By Tammy Wu on
5/16/2013 6:06 PM
Today marks the day of another significant milestone in our program – the submission of our individual projects. Each of us has been tackling either a New Venture or Management Consulting Project for the last 4-5 months. It’s been a huge additional workload on top of our regular courses. While we still need to deliver our pitch in a month’s time, it’s a palpable load off our shoulders to be done this. Congrats to everyone as you load your final product onto the portal. We’re another step closer to completion!
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By Tammy Wu on
4/19/2013 10:05 AM
In our new class, Managing Information Systems, no three letter words are allowed. In IT, these acronyms are everywhere – terms like ERP, CRM, ECM. I love that our professor has made IT more accessible to non-IT folks like me by banning such jargon. I have to admit that after a single class, I am pleasantly surprised that I am enjoying this course. Understanding the concepts, by cutting through the language certainly helps.
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By Tammy Wu on
4/5/2013 12:39 PM
This week marks the completion of our Business Strategy course. Most of the class sessions took place during our residency session, although the last few classes have been through boardroom learning. I thoroughly enjoyed the energy and dynamic of Professor Johnson’s in-person sessions. They were highly engaging and kept us all on our toes.
As I checked off the course on the curriculum list, I took the opportunity to count out how many courses we have gotten through thus far – fourteen! It is pretty phenomenal that in the last nine months we have managed to cover so much material. We have now surveyed nearly all the core areas of business. Ahead of us lies some of the global courses that I have been most looking forward to, including our team global project. It feels great to be more than halfway through the program, with the finish line in sight.
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By Tammy Wu on
2/13/2013 1:22 PM
The two week Business Venturing Session at Cornell & Queen’s was a blast! As expected, it was jam packed with classes, team assignments, and a flurry of deadlines. Yet somehow, in the midst of all the lectures, meetings and readings, we found time to enjoy the unique experience.
Some memorable moments included:
· Attending a Cornell hockey game. The distinctly Cornellian chants and traditions were highly entertaining.
· The wide array of influencing strategies displayed in the Power to Lead sessions. Team San Diego members took the cake for the most passionate presentation and the most convincing speech.
· Witnessing an eating competition and seeing two men in our cohort fully complete the four burger challenge. Thanks to Team Ithaca for taking us out on the town!
· Evenings of networking in the Statler Hotel bar and Donald Gordon Conference Centre pub.
· The creativity incorporated into team presentations and pitches. Special shout outs to Teams Calgary B and Portland-Seattle!
I especially...
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By Tammy Wu on
1/21/2013 4:49 PM
On Friday, we’ll be back in Ithaca for our Business Venturing Session. It will be a test of our juggling abilities, as we move from two courses, to managing seven. In preparation for the session, our team has been reading furiously, tackling assignments, and trying to chart out an ever-growing calendar for the next two weeks.
While we are prepared to work hard, there is much to look forward to. For starters, many of us are excited about re-connecting with members of our cohort whom we haven’t seen since July. As the teams have been shuffled for the two different groupings, we will also have the opportunity to meet many new colleagues. There will also be time to meet up with professors in person, after learning from them over videoconferencing.
We will be shifting from some of the more quantitative courses like Finance and Valuation to courses like Strategy and New Venture Management, which promise to be forums for lively debate and engaging presentations.
No doubt these next two weeks...
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By Tammy Wu on
1/7/2013 10:41 AM
Happy New Year! The Greater Toronto Area (Markham, Toronto, Mississauga) boardroom teams joined together for a social to kick off 2013. After being in the program for six months, this was the first opportunity we have had to meet each others' spouses. It was a pleasure to meet the wonderful husbands and wives who have been supporting those of us in the program, from behind the scenes.
We also had our first boardroom session of the year this past week-end, along with several boxes of new binders and books to unpack, our individual projects to finalize, and a slew of assignments to tackle before the next residency session.
It promises to be a crazy and hectic next few months, but as shared to us by a former student, it's going to be FUN!
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By Tammy Wu on
12/24/2012 3:36 PM
This Christmas is extra special for me this year. For many months, my kids have had to sacrifice a lot of “mommy time”, as I hit the books and burrowed into the basement with my computer. As the holidays begin, my heart is set on spending quality time with my family. I look forward to playing games with my boys, without keeping an eye on the clock, and delighting in small pleasures like building snowmen and going sledding.
I wish all of you a very merry Christmas, to enjoy with your loved ones, and to take time to be refreshed for the new year. See you in 2013!
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By Tammy Wu on
12/5/2012 11:15 AM
It’s typically numbers that get newcomers to the field of finance nervous. In our Managerial Finance course, there have certainly been numerous equations and calculations to learn and slog through. Yet, it’s learning the language of finance that I am finding most powerful. Unlike learning a foreign language where it’s clear when one doesn’t understand, learning the language of finance can be a deceptive process. After all, the words are English and most of the time, the terms themselves don’t actually sound intimidating. Yet there is so much theory and depth embedded in such a simple sounding term as “cost of capital”. It’s only upon studying it that I can appreciate how much nuance there is behind the words. Learning a new language can be brain-numbing at times, but it’s an incredible feeling when things start to make sense. Dare I say...I think the Finance fog is finally beginning to lift!
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By Tammy Wu on
11/22/2012 11:06 AM
Happy Thanksgiving! For the first time since August, we have an entire week-end off with no boardroom session, and no exam. I have to admit that I am daydreaming about how I will relish this time with my family. With the fast pace of our program, these moments of rest are a rare occurrence. It is also an opportunity to pause and take stock of the past five months since starting the CQEMBA; in doing so, I want to give a special shout-out to my boardroom team.
One core tenet of the CQEMBA program is working and learning as part of one team for the entire length of the program. I am thankful for a team who supports one another and works together collaboratively. Of course, working closely together with people in such an intense environment also brings about a set of challenges. Yet, some of the team’s greatest growth and development has occurred when we have persevered through difficult moments. It has been an eventful summer and fall, and I look forward to all that we will learn and achieve in the...
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By Tammy Wu on
11/16/2012 12:00 PM
I recently had a prospective candidate reach out to me to find out more about the CQEMBA program, including why I chose this program over others. As fall informational sessions are under way, and many individuals may be weighing different options, I thought I would provide one qualitative insight in answering this question. Put simply, I believe the CQEMBA provides a unique forum for sharing diverse perspectives. This doesn’t grab headlines like the MBA rankings, but I believe it is an equally important consideration.
The program design allows individuals from all over Canada and the US, and now even Mexico and Colombia, to come together as one learning cohort. The individuals who comprise the cohort are experienced professionals, and many have travelled and worked in a multitude of international settings. We also have an interesting mix in the way of demographics, as well as people representing a wide array of industries, sectors, and business functions. This diversity definitely adds flavour and...
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