Module 2 Classes Complete!

I just finished with classes for Module 2 of my Global Executive MBA program.  I am currently in my hotel in Madrid and getting ready for dinner. We will be dinning tonight at the Palacio de Linares

Even though this module was just 2 weeks, I feel like we have been gone for over a month. Each day is crammed full of learning, speakers, dinners/cultural events, studying and projects that each day magically turns into 100 hours. And for sleeping, well that is for things like lunch breaks. I was so exhausted one day, that i just pulled over a chair, put my feet up and was knocked out within seconds. This program is not for the faint at heart, as I am learning. But I guess, neither is life, well at least my life.

What can I digest so far over these two weeks?

-Leadership-Success-it means a million things to a million people.
-Staying focused and congruent is darn important to reach a goal, and to continue to reach goals. This is important individually and for corporations.
-Financial analysis and forecasting can be divided into two camps, short term gains and long term profitability. I prefer, when given the chance, to think and focus on long term. (Even if todays market is so uncertain that it doesn't make sense, it feels more comfortable to me. I may need to evaluate this again in the future).
-People really don't have a good model that will guarantee a successful company. There are ways to improve your odds however, such as corporate strategy, management, company structure, knowledge management, etc.  Even if you do all the stuff you are suppose to do in all the MBA books.. you will only have secured a 50% of the success game. there is still an unknown 50% of what makes something work. Yes, magic does exist, and it exists in stuff that economists have never studied before or even know how to quantify.
-And saying I don't know.. is still really hard for some people to say, and even hard for some entire fields of study to say. think about all the stuff in the world we don't know.. I mean even in science, there is a bigillions of stuff not know even about the human body. Our not knowing fuels our curiosity. It allows for our curiosity. And with curiosity comes innovation. Innovation comes from the stance of not knowing. Not from the knowing. it comes from admitting I have NO IDEA! 
-I like working with many different cultures. I love seeing how my classmates approach problems and projects. My classmates come from all industries and are at all levels, so the experience that comes to each table is vast. My last project, the CEO of the group was a very quiet force. He listened to everyone, repeated all the ideas back, the team would discuss the ideas; the good idea would emerge, and the silly ideas would be dismissed. The team was very easy and well managed. The mood between us all was just easy and relaxed. I was on I think two other teams (maybe three other teams?) and each one just shows different approaches, different level of perfectionism, and different levels of discussing the path forward. As school is the best playground for experimentation, I think I will continue to explore different styles for my remainder modules. I am sure each group you work with will automatically have some innate behaviors but knowing the characteristics that smooth groups over is very helpful. My classmates have so much to teach me, that I am excited for more projects.
-I really appreciate the founders of this program. Pedro and Paul are amazing human beings that deeply care about education. I like being able to tell that they care and they are deeply committed to us, to the program.
-Merges, acquisitions and partnerships was a lot of fun to learn about. We heard from one of the top members from Mars candy about their M&A and that was truly insightful. Insightful might be a great word for this entire module.  INSIGHTFUL.



ohh and the biggest thing I am learning:

 -The differences in life is what makes connecting and making commerce with people, fun.


Anyway going to get ready now for dinner.
Love you,
L