UCD Smurfit MBA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘MBA Clubs’

Before the global recession and housing bubble burst, I used to enjoy watching a programme called “Flip that House”.  The premise of the show was to follow people through the purchase, renovation and subsequent resale of properties, hopefully at outrageous profits.  My strongest impression in this show was that most projects went way over their budgets.

At this point in the semester, that’s how I feel with my time.  Something that I anticipated costing me 2 or 3 productivity hours is actually costing 5 or 6, multiplied exponentially as I have over committed and over extended to the nth degree.  I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off – or as they more succinctly say here in Ireland, like a headless chicken – between Strategic Negotiations with one group, required courses and another group, Portuguese classes in preparation of our Emerging Markets trip, fundraising for Rugby Club, and the list goes on…

‘How did I convince myself I would have time for this? I wonder in my constant scattered distraction from one million things racing through my head at a time.  I didn’t think it would take this long is the real answer.  I am way over budget on time.  Just as in “Flip That House”, though, going over budget often is what made the house really impressive.  It’s hard to say if I will make use of everything and return on my investment, but I’m glad I went for the marble countertop and parquet flooring equivalent for the brain.

Now I guess what it all comes down to, just as in the real estate market, is ‘location, location, location’.  Having been based in developing markets for years, I had decided that a change for more developed markets would do me some good and an MBA from one of the top global programmes would be just the platform from which to make that change.  Now that I’m here in the over-saturated job market, it seems that the flexibility and language skills that brought me to live in some of the remotest corners of the planet in the past may remain my competitive advantage as companies look for flexible employees whom they can send wherever they are needed.  Luckily enough for me, unlike in the real estate market, I can pick up my investments and move them to a neighborhood where people value quality craftsmanship if need be.

Mr. Tony Spollen: On the Bigger Balance Sheet in Life

On Friday 17^th February 2012, Mr.Tony Spollen (Guest Speaker) and Professor Pat Gibbons (Chair) kicked off the Inaugural MBA Thought Leaders Club (TLC) Speaker Series to sustained applause, in Lecture Theatre 1. Following a warm welcome to mark the official launch of the TLC Speaker Series, Pat Gibbons turned proceedings over to Tony Spollen, who delivered a thought provoking talk entitled “Lessons from Life”. I am sure it will stay with many of us for years to come. We were treated to a breadth of insights, experiences and stories; the distillation of a lifetime’s wisdom, encouraging us to live life to our full potential, to cherish our health, to focus wholeheartedly on the present- and to remember, above all else, the bigger Balance Sheet in life. Chatham House style rules apply at these events, so only those in attendance will truly appreciate what was shared with us that night, and will have a sense of the character, courage, and leadership required to so generously share so much, with so many, in such a meaningful way. A palpable silence pulsed throughout the talk- the likes of which I have never experienced- and the prolonged applause spoke for itself. This is the first in a series of talks which I hope will leave a lasting impression on us during our experiences on the MBA, and will create the space to have a different kind of discourse- about life, inspiration and realising potential.

Mr. Tony Spollen and Prof. Pat Gibbons: The Devil is in the Detail

They say that a rocket takes 90% of its energy just to get off the ground and only 10% of its energy to travel the remaining distance. On the basis of this 90/10 rule, I’d especially like to thank Tony Spollen- not only for the special message he shared with us on Friday, but for his invaluable guidance leading up to the event, to Professor Pat Gibbons for his immediate support of the initiative, to my classmates – Denis Shikunov (full-time Russian/part-time TLC photographer), Linh Thi Bao Nguyen and Justin Thomas (the Vietnamese/American SWAT Team of poster campaigns) – and to the MBA Programme Office and Services Team for their facilitation and forbearance of my ongoing efforts to turn their respective offices into TLC HQ!

The next speaker in the series is Mark Pollock on “The Art of Making it Happen”, chaired by Dean O’hOgartaigh, on Friday, 2^nd March 2012 at 11-12pm, in the Lawrence Crowley Boardroom, Smurfit Business School. The rocket is now launched; may the inspiration continue.

Davinia Anderson, FT MBA 2012 and Founder of the MBA Thought Leaders Club

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This was a recent headline in the Irish Sunday Times reviewing the latest research suggesting that teamwork stifles creativity. This is one of many headlines I have been drawn to since my MBA journey began 5 months ago.

As I read the article it reminded me of the creative geniuses the world has produced and how their creations impacted upon society. Some of these individuals did not have University to educate them, which related to one of my recent readings for Organisation Behaviour and Decision Making Class:  ”The learning organisation: Foucauldian gloom or Utopian sunshine”. During the pre-lecture discussion with some of my classmates, I stated my point that we were all like chickens being force fed case studies from Harvard. I had been wondering had any of the Lecturers ever had a student challenge the norm and bring some new insight into these cases. My thought continued to when we (MBA students) go back into the world of work will we be just applying the latest research into innovation and creativity, by bringing people into groups and hoping their creative juices flow? The Times stated that unless there are strong characters, people in groups often give into peer pressure, or sit back and let others do all the work. This is something we touched on last semester in Business and Society and we know how powerful groupthink can become.

By the way this is a blog about the UCD Smurfit MBA Charity Club but in many ways the introduction is the way the Charity Club has been operating, getting the best of both worlds in groupthink and individualism. A few weeks after the MBA started numerous groups began to bloom like daffodils in spring time, due to my interest in volunteering I decided to join the Charity Club. After the meeting with last year’s representative Fiona, Stephen and I realised that much hard work was ahead of us to get and keep people motivated and involved. Stephen came up with a great idea for cancer awareness in the first semester, so we decided to brainstorm and get the ball rolling. This ended up with the first Health Awareness Day in UCD Smurfit which we tied in with the Smurfit Society and Movember and it was a roaring success.

Since the energy levels have risen after the Christmas break, our policy of individuals coming up with their own idea, bringing them to the rest of the Club, and developing them into manageable events has continued. Presently we are organising an information lecture for business students in Belfield, fund raising for Autism Ireland, developing an idea with City Wise, helping Arc Support with marketing ideas, organising a Tarot Card fund raising event and organising a fundraising event in the Dublin Mountains for the mountain rescue association. It is very encouraging that not only are the individuals bringing these ideas to the club but that the majority of the class are also contributing.

Maybe loners do the best work but hopefully the latest research also has a place for groups as well. People are all different and the way they operate in groups varies but inevitably everyone has something useful to contribute. The MBA continues to expand my thinking and the Charity club continues to grow as a direct result of all those case studies and readings!

- Garrett Dorrian, FT MBA 2012

One of the best-supported student societies among the full-time MBA class is the MBA Investment Club. The club is focused on education and events, and is a great way for students to apply the theories studied in class to real-world investments. We manage an investment fund which encourages students to put forward case studies to support the inclusion of a stock or exchange-traded fund into the portfolio or to argue in favour of closing out a position.

Once the case study is presented, shareholders in the fund then vote on whether or not to buy or sell. Given the turmoil in the financial markets, it is unsurprising that caution has been the order of the day so far, with student investors opting to have a high proportion of the portfolio in cash with only defensive businesses with strong balance sheets being considered for inclusion to date.

In addition to running the fund, we have also presented a seminar series on the financial markets from a practitioner’s perspective which was held over the course of one week earlier this term, while meetings are occasionally convened (open to all MBA students) at which investment case studies are presented along with an overview of what is happening in global equity markets.  We are hoping to arrange a number of ‘site visits’ to some of Dublin’s principal financial centres in the New Year to help further the class’s understanding of how the markets work and to give an opportunity for students to get to know and learn from some of the leading figures in Ireland’s investment community.

- Philip O’Sullivan