Recent updates from me ...

OK, so it's FINALLY the first day after finals have finished for another term. My goodness, this term has passed so quickly - it's been out of control! As a result, the blog has remained untouched for just about a month, even though there is SO MUCH to tell. I'm going to try and backfill this in the spare time I have over the next 36 hours or so ... (I really need to do an update email, too!)

But some highlights from me:

• I'm currently in Washington DC on (yes, another!) study trip. We've got a parallel blog for this - check out http://gsb-dctrip.blogspot.com/ for the latest. You might notice some familiar authors ... (And I'm not talking about Enid Blyton!) [sorry, obscure 1980s novel joke]
• My job quest is progressing SLOWLY, but well. I've been offered jobs from Microsoft (Seattle), Eli Lilly (London), and Citigroup (London as well) - with my final Google interview happening tomorrow. Some decisions to be made over the next week or so!
• I've travelled to Lake Tahoe (skiing), Vegas (Again!), Napa Valley (Wine tasting etc), all of which have got pictures that need putting up ...
• ... And the last two weeks of the term had a dramatic election which I was a part of - I'll put up some diary entries below.

Sorry to all of you who've emailed, too - I've been appalling with replying.

Better run - hope all is well!
john

A saga to remember: class co-presidency and elections!

So it's weird writing this, retrospectively - it's currently March 24th, this all finished this March 14th, the final day of this (chapter of) this adventure. It seems like years ago now, even though at the time it seemed like forever ...! I hope you enjoy this journey, which has really changed my life, and what business school is about for me ...

Tuesday February 28th - an email after dinner ...

"ANNOUNCING THE WINTER GSB SA SENATE AND COMMITTEE ELECTIONS…INCLUDING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FOR THE CLASS OF 2007!!"

This was not completely unexpected, but it still came as a shock. Should I run? I was already elected as one of the Senators, and felt I could make a big difference ...

... ironically, post-Seattle, this was one of the things which I had talked about with my mentor, Bruce. What was I supposed to get out of my time here? I knew at a high level - to learn stuff, get a chance to get some cool jobs over summer and straight after, meet friends, grow personally, and try new things. But what would suit that the best?

Tuesday March 7th.

After much prayer and "consulting", I decide to run with my friend Robyn, another Senator! We take ages putting together a 3 page position statement (it was supposed to be 1-2 pages, but conciseness is a development need of mine - it even included a weird consulting-esque powerpoint slide. Oh dear) Here's the first bit ...

At this stage, I was feeling pretty good, relaxed about it all. "What does it matter?" I would think to myself. If we win, great, if we don't, no problem - I'll do something else with my time!

We were soon to find out that only one other team would be running ... you do the math! =)

Thursday 9th. The night before the presidential debate.

One of the traditions the GSB (Grad School of Business) has is that the presidential teams give a speech to the year about what they want to do with the position, then there are open questiosn from the floor which everyone has 2 minutes to answer - then e-voting begins, with the polls open for 72 hours.

We thought we knew what we were going to say pretty well. But then, nervousness began to set in. What if we get a question we have no idea how to answer? We begin to ask our friends to think of every conceivable question people may ask (Eg What are the 3 best things about the school? What do you think about Harvard's Grade Non Disclosure policy? etc!) and realise that we can't answer everything. We practice answers which don't sound too good and then freak out. Argh!

Friday 10th. Post-presidential-debate. And wait ...

The debate goes fine (I was at my witty best! I think), but soon I realise how daunted I feel. My confidence ("I have a 50% chance ... at least!") and nonchalence ("It doesn't really matter either way, right!") has given way to worry, concern. How should I act arond my classmates? Should I go up and ask them to vote for me? Should I be extra-nice? Should I go out and party to show that I'm cool? Wait - those guys didn't come up and talk to me. Maybe they feel nervous about not voting for me. Oh no!

Wow, how worried I was about it. I really just wanted to curl up into a ball during this 72 hour voting period.

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th. Homework, study, and more waiting ...

Trying to do homework (of which I had a lot - as I was deferring it so I could spend time working on my statement/debate/"campaign") was agony. My mate Trent wrote to me as I mulled over this with him over email ...

Uncertainty sucks. Especially for people like us. we just think too much! ... The truth is, its' ok to be nervous. I'm sure Eric and Elaine [the other team] are just as nervous/worried about the election.

I'm sure you'll ride a roller coaster of emotion over the next 48 hours. keep me posted. I have no doubt that all this anxiety is for a reason.

... Roller coaster of emotion was an understatement! It was so hard not to read far too much into every little thing - to wonder if we should have campaigned more, emailed stacks of people to vote for us, been more visible - maybe I should still do more now! At least this made me spend more time in reflection, in prayer.

Monday 13th - the night before we find out. Journal Entry.

The decision was taking longer than expected. We were supposed to find out on Monday lunch (close of e-voting) - instead, we were told Tuesday morning! Yet, as by this journal entry written as a prayer to God below, things were getting better in my mind ...

This sure has been an incredible experience. How little we get to wait, people like us. Maybe some short days before the job offer we really want, or a girl to say yes to our date or proposal, or nervous moments during an auction. But generally, for Those Of Us Who Have Had Life Handed To Us On A Platter, anxious moments are rare (and even when they come, they tend to be about not really life and death things – like this, actually …!).

And in my 4 days of waiting – from the reality of Thursday night (the night before we had to give our speech) to now (Monday night, when voting closed), have been a long, long roller coaster ride. Far more than I thought it would be, in my rational mind. I have gone from thinking we are certainties to we are no chance to now being somewhere in the middle. In such cases, imagination can be a killer. Every time I pause I picture an email with their names emblazoned: “Congratulations to our new class co-presidents!”. I role play in my head a thousand times what I will say in victory and defeat. I imagine the exhilaration of winning and the pain and bitterness of defeat. I imagine the awkward moments after everyone knows we lost to having everyone know me and compliment me after we won. All replayed in my head, again and again, involuntarily. And when the future doesn’t play out in my head, the past does. I see my classmates and my reflex is to analyze: “Did they vote for me? Well, that’s one. All I need is about 180 or so.” I extrapolate people’s actions in voting intentions, having to stop myself constantly.

But, Father, I extract much encouragement from this all. For starters, a peace and contentment has come over me. Secondly, a pragmatism about both my chances and how life moves on regardless has set in. It’s a great opportunity to do some great things and learn a lot; but so are much of the opportunities I have at business school.

Lastly but most importantly, I am realizing the real issue: do I trust you? Or do I only trust God when Things Work Out The Way I Want Them To? (If that is the case, what kind of "faith" is that?!) Yes, I do - no matter what.

Amen.

Tuesday 14th, 10:55am ... that email.

Class of 2007 GSB SA Winter Election Results!

Congratulations to the entire Class of 2007 for another incredible 89% voter turnout!

As always a number of races were really close, so every vote counted.
Thanks to everyone who ran and best of luck to the new leadership teams!

Please help us congratulate your classmates!

Co-Presidents
John Foong & Robyn Goldman

... and now a whole new challenge begins! What an adventure.

Napa Valley, wine country ...

Despite it being in the middle day between my two exams this week, upon the invitation of my sponsors, Macquarie Bank (thank you Mac!!!), I joined the Macquarie US Real Estate team for their retreat (well, one afternoon and night of it, anyway) in the beautiful Napa Valley - about 1 hour from San Francisco - their equivalent of the Hunter Valley.

Napa is full of beautiful wineries and buildings, and we got to see some great ones. Here's the one we ended up at last ...



After an afternoon of wine tasting, it was time for a cooking lesson (random I know, but hey). First we learned how to make Pesto ...



And then pasta (Well, kind of. He showed us and we listened ...! This guy was a demonstration chef from the Culinary Institute of America - that's right, the CIA?!!)



... Followed by a fabulous dinner and conversation about, well, lots of real estate, admittedly (Though I like real estate!). We then retired to some beautiful chateaus in the valley ...



... before I had to head back early the next morning to study! Argh!

Thank you Macquarie - it was a great afternoon and a good study break! =) And definitely worth a trip next time if you are out here - as an added bonus, the Jelly Belly factory is here too ...!

Another term (apart from exams) ends: What classes was I doing, again?!

At the start of last quarter (October last year!) I remember I gave a run down of all the classes I was doing. I intended to do the same thing this term, but, before I knew it, TEN WEEKS have passed by and another quarter is over.

But, from a learning point of view, it's been a GREAT quarter.

Basically, I've taken five subjects:

• High Performance Leadership. This is a subject where we met in big groups to talk about leadership concepts and case studies, then in small groups of 7 to do role plays and stuff like that. It was great fun and I learned a LOT about my own leadership style (particularly under different circumstances!) and some important lessons about conflict.
  
  Here's my team during the final simulation challenge ...
  
  
  
  ... and a group shot!
  
  
  
  
• Evaluating Entrepreneurship Opportunities was another great subject. We learned about how to start a business from all these business owners (successful ones!) and stuff. Here's my team of five - we're starting an internet business that scans old photos and turns them into websites ... more to come in the term ahead!
  
  
  
  
• Strategy in the business environment was another favorite subject of mine for a few reasons: First, i really like strategy (having been a strategic consultant and all!), secondly, our professor was Australian! And lastly, our section (63 people together in classes/lecturers) was the same group that started together and had been the same class for ethics, teamwork, and organisational behaviour. So we were all really good friends ...
  
  
  
  Here's our final class, where I helped organise a PIE and dance party (a bit of an obscure inside joke on "potential industry earnings', but we found it funny - i think!) ...
  
  
  
  
• Lastly, my other two subjects were operations (where we learned lots about toyota manufacturing and stuff) and business opportunities in education - where me and two friends wrote a business plan to start this on-line/in-person Christian training education school. If you want a copy of the plan, give us a yell!

blessings
john

Vegas, baby!

I wrote a LOT about my last trip to Vegas about six weeks ago: but this is one is different.

You see, at the GSB, there is a longstanding tradition, that every year, for abour 12 hours, just about the entire MBA school (this year we have 500+ guys out of 2 years of 375 each) goes to Vegas for about, well, 12 hours - all dressed in 1970s clothes - and has a huge party.

It all starts in class that day, with some people (Such as myself) wearing costumes to class (can you spot in this photo who did?!) ...



... then continues with all of us filling 90%+ of seats on a few SouthWest flights - see this queue ...



... and when I say 90% of the plane, I mean 90% of the plane! We were BIG. Singing Aerosmith songs on the way over, causing all sorts of "turbulence" ...



Once there, we crammed into limos (when you squeeze 20+ people into a limosuine, it's actually cheaper than a taxi!) and headed downtown to the Hard Rock Cafe Bar, off the Vegas strip ...



Where there were LOTS of us hanging out together - in all sorts of 70s outfits!



After a few hours there, we all moved to Studio 54 at MGM Grand - a very cool dance club (with a liking for paper confetti and people dancing on raised platforms) ...



Finally - 5:30AM. Many of us are booked on the first flight of the morning back to Stanford. The waiting area becomes a bit of a substitute for bed ...



It was sure one heck of a half day!

Welcome to Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe: Stanford Ski Country!

Another somewhat crazy tradition with the GSB is that, during winter quarter, about 30% of the year rent out houses in nearby ski fields (3 hours to get there - though 4-5 hours with traffic!!!) and spend the weekends skiing and snowboarding away.

Now I've never done either before, but realised that, 2 weeks before exams, now was best chance. So I "borrowed" a spot at a mate's house - this lovely house for 12 people about 15 minutes away from the Squaw Valley ski fields (where the 8th Winter Olympics were held!).



Now Squaw is HUGE. Boasting some 177 runs and 34 ski lifts - including many "black diamond runs" (Something I'll probably never experience at my current rate of development!), you have to see it to believe it!




As for me, all I had was a (rather expensive) snowboard I'd borrowed off my friend, Adrian, who was a bit of a pro. So it was time for lessons - and a LOT of pain.

Here's me in happier times ...



How was it? Extremely painful. A LOT of time, when you're starting snowboarding, is spent on the ground, watching ... (here's my watching somebody watching)



... and even though I picked up enough in 1.5 days such that I could stand up for (comparatively) extended periods of time, there were hours where I would try to get up from having fallen over, stay up for a few seconds, then fall down, again, again, and again. Worse still, when you actually get going and you crash forward - OUCH! Making the world look very grey ...



Overall, I'm glad I did it - though any improvement is going to take some sustained commitment ... next year, I say! =)

(Finally, for the critics, here's a token shot of me putting on snow chains = not fun in the cold! Brrrr!)