It's already Mid-term!

It is 320 PM on Monday, Feb 9, 2009 and I have no other meetings for the rest of the day. So I wonder if I should quickly dive into my Statistics textbook and start preparing for the mid-term examination that is due Friday the 13th (what a horror?).Alternately, I wonder whether I should prepare for all the client review meetings I have tomorrow. Oops! There goes my email alert. Be right back!

Am back. Clearly, the early pangs in the EMBA are decision-making and time management (what a cliche, huh?). EMBA life began on 09 Jan 09 (exactly one month before today and sorry for the way I get excited about such obvious math calc). Orientation lasted 2 days at Columbia Universtity's Morningside Heights campus in uptown Manhattan, New York city. Wow, I must say, the campus looks GORGEOUS when it snows.

The official start of EMBA classes was during First Residence Week. 123 high-power executives marooned in a snow-covered resort and conference center, in a middle-of-nowhere place called Palisades, NY. 9 hours of classes a day accompanied by endless (or should I say limitless) food, staying up all night on assignments and group work, a chair massage just when you felt like you were starting to wear out, a game of monoploy that was not played for fun and a statistics quiz to wrap. That's residence week for you at Columbia Business School's EMBA program. I look forward to Second Residence Week in May 09.

Time management was not much of a challenge at residence week, given that not much of it was left to be managed. Decision-making was even easier. 123 organizations (including some duplicates like GE and IBM that send a high number of candidates to school every year) had been informed that these high-power officers were going on vacation or to school (depending on how supportive their organization was). Cell phones and laptops were to be truned OFF during class hours. I must say at this time that my company has been very supportive and people have rallied around me to help me go through school.

It was the 2 weeks after that were real killers. Continuous travel on work, 2 projects going live in 2 different countries on the same day, while I was in a totally different location, trying to kick-off proceedings with a new client we had signed-off on. That I got to class on Jan 30 for the first official weekend at school (which happens to be at Warren Hall on Amsterdam Avenue at 116th) was a huge bonus, let alone doing well in a 5 minute group presentation on "Strategy" for a leading semiconductor manufacturing company.

The last 10 days have been better (9 to be precise!). But just so I make it clear, early struggles for me with the EMBA program have been time management and setting priorities.

There are many perspectives. "You got to pick your battles", some classmates said. I agree (wise guy that I am!). But I relised how wrong I could have been when the results came out for the Statistics quiz and the Strategy group assignment and I saw how each of the 123 people were fighting for Honors!

"It's the Network", said some others (classmates and well wishers). I agree (with even more conviction this time). But beware my friend, you are part of the network because you got some meat to stay in it, not just good looks and smooth talk (like I have either of those in the first place!!!).

Professors have a completely different view. "Forget the math", they say (and there goes the only skill I relied on my enitre life!). "It's the concept behind the math, it's how you understand what to use where and what you can do with the information." I agree (vehemently this time). OK, I got the concept prof, you bet I did, so will you pardon my grade and allow me to move on to the next semester? You know what answer I got, don't you? Why else do you think I marked off 5 PM to 8 PM on my calendar to study for the Stats mid-term and hung a do-not-disturb sign on my msn and gtalk messengers?

What I really think has stuck is the Associate Dean's words. "Don't wish away these months", he said, "make full use of the 20 months and enjoy them".

Oops! 5% of my EMBA is over. Only 95% remains (obvious math again!). I don't want to miss a minute. So let me get back to studying. At least, it is already past 5 PM and I don't need to worry about work until 8 AM tomorrow morning.