Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of L’Oreal, one of the distinguished speakers who visited the Said Business School this term, was especially impressive. What I personally found amazing that seemed to underlie his talk, was his most sincere yet such a natural attitude to respect people’s “dignity,” both within and outside the corporation. When talking about having a wide array of brands with diverse nationalities, he mentioned how it also makes people from many different backgrounds in the company proud – proud of brands of their home countries, and proud of being there as world citizens in such an international company, listening to and understanding the needs of each sold country. I believe his respect for other people’s dignity must have cheered up and motivated a lot of people around him even if he himself has not been totally aware of it. It was all the more impressive since he also told us how he felt a sense of familiarity arriving in Oxford from L’Oreal because two places commonly embrace people with diverse nationalities, and both offer a unique opportunity for us to become world citizens.

Seeing respect for people’s “dignity” as the key, I conjured up several other people who I believe share this attitude. One person is Prof Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank; I sincerely admire him because he helped the poor to become able to live their own lives and explore their potential – perhaps to live with dignity –, instead of simply giving out aid. Another person, — I hope he does not mind my writing here – is Dr Tomo Suzuki, who taught us Financial Reporting in the previous term. I always liked the way he treated us, students, with respect while also encouraging, or sometimes urging us to be responsible. For example, the following is the phrase he put on the very first page of preliminary exercises for the course:

Why Enron scandal happened?
Because, bookkeeping has been treated as “trivial,” and people do not know how accounting figures are made up.
As Oxford graduates, we are socially responsible to know at least some basics of bookkeeping.

I personally found it very impressive.

It was some thoughts on people, who, in my view, naturally keep encouraging other people to be proud of themselves in ways they deserve, each in totally different places and in different ways. I personally think it is one of the best things you can do in your life, and I hope to be like them.

1. Exposure to the International Diversity – an Example in Financial Reporting

Financial reporting was one of the subjects I was expecting to be particularly useful.  I found the lectures, which covered from IS, BS, CF and consolidation methods to treatment of a lease, very fruitful indeed.  However, what was really eye-opening for me was how different the methods of accounting were from country to country and how each method does make sense respectively.  Before coming here, I didn’t even know that it is common in some countries to list fixed assets at the top of the BS, or classify assets and liabilities by nature, not by term.  The global perspective of the lectures reminded me of the advice from several people that studying in Europe as opposed to the US would allow you to be exposed to a broader range of international business practices.  At that time, I imagined that the difference would basically about the composition of students’ nationalities – which of course would and actually did affect the discussions within the lectures a great deal – but here the perspectives, or mindsets of professors who primarily define the scope of lectures do seem broader.

2. Conceptual Frameworks of Organizational Behaviour

I found all those concepts and frameworks we learned in the Developing Effective Managers (Organizational Analysis) not only extremely intriguing but also of much practical use.  This actually came to me as somewhat surprising because initially I was a little sceptical about how useful the course would be even though I was very interested in the topic.  Having majored in economics in my undergraduate study, I used to imagine what we can learn in such courses as organizational analysis to be “too fuzzy.”  However, the course provided me an excellent opportunity to think about how I would work in, contribute to, and lead a team or an organization.

Going through concepts and frameworks about motivation, team effectiveness, culture, leadership, and so on, and a number of case studies, I found myself constantly reflecting on my own work experience.  Which factors have motivated each of my co-workers?  To what extent those factors might have been similar to or different from what motivates me?  What are the factors that led to the effectiveness of certain research project?  And as asking such questions I noticed the following 2 things.  First, they are often the questions I have asked myself more or less, if not in a formal way, when trying to figure out how higher performance can be achieved and how each of my colleagues can enjoy projects and even find them personally fulfilling.  Second, the frameworks and concepts provided in the course allow me to take into consideration some aspects I couldn’t pay attention to before, and analyse my own experience deeper, in a more balanced way.

So, although the term lasted only 3 months, this particular subject felt like much more since I ended up re-exploring my whole work experience.  It is true that some concepts in Organizational Analysis are difficult to quantify, and thus they are in a sense indeed “fuzzier,” especially when compared to propositions in economics for which mathematical definitions and proofs are provided.  But revisiting academia after 4 and a half years of work experience, I can tell that those “fuzzy” factors about management of organizations really matter, and are too important to neglect.

Apart from the academic challenges and a number of events from parties to seminars on various topics, there are some small things/moments I really love here; jogging in Oxford, or example, is one of my favourites. I remember writing to a friend of mine just after arriving here saying Oxford is such a beautiful place that even jogging around my residence is so lovely. Three months later, I still find myself amazed by the picturesque sights each time I go jogging either with friends or by myself to let off steam.

It is refreshing, of course, to run through such beautiful places, but I feel that it might affect you even more than just allowing you to let off steam, in a longer term. I wonder if it makes the sense of colour or the sense of beauty keener, wider, or deeper. I wonder if it somehow affects the sense of time since the scenery here with old buildings and old trees doesn’t seem to have changed much for hundreds of years. I even wonder if it makes me a more poised person. Running through these favourite places made me feel calm even when I was stressed very much with all the readings and assignments; it is indeed so easy to think, “It’s not a big deal,” when you look at the landscapes that are totally unaffected by the rush of the MBA life.

And I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in constantly being amazed by all these landscapes here. For me, it’s mostly when I’m jogging, but one of my friends told me how he was amazed while he was rowing when the sun was about to set and the wind blew rippling the surface of the river, making it shine with the reflected sunlight. Another classmate told us about how nice it felt when he took a walk along the Thames early in the misty morning. No wonder my former professor from Tokyo who stayed in Oxford 15 years ago told me how “dreamy” this place was.

Here’s a video of one of last year’s MBAs jogging on Port Meadow and by the Thames:

De facto Day 1 at the SBS: George David CEO
On 28th of September, we had the first event all the MBA students were expected to attend, the first “distinguished speaker seminar.”  Mr. George David, Chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corporation, visited the SBS and talked to the incoming students.  I was looking forward to the seminar and the following dinner with him very much because I often found it really inspiring when I had opportunities to meet corporate executives in Japan, but I had never met in person a CEO in other countries before.  And he was definitely an impressive speaker with a good sense of humor and such great energy.  As far as I am concerned, I had the impression that he had more things in common than I initially expected with Japanese corporate executives I mostly admire.  Perhaps this says something about how Americanized Japanese business leaders have become?  Anyway, being stimulated by such an impressive CEO really was a great way to get the course started.

Oxford MBA
One of the things I like about the Said Business School is its enormously high growth rate.  Somebody said, “It’s only 12 years old, and is already competing with top B-schools that are 30, 40 years old, or even older.”  And I constantly feel the will of this school to “be more”, which I personally think is adding to the excitement of learning here.  During the dinner following the seminar above, I remember Sir Colin Lucas saying, “You are the ones who build the reputation of this school,” when asked about what is the advantage or benefit of choosing the Said Business School over others.  I like that.  For those with the internal locus of control, this is a great place.

Teammates!
As I see it, among the most attractive things about MBA programs is that you can gain an experience to work in an international team.  Here, we never can miss it.  In Michaelmas (first 3-month) term, we work on a lot of assignments within a group of 5 to 6 people.  Our team has 2 people from India, 2 from the US, 1 from Hong Kong, and 1 Japanese.  And I love my team.  Not totally satisfied with the assigned team number 27, we even re-named our team SanTeenThree.  (27 = 3*3*3.  San = 3 in Chinese and Japanese.  Teen = 3 in Hindi.  Three = 3 in English, of course.)  I have been really enjoying working with them.  Each time, I learn a lot from them; not only do I find their expertise or experience great, but I’m also impressed by their attitude.