It’s the beginning of December, but for us IMD MBA’s it is the end of our journeys. Our planes touched down in Switzerland a year ago with snow painting the Alps and Lac Leman glistening in the background. December for me was always a time to enjoy the holidays with family and friends, while reminiscing on the year. This year our MBA class and staff became family and friends and we get to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with them. Lausanne has Christmas lights and the market where vin chaud, gingerbread, and wood fire smells encompass the whole town. For us MBA’s, this is such a happy time to enjoy the last couple of weeks before graduation. However, it also is sad as we know the next time we’ll all be together might take awhile. Nevertheless, we’re going to make the most of it!
I remember signing up for the IMD MBA blog this time last year and am so glad I did. It’s good to know that everyone from the past or future gets to ride along our journey. My friend and classmate, Eseosa, and I will be finishing up the blog. We’ll be talking about graduation, flying back home, and reminiscing about what we’ve learned and loved. So to start off our final posts, the first thing I did was check last year and see what the Mighty90 said. Last year, Anthony Wilson gave us 2021 MBA’s some advice and let’s see how our class did….
Advice from the 2020 class
- Put in everything you can during your experience, you will get out what you put in (I put my name and speech at graduation day behind this), there is no harm in giving it everything
I can’t speak on behalf of the whole class, but I believe we all did. Challenging each other in class, encouraging others to pursue their dreams, and being there for everyone during and after class was so important to us. Very good advice! - Trust in the system that is IMD, they never failed us during possibly one of the hardest years the MBA has ever faced
We heard this at the beginning of the year and I will admit there were times throughout the year that we questioned what was going on. Looking back, the system was supportive and the school did not only give us all an amazing MBA, they made sure that we could get the full experience despite the global pandemic. - Open your eyes and mind, to your classmates, the community of faculty & staff and those who are there to help you grow. Have one another’s best interests at heart – ensure that your interactions are more than the sum of their parts and are truly multiplicative
The system that you said to trust definitely pushed us and allowed us to open our eyes, mind, and hearts with another. This experience was not only for us MBA’s, but our family and friends as well. I hope that I added to my classmates’ experience as much as they did with me.
Thank you Anthony for the wise words. Moving into graduation mode, I tried to remember where I was last year. Setting up my flight, visa, housing, insurance etc. was a very stressful situation especially with covid. So I’m going to give a few pieces of advice for the next class in the last few weeks before Christmas.
Advice from the 2021 class
- Spend as much time with your family and friends before you come here as you can. That extra hour of sleep you can catch on the plane here, but that coffee/dinner with a friend might not happen until you’re back! (if you go back…)
- Get excited! Develop that Growth Mindset now and come with an open mind to give it your all. (If you haven’t been given the reading yet, please check out Carla Venter’s blog on Linkedin)
- For those of you who enjoy food, eat your favorite dish until you’re sick of it. The food is great in Switzerland but it doesn’t taste like home!
