Francesco Baldisserri, MBA ’11

Returning from GLab, 1 semester to go!

I'm now returning to Boston after 3 intense weeks in Ho Chi Minh for the GLab, Global Entrepreneurship Lab. For this class, after collaborating remotely during fall, we spent January on site working on the strategy of a small insurance company.

This was another great experience and I strongly advise future Sloanies to take it. It's a real company, a real project and you'll work with a stable team for about 4 months. There is a lot to learn both from a professional and personal perspective. In addition to that you get to travel for free (see pics) and get to know an emergin country (Vietnam in my case).

On the course side I'm ready to start my last semester, with Global Economic Challenges, Advanced Corporate Finance and Managing in Adversity lined up for this spring (review will follow!). As for past classes that I'd suggest definitely take System Dynamics!

Done with Endeavor's eMBA program. What's left?

Few weeks after my internship is done I am thinking of the effect that my work will have on the company I interned as Endeavor's eMBA. Coming from management consulting I know this doubt is more than legitimate.

Will they follow my recommendations? Will the plan be presented and discussed among key stakeholders? What effect will have my work 3 years from now?

Although confident that my weeks spent working will have a positive impact in the company, I am not really sure of what will happen. Now that I've delivered the requested business plan I realize that there was no emphasis on the implementation.

This kind of commitment from a consulting's client is always tricky to obtain. However I believe a basic, universally agreed, plan with unambiguous milestones (e.g. "hire X developers" or "approach client in country Y") would have been useful in making clear for management what they agreed to do and facilitate tracking of progresses.

Sure there would still be the need of reminding the plan to the management, but in this respect Endeavor can play a supervision role. On the same line it would be interesting checking, 1 or 3 years later, how the eMBAs' internship affected, and hopefully improved, the supported companies...

The Endeavor eMBA program - 1st half of the project

I am working in Bogota with TES America, an engineering services company with clients in the telecommunication, cartography and telemedicine’s sectors. In this first part my project consisted in defining a market strategy to expand TES America’s telemedicine service, currently implemented in one Colombian department, where it connects 28 rural towns to the capital’s hospital. 

As a former consultant I had some doubts on what a single person could do for a company in only 10 weeks; being used to corporate, months-long programs with tens of people I thought the result of my job would necessarily be incomplete or superficial. After 4 weeks at TES America I realized why this is not true; I know already that my final deliverable will not be a huge, exhaustive guide for the entrepreneur but on the other side I’ve understood how the eMBA program forces the company into a time for self-reflection. Something that in the rush of daily deadlines it’s difficult to do. 

I have only scratched the surface of all the work that could be done and yet, after sharing the first results, I saw the entrepreneurs changing significantly their vision about the best way to go about marketing the solution and the next steps. I believe putting someone with a fresh perspective on making sense of a company strategy brings great value. 

I also believe this is also a good value for the eMBA. In the few weeks I spent here I could see and experience first-hand all the work that is needed to deliver to the client. In some sense a 100-people company makes transparent what in a 10.000-people enterprise was a black box. Furthermore the dynamic environment in which a small-mid company competes brings almost daily new elements to the table, which need to be taken into account. 

I am sure in the next weeks there’ll be developments that now I wouldn’t suspect but I believe that it’s right in that “chaos” that the eMBA brings, and gets, value. 

 P.S. By the way, I don't just work, here you can find some pics I've taken around Colombia!

1st year done, wrapping-up thoughts

Image via Wikipedia

After one hectic year of MBA being suddenly on holiday feels a bit strange. Classes and finals are over and my summer internship is going to start in 3-weeks so I have some time to think about how this experience went so far.

People: this is the thing I'm most happy about. Here at Sloan I've met many (too many?) great people and made good friends. No matter how stressful, dense, or stretched a period was, the environment was always supportive and I knew I had a many friend to count on (and party with).

Academics: though I'm not an "A-maniac" I've learnt a lot. Finance, econ and communication are just an example of the gaps I had (pretty typical for an engineer) and that I addressed here. I'm already looking forward to next fall as I got all the classes I bid for (System Dynamics, Business Law and G-Lab Asia/Pacific among the others).

Opportunities: The real risk here is being overwhelmed by all the activities that Sloan (and the MIT offers). Personally I had the chance to explore the non-profit sector and this summer I will be working with Endeavor, an organization supporting high-impact entrepreneur in emerging countries, in Colombia, preparing the strategic plan for a mid-size company in the Telco service. This is a unique opportunity for a typical corporate consultant like me to experience the work in a small company, in a new country with also a social goal.

Travels: Ghana, Japan and this summer Colombia; this year I had the opportunity to travel to many new countries and next year is gonna be as good, with the G-Lab Asia/Pacific already lined up for next January!

All in all this has been a great year and I'm afraid that the next one will pass even faster than this one. Looking forward to getting the most out of it!

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Japan's pictures

I manage to clean and select some of the pictures from my spring break in Japan. Enjoy some shots of this amazing country!

A consultant (and a half) in Ghana

My recent travel to Ghana gave me the chance to continue this saga I started during my indian adventure. In fact I spent the first 2 weeks of January working with Amend.org, an organization involved in road-safety education in Africa. The goal of the project was to evaluate the possible distribution models for Amend's newly produced reflective backpack. I started this project last October, together with other 3 fellow sloanies. Unfortunately my teammates couldn't join me for the on-site visit in Accra (Ghana's capital) but I could count on another valid support, my girlfriend (the "half" from post's title), who bravely (and unaware of the workload waiting for her) accompanied me in this journey. I will not describe in depth my work there but I want nonetheless highlight how rewarding was collaborating with Amend. The project was both interesting and challenging, spanning from marketing to operations, definetely the kind of engagement every consultant has fun doing. Even more important, Amend's effort in reducing road-traffic injuries among children is remarkable. If you're looking for a good cause to donate some money (or time) I suggest you to consider it. 

 Here are some pics and below few observations about Ghana: 

Funerals: That sounds odd but Ghana's funerals are way different from ours. When a person dies the celebration following is huge, with music and people dancing (even though closest relatives and friends may not be in a party mood). Funerals happen often in weekends and involve a big number of people, the more the persons the better. Surprisingly, it's common for Ghanaian's people to go to funerals also of people they barely (or didn't) know to get some free booze... Funeral-crashers! Also these celebrations are a huge economic endeavor (drinks, food, etc...) and all relatives and friends can contribute with a quote. The amazing thing is that by sponsoring the funeral you get a share of all profits resulting from the donations given by the invitees. I've been told that there's people doing this as a job, also if money available are not enough people borrow money. Leveraged funerals! Too bad I didn't have the time to participate to one... 

Food: Ghanaian's food is excellent, quite spicy and tasty. Many dishes are based on chicken, fish (try the Tilapia), banku (so similar to Italian's polenta!), rice, and my favourite, Plantain! This is a kind of banana, only bigger and greener than the ones we are used to. They are consumed as potatoes in western countries: grilled, fried, as chips, but not fresh. Street food deserves its own paragraph: Accra is packed with food sellers where you can get: plantain, coconut, mango, pineapple, pawpaw, watermelon, meat-sandwich, ... If you know what to get you can have a delicious meal for 1-2 GHC (0.5-1 euros). 

Street-sellers: I came to love people selling stuff at junctions and traffic lights. You're stuck in the traffic and without getting off your car you can get almost anything: sim-cards, top-up cards, water, food, clothes, ... The job is wearing (Ghana's heat and humidity are very much also in January, supposedly the coolest and driest month of the year), but the service is so convenient!

Photografies: Unlike India, Ghanaians don't strive to get in your pics. They often complain if you don't ask them in advance if you can take pics at them. To take a pic of the snail-seller my girlfriend gained a slap in her bottom! 

Street holes: Accra's streets are full of uncovered street-holes! You should always pay attention when you walk around the city, especially when you walk in streets without lights. My very last 30 minutes in Accra, when I was about to get into the cab for the airport, I fell with one leg into one of them. Result: me bleeding until Amsterdam and then getting 4 stitches in the ER of my hometown's hospital, in Italy, some 16 hours later. 

I liked the dialogue I had with the ER doctor in Italy: 
me: "Good morning, I have this wound in my leg, Do you think I need stitches?"
doctor: "How did you get hurt?"
me: "I fell into a street hole last night in Ghana"
doctor: "... take a seat."

Beaches: We had the chance to go a couple of beaches during one weekend. Beaches are very nice (some are very touristic but others are quite calm and enjoyable), beware of the equatorial sun, even if it's cloudy is surprisingly tanning/burning!

Schools: As part of our project I visited many schools and I was striken by children. Very calm (compared to western ones) and polite; when they're asked a question they stand up, they answer and they seat again. I am not sure what is due to, hopefully not to the stick, still used in some schools! Overall that was a great experience. I really enjoyed the work I've done and Ghana (too bad I couldn't visit other locations outside Accra), an experience I definetely recommend!

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Back to Italy!

If it doesn't start snowing I'll be on a flight to Italy in a few of hours. Having passed the core classes and this first semester at Sloan I feel it's time for few considerations about my experience here: 

As much study as you want - Literally, you can be a masochist (like me) doing every homework and studying everything in detail or you can lower your effort to the minimum level to pass exams. In any case the core is dense and provides a well-rounded preparation. 

Tons of extracurricular activities - This is the real trap! If you're not disciplined you may end up as member of several clubs, organizer of conferences and team member of an international development project (like me again). Everything is great and interesting... Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!

Lot of social life - Sloanies are very active in this respect, it can be an official C-function at the Walker Memorial or a party in a house in Cambridge, there is always something to do! Too bad Boston clubs close at 2am... 

Inclusive community - People are definitely the key strength of this place. You expect them to be smart but definitely not so friendly, open and fun. I am very happy with the people I've met and the friend I've made so far. 

Not enough time - This is the real source of pressure; I realize one of the four semester of the MBA has passed and maybe I will not have the time to try/learn everything I wanted to. Knowing what you want is key to make the most out of this experience. 

Boston is evilly cold - Don't listen to anyone telling you anything different; after a warm fall, Boston has revealed its true nature. Temperature is freezing and constant wind is a great reminder of that. How can possibly freeze a river?!?!

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Meds Charity Auction

The yearly charity auction organized by every "ocean" (aka section) at Sloan is a nice distraction from incoming finals. Everyone from the class can auction and bid on the most various items. In our 70-people ocean we raised 9'300$, donated to Community Water Solution. I have to say I wasn't very original in my auctioned item: 3 hours of consulting case preparation (there's a good market though!) and an italian dinner (promptly outsourced to my girflriend). On the other side I got:

• A complete, 3-course plus dessert Latin lunch for 2 people
• A date with the MIT Homecoming Queen (not for me, all the class collected the money for a classmate of ours)
• A deluxe hug (for the entire ocean) donated by a classmate (?!)

Here's some pics!

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Fall Ball 2009

I just realized that most of my posts about MIT Sloan revolve around classes, speeches and companies' presentations. This is not fair. There is a very intense social life going on here so here's few pictures from the Fall Ball 2009. A party organized every year by the student activity board. Great setting, 33rd floor of the State Room, with a beatiful view of Boston and the Charles River. We were served (a quick) dinner and then ready for dancing, open bar included. Too bad they kicked us out at midnight, but definitely an event worth of the 85 (yep) bucks.

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A day with Tufte

Image by star5112 via Flickr

Very few things would have me wake up at 7 on Veteran's day after a clubbing night, attending the 1-day workshop of Edward Tufte, guru of information design and presentation, is one of those.

I've read Tufte's books few years ago (Beatiful Evidence and Visual Explanations) and since then I was curious to attend one of his classes. When I found out it was coming in Boston I immediately signed up: the 200$ student fee included also all his four books, good deal.

I arrived there one hour in advance but several people where already there. Notably Tufte was walking up and down the auditorium, signing participants' books and chatting with them. While he was signing my book he asked me "So, what do you do?", I replied "I was a management consultant but now I'm doing an MBA in Boston"; he gave me a kind of skeptical look as if I was the very opposite of the typical attendant.

The class started with a beautiful video about the visual representation of music (see Music Animation Machine - Stephen Malinowski). I said class because it was really structured as a lecture; for every new topic Tufte would say the book and pages related (eventually asking the audience to read the section before starting) and then started his lecture. Unlike the classes I'm used now, questions are postponed to the following break.

During the day long class, Tufte presented several presentation's principles. Here's some:

Whatever it takes - You should first decide the content of your message and then which media to use, never the opposite. In this way you will pick the best medium for every presentation, being it video, pictures, slides, handouts, ...

Too clarify add detail - Clutter is not a characteristic of information, is a failure of its design. You should remove everything that doesn't add information (boxes, graphic frills, unnecessary legends, ...) and let the information form the structure. Dedicate as much space as possible to the actual content rather than to overhead. This concept was also used in when Tufte analyzed computer interfaces and also IPhone's.

Respect your audience - A sport page contains much more numbers and statistics than what's used in corporate presentations, a typical news website can contain up to 300 links in its frontpage. People can deal with complexity and the presenter shouldn't deny information to his/her audience.

Also Tufte gave his guidelines on how to do presentations:

Don't use slides - You may show the projector for pictures or video but don't use bullets.

Better content leads to better presentation - This is where you should start if you want to improve, presentations don't have to be "pitchy".

Give handouts - Handouts can contain the information equivalent to 50+ slides, also the audience can read 2.5 faster than the presenter can speak. Furthermore every person will be able to use his/her cognitive style and focus on what matter most to him/her.

Arrive on time (or early) and finish early - The audience loves that.

Before the end of the class Tufte also hinted that he's preparing his 5th book, regarding representing information in the 3 dimensions and time. Good to hear that!

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