It’s not just about group projects, study dates and formal networking either.  The long lasting friendships are being forged out on the sports fields, over a beer on pub night, at 2am when you’re still with your P2 group, ski trips to Whistler, and in my case on the front face of The Chief.  It’s during these times that your personality gets a chance to come out and people really get to know you.

There is also nothing better than being able to have a chat with your prof’s over a coffee about non-academic issues.  Given the opportunities I’ve been able to pursue already I see a lot of my prof’s as friends rather than instructors.  I find I learn so much more in an environment of mutual respect, trust and open dialogue than from a straight lecture so it’s been hugely beneficial for me to be able to have those informal chats and really solidify my learning.

Over the break my classmates are heading to Mexico, the US, Australia, Asia, Europe, and India for leisure and to spend the holidays with family.  It’s pretty awesome to think that within this one group we represent so many cultures and areas of the world.  It’s a great feeling to know that in a years time I will have a huge network of influential friends all over the world.

This isn’t a test run, there is no second chance at life.  To quote one of my second year class mates “Sauder is the chance to make my life what I want it to be.”  There are no limits here, no one will shoot down your ideas.  I’ve been talking to a few people about an idea that is very close to me personally that I never thought I’d share with anyone.  Now I’m staring at a business opportunity that we believe could positively affect tens of thousands of people.

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee

We’ve been talking a lot about communication lately. What makes for effective communication? How can we promote effective communication? What can you do to deal with chaotic communication?  One way we’re hoping to promote communication between Full-Time & Part-Time MBA students, prospective students, and the wider community is through a new MBA Society website.  For current students this will provide an integrated platform to communication, information and interaction between cohorts. For prospective students it will provide information about life at Sauder – academic & extra curricular, what you can expect from your time here, what opportunities exist here, orientation to Vancouver and Canada.

The website will be live by the end of the year.  In the mean time you should:

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/SauderMBAS
Subscribe to our YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/user/SauderMbaSociety

There will be lots of exciting content coming through both these channels and we’ll be showcasing the videos on the new website.

]]> https://blogs.ubc.ca/saudermba/2011/11/28/thoughts-and-updates/feed/ 0 https://blogs.ubc.ca/saudermba/2011/10/07/opening-worlds/ https://blogs.ubc.ca/saudermba/2011/10/07/opening-worlds/#respond Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:59:10 +0000 https://blogs.ubc.ca/saudermba/?p=342 Continue reading →]]> I was initially going to call this post ‘I Love Fridays’ but when I started thinking about what to say about the program over the past few weeks ‘Opening Worlds’ seemed like a much better title.  If it sounds familiar to you, and hopefully it does, that’s because it is the motto for Sauder.  When I first heard the line I have to admit that I wondered how much my experience at Sauder would reflect that phrase.  I wondered if Sauder really did offer what it seemed to be promising.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had a chance to come and sit under my tree on campus to enjoy the fresh air and sun shice. Being an MBA student doesn’t give you as much time to get outside to enjoy the sun and fresh air as you’d like.  But I think it’s important to create space for that in a busy lifestyle and Friday afternoons seem to be that time for me.  As I was walking home from school earlier this afternoon it struck me how much has happened over the past 5 or 6 weeks.  While any given day almost seems like a monotone of class and study things look much more interesting from the 10,000 foot view.

I’ve only been in Vancouver a couple of months but it already appears that Sauder is ‘Opening Worlds’ for me.  I’ve made my first steps towards becoming involved with the British Columbia Technology Industry Association,  I’m involved in a group creating a business plan for a sustainability initiative in the Philippines, I’ve been approached by a few firms I’ve dealt with in Oceania seeking my professional asisstance and I’m making inroads into improving the flow of information to MBA students at Sauder.  On a daily basis I seem to be working with organizations from around the world and a significant portion of that is outside the classroom.

Two years ago I was an entry level programmer in New Zealand, a year ago I was sleeping in the back of an SUV driving across North America trying to figure out what I wanted out of life.  Today I’m sitting under a tree on the UBC Vancouver campus still trying to figure out what I want out of life.  The difference now is that through the MBA program at Sauder I’m learning all the business and life skills that I need to pursue whatever I choose, anywhere in the world.

I feel like the first two weeks were baptism by fire in some ways.  The pace of most classes is pretty quick, the number of assignments to juggle is high, and the time it takes me to write up a case memo is still pretty high.  Last week was definitely one of the busy weeks for me but getting stuck into the workload seems to pay off here.  I wouldn’t be outside this afternoon enjoying the sun if I hadn’t already completed the two assignments due tomorrow (here is where I admit I’m that odd guy in class that goes home and does assignments the same day they’re handed out).  It’s not all hard work and no fun here though.  We’ve put together a number of sports teams within our class, a few of us get out rock climbing most weeks, Thursday is usually pub night and later this week the core faculty are hosting the MBA students at a karaoke evening down town.

The amount of material we’ve already been exposed to in class is huge.  Yet I feel like the majority of the learning isn’t coming directly from the classroom.  For me it’s the times, like now, when I get a chance to reflect on what’s happened over the past day or week.  That’s when I’m able to start joining some of the dots to see how the different subjects mesh together and how ideas from one subject area reinforce those in others.

A few days ago I met up with a friend whom I hadn’t seen for over a year.  I was feeling pretty tired after the first busy week here… and I was up most of the night supporting New Zealand as they decimated Japan in the Rugby World Cup.  Despite me feeling exhausted and somewhat grumpy my friend commented that I seemed happier than they’d ever seen me before.  Now either I’m a really good actor or there was something in that.  Yes this program requires a lot of work and it can be tiring at times, but I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be, except the Southern Alps.  It doesn’t matter what options you in place in front of me I’d always rather be in the South Island back country.  Everyday I learn more about myself, about the world and about business.  I see new doorways opening all the time and I’m finding interests in subjects that I’d barely heard of before coming here and I know that many of my class mates feel exactly the same way.

Today I live in an amazing flat just 10 minutes walk from Sauder with some very cool flat mates.  All the simple but unavoidable items like bank accounts, a cell phone, finding my way around, getting a bus pass, furnishing my room and locating my first class have long since been taken care of leaving me plenty of time to start exploring before school started.  Since then I’ve been rock-climbing in Squamish more times than I can remember, bet some locals up the Grouse Grind, visited Vancouver Island and the Greater Vancouver Zoo, taken some truly beautiful trail runs through Pacific Spirit Regional Park, experienced Wreck Beach, explored downtown and met some incredible people many of whom I’m already sure will become lifelong friends.

Without a doubt the Sauder MBA attracts an intelligent group of candidates, but what strikes me the most about my cohort is that everyone is down to earth and extremely accepting over everyone around them.  I’ve yet to have a conversation with one of my classmates where I haven’t walked away feeling excited about the next time I get a chance to engage with them for a general chat or as part of a class exercise.  And I don’t think I got lucky with my class either.  I think this type of person is indicative of the type of people attracted to the Sauder MBA, to Vancouver, to British Columbia and the type of person that the recruitment team looks for.

I was quite nervous about entering into an MBA for one reason only.  I wasn’t worried about my ability to cope with the workload or about moving to a new country. Nor did not knowing anyone or keeping pace with my class mates bother me.  I was nervous because I had an idea that everyone going to business school knew exactly what they wanted to do with their lives while I still had no idea.  Let me say this: Nothing could be further from the truth.  When we were asked earlier today how many people had a good idea of what they wanted to do after they graduated less than a handful of people raised their hand.  This was in a room with over 100 MBA students in it.  The message is clear; if you have an idea or know what you want to do that’s great and you’ll perhaps suffer a little less stress throughout this experience than the rest of us.  But many people come back to graduate level education because that want a change in their current careers, possibly their lives, but they’re not really sure what it is they want to do next.  So if that sounds like you, don’t worry, you’ll find good company here.

Many of my classmates echo my thoughts when I say that the further I get into my time here the more excited I get about it.  Sauder has made it very clear that our success is their success and they’ll go out of their way to help us in that.  In fact I’m still learning new methods that they’ve put in place to help make sure that happens.  From a huge renovation with state of the art facilities, world class faculty and support staff to an all you can consume career coaching center and numerous job search treks.  In some ways it feels like you’d have to try quite hard to fail here!  There are so many opportunities to explore and take advantage of it can be difficult to keep track of it all.  Fortunately everyone here is aware of that so they’re fantastic at getting you timely information without overloading you and even send out little reminders before key dates.

There are many things I’d like to say to my classmates but I’ll pick just one. I DO NOT wish you good luck.  Many years ago as I was standing outside an exam room waiting to sit a chemistry final my teacher came around.  As he started handing out red bulls and chocolate bars I expected him to wish each of us good luck but instead he said “I’m not going to wish you good luck, you’ll get the mark that you deserve.” In academics and business I don’t think there is any such thing as long term luck.  So apply yourself, work hard, ask for help when you need it, give it when it is asked for and I wish you the marks and the success that you deserve.