Why not make it trilingual?

I said I'll make this blog trilingual just for fun but than I realized my parents cannot read English so will have to make it at least bilingual by necessity! So, to keep my promise here it comes in Romanian, the beautiful language of my ancestors:

Mai sunt exact 30 de zile pana la plecare si va puteti inchipui prin ce ape trecem cu pregatirile. In weekend-ul asta punem la vanzare masina. Sa speram ca o vom vinden nici prea repede dar nici prea tarziu. In rest tot impachetam si facem liste ca sa fim siguri ca nu uitam nimic... ieri de exemplu am inchis doua conturi unul dintre ele pentru electricitate. Incetul cu incetul speram sa le rezolvam pe toate.

La servici nu ma mai pot concentra de loc. Gandul imi e deja in Spania si visez cu ochii deschisi. Cand se opreste cineva pe la mine la birou sa-mi puna vreo intrebare trebuie sa fac un efort ca sa imi revin la realitate. Adevarul e ca e mult mai interesant sa te gandesti la viitoarea aventura decat la balata de conturi, nu!?! Normal!! In rest toate merg conform planului si imi voi termina proiectele inainte de plecare ca sa fac viata usoara persoanei care va veni sa ma inlocuiasca. Totul e bine cand se termina cu bine!

Ok, I did it! The blog it's now bilingual with potential to become trilingual when I'll feel more comfortable with Spanish. ¿Vale? ¡Vale!

edited: July 10, 2007. Gonzalo, thanks for the hint! Now I'm curious how to do the rest of the Spanish signs and accents!!

Not bragging, but surely feels good

I have been doing a lot of research for the last weeks, reading other IESE blogs, forums, articles in several publications... and... all I can tell you is that it really feels good to see and read what a great place IESE is. I'm not even there yet, so one could say I have no personal experience! That's true! But... (there is always a but!:) I tend to believe the written accounts of all the people how have poured their excitement and admiration of IESE on the virtual papers published on the Internet.

For your enjoyment only, I'm posting an article written by Jeffrey Pfeffer, (Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Professor) published by CNN Money. com in their Business 2.0 Magazine, on October 2 2006: 11:29 AM EDT. You can also find the article at: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/08/01/8382249/index.htm

Management Tips from Opus Dei

A leading Spanish business school founded by the group illustrates that Europeans have a firmer grip than Americans on how to succeed by caring for their own.

About the same time that the "Da Vinci Code" was hitting theaters in May, I was camped out at a university in Barcelona, discovering some of the lesser-known secrets of Opus Dei, the Catholic society at the center of the book and movie's byzantine plot.

No, I didn't see any albino monks, cilices, or dead bodies. I was merely on sabbatical for three weeks at IESE, a leading Spanish business school founded by Opus Dei in 1958 as part of the University of Navarra. And the only thing I observed was great management.
For starters, IESE recently placed fourth among the top executive education programs in the world, according to rankings by the Financial Times. Unlike many European business schools, which have tried to mimic the U.S. model, IESE is intentionally different, with a greater emphasis on ethics and values both in the curriculum and in how it is run.

During my visit, dozens of faculty and staff members talked to me about what a great place IESE is to work because of its caring culture. Few were devout Catholics and even fewer were members of Opus Dei.

Noble sentiments

Then, when my wife came down with severe ear pain from flying with a cold, Jordi Canals, IESE's dean, arranged a difficult-to-get appointment with an ear specialist, got a taxi to take her to the appointment, and paid for everything, no questions asked.

Why a caring culture makes sense for IESE is pretty apparent: Emphasizing the long term, the school is interested in the personal transformation of its students and building closer relationships with them, and is willing to make the difficult economic trade-offs to convert noble sentiments into reality.

The school caps enrollment in its senior-level programs at 35 students, a remarkably low figure compared with most American schools. Forty percent of the alumni are alumni association members, even though Europe has less of a tradition of private philanthropy and provides fewer tax advantages for giving.

There are big lessons in this for U.S. companies, which have long resisted allowing more of their workers' lives inside their boundaries. Our CEOs pay lip service to the importance of both customer and employee loyalty, but they frequently overlook the importance of personal relationships and connections, and rarely consider the idea of doing more for people than what is formally expected.

Take, for instance, U.K.-based Innovation Group, a 1,000-employee, publicly held insurance software company. During the 1990s, executive board member Ed Ossie rebuilt MTW - now a subsidiary - increasing sales from $8 million to more than $40 million in about four years.
During this same time, annual employee turnover fell from an industry-typical 30 percent to just 4 percent. Ossie credits much of that to a culture of community he built among employees.
It began with the hiring process: As their partners started work, spouses would receive flowers and a note welcoming the family to the company. Every social function included family members too.

And because software implementation and consulting involve a lot of travel, the company offered "road warrior" concierge services and gifts to recognize employees' sacrifices. All of these small but important functions helped strengthen relationships and add to a sense of being one big happy family.

The lesson in all of this?

That success is derived less from "best practices" than from the values and beliefs of the leadership. You can copy methods and programs easily enough. But a way of thinking that creates deeper ties is much more difficult to duplicate.

Business 2.0 columnist Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

40 days to go...

I got a countdown on the computer nonchalantly showing 40 days to go! I feel like I have a final coming up for which I'm not yet prepared. Brrrrr.... Well, for one thing I managed to get the airline tickets. That's a good thing. Next I'm working on getting the passport... which I anticipate to be a bit of a nightmare. I heard there's a huge backlog and it takes up to twelve weeks to get it done. I don't have 12 weeks so I'm planning to expedite it. The only problem is that they accept appointments only two weeks before flying out. So I'm stuck with getting it all done at the last minute.

Well, that's ok 'cause in the mean time there's so much to get done. For one... I'll have to sell my car. Her name is Blacky and she's a beauty. We had so much fun together ...

Here we are at a recent autocross on Portland International Raceway. It was great! We have so many good memories ... yeah... that's what's left at the end of the day, the memories... Alright, enough sentimentalism... The new life ahead requires sacrifices, right? I only hope I will look back one day and say it was all worth it.

First things first

I'm new at blogging...

... and it's kind of scary to think that everyone will be able to read my thoughts but... I'm taking the plunge. I'm so excited about the new life chapter opening in front of my eyes. I want to share my MBA experience at IESE, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain and the adventures leading to arriving there! I won't be alone on this journey, my husband and best friend Rafael will be going also. We are in the midst of moving right now and it's proving to be one of the most difficult things so far.... harder then the GMAT, essays and application process combined! Not that all of the above were easy but breaking down the house it's such an emotional process. I've already moved once from Europe to US... now I'm making the trip in reverse. I'll keep you updated on how things progress...