This is not directly related to my MBA, but it's worthwhile on a much larger scale. Check it out:
http://www13.earthhourus.org/
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Week 11 of Hilary
Technically this week is number 11. Exams were in week 10, so we're actually finished for the term. Almost. My financial management class has a formal assignment that is due at the end of this week. We made some good headway on it but it still requires work. Half of the group is out of town so we plan to complete the project over email and skype. Thank goodness for skype. My EP group is taking a similar strategy, working remotely; our final write-up is due the first day of Week 0 of Trinity.
The EP pitch was an interesting experience. Our project is essentially creating renewable energy co-operatives in local communities. It's a proven model in the UK; we simply put a different spin on it and moved it to the U.S. Everyone in the class had to pitch three professionals that the school brought in to provide feedback. We pitched our idea to a former McKinsey guy turned social entrepreneur and two VC's. Overall I think the presentation went well, but we didn't get feedback that was particularly useful. We cited a recent Yale study that found that 90% of Americans are in favor of using renewable energy to show that there would be a market for our idea, and one of the guys told us that the statistic we cited is like saying that 20% of Americans think they've been abducted by aliens. I thought about telling him that we would be fine with co-op members who thought they'd been abducted by aliens as long as they bought into the co-op using the proper currency, but held my tongue to be safe. It would have been nice to hear something more constructive, but getting up and pitching them with nothing to lose was still a good experience.
That's enough school talk. After exams I went to Belgium. I spent some time in Brussels, Brugge, and a few hours in Veurne before driving by the North Sea. There are a number of new buildings along the coast which makes the ocean view from the road all but impossible to see. I ended up driving to the coast and getting out of the car to take a few pictures. The wind was so strong that I had to actually put my hand over my mouth to breathe properly and I was blown around a good bit, but it was fun for a few minutes. :-) I felt like a reporter in a hurricane, talking about how crazy it is that anyone is out or even in the same area as the bad weather while actually standing in it herself. Ha.
I made it safely back to New York and am working on job stuff for the first time in weeks. I'm planning to visit Casey in Boston and go home to Pennsylvania for a bit before heading back to Oxford in April. There's only one term to go...this year is flying.
The EP pitch was an interesting experience. Our project is essentially creating renewable energy co-operatives in local communities. It's a proven model in the UK; we simply put a different spin on it and moved it to the U.S. Everyone in the class had to pitch three professionals that the school brought in to provide feedback. We pitched our idea to a former McKinsey guy turned social entrepreneur and two VC's. Overall I think the presentation went well, but we didn't get feedback that was particularly useful. We cited a recent Yale study that found that 90% of Americans are in favor of using renewable energy to show that there would be a market for our idea, and one of the guys told us that the statistic we cited is like saying that 20% of Americans think they've been abducted by aliens. I thought about telling him that we would be fine with co-op members who thought they'd been abducted by aliens as long as they bought into the co-op using the proper currency, but held my tongue to be safe. It would have been nice to hear something more constructive, but getting up and pitching them with nothing to lose was still a good experience.
That's enough school talk. After exams I went to Belgium. I spent some time in Brussels, Brugge, and a few hours in Veurne before driving by the North Sea. There are a number of new buildings along the coast which makes the ocean view from the road all but impossible to see. I ended up driving to the coast and getting out of the car to take a few pictures. The wind was so strong that I had to actually put my hand over my mouth to breathe properly and I was blown around a good bit, but it was fun for a few minutes. :-) I felt like a reporter in a hurricane, talking about how crazy it is that anyone is out or even in the same area as the bad weather while actually standing in it herself. Ha.
I made it safely back to New York and am working on job stuff for the first time in weeks. I'm planning to visit Casey in Boston and go home to Pennsylvania for a bit before heading back to Oxford in April. There's only one term to go...this year is flying.
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