If Week 0 was fast, week 1 has been an absolute blur!! I had signed up for the Peer support program — a student welfare initiative introduced at the Said Business School last year. All this week I was attending the training sessions for the same which were from 9-5 Monday thru Friday pretty much. As the name suggests, the programme is designed to train a group of students in basic listening skills so that they can provide support to those of their peers experiencing difficulties. It is a great platform to meet and bond with a small group of people (fellow peer supporters) and go through some interesting interpersonal and listening exercises. But as the training schedule suggests, it is a weeklong commitment and hence advisable only for those who get to oxford early enough or can work within the framework of the commitment. I had the opportunity of being part of a fantastic diverse group and that has made it a super experience.

Also this week there were a few career events. First up was my CV review session with a sector consultant for Finance. As was expected and was the aim of the exercise, I was advised a boatload of helpful changes that I needed to make for my resume. These changes had to do with my experience in the finance sector being minimal to the fact the each demographic usually requires a slightly different CV format and I had to tune mine to UK format. I also had lunch with Alasdair Bell, President of Oxford Entrepreneurs Society, a student run society. Alasdair came across as exceptionally bright young Oxonian and I look forward to being involved with the society in some capacity in near future.

Then there were a few guest speaker/seminar sessions. The first was from Morgan Stanley group with a few analysts and associates sharing their experiences and insights with regard a career in Investment Banking. I thought it was an extremely informative session. Later in the week was a talk by George David, Chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corporation. This was a great talk by a great individual — very insightful, crisp and authoritatively delivered — in short very American! He also raised an interesting debate with his comments over the Indian and Chineese markets by not mincing words in suggesting that he believed the Indian market and economy was going nowhere unless there was some consistency with their foreign policies. I as a few others though begged to differ on this count.

We also had a few introductory workshops. One each on finance and consulting. They again were insightful and it was enlightening to see the different demeanour, tone and effect of a finance person from that of a consultant. The finance sector consultant team were very aggressive in their presentation and making the point that the profession is not for the faint hearted and requires you to be very much on the top of the game. Though I feel their hostile style might have scared away a few fence sitters considering finance (me being one of them), I feel they provided an honest picture of things as they are. The consultant sector group had a more open and friendlier feel to their pitch. Also the fact that the consultancy companies shall come for placement in the next semester as opposed to finance whose placements will be done by November, meant that there was some more breathing space.

Lastly not to miss out on the fun, there were some great parties. The Said business school had arranged for ‘Oxford Pursuit’ — a hunt via clues of the oxford city in groups of 5 which were randomly selected. I had a great time. I got one person on our group I knew from peer support and 3 new people I met. It was lot of fun though we didn’t fare as well :-). Following the pursuit, we had the informal meet and greet party at the ‘Oxford Retreat’ — a great pub right by the Hythe Bridge — literally a few feet away from SBS. Me along with 3 other friends had been arranging for this get together earlier this week and had got a great deal on drinks and reserved area for the 220 SBS students. IT was a fun fun night!! Had a great turnout, the place was awesome with outside and inside areas and I hope all there had a good time. Special thanks to Vebster and people at the Oxford Retreat!

This afternoon we had the Oxford Reception — a formal lunch with all SBS students and their families arranged by the Business School. I just came back from a friend’s place where we had a dinner for 7-8 of us. It was a perfect end to a long day. No networking, just relaxing, great food and casual banter. Just loved it!! Thanks to Pushpak and Alka (the hosts) for the same. I am already beginning to feel the pinch of 16 hour days with work, networking and partying!! And classes haven’t even started yet.

Overall an unbelievable week. But one thing that stands out is the unbelievable diverse set of people I am going to share this year with. Americans, Indians, Canadians, South Africans, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, British…..the list is endless with regards the different nationalities I met who are going to be with me for the course. Even more diverse were their back grounds with doctors, army men, civil engineers, IT professionals, non-profit and a lot more. Add to that the overall diverse culture and ambience of the world’s oldest and most premier Umbrella University — Oxford and that makes it an invaluable experience.

Coming week is gonna be crazier — its the induction week so there are going to be lot of college events (Christchurch events as that is my college), fresher’s fair, formal introductions at Said, more peer support training and definitely more partying! Hold on…here we go!!!

 Here’s what Wikipedia says about NC:

Negative capability is a theory of the poet John Keats, expressed in his letter to George and Thomas Keats dated Sunday, 21 December 1817.

I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

There fact is that with major challenges like climate change and religious conflict, the idea of a direct, easy solution is ridiculous. 

This year’s capstone focused on climate change. In groups of ten, we picked a client company and designed scenarios in which the client would have to prepare for a situation where they would be most uncomfortable and least prepared. My team’s client was a large oil company, based out of Tejas. The James Martin Institute invited numerous panelists ranging the US chief negociator for the Kyoto Protocol to major investors in solar power. On the final day, my team and I were grilled by a panel of experts regarding our scenarios.

While capstone went on, a number of classmates and I were still shuttling around finishing up job interviews. I finalized my own plans to work for an investment fund in Dubai until end of December. After that time, if the company and I like each other, I might stay on. Otherwise, I have a few other “fish in the fryer” including a speaking circuit in Shanghai. Improving Mandarin has many obvious benefits, but what I’d most look forward to is having deeper and more meaningful conversations with my parents.

Looking back, in order for us to finish all of our work on time, we had to do something that was unexpectedly very, very difficult for me. We had to 100% trust each other to cover our respective sections. There were parts in my section that my teammate had not seen before the final presentation and vice versa.

Now, don’t misunderstand. I’m not a controlling person or somebody who likes to be involved in every little detail. But, what I’d become accustomed to in the classroom was the ability to read all parts to any group paper we handed in for grading. There was always time to object to a sentence here or a graph there.

But this summer, given that each part of our final report was so new that there was no time-efficient way for each of us to become mini-experts on all areas, we had to trust each other to do our best and “deliver” on the final day.  

So why did I find letting go to be challenging? Shouldn’t I have been excited to do less work? Wouldn’t anyone have wanted to pass off the responsibility to draw solid conclusions about very unknown topics? Especially since I’ve never been a brainy-act, this prospect should have left me whooping for joy.

After thinking for a while, I think that I was uncomfortable because I’ve never been in a pressure situation when it’s been okay to pass off responsibility. It has usually been just the opposite. Usually when something of value is at stake, I’ve been asked to take on as much as possible.

Besides learning about hedge funds and renewable sources of energy, I learned about the trust necessary for smart people to handle tough problems in a time crunch. It’s not like natinal presidents know more than his or her cabinet members do (although it helps to know the basics), instead s/he selects advisors wisely, then trusts them to do their jobs.   

 Yesterday evening our supervisors took us out to a relaxed, multi-lingual, white table cloth restaurant in Chelsea called Chutney Mary. The eight of us went around the table describing what our dreams in life are or have been. I was moved by how honest and personal we all were. Our discussions were healing and our ideas were soulful. That dinner is one that I’ll compare all other dinners to.  My SCP team and I didn’t anticipate having such an intimate experience with our summer employers, and now, more than ever, we feel the fates are on our side, helping us to meet incredible minds and big hearts.  

Things that didn’t seem to matter to me before (like the prospect of eating cookies at 3 pm) now seem somewhat privileged and different. While things that previously impressed me (like unlimited laser printing and handfuls of nice pens) don’t excite me as much anymore.

Where I am still ill-adjusted is the degree of debate entitled to employees in my position. While at school, when arguments arose during group meetings, winning the dispute wasn’t the primary objective of classmates. Instead, what mattered most was that we worked in harmony and turned in a finished work product with passing marks. Comparatively, in this job, a passing mark is not the target at all. Here, we have specific definitions for successful goal achievement. And therefore, when disagreements arise, we must not quickly reach to put on our diplomatic peacemaker hats. Instead, to best serve the company, we actually need to hold our ground even if the discussion gets heated (but not over-heated–ow!) Allowing our classmates-now-turned-colleagues to find holes to poke in our seemingly water-tight arguments is the only way to best seek an optimal solution for our company. We need to push our concerns forward lest the project suffer as a consequence of our desire for non-confrontation.

Transitioning from being more agreeable than not, to being more critical than not, is absolutely necessary for the nature of our work in futuristic investments in the environment. Because no one has really “been here before” as investors, we as a team are strongest when we challenge each others’ thinking. I suppose in other organizations and situations, team accord might override sound objection. One example might be when executing an order for the military. But here, to “win” together, we must not always “think” together. Just another observation

Our project – reviewing the value proposition of one line of products – is one with both tremendous depth and considerable width, and so the first week was mainly taken up in forming a realistic scope with which we could direct our line of attack. We have so far had two reviews with our sponsor, who seems to be happy with what we have achieved/the direction that we are going in, and been introduced to both the Managing Director and several members of the executive committee who all seem to have a real interest. It seems that this project is really high profile and I am led to believe that real decisions will be based on our results. As proof of their intent, and in addition to the office based work, two members of our team (there are four in total) will travel to
India next week to visit customers so as to understand exactly what they require from the company offering. DTC are certainly ensuring that there are no barriers to us collecting really robust data with which to make our recommendations.

From a ‘non-work’ point of view, our apartments are quite luxurious and perfectly placed for exploring London (being located in the centre of Marylebone). We have more restaurants within walking distance than we realistically can visit in the time allocated and can walk as easily to Oxford Street as we can to Regents Park. In the evenings I am even managing to either get to the gym or, when the weather is nice, take a run around the park. This is certainly very different to the ‘MBA hours’ that I was pulling less than a month ago.

Every Tuesday all the MBAs that are in London for the summer meet up for dinner. Last week was Italian, this week Sushi. It’s great to hear how everyone is doing/adjusting to working life. Seeing as there are about 20 of us here, it makes for a nice evening.

So that is it so far for the SCP. I am really enjoying the DTC and remember now why I love London so much.

Having just relocated to the London Bridge area in London this past weekend, I miss a lot about my life in Oxford. This feeling of nostalgia and longing reminds me of my first summer after undergrad at Cornell. During those days I had just moved back home from New York to California. Almost all the young people in my private equity firm had attended either UCLA or USC. Work life was practically an extension of their undergrad years. They could see their friends after work everyday, call each other up for lunch, and plan weekend getaways. (Based upon the reports coming out of my Cornellian classmates in Manhattan, their lives were also sort of a natural extension of their college days as well.) I guess just right now in this hour, I just feel a stark contrast to having hundreds of friends within walking distance and much opportunity to see them.

One of my best friends from the MBA programme, Arash, always tells me that we can’t live in the past. And he’s right. My life today here in the City has started off very well and I already know that I’ll miss this lifestyle come the end of August!

I always get sentimental and nervous during times of transition. My flatmate/classmate/summer colleague, Kitty, knows this and has been such a wonderful friend. For dinner tonight (our first night together in our new corporate housing flat), she brought home some of my favourite foods. She trekked to three different restaurants to find them! Her compassion for others is truly inspirational.