UCD Smurfit MBA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Events’

Wednesday 7th December saw the 2011 class being conferred in the O’Reilly Hall in Belfield.  It was a great occasion for all the graduates and their families some of whom had flown in for the day and a fitting event to mark all the hard work and effort put in by the MBA participants from the beginning of the applications process, in some cases year ago, to the handing in of the final assignment and putting the pen down in the final exam.  The conferral was a joint one between the MBA and the Masters in Accountancy programmes.  The ceremony itself was conducted by UCD President Hugh Brady and Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh.  The address was given by Dr. Tony Brabazon, Director of UCD Smurfit Business School.

As usual the run up to the conferral was marked by lots of running around getting gowns and scanning of the hall to locate family, not an easy task in such a large hall.  After the official part of the day was successfully completed by graduates the 670 men, woman and children present adjourned to the O’Reilly Conservatory for the Conferring Reception.  There were lots of introductions of family to class mates, photographs taken with classmates and family with a rather splendid Christmas tree as a back drop and discussion of everyone’s plans for the evening.  A couple of the classes had arranged group meals or events for after family meals were over.   By all accounts some people didn’t finish celebrating until the early hours of the following morning.

Congratulations to the UCD Smurfit class of 2011 from all in the MBA Office.

- RoisinO’Loughlin | EMBA Programme Manager | MBA Office

Networking is one of those words that started out sounding interesting and catchy and came to mean the soulless pursuit of people you can manipulate into thinking you like them and use to achieve your own objectives. Nowadays, only people with fangs and razor-sharp claws participate in ‘networking’.  Even in an MBA programme that is ranked in the Financial Times as one of the world’s best, networking started as a bad word, whispered only in dark corners of hidden corridors.

A wise man (my dad) once told me that he thought that out of all of his clients built up over his more than 20 year career, the ones that ended up staying with him were the ones that, had he just met them in the street, would have ended up being his friends anyway.  After spending several years in marketing, sales and PR, that’s how I see networking.  It’s just meeting as many people as you can to find out with which you might share a connection.  You meet a person, you like them, you might even become friends, and then they are in your network.  It’s easy.  It’s fun.  If you do it right, it will make your life better and happier.  Why then, does the term ‘networking’ get such bad reactions? Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the MBA personal and professional development programme, we recently had the privilege of learning about the essentials of networking from Kingsley Aikins and Ed Kelly of Networking Matters. Kingsley is a former President and CEO of the Worldwide Ireland Funds and during his tenure cultivated an international network that raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cultural, community and educational projects across Ireland.

Through their four-step method, and highlighting some fascinating examples, Kingsley and Ed described how networking is a continuous process of research, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. The concept of cultivating relationships certainly raised a few eyebrows in the room, but through learning from real-life examples of patient persistence and attentive mutual respect, the rewards of such techniques became increasingly obvious.

Undoubtedly, the most challenging aspect of networking then becomes the “ask”. It is also the most important. Whether it is asking for a further contact, reference, advice or even donation, learning how to do this successfully from Kinglsey and Ed was invaluable. In closing this uniquely beneficial session, the importance of maintaining and evolving existing relationships through real and regular contact was summed up brilliantly; “A bad day on the road beats a good day in the office.” To a current MBA student however, they both sound considerably better than a long day in the library!

- David Pierce

Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for his whole life.

If that man innovates fishing methods, he’ll catch more fish than he needs, thus being able to sell the surplus fish, the technology, or both.

In other words, innovation will give the man disposable income.

I attended the Dublin Investment Summit on Friday 30^th September 2011. CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors and investors were present to discuss business topics relevant to today’s economy. There were also pitches from companies that were looking for investment (including some very exciting nanotechnology from Vasorum and Alta Science. Read the rest of this entry »