It was a busy holiday season for the class of IMD MBA 2018. Relocating is not a walk in the park.
Today’s guest entry is by Seán Meehan, Dean IMD MBA.
I too had a move, but only from one building to the next – all expertly accomplished by our office service team. There was one, self-imposed, glitch though. I had a few days to sort everything out before IMD closed for the holidays. I’d ignored IT’s helpful alerts that my password was about to expire – and foolishly I put it on the ‘long list’, believing I’d get to it eventually. I finished most of my to-do’s just as IMD closed for the holiday break on Friday evening December 22nd. At some point the following day, with the Christmas lights up at home (better late than never), attempts to login to my IMD account (and everything linked to it) failed, the deadline had come and gone at midnight. For me it was to be an unscheduled, but in retrospect a very welcome, break because 2018 is going to be a busy year.
Some months back, I accepted IMD President Jean-François Manzoni’s invitation to direct the MBA program from 2018. It was an unusual opportunity. Unusual because this will be my second time in the role, and an opportunity because we know well the positive impact that the program has on the lives of the participants and those they subsequently work with and inspire. Working closely with me will be Knut Haanaes, a really great strategy professor who, prior to joining IMD, led BCG’s Global Strategy Practice.
This morning the MBA office, who have been hard at work since January 3rd finalising everything for the weeks ahead, welcomed the MBA class of 2018 comprising participants from 43 countries. The class has already begun what I’m sure will be an enriching, transformative and fun year. They’ll make new friends, form lifelong relationships, found businesses and discover new interests. They’ll meet and develop their networks to include many of the 9,000 executives we’ll welcome to IMD campuses in Lausanne and Singapore in 2018, and many of the tens of thousands of alumni we engage with globally. Ralf Boscheck, during his tenure as Dean, was right when he urged us all to leverage this amazing global network and put the IMD MBA at its centre.
The class of 2018 will have a busy year. We’re all dedicated to their success. Let’s wish them well.
Seán
