "lazy" to think big, many times. To think big does not mean "stopping spending time sitting at the beachside dozing" as the fisherman in the previous story does. The two things are not mutually exclusive. This "trade-off" scenario is WAY OVERRATED, please! One thing is valuing and living the PRESENT and another one is excusing ourselves for not giving the extra mile in a nation where so many things need to be done: this is an emerging economy folks! lots of stuff needs to be still created and forward thinking, big thinking is fundamental to that.

I am proud to be colombian NOT BECAUSE OF THE SUPERFICIAL elements that you read in newspapers or over social networks: "WE ARE ONE OF THE HAPPIEST NATIONS IN THE WORLD". What does that mean? What`s happiness actually? What`s the underlying structure from which we self-portrait ourseves as happy?

I am proud to be colombian because I feel like the butterfly that struggles to squeeze its body through the tiny hole of the cocoon (read the story) and this excersice made me strong. Anf I feel lucky to be citizen in this environment, because it makes me better and enables me to give my 120% while changing a reality.

I am proud to be colombian because there is a new generation of citizens raising, a new generation that is waking up and that repulses curruption, crime, hate, envy, injustice and is creating concrete initiatives to create a fair society for all. We are a generation that EMBRACES VULNERABILITY, BUT ALSO KNOWS THAT ITS VULNERABILITY IS THE SOURCE OF LOVE, OF IMPROVEMENT, OF CREATIVITY, OF BELONGING, as Brene Brown says.

I am proud to be colombian, because many of our efforts are starting to show results, because clear numbers make us be part of the CIVETS, given our reasonably sophisticated financial systems, controlled inflation, and a soaring young population.

I am proud to be colombian because back in the 1800s there was a group of patriots corageous enough to raise their voices and proclaim this nation as independent. They dared to CHANGE.

I am proud to be colombian because we are WHOLE-HEARTED, and let ourselves be seen.

I am proud to be colombian because we KNOW how to freaking give our 120%, and if not all of us do that, there is hell a big part of us that is doing it. Without cliches, withour paradigms, without lame excuses.

Happy independence day.

Wayra Week Colombia 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:42:00 +0000

It`s slowly getting late to write this post!

Last week I had the chance to represent Endeavor as a jury of Wayra Colombia.

To explain what Wayra is, I will invite you to read this post of Martin Varsavsky (I could not explain better the program, so I`ll leverage of that!) and of course the Wayra Web Site - in spanish.

"Wayra is a program that will support the creation of high-tech IT companies in Latin America and Spain. Basically, Wayra is a business incubator, although it wants to be more than that and calls itself a business “accelerator”. (Future) entrepreneurs can submit their projects, even if they’re only at an idea stage, and the 30 teams with the most promising ideas will be given the opportunity to present in front of a jury which will then narrow the selection down to 10 projects (this occurs on a country level). The first three countries are Colombia, Mexico and Spain, and the goal is to have this initiative running in eight countries by the end of this year. This will bring the number of supported projects to 80 by the end of 2011."

I learned too much, from the participant entrepreneurs obviously but also from the jury, which were key executives from Telefonica and other local experts of the IT industry... e-commerce, "freemium businessmodels", M2M, mobile apps, e-Health, were not very touched terms (by me!!!) ... and the most revealing - Power Point is dead, PREZI rules (well, this I knew before, it truly rules)! And well, I also got even more exited recalling that from this class on the new BABSON MBA curriculum will have a strong Technology component! The new Babson M.B.A. focuses on three elements: preparing students to be entrepreneurial leaders, teaching them to be leaders in a collaborative workgroup, and helping students understand the role of technology in today's business landscape.

But as sensitive as I am, what moved me the most was the Final Ceremony, where the top 10 projects for Colombia were announced. On statement that called my attention was: "I many times believed that happiness was not for me" - said by one of the winning Entrepreneurs. Wow! You could see people speechless, because the strong emotion did not allow them to speak. There was an Entrepreneur that simply said that now his daughter could be born in Colombia, since now he does not have to go to the States to try to get funding and realize his dream there (many of them do have the Silicon Valley dream). Many of them recalled in their thank-you speeches all the nights whithout sleep, all the sacrifices that had to be made.

It might sound like the romatic "cliches" of being an entrepreneur, but I loved them. That plays a fundamental part: loving what you do and finding joy and pride in what you have achieved, and being GENUINE about sharing it. Thumbs up for TELEFONICA and WAYRA!

Stolen "Quotes" from the Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco - DAY 2(#eSummitSF)

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Courtesy of the wonderful Twitter hashtag #eSummitSF, here are some great quotes of the second day of the Endeavor Global Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco!!! Not being able to attend is one of the things that I don`t like of leaving Endeavor in one month :( But if this Summit is like the past two, what an awesome learning experience for all the attendees!

Follow the hastag on Twitter!

Ps. The affirmations shared below do not always reflect my personal opinion nor are suggested ways of acting or thinking. They`re just interesting pieces to reflect about!

It's not about the ceiling wall but the sticky floor #eSummitSF

"Some things can be made perfect. Your job as the ceo is to perfect the perfectable." #eSummitSF

"Great people want a lot demanded of them." - Bing Gordon #eSummitSF

Quality of the people reflects the quality of successful, fast growth. Be dilligent about your team quality #eSummitSF

oyrsen Joy Sen

Every employee in a 25% growing organization has to double their capacity every 18 months #eSummitSF .R you increasing their capacity too?

"Your job as CEO is to be the fastest person of the company." Bing Gordon #eSummitSF

"As CEO is to tell people to be ok" - build confidence #eSummitSFfrom Bing Gordon

Focus on your top 25% of your team and expand from there. These people can bring similar people into game, makes you succeed #eSummitSF

"missionary not mercenary" - @bingfish #eSummitSF true - that is what keep us on every up and downs - resilience.

#eSummitSF the new ceo's role is to coach not to dictate ...

"Hire ahead of your needs" - Gina Bianchini #eSummitSF”

Biggest risk for high growth company -not hiring right person. Focus on best not average. - J Housenbold @shutterfly #eSummitSF

Lessons learned from #eSummitSF. 3) On HR - It comes down to making sure ther right people are ALLOWED to do a great job!

@OmidyarNetwork mission statement gets it right: "people are inherently capable but lack equal opportunity" #eSummitSF

John hamm leadership is a practice, like Medical, is a life journy It always matters.. entrepeural leadership matters even more #eSummitSF

So far Carl Schroeder's key note has been my favorite at the #esummitsf. Biased wisdom of experts vs getting out and seeing new stuff.

"Rookie entrepreneurs maximize value rather than control and get the wrong advisors." - Marc Pincus via #bingfish #eSummitSF

To be top ranked...your goal is to become the authority on your issue, Matt Ackley Google VP #eSummitSF

Get high page rank with: good content, lists, tutorials, frequent updates, controversy #eSummitSF #SEO

Gina Bianchini: Focus on the current phase, but always plan thenext two #eSummitSF

Fail cheap, fail at low prototyping. This way you can try again and again very fast and easily. #eSummitSF #designthinking

Chris Schroeder: entrepreneurs are/should be free of echochambers. They can ask the greatest question of all: why? #esummitsf

Excited for Global Connections at Endeavor's Summit - speed dating format between entrepreneurs and mentors. #eSummitSF

Stolen "Quotes" from the Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco (#eSummitSF)

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 01:59:00 +0000

Courtesy of the wonderful Twitter hashtag #eSummitSF, here are some great quotes of the first day of the Endeavor Global Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco!!! Not being able to attend is one of the things that I don`t like of leaving Endeavor in one month :( But if this Summit is like the past two, what an awesome learning experience for all the attendees!

Follow the hastag on Twitter!

Ps. The affirmations shared below do not always reflect my personal opinion nor are suggested ways of acting or thinking. They`re just interesting pieces to reflect about!

"Talented people can from strange places." - Guibert Englebienne, cofounder Globant #eSummitSF

The dynamic of VC industry has changed in the last two years. Build trust with people has become key for entrepreneurs. #esummitsf

Dan Senor: winning entrepreneurs in high risk markets are the ones who go global from day one. #esummitsf

The entrepreneur summit is the perfect therapy for people called crazy" @lindarottenberg #esummitsf

Use someone else money to start up companies. When you get good at it use your own. Nothing bad in that. Scott McNealy at the #esummitsf

If everyone thinks you're doing the right thing - then everyone would be doing it. Have a controversial strategy. #esummitSF Scott McNealy

Scott Mc Nealy, Sun: "Forget about privacy! Most of the startups here in the Valley r about invading your privacy" #eSummitSF

"Be controversial. But the thing about being controversial, is you better be correct!" - @scottmcNealy #eSummitSF

Invitation for all VCs thinking about going global, please think about settling in & building ecosystem #eSummitSF - not all money is green

Top 15 IT firms in the US have $250 billion in excess cash. That is almost 1% of the worlds GDP. Hope they use it wisely! #esummitsf

”Four trends in technology: cloud computing, mobile, social platforms, massive adoption of IT products”. Marc Benioff #esummitsf

Marc Benioff (salesforce) at the #esummitsf: NOT concerned about web ownership by a few. Dominant players constantly shift.

My personal opinion: while facebook is eating the web, twitter is saving it. #esummitsf

"Innovation is a baton being tossed between intemporal entrepreneurial paradigms." - @beinoff #eSummitSF

USA,Uk,France,Germany,Canada Aus&Benelux make95% of enterprise software.Benioff mentions not location rather than where you sell!#eSummitSF

Marc Benioff says Salesforce could not get VCs interested in early days, despite performance and connections #esummitsf

Benioff: building one successful company is more exciting than serial entrepreneurship. Must stay focused. #esummitsf

”If you are an entrepreneur you have to overcommunicate” M Benioff, CEO Salesforce #esummitsf

Most things he learned in b-school are not applicable today. On the job learnings are key. Marc Benioff #eSummitSF

'Start ups by definition are the exceptions to the rule, if they are successful' Matt Cohler #esummitsf

The give back rule: Donate 1% of your profits, 1% of your equity and 1% of your time. M Benito, CEO Salesforce. #esummitsf

Education for kids is a good market opportunity #esummitsf (I love this one in particular)

"A decisão mais estratégica que um empreendedor toma na sua trajetória é a escolha da mulher com quem terá seus filhos" McNearly #esummitsf

Raise $ when you can, not when you need, do due diligence on investors, make ur startup connected to community w global mindset #eSummitSF

Today I found out what "looping effects" are and through it that "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king"

noreply@blogger.com (Oriana Torres) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:29:00 +0000

Coming from an extremely conservative country like Colombia, but also having had the blessing to interact with a wide array of people from different backgrounds (not only while living abroad, but inside Colombia itself), DIVERSITY has always been an striking topic to me.

..."In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king"...

- and this is how I feel about my capacity to embrace diversity.

I am absolutely sure that my understanding of it is surely way above the average of my closest circle of influence (of course my elders, my husband, some of my friends) - and I remind you, coming from a highly conservative, narrow minded society this is nothing to be proud of. Yet in terms what it takes to understand that those "labels" (woman, man, entrepreneur, employee, poor, rich, gay, straight, smart, gorgeous, Latin, African, young, old ...) literally do no exist and that they are a mere creation and reinforcement of our human nature, totally implies a deeper level of consciousness that at time I (we) do not have.

Recently I read this article that shows through sharing the findings of a series of researches that there is something called "LOOPING EFFECTS", nothing else that all those categories that we use to believe, accept and put ourselves in, and what it`s scariest, categories that because we believe we belong to them, define our behavior. Here is also a sense of the in a nutshell:

"You won't find a legitimation of our self-categories in neurobiology. If biology is the measure of all things, then many of the categories we use to group ourselves into kinds of person — man, woman, gay, straight, black, white, professor, cheerleader — are, in fact, unreal. You don't find them in nature as it is apart from our attitudes and beliefs about that nature. At the same time, what could be more real than the way we experience ourselves as being?"

Next time you believe that you perform very good in diversity management, because you "accept" someone "different", please consider yourself a complete mediocre. Are you conscious enough to see that there are NO differences?

Also, have you realized how many things you have or have not done just because you are from the country you are, from the profession you are, from the gender you are, from the skin color you are? I did a quick refection for myself and results where scary. My motivation and highest challenge/goal at this point though is how to be a mother capable enough to transmit to her kids such a vision.

BIG PSs.

Ps. Today 26th of July national marches for gay rights (sadly, not yet for gay "pride"). Being consequent with what I just wrote, I wish homosexual activism would turn to pass a message of awareness to "LOOPING EFFECTS" rather than an "ACCEPT ME" speech.

(for Colombians, aren´t these "city" posters just too cool? specially from such highly conservative cities as Manizales, Pasto and Barranquilla)

Ps2. I love Benetton ads, even if being again consequent with what I just wrote does ass do not exist at all, since they rather stress even more the categories.