The last stop of our Discovery Expedition was by no means the least one. After another 13+ hours flight, Dublin greeted us with a wonderful weather only seen few days a year. After the experiences in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, I was wondering how Dublin was going to surprise us and I am glad to say it did not disappoint.
I could write a lot about every company we visit and every speaker we had, from Mike Beary, AWS Country Manager, who told us about the importance of storytelling when doing your presentation, or Shay Power, from IDA the Irish Industrial Development Agency, who told us the history of Ireland’s growing economy, or our visit to Accenture, Facebook and Citi, but it would not do justice to the visits, plus it is impossible to cover everything from just my point of view.
What I want to share in this post are some of the things that made an impact on me:
Gary McGann on entrepreneurs: this year at IMD has been all about learning about entrepreneurs: the ideas, the drive, the effort it takes to make it to the other side. We got a chance to meet entrepreneurs here in Switzerland via our start-up project, and also during this trip in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen. Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and forms and there is no magic recipe for success. What Gary said that resonated with me was that a good entrepreneur will need a wing man that keeps them out of trouble. He also talked about the need to have equal amounts of fear and courage.
Accenture on what the post-digital era will look like: Accenture visit was filled with great presentations that included banking, the forces shaping the changes in the world, and their work with non-profits to drive users to make positive choices. My personal favourite was the presentation on the tech trends are creating the foundation for the post-digital era where we saw five trends they believe we need to keep an eye on. You can read more about it here
Tiernan Brady on how to make change happen: Tiernan talked to us about how he successfully led the campaign for marriage equality in Ireland and Australia. Even though his experience was on “getting the majority to vote for the rights of a minority” I personally found his message applicable to all our future careers as business leaders. He talked about the importance of showing respect even when you don’t agree on the ideology and how the world is too quick to decide who you are and the way you deliver your message is as important as the message itself. We were happy to learn that on the same the Dublin Pride Parade was happening and some of us managed to join to show the support for diversity and inclusiveness.
Overall an extraordinary experience, with fully packed days and a lot of ideas to open our minds to the realities of the world. Professor John Walsh and our program Dean Sean Meehan put together an incredible agenda for us. I cannot close this post without thanking the MBA team that supported us through the whole two weeks: Gitte-Marie, Gyopi and Sandeep: you guys are rock starts! It takes a lot of planning and patience to carry 90 people around the world and keep us on our toes, thank you for all your help and support!
Now we are all getting ready for a much needed break and hoping the next four weeks don’t go by as fast as the last six months have!
Helena
