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| FROM HEC Paris Admissions Blog: From the boardroom to the battlefield: Saint-Cyr Leadership Seminar |
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The annual off campus leadership seminar at Saint-Cyr Military Academy is often a highlight for MBA participants. This year, the Class of 2016 (both Full-time and Part-time participants) headed to Brittany to participate in and lead a series of field exercises under the supervision of French army officers. Day 1 On the first day, the MBA participants travelled by bus from HEC Paris to Saint-Cyr and upon arrival were greeted by the various French officers in charge of the seminar. The military officers gave an overview of the program and explained the rules and regulations. ![]() The students were then divided into teams of 12 and assigned an army officer. Army uniforms were distributed along with the rations that they would need for the following day. ![]() Day 2 Rise and shine; early morning wakeup call at 6 am. Following a quick breakfast, the teams split up and started a series of warm-up exercises. Whether manoeuvring a series of boards to get a team across an imaginary mine field or using ropes to walk across a v-shaped metal beam, the participants took turns leading their group through the exercises. ![]() The afternoon activities continued with an even more daunting list of challenges. Bridge: Build a bridge made of wood logs and rope to lead a team across a lake ![]() Fort: Use a set of materials to traverse a fort and rescue an injured colleague ![]() Raft: Construct a raft out of floats and rope and figure out how to get a team across a lake in the most efficient manner ![]() Tunnel: Lead a team through a dark underground passage while remaining calm and collective At the end of each exercise, the group shared their thoughts on how the activity went, if the goal was accomplished and how the group leader performed. These periods of reflection allowed the students to properly see not only how they lead a team but also how they work with others in high pressure situations and under tight deadlines. Day 3 Another early wake up call. The bus left the Saint-Cyr Quotquidan campus and headed towards the Brittany coast. Destination: Fort de Penthievre on the Quiberon peninsula. While the 2nd day concentrated solely on group activities, this 3rd day combined both group activities and individual exercises. Walking across a tightrope above a rocky cliff? Zip-lining with a view of the Atlantic Ocean? Working as a team to climb up an inverted wall? Check, check and check! ![]() ![]() ![]() The business and military spheres require many similar qualities: leadership, decisiveness, commitment, and self-knowledge, to name but a few. These activities challenged the student’s physical and mental toughness and prepared them to tackle obstacles they previously would never have imagined. Starting a new project or learning a new skill requires the same sort of mind-set. Motivating someone to cross a high beam is not so different from encouraging a team to complete a project that has been confronted with various hurdles. Participants in previous years have described the experience as unforgettable, as marking a real change in their educational and professional development, a sentiment echoed by Xavier Boute, who is both an officer in the French army and an affiliate professor in Economics at HEC Paris. – “When students say what they remember from their MBA, they remember two things: one of them is always this seminar […] Because there is a clear before and after.” Listen to what some MBA students have to say about their experience on SoundCloud: Additional reading: The L Word by Timo Marquez (MBA.16) The post From the boardroom to the battlefield: Saint-Cyr Leadership Seminar appeared first on HEC MBA Blog. |
| FROM HEC Paris Admissions Blog: Celebrating 25 years of the MBA Tournament |
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“MBAT is the meeting ground for MBA students across Europe, and new friendships and networking opportunities are at the heart of the tournament,” - Bernard Garrette, Associate Dean, HEC Paris MBA ![]() Basketball, HEC Paris MBAT 2015 ![]() Billiards- HEC Paris MBAT 2015 This year’s MBA Tournament (MBAT) celebrated its 25th anniversary. With 16 participating schools from across Europe the three-day event, which took place May 7-9, was an opportunity for our MBA students to not only show their athletic prowess but also work together on a large-scale (and very real) project. ![]() HEC Paris Soccer Team, MBAT 2015 ![]() Salsa performance, HEC Paris MBAT 2015 Starting in November, a managing team consisting of 25+ students have been working hard organizing the entire 3-day event. From partnerships and university relationships to marketing and logistics, the tournament is a hands-on lesson on leadership, teamwork and project management. ![]() Volleyball, HEC Paris MBAT 2015 In honor of the 25th MBAT, this year there were 25 sporting events such as badminton, cricket, football, rowing, golf and tennis and 3 major soirées – Casino Royale, 90s Retro Party (Battle of the Bands) and Tex-Mex Fiesta (featuring the Salsa Competition). Participating schools included: ![]() Final results for this year’s tournament: 1st LBS, 2nd HEC Paris, 3rd IE Interview with some of this year’s participants: https://soundcloud.com/hec-paris/mbat-2 ... erspective St Gallen MBA produced video: https://cameo.tv/c/ETxQTBzv IESE blog post: The MBA Tournament- An Absolute Blast https://blog.iese.edu/mba/mba-tournament/ To view all the action from this year’s tournament, check out the hashtag #MBAT2015 The post Celebrating 25 years of the MBA Tournament appeared first on HEC MBA Blog. |
| FROM HEC Paris Admissions Blog: Ctrl+P – A Printing Revolution |
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Printing is the bane of most students’ lives, an unavoidable expense, especially for those living on a campus environment. So what would you do if given the opportunity to print all your notes, assignments, and even personal documents, completely free of charge? Well, that is exactly what Justin Ahn and Mark Thomas, HEC Paris MBA alumni (Class of 2014) and co-founders of Ctrl+P, are proposing. ![]() Ctrl+P is a service that allows students to print at no cost, by forgoing an inch or so of paper-space on their document to banner advertising: a simple idea, with a wealth of potential. Not only does it offer a convenient solution for the students, it provides companies with the opportunity to maximize their exposure to a target demographic. The platform can even be used to target specific student profiles, so that companies can really tailor their content and make the most of their advertising space, be it to drive their sales or to even recruit. ![]() An example of how the advertisement will appear on the page. As former students, Justin and Mark came up with the idea after having experienced the considerable expense of printing first-hand. Living in a campus environment was another catalyst, as students usually do not have access to their own personal facilities, especially if they have had to move in from abroad. We sat down with them to find out more about their fledgling business: What are your immediate plans for Ctrl+P? Our immediate plans for expansion at the moment are centered around universities in the Paris region. We currently want to focus on schools because we see the segment pain as a low-hanging fruit. More long-term, we feel if we can win France as a country, the possibility is open to try other venues that are more public, or other countries in Europe. How did studying at HEC Paris help you in this process? Pursuing our MBAs at HEC Paris has been quite integral to our startup plans – firstly, having a capable co-founder is significant to any venture, and so we were able to meet each other here; secondly, given our plans to launch in France, having access to a network as wide and deep as HEC Paris’ has been valuable in opening a lot of doors for us in terms of finding potential clients as well as soliciting advice. Start-ups have been prolific recently for their potential for success, but also because of the risks associated with them. What have been some of your main challenges in setting up your business? Regarding difficulties, our most significant challenge has been the technical product management. As neither of us come from a product background, the learning curve has been steep in terms of keeping development within our intended timeline. However, with the inevitable delays has come a lot of knowledge accumulation that will serve us to move faster going forward. What motivated you to go into the start-up scene? We’re both quite keen on business development, especially since we come from financial services-oriented backgrounds – it’s a different experience to go from analysis and advisory to actual execution. Our product, Ctrl+P really excites us as, as we feel we’ve identified a real need that both customers and clients are constantly struggling with. Having said that, we feel the French start-up scene is burgeoning at the moment with activity and the potential to be part of a larger movement is really exciting for us as well. What is your ultimate goal for the business? Our goal is to build a start-up that can be expanded across Europe. We see Paris as a great benchmark – if we can successfully scale enough in this city, then we see no reason why our model shouldn’t be applicable anywhere else. To find out more about Ctrl+ P, visit their website and their Facebook page. ![]() The post Ctrl+P – A Printing Revolution appeared first on HEC MBA Blog. |
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