CIMBA MBA

Wow, it's been way too long since we've updated this thing, though I excuse us from December because of the holiday break. My name is Tess Montano, and I'm a part-time student at CIMBA and also work for the school. I'm from the U.S., and I love working and studying with the diverse crowd here at the school — it's been an amazing first semester and I have high hopes for this semester and the next year (the program takes two years for part-timers).

A lot has happened, the most important of which is our consulting projects. We're in groups assigned (and hired) as consultant teams to businesses in the Veneto region. We 're working on myriad issues including human resource management, new market entry, primary market research and other consultant-y issues. It's a great way to apply all of our business classes, and we're being guided and coached by the school's business advisement department consultants. The best thing about the projects is that they are live — real issues for real businesses, which is an exciting departure from case studies. Thats the scary thing, too: what we're doing is going to have direct effects on the businesses.

 Also, CIMBA offers an intercession session, so today we will be joined by other masters students from the Unites States and then a Slovenian group later this month. It'll be exciting  to mix with some other students — we like each other a lot, but a full years of studying, living and now working together can be a bit much!

 We're continuing with our IBMT (Integrative Body-Mind Training — the science of change and growth through meditation) through session with Dr. Yi-Yuan Tang. We have Web conferences every 10 days to learn more about meditation, discuss our experiences and continue guided practice sessions. This is interesting on several levels: first, studies on the positive benefits of yoga an other meditation styles are pretty widespread and so are studies on the harmful effects of stress, especially in the workplace, are pretty definite, so it makes sense to have this kind of course in a business school, though I think it's pretty rare. Second, just the logistical setup of these Web conferences has been a good lesson in global business. It's pretty likely that some of us will have to do things like this, so it's good to see the complexity of setting a time that's good for us in Italy and Dr. Tang in Beijing. Then, when he has meetings elsewhere, figuring out that time change has been interesting. Then, the technology issues: do we need a Web cam? Does it work with our projector? What about a microphone — should it be unidirectional or omnidirectional? What happens if we have 4 or more members from different places that want to be included — will our setup support that? What needs to be done to ensure each meeting works? It's been a good learning experience, for sure.

 More to come, no doubt — thanks for reading!