André Cepêda from MBA 2018 class talks about his transformation throughout the IMD journey so far. Featured image of the scenic expanse of Itacoatiara beach from his beloved home city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
The path down the hill of Itacoatiara’s beach led me back to the salty waters where my ordinary worries had been drifting harmlessly since my first dive in the morning. The corruption and violence that pervades my beloved Rio de Janeiro would – only for a minute – be diluted in a glass of cold mate tea, instead of in an everyday that can no longer be swallowed. An ancient indigenous legend says that sharing the mate herb spreads the good among neighbors. “Let there be mate” – I thought, focusing my eyes on the case. The interview would happen in a couple of days. Professional development, for outsiders. In my heart, though, a primal drive to fence more nurturing soils to the family I wanted to grow. Everything I love would soon be left behind, but for the moment, Itacoa’s sunset was still above… still illuminating my way back home.
“It’s the lack of salt” – I wondered, floating on Lake Geneva. I had just left my psychoanalysis session, and the bubbling insights on my mind refused to be washed away, preventing me to dive deeper. Or maybe I went deep enough already. The last days were all about group work. Supercharged, round the clock, with a team as talented as diverse: a Swiss-made experience to tear one apart. Suddenly I sink, inasmuch as an unknown piece of my personality arises to my consciousness.
How could I have ignored it for so long? Am I missing something else? How much further could I have gone, had I known before? Do I still have time? The gloomy waters around answered silently… and nearly drowned, I followed that light to the other side.
A goose squawked, waking me up. Am I still alive? I opened my eyes. The light was still there, and I recognized Itacoa’s sun shining timidly above me. Five hours late and tired from the trip, it looked just like Lausanne’s. Gosh, it was Lausanne’s sun. It doesn’t matter. it dredged me from the lake humbler and wiser, and I felt in love with it. I came to the IMD MBA program to become a better leader, and what I found would enlighten new ways across every dimension of my life
The video below provides a glimpse of Rio’s natural beauty and peek into André’s experience
[wpvideo oX07GAIh]
