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

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

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.

Perseverance: A picture is worth a thousand words

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One day (or a short refection on kindness)

"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

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

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"

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.

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I am a TECHMARK survivor

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!


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First two weeks of the BABSON MBA in quotes

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 :-)

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

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.