Yolanda Tibbe: About better balancing your life and an awesome concert

Just coming home from class, which was really intense. It is a class about psychological issues in management. Today was about balancing your personal and private life and some classmates shared their personal, touching stories. We had a discussion about what is really important in life. The professor taught us a valuable lesson: you have several balls juggling around all the time, trying to keep them all in the air at the same time. Some balls will bounce back when you drop them, like your career. However, some balls can break when you drop them, like friends and family. You have to take extra care of the balls that can break. As you can see, INSEAD is not only about learning about business but also makes you think about your own private life.

At INSEAD, Supply Chain Management is my favourite subject. It is key to implement your strategy. Although it is a complex subject, even some simple formulas make you understand what is important for good supply chain planning. For example, how much does the market demand change? How long does it take from ordering to delivery? What service level are you serving your customers? Did you know that it is incredibly expensive, almost impossible to reach service levels close to 100%? This course reminds me of a project I did for a dairy producer. They had so many different products and packaging systems, that it disrupted their supply chain. It led to many mistakes in their processes. We proposed to simplify their product portfolio, which could lead to reduced costs and increased service levels.
Since I live a bit closer to home now, many friends have been visiting me in Paris. I love the shops and restaurants over there, especially in the St. Germaine area. I also went to the concert of Snow Patrol. They were awesome! I started taking horse back riding lessons since I live in the middle of the forest. I was a bit scared of the horses at first, because they are huge. But actually, they are quite sweet. Furthermore, the cycling challenge at L'Alpe d'Huez, in which I will take part, is coming closer. I do a lot of training for that, but still need a lot more training to be able to ride it at least 4 times… 

I am very looking forward to my field trip at the end of this month. With a group of INSEAD students, I am going to Silicon Valley to meet entrepreneurs, investors and people from companies like Facebook, Skype and Apple. As I have some business ideas myself, I hope I can discuss them to see how viable they are. Exciting! It really is one of the highlights of the year!

Yolanda Tibbe: Exciting discussions in class and ice-skating in Amsterdam

I love ice-skating! Two weeks ago I went to Amsterdam and went ice-skating on the frozen canals. Imagine - although I come from Amsterdam that was my first time! It's funny to see how people get so entrepreneurial once the ice is coming - everybody sells food and drinks to warm up.

In class we had some interesting discussions. In my macroeconomics class, for example, we discussed the Greek crisis situation and we discussed what would happen if Greece would return to their old currency. I think, it would be much better for them to stay in the Euro. If they go default, it can really harm the perception of the Euro. This will lead to higher interest rates for other countries at risk putting them in even more danger. Furthermore, if people lose trust in the European economy, they are likely to spend less money, which will further slow down the economy. Furthermore, the Euro zone is not a financial, but a political project. If Greece will drop out of the Euro zone, it will harm European politics as well.

In our class on international political analysis, we had a discussion about China. The power of the world is moving to the East. Will China be the next hegemon or can it accommodate in the world that has been formed by the US? What would it mean for the rest of the world? I believe that China has to change from a cheap labor provider and become more innovative with better institutions. Otherwise, it will be impossible to maintain this state of growth.

I just finished my exams of my third term. There are only two terms left. Time goes by really fast. I will celebrate my holidays in Morocco with fellow students. I am looking forward to go camel riding and sleep underneath the stars in the desert! Well, I have to pack my bags right now.

Yolanda Tibbe, Fontainebleau, France

A lot changed since I last blogged! I moved from the INSEAD Singapore campus to the French Fontainebleau campus close to Paris. It’s absolutely lovely here. Instead of skyscrapers and drinking cocktails at rooftop bars I’ve been drinking wine in my cute, very old chateau-like house at the fireplace. I now live with people from the US, Iran and the UK, very international. I spent Christmas and New Year’s in Thailand. Some friends of mine came over and we had a good time exploring all the remote, beautiful beaches by scooter. Then I went back to the Netherlands for a week to see my family and friends at home and afterwards moved here. Last week I went skiing in the French Alps. I enjoyed the blue skies and fresh snow, although I have to get used to the cold!

I have new classes this term and one of them is Corporate Finance, where we have to valuate many companies. Last week, we had a case about a fast growing company that needed up to a billion USD of funding. Should it issue new shares or get a loan from banks? It sounds like an easy question but it gets difficult when you take into account that you don’t know what the future is going to bring. For example, when Google got stock listed (IPO), it issued shares at only USD 85, while the price skyrocketed in the subsequent weeks. It looks like Google left a lot of money on the table there. However, Google seems to be an exception: In countries like the UK, Germany and the US IPOs were performing worse than the market by 10-30% in the first 3-5 years. Another class I’m taking is about products and services development that deals with how to develop the next drug, phone or shopping bag. We had to construct our own prototype of a shopping bag for old ladies that shop at the local farmer’s market. By visiting the market we found out it was more about the social experience than actual shopping. As such, we invented the ‘shopping experience’ caddy, which stores the old lady’s purchases conveniently, holds her wine and supports standing while talking to friends. Surprisingly there is no such bag there right now.

Anyway, I’ve signed up for a cycle challenge, which is a charity event for the Dutch Cancer Foundation. I’m going to climb L'Alpe d'Huez, the steepest mountain of the Tour de France. The target is to climb the mountain (on my bike) up to 6 times. My family and friends can sponsor me and the money goes to the Foundation. Looking forward going to Paris next week, and that’s all for now – à toute à l'heure.

Yolanda Tibbe, Amsterdam

A week ago, we held the INSEAD Olympics at the beach and I ran 12 kilometers in 30° C! It was uphill and downhill toward the beach and quite challenging – but I made it. At night the INSEAD band rocked the stage, some people are really talented here. Oh yes – and our section (class) won the Olympics! Anyway, last weekend I did the famous INSEAD entrepreneurship boot camp. This means that you have an idea and you develop it into a viable business plan. We had to present it to investors after only two days. It was led by a seasoned serial entrepreneur who has established over 10 companies and some of them are very successful. One of the investors in the jury just started a reality TV show on entrepreneurship called Angelsgate. I learned a lot from these people! My idea is to start a company in “healthy aging”. This is about developing products and care concepts for people who get older and need personal maintenance for a healthy, active living. Examples I am thinking about are a living center with good access to healthcare, where people can still live independently or a mobile clothes shop that will pass by these living centers. In the future, I really hope to start my own company in this business.

Last week was DESI Week at INSEAD. Desi refers to different cultures from the Southeast Asia region. We celebrated this culture with presentations from Asian companies, dinner and “Holi”. The latter means the festival of colors during which all people paint each other in different colors. Apparently, the paint is difficult to remove when you have blond hair, so my hair has been quite pink lately...
At school we’ve just done a great case study: we had a lecture on the business model of the easyGroup (easyJet, easyCar, easyHotel, etc.). We analyzed how they could expand ever further to things like a low-cost cinema concept and the possible limits to entering new businesses. It was really interesting how you could take a business model from one industry and apply it successfully (or sometimes not so successfully) to another one. Now my exams are coming up again, I will have to do six exams this time. So next week I will be spending a lot of time in the library…

Yolanda Tibbe, Amsterdam

Hi there! As I mentioned last time, I’m doing a yearlong INSEAD MBA program supported by Roland Berger, so I’m not doing any consulting at the moment. Two weeks ago, I started the second term and I have six new courses. Finance, Strategy and Marketing – to name a couple. So it looks like I’m going to be studying very hard this time around. In class we’re discussing the strategic decisions that companies like Samsung, Ford, Walmart and GSK have taken in the past. Why are they so successful and what mistakes did they make? People in my class worked for these companies prior to INSEAD, and share their interesting experiences. To keep it short, I am learning a lot which will help me once I am back to my consulting job again.

Besides studying, I do a lot of other things too. Between terms, we went to Vietnam on a boat with 60 people to celebrate finishing our previous term’s exams. Furthermore, every year there is a cabaret show here at INSEAD, so tomorrow I am going to perform with a group of students. Really looking forward to this! Oh yes, Friday was my birthday – 11.11.11!! My friends organized a surprise birthday party for me. That was really nice.

Right now I am reading the book “The Goal” by Dr. Goldratt, which is a management novel by a business consultant about how factories are managed incorrectly and the book describes how to turn them around. It is written in a very engaging way. I can really recommend it to everybody interested in this topic. I have to go now - Roland Berger’s presentation on business opportunities in emerging countries will start soon here at INSEAD.

Yolanda Tibbe, Amsterdam

I'm currently not working at my regular job at Roland Berger because I've moved to Singapore to take part in the INSEAD MBA program, which I started in September. My office has allowed me a year off for this and is supporting me financially. I'm really happy here, although Singapore has some particularities. It's a very luxurious country, with nice clubs, lots of shopping malls and good food courts. It also has some rather strict rules, e.g. you can get a $500 fine for drinking water on the subway and you better not get caught with chewing gum. Anyway, things have been really busy lately. I'm studying this week for exams so I don't have too much time for writing, but some interesting things have happened. I've just come back from a wonderful trip to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I think I liked Vietnam the best. This was because I was able to take a tour with the so-called "Easy Riders". Easy Riders are Vietnamese guys with Harley Davidson style motorcycles who can take you on magnificent tours around the country. They take you to all the remote, fantastic places on the back of their bikes. This is the best way to really experience the country. And eat magnificent local food, too! Here at INSEAD where I'm doing my MBA, teamwork is extremely important. It's very international, so I'm on a team with four people from all over the world: Greece, Germany, Korea and the USA. I'm really getting the multi-culture experience at the moment. OK. Bye for now, time for a jog although it's 30º C in the shade …