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Looks like there is a new driver database online for all those budding Lewis Hamiltons! Someone has kindly uploaded my stats for this year too which is very nice of them. Check out the website if you get the chance (click here)

It seems strange to be writing this but term end is rushing up on us already. People generally are starting to think about the end of term exams and getting all those reports and presentations finished, as well as keep up momentum with their PoM project. Seems a bit sad that we won’t be having more time with the these lecturers too as all too soon (next week in fact) it is pretty much our last lecture with them.

Keep those comments coming in regarding life and the things they didn’t tell you about Warwick.

Today we presented our view on the concept of Fear Marketing. This is where companies use a perceived danger or threat to manipulate your behaviour and get you to buy something. It is quite a theoretical subject and we only had time to present some of the fundamentals of the teams’ research. Even then I think it might have been a little heavy going in what was quite a short presentation. Saying that, from the really positive feedback we got, I think the message got across. Certainly there was some lengthy and constructive discussions before we presented as to the best way to do it and I hope (for the cohorts sake at least!) we got it right. The presentation was punctuated with some funny Ad’s so if nothing else we lightened the mood. In terms of learning it has been a really interesting project, from both a direct subject matter point of view and also a group dynamics point of view; both positive it has to be said … I will never look at a screaming kid in a screaming kid in a super market and will definitely think twice before asking directions!

Organizational Behaviour (everyone’s favourite subject) was today on leadership. It presented a really interesting model on the subject and one I could definitely relate to from my former management experience – certainly I felt I got way more out of the session, having had to struggle and solve these issues in a real situation; it made the whole context way more relevant.

Only one more week of lectures for this term and then we are into the revision for the final exams. Time is flying by.

Thou shalt never smile again,

Thou shalt dedicate thy career to being a boring, humourless jerk, for is this not how thy professors are moulded?

Thou shalt spread the message that plans and systems matter more than doing things.

Thou shalt live by the dictum that those things which cannot be measured precisely and validly, to six decimal places, simply do not exist (little things like customer satisfaction and customer value shall not trouble thee …)

Thou shalt dedicate thy self to driving creative and unconventional people out of thy organization, for do not they deserve to be in a an agency somewhere, where they can do no harm?

Thou shalt worship at the alter of bureaucracy, for is not the neatness of the organization chart a measure of thy true worth?

Thy mission is to attend meetings for the rest of thy life, for is not the number of such meetings a measure of thy productivity?

Great comment this week from one of our lecturers “To understand the world you need theory, but not all theory is useful.” Simple, to the point, easy to understand and accurate.

With comments like that, coupled with a truly staggering ability to remember everyones name, where we are from, what we have studied and where we have worked, it is clear why Economics is right up there as a class favourite. Incidentally my highest mid-term result too! My project is on Landrover so it will be interesting to chart how current events are unfolding for them, in both a macro and micro sense and another chance to do something I’ve never done before.

The SSLC meeting was an interesting event; quite confrontational in someways and I didn’t always feel like a valued customer. Saying that, we covered a fair amount of points in the time, got some good feedback to pass on to the cohort and hopefully started the ball rolling on a few issues – perhaps more to the benefit of future classes but that is fine.

Last night Mr Scruff was in town! Yes a night out with da yooof and one of my favourite Brighton DJ’s. It was great to break the routine and have a cracking night out. A little worse for wear this morning but hey, I am a student and this is what we are meant to do right? Anyhow, I recommend you go see him if you get the chance – new weblink on the right.

If you have a comment, don’t be shy – share your thoughts!

The much anticipated Warwick Business School “Dragons Den” event was held today. I supported the morning presentations, our team being on 4th just before lunch.

We have a very challenging brief; something that on the surface looks simple but in fact requires a fundamental operational change. I felt my team has, so far, been able to contain the scope to something that is manageable within the time we have and consequently was positive going in. The Dragons happened to be IT experts in this field, so we were expecting a good grilling on our approach, especially as non of us have serious experience implementing a change management project of this nature.

It came as a pleasant surprise therefore that they pretty much agreed with our (much debated!) approach and really spent the time giving us very positive and constructive feedback and advice. Having watched the previous presentations, it looks like everyone managed to “pull-it-out-of-the-bag” so to speak when the pressure of having to present came up. Overall the hardest questions I felt in fact came from the cohort who were right in their asking stuff that, admittedly was going round in my head too, but I decided to give them a break – especially considering the pre-presentation nerves that had been around. Interesting stuff really.

Tomorrow, a “free lunch” and a chance to put on my Student Liaison Rep hat and have a discussion on some of the issues bugging the cohort at the moment (one or two certain module leaders, soft skills course, lack of microwave and that kind of thing …) I am interested to see how seriously we are taken – if you are thinking about coming to Warwick maybe you’ll be interested too.

The mid-term results finally came out today. There were very mixed results I would say; on the one hand some were exceptional, like 1 or 2 people getting 100% in accounting, and others were exactly the opposite in subjects like Organisational Behaviour. For me I am really happy and am only a couple of percentage points off a distinction level average. We still have one more result yet to receive and so I am hopeful this will be good too. Exams are funny things and to be honest I am not a fan. For example, in two subjects I feel my results reflected my true position and efforts but in another two they don’t, so you could say their was some disappointment there – particularly when you hear of some people “fluking” their multiple choice questions.

Still I am happy for them and happy for me too as, from skimming through the just published year book, I am in seriously good company; these people are awesomely good at exams and are used to success – even though at times you might be hard pressed to realise “in the real world” !! (no offense to anyone reading btw!) The general results were not published but from my minimal canvasing, I feel like I am in the top 1/3 of the class and that is great.

Dragons Den looming …..

It has been a long weekend working on PoM (Project of Management) proposals and presentations as momentum builds towards proposal submission today and the infamous “Dragons Den” on Wednesday. The picture is something I got sent over the weekend. The word on the street is that the Dragons can be pretty fierce so everyone is anxious to do an Awesome job. I am pleased to say my team is looking in great shape (unlike some of the others I have heard about) for the submissions and certainly the effort that has gone in is above and beyond the call of duty.

Still no mid-term results as yet but am sure they will be out sometime this week. It is back to “normal” this week with module lectures and all the pre-reading and post-lecture work that goes with it. JfDI turned up on Sat and already am inspired …

Nick Bates’ presentation principals course yesterday was, in his language, awesome! It is really quite easy to get carried away with things and I can see the sceptisim some people have of him, but hey, if you don’t change what you’re doing, how can you expect the world to change around you?

I have always been fairly ok with presentations in the past, but now I have really investigated what makes a good one; needless to say it isn’t super fancy PowerPoint – rather unfortunately too as am pretty ok with that software! Less is more … and remember the spikes, they work!

Fireworks kicking off everywhere tonight so enjoy if you are out and about this weekend.