India May 2011 - Intro

With the news that a buddy from business school was getting married in May, I began to plan a trip to India. Specifically to southern India. It has always been a destination on my to-travel list and what better catalyst than this.

This blog series outlines our trip landing into Bangalore, busing to Hampi, then across to Gokarna, training down to Alleppey and then back to the wedding in Bangalore. All of this happened in two weeks. Sleep was optional...

Our hosts were the groom, Avinash and also Praful, another business school mate. Both were magnificent hosts organising and playing tour-guide where possible. I was lucky to have a great travel buddy - Sarah, a long time friend who wanted to join and helped make it a memorable adventure. Also to join was Frederic from business school. We met a ton a fantastic people along the way.

I hope this set of notes (it may take a week or two to complete!) give you a snap-shot of our adventure. Photos will be posted to picasa and linked along the way.

Singapore November 2010

Light snow was falling as I boarded a Qantas 747 bound for Singapore. Before take-off the plane needed to be de-iced and prepared for its 12 hour flight across to the small island just below Malaysia and across from Indonesia.

Graff and new friends in Berlin

See http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/BerlinInOctober#

It was a dark and cold weekend but kicked off with a night out with work colleagues in Mitte. Then Saturday and Sunday involved checking out Berlin Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg! Berlin is a smorgasboard for the eyes.

Berlin Arrival

So i'm in Berlin. Thanks to Sarah, my old quasi-landlord in Mannheim, I am staying in a place at the top of Schoenhause Allee. Sarah was in Berlin while I was in her room in Mannheim. It's a wg- (wohngemeinschaft - or share apartment) with all the essentials. I'll stay here until the 9th and in the meantime will look for a place here. Once I have a place - i'd love you to visit...

After dropping off the car I rode my bike back up through Berlin-Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. Even on a Sunday evening there are plenty of vegetable shops open, restaurants, bars and considering the weather was quite agreeable today, there were lots of people out.

The energy in Berlin is everywhere. It's powerful...and I hope it rubs off on me as I immerse over the coming months!

Stuttgart

Moving out of B6 was a nightmare. Sarah was busy getting her things out while also making the flat livable for me. In the end, as there had no water and very little furniture it felt as though I was camping there. In many ways i'm happy to have very few possesions. When I moved my things, four trips down the stairs singlehandedly got all my things into the car. It took the girls two days and a large Mercedes Sprinter van to take their things!

In the end it was sad leaving the great times of B6 with Sarah, Andreia, Henna, Marie and Christoph as well as honorary guests - Praful, Avinash and many more from our class.

With a full car I went down to Leonberg (near Stuttgart) on Thursday evening. Thursday evening was spent over a few beers with Marc and his friend Armin in downtown Leonberg - a happening place would be an gross misrepresentation! In the morning I also went to Weil der Stadt to visit a sick but happy Laura. I spent the rest of Friday with Marc's dad cruising around on the bikes while Marc was at work. Marc's mother is a mean cook and really won't let you leave the table until you're completely and utterly full. This was a welcome task considering the past few days of "camping"  in B6. Nothing like a home cooked meal and lots of Schwaebisch being spoken! We went out on Friday night in Stuttgart which was pretty good - Waranga, Barcode and Mutter's Milch. If you're into house music then Theodor Heuss Strasse is for you. Saturday was touring around and seeing the sights. Klein aber fein = Stuttgart. The Schloss Platz, Koenig Strasse, Markthalle, etc are all nice. I like some of the new architecture in particular the new Museum at the Schloss Platz. After a lye down and another great dinner on Saturday evening we hit the Wasn for the Cannstatter Folksfest. Sadly I didn't have Lederhosen. It's the second biggest Volksfest (people's festival) in Germany after the Oktoberfest in Munich. While it might not be as good as the Oktoberfest, there is no shortage of beer, dancing on benches and dirndl powered cleavages. In fact, it is something that makes Australian drinking behaviour look like kids drinking milk in the school yard. The guys / girls running around with 10 steins with a litre in each (plus the weight of the glass) is impressive. I'm astounded that no one breaks the benches that everyone stands on. Each bench has 5-6 people jumping for hours on it. The heat in the tent (it was below 10 degress outside) was high due to sweating people so much so that the inside of the tent had enough condensation for it to drip water (of course) all evening.

After a lap of the show grounds and a few beers we took off early to beat the crowds to head into town. Marc met some of his friends while I met with Laura and her friends in a Mexican restaurant. There was plenty happening and luckily we could still get into bars. A bouncer in all his wisdom tried to test how drunk we were by asking me if we could speak in English...we got in. Classic Rock was a good bar with plenty of dancing and after-Wasn activity going on!

The only mistake was missing the night-bus which set us back an hour. That being said, an extra hour in the cold to wind-down was probably a good move. Although a Doener was threatened, waiting for the bus didn't seem too long a wait. Marc's mother dotingly picked us up in Leonberg and brought us to our beds to round off a great weekend.

After some strong coffees and a couple of brezels I hit the road again, heading north to Berlin. I had arranged a Mitfahrer (via a online platform for car-sharing) and picked him up from McDonalds. As it was Sunday and trucks aren't allowed on the Autobahns, the traffic flowed nicely and meant I covered the 640kms in five hours or so. I unloaded Clements (a nice guy about to start his studies) in Potsdam before unloading my things in north Berlin and before taking the car back.

What started last week as a stressful week of moving and not really knowing my plans and future finished up being a fun, relaxing and reinvigorating week. Thanks to Marc and his family for superb Schwaebisch hospitality!

Helmet rules in Australia

In response to this article posted by a friend Dixie:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/16/2983587.htm

I'm partly in favour of this Dix. True: fewer helmets will mean more people on bikes, true: road safety campaigns do help and true: more helmets means less head injuries per accident. His point, the number of accidents aren't reduced with helmets. They are not a preventative measure, rather band-aid for later. The missing link here is the "driver" and associated infrastructure. Are drivers in Australia aware enough of cyclists? I would argue not. I've been hit several times and had close calls hundreds of times. Though, without a helmet I may not have been here to write this note.

In EU drivers are far more aware of others on the road. Getting a license here is far stricter, the road rules are stricter and for that matter roads are safer; in my opinion. Similarly, the acknowledgement of cyclists in EU has led to a real investment in bike paths which lead to better safety when cars and bikes require co-existence. In the EU many people do wear a helmet even though it's not compulsory.

Let's add the ability for bikes to be taken on public transport and we are starting to build a network for bike users who can travel long distances with public transport and make the smaller connections with their bikes. I think there is nothing cooler than rolling to work on your Holland style town bike or Fixie for the more adventurous.

All our cities in Australia could facilitate this form of transport. Our weather is perfect for it. Roll the leg over, and ride to work I say!

Turn the air-con off and sell ice-cream

That's how Deutsche Bahn is making up for lost profits due to train breakdowns.

For Germany any temperature above 35 degrees is stinking hot. Very few buildings have air-conditioning and those who've spent a lifetime eating wurst and drinking beer are sweating profusely. Raining sweat.

MBS-WHU Rowing 3rd July 2010

So as the water puddles finally dissipate downstream on the Neckar, from what was an excellent regatta on Saturday, I write to thank all those who took part, who helped make the day happen and for WHU's great healthy competition and support each year.

In it's 5th year, a rowing race has been held between the Full Time MBA programs of the Mannheim Business School and the Otto Bleisheim School of Management at WHU (Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung Vallendar, near Koblenz).

It all started some months ago

Critical Leadership skills for sustained success

What do you consider to be the critical strategic leadership skills that enable organisations to realise sustained success?

Introduction
In this assignment I will attempt to outline what I consider to be the critical strategic leadership skills using what notable people have written and also what I see from my own perspectives as both an experienced follower and an inexperienced leader (although I really do enjoy trying to be, and think I am learning to become, a (good) leader).

Win Win Situation

Win-Win-Situation

- Report on our Social Project.

Strategieworkshop der Mannheim Business School mit der Plan-AG Mannheim

Wer an der Mannheim Business School (MBS) ein Master-Studium absolviert, hat unter anderem ein „Social Project“ im Curriculum stehen. Und so nahm ein Viererteam im Herbst 2009 Kontakt mit Angela Müller von der Plan-Aktionsgruppe Mannheim auf. Der Deal: Ein gemeinsames Projekt, bei dem die Aktionsgruppe von den angehenden Führungskräften des International Business professionell gecoacht wird. Die Studierenden betrachten  Erfahrungen, Wünsche und Potential der Aktionsgruppe und beweisen ihr Knowhow. Nach einigen Treffen stellten Kristina Weith/Deutschland, José Puche/Kolumbien, Salma Wang/China und Adrian Oest/Australien ihr  Konzept vor: Einen eintägigen Strategieworkshop für die Aktionsgruppe.

Private Information

With Facebook under huge pressure from consumers and governments alike the thought of protecting private web based information is almost oxymoronic. As we continue to move at light speed further into the internet age we release more and more information to the optic fibres and routers, in 1's and 0's across the globe. The web is as close to a public medium as it gets.

I write here to somewhat stand on the side of Facebook and Google, although I too feel vulnerable to personal information theft. As a fan of social media and an active social media user I am well aware of the risks. I have become more comfortable with this risk simply because I think it would be naive to think that my personal information could not be dragged up from a server other than Facebook's.

HHL Soccer

The business school was invited to a soccer tournament in Leipzig to compete against other European business schools. We left after a very intense M&A exam and a very long information overload week. The bus ride was very salubrious drawing much interest from cars overtaking us on the autobahn.