Poised to return to a familiar chaos

August 21st, 2009 11:02am

With one day left in the beautiful San Francisco offices of the Environmental Defense Fund, I already find myself shifting my mental mode back to that needed for graduate school. Continue reading "Poised to return to a familiar chaos"

Looking to the future

August 17th, 2009 1:03pm

Coming into my final week with the California Fisheries Fund, I am finally winding down my efforts to help the fishery at Morro Bay, California create a lasting branding effort for their local catch. Continue reading "Looking to the future"

Connecting the Dots

August 13th, 2009 11:10am

I sometimes miss things about my life as an officer and soldier in the US Army. Rare are the organisations in which its members are so committed to its mission, to each other, and to a sense of an ideal, a higher purpose. Heading into the theatre this past weekend to watch The Hurt Locker, I was at first nervous: I haven’t always dealt with Iraq war scenes on TV or in other movies in a positive manner. Continue reading "Connecting the Dots"

Out of the office and into the woods

August 11th, 2009 2:49pm

I just spent an amazing weekend outdoors with my EDF co-workers, on a self-titled mini-vacation to Stinson Beach, just north of San Francisco in Marin County.  The primary feature of the weekend was a nice nine mile hike up over the highlands and down to Muir Woods National Monument, one of the gems of the Bay Area.  It was a great time for camaraderie and out of the office bonding;  the rare gorgeous weather lead to a great day among the Coast Redwoods.  It was also a great time to get to know my counterparts in the office a little bit better, and for them to get to know me, which I have to admit, brought up some very interesting conversation.  Continue reading "Out of the office and into the woods"

The turmoil of a start-up

August 7th, 2009 3:11am

The California Fisheries Fund is definitely still a start-up. The rapid changes of direction; the nebulous defined roles and responsibilities and the need for self-starters to go through their days doing just that.

Even over the short seven weeks I have been with the CFF, I have experienced the turmoil that goes with working in this kind of fast-paced environment. Right now I feel as if I could throw out half of the draft fund operations manual I was given when I started and in fact, have been trying to do just that with my work on defining, refining and updating our mission performance metrics. Continue reading "The turmoil of a start-up"

It isn’t always “us v. them”

August 5th, 2009 11:21am

I now have a little over two weeks remaining with the California Fisheries Fund and am in the process of drafting up my final project papers and presentations, a little of which I have given a window into through this blog.

But more important than those white papers or recommendations that I leave with my clients, will be the impression that I leave behind.

I doubt very much that I need to explain the difficulties with its reputation that the MBA degree is experiencing in the greater market place. I have spent time and effort this summer trying to dispel those myths, not only to my co-workers at the Environmental Defense Fund, but also to those of you who may be considering an MBA education, but aren’t sure that a business degree is going to allow you to make the positive impact you desire in the world. Continue reading "It isn’t always “us v. them”"

Step one: earning trust

August 4th, 2009 2:40pm

When it comes to all things ocean, I am the first to admit that I am completely a fish out of water.

I was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia, went to West Point to join the Army over the Navy and have yet to take the sailing classes on the Charles river, offered free to all MIT students. And while I love to eat fresh fish, especially cooked over a fire or grill, I am just not going to be able to name all 50 plus species of rock fish that populate the coast of California. Continue reading "Step one: earning trust"

A lesson in true leadership

July 29th, 2009 12:39pm

Everyone who works at the Environmental Defense Fund wants to change the meaning of the term “business as usual”.

The EDF was founded with its original intent to do just that, through whatever means necessary, to force those who were harming the natural environment to stop and pay society for their ecological “sins.”

You might even be familiar with its old unofficial slogan, “sue the bastards”. Despite this history, the EDF may currently be the leading proponent of market-based solutions and for working with corporations to find “the ways that work”. How did this happen?

This morning I found myself yet again in the conference room, this time with Fred Krupp, the president of EDF for the past 25 years. With these questions in my mind, I was priveleged to hear at first hand from the man who was instrumental in that change. Continue reading "A lesson in true leadership"

A measure of performance

July 28th, 2009 12:33pm

One of the first tasks I was asked to tackle for the California Fisheries Fund was the challenge of measuring the performance of the fund and its mission impact. Not in strictly financial terms, either. The goals of the CFF are three-fold:

Increase conservation measures supporting commercial fish stocks and their natural habitats.

Help revitalise California’s coastal fishing communities after decades of economic decline.

Assist fishery related businesses to make the transition from open-access to a catch-share based management regime.

Capitalised currently at $5M, you’ll notice something missing from those goals: nothing about earning the investors a financial return. While the goal of the fund is to remain solvent and self-supporting, this is a mission-driven, financial instrument, providing low-cost capital to higher risk businesses in need. Continue reading "A measure of performance"

Who wants to be a rock star?

July 27th, 2009 12:17pm

Five weeks ago, I left the comforting environs of Cambridge, Massachusetts and MIT Sloan for the unknown challenges awaiting me with the California Fisheries Fund.

Anticipating a huge cultural shift, I was prepared for pretty much anything, other than the highly professional, financial district high-rise in San Francisco where the CFF is co-located with the EDF.

I was also not expecting that I would find myself using nearly every subject I covered in my first year of MBA studies.  Within the first two weeks.

No, that is not an exaggeration. Continue reading "Who wants to be a rock star?"

  • MBA blog





    Welcome to the Financial Times Business Education MBA blog. Over the course of the next year MBA students from business schools around the globe will be blogging their experiences online.

    What is it really like to study for an MBA? How do the students juggle their work load and their personal life? What do they hope to achieve once they have gained an MBA? Read the FT's MBA blog to find out.

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  • Meet the MBA students

    The following twelve students will share their business school experiences over the current academic year

    Cezanne Maherali
    Age: 27
    Nationality: Kenyan

    MBA programme: Cezanne is studying for an MBA at Insead and is attending classes at the school's campuses in Singapore and Fontainebleau, France. She comes to Insead from PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked in sub-Saharan Africa for four years as a corporate finance and management consultant. Cezanne hopes her MBA will help her to play a key role in ensuring sustainable private sector development in Africa.

    Rahul Bajaj
    Age: 31
    Nationality: Indian

    MBA programme: Rahul is in the second year of his MBA in Finance and Strategic Management at the Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. He began his career as a financial analyst in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley in New York, before moving to India to become an entrepreneur. As well as establishing a security services company, Rahul is also an actor and writer.

    Nathan Lang
    Age: 24
    Nationality: British

    MBA programme: Nathan has enrolled in the accelerated one-year MBA programme at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the US. He plans to major in finance, entrepreneurship and marketing. Before joining the school he worked for Boston Consulting in London, Mumbai and Dubai. He has a degree in economics from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

    Beth Bremner
    Age: 30
    Nationality: South African

    MBA programme: Beth has elected to study for an MBA at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. After acquiring a management accounting degree at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, she completed her CIMA accountancy qualifications in London and for the past eight years has worked in the finance industry in London and in the Middle East.

    Seda Saracer
    Age: 25
    Nationality: Turkish

    MBA programme: Having travelled extensively Seda has opted to study for her MBA at Milan's Bocconi University. Seda is multi-lingual and has for the past three years worked for Jotun, manufacturer of paints and powder coatings in their marketing department. She studied international trade as an undergraduate at Bogazici University in Istanbul.

    Gleana Albritton
    Age: 31
    Nationality: American

    MBA programme: Gleana has recently moved to Belgium from the US to study for her full-time MBA at the Vlerick Leuven Gent School of Management. She has held various marketing roles in the media and entertainment sector in the US and her last position was as director of events and field marketing at Fuse Networks, a national music cable TV network. She has a business administration degree from Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia in the US.

    Aswini Anburajan
    Age: 29
    Nationality: American

    MBA programme: Born in India and raised in the US, Aswini is a former journalist and worked for NBC and public radio. She reported extensively on the Barack Obama presidential campaign and the experience has motivated her to look at how news organisations can create business models in the digital age. She is studying for an MBA at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge in the UK.

    Kane Cuenant
    Age: 26
    Nationality: Canadian

    MBA programme: Kane is studying for his MBA at Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, Russia. He has a degree from Queen's University, Ontario and has a keen interest in humanitarianism. Kane has worked at the Bureau Veritas, a certification company, where he advised multi-nationals about trade transactions to developing countries. In his humanitarian role he has worked for United Planet, in a fundraising and management consultancy role.

    Federico Zaldua
    Age: 26
    Nationality: Argentinean

    MBA programme: Federico begins his MBA programme at Columbia Business School, New York in January 2010. He holds an economics degree from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Federico began working for the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange when he was 19 and subsequently worked for a real estate company for a short while. At the age of 26, with the help of former colleagues at the stock exchange, he started his own investment company focusing in Argentinian assets. He is deeply interested in Latin American art.

    Alex Ferrari
    Age: 24
    Nationality: Argentinean

    MBA programme: Alex is studying for a one-year MBA at the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami. He was born in Buenos Aires and lived there until he was 15, when he moved to Florida in the US. He graduated from the University of Miami in 2008 with a BA in business administration and subsequently worked for an airline as a marketing trainee, working with the communications director. At the end of his internship last September he decided to take the opportunity to further his education and was accepted onto the University of Miami's graduate programme. He begins his MBA at the end of January.

    Maxime Droubi
    Age: 33
    Nationality: French/Syrian

    MBA programme:Maxime Droubi was born in Syria, but left his home country aged 16 to study firstly in the UK and subsequently in Lausanne, Switzerland where he gained a masters in engineering in communication systems. He worked in the US on both the east and west coasts, before returning to Europe to work in various telecommunication and consumer electronics industries. He is studying for an MBA at IMD in Lausanne.

    Michael Cooper
    Age: 38
    Nationality: British

    MBA programme: Michael is studying for a full-time MBA at Strathclyde Business School, UK. He was born in the UK and has a degree in environmental biology with post grad qualifications in audit. His 15 years work experience have been spent travelling the world to provide regulatory IT consultancy to life science clients. He hopes that his MBA will help to focus and extend his entrepreneurial skills.

  • The FT's MBA blog: a guide

    Comment: To comment, please register with FT.com, which you can do for free here. Please also read our comments policy here.
    Contact: You can write to Linda Anderson, the blog's editor, using this email format: firstname.surname@ft.com
    Time: UK time is shown on posts.
    Follow: Links to the blog's Twitter and RSS feeds are at the top of the page.
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  • Elsewhere on FT.com: Dear Lucy

    Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the online edition of her Dear Lucy 'agony aunt' column, readers are invited to have a say too.
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