To Dream and Land

This title came from one of my classmates- Rafa and his nuggets of wisdom - how great leaders should have strong vision but also be able to make it real. It;s something I have seen often lacking in organisations where I've worked. So I got the words written in beautiful Japanese calligraphy and is now hanging on my wall- my new motto!

This week's happenings:

1. I decided I would delve deeply into current MIT research and investigate whether solar-powered buildings for developing countries is a possibility for the near-ish future. This was a bit of a break-through for me. What's cool is I am using three of my classes to research the concept- one will get me to do the research on the technology behind the energy and the markets, one will look specifically at developing countries and what might work for them and hone the Exec Summary; the third will get the business plan written. Coordination!

2. I heard lots of good speakers this week, including the President of Rwanda, but Andrew Lo, Senior Professor of Finance at Sloan together with a strategist from Bank of America topped the list. They talked about the mess we are in...and how it happened. Really explaining in some detail the risk upon risk that piled up and splitting of dodgy mortgage securities into AAA (almost riskless) and BA (risky) bonds. One of them left us with a quote: As greed overtakes fear, be scared, as fear overtakes greed, buy! I was reading Noam Chomsky who says that risk in financial markets needs to be calculated in a whole new way- it should incorporate the risk to the entire global economy. I hope that he'll talk more about this when he comes to speak to us later this semester.

3. We had our convocation about sustainability this week- about 400 alums from the Sloan Fellows program over the last 70 yrs came back..this was like fast-forwarding 10-20 years hence into my future after the Program, but also quite scary as a lot of last year's class aren't working yet. I guess for the reasons in point 2, it's not the easiest time to graduate.

I like the story I read about a MIT student a couple of months ago, who camped out on Wall St with a sign saying "MIT student unemployed" and he got a load of job offers. Maybe I'll try that..if nothing works out! I am starting to think about what I want to do now. Google interests me a lot! The culture and the open innovation model.

4. I gave a talk on my life to my class. I got some nice feedback. I tried to mix it and talk about my life as well as my career. I followed the very impressive Mattias, who'd sold his last tech business for $75m, and it just highlighted how different we are in the class! I am definitely getting a lot of practice at speaking to large-ish groups (between 50-100 people) and now this is not such a daunting experience. I've got two more presentations this week to do, but with new faces, about launching business ideas. I like speaking in public, I just need to prepare.

5. I am liking how System Dynamics is so computer programming designed, it is really making me think in diagrams with arrows and feedback loops, for every type of problem....almost like a visual programing language, but yet different to flow-charts.

6. Summer is ending - tomorrow is officially the start of autumn - and this is very sad. The temperature dropped for a couple of days and I needed to wear a wool coat! I was honestly very shocked as the delta from the day before was about 15 degrees centigrade! But today temperatures crept back up and it was gorgeous. The saddest thing about summer ending is I will need to find a new refuge. I have had this oasis of beauty and calm this summer, in the form of this incredible sort of park by the river. I go there to run, bike, stroll, read or do yoga and meditation on the little jetties. It is 5 mins from MIT and so the perfect place to de-stress.I will need to look for my winter wonderland.

7. I tried learning the golf swing..fun but difficult, I hope I can keep trying, not sure I'll have enough time this year, but we'll see! More than for business reasons, I'd like it to play with my Dad and his cronies, as that seems to be all they do these days.

8. I believe in how the moon affects me, and as it has been a full moon, I have had a lot of energy and a lot of fun. We haven't had official classes since Thursday, and we have Monday off too. It's rumoured to be a suicide prevention day, and it is a really needed break from classes! I don't think Sloan has had any suicides, but MIT does work their young super smart undergrads hard.

I am still in huge awe of the MIT ecosystem and way it works - it knows its value and what it is selling, and does it all impeccably. Today I was at Harvard and it feels so different! I think I was always a bit of a misfit before, here most people are misfits, so I fit in just fine! Most people here are at the ends of the Normal distribution for sure!

8. I went to a gorgeous classical concert today in my MIT dorm given by the Housmasters- today actually was a huge day of solitude and reflection. I love those days, they are but rare. I asked them to teach me to sing so I could learn to project my voice better. Perhaps others in my class will be interested too.

They sang a song based on one of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems. I will sign off with his words:

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.