Week 14: London, Long Break, L'OReal CEO dinner!

Week 9 - Week 14

Above is album: click for pictures.


First of all apologies for taking a 6 week break from the blog!!! I missed writing and hope some of you did reading (shout out to all family and friends who kept reminding me to update it). But I am coming back from a great event which inspired me to share with all. Will get to it in a bit.

First of all, what was I upto these past few weeks. Lets make it fast. Exams in december, big time parttttttttttty from 1130 am to 4 am the next day, trip to london, lord of the rings musical, back to India, met up loads of old friends, trip to mumbai, 31st bang with school friends and couple of MBA friends in abad, great family time as me sis made a special trip to abad too, back to oxford, unbelievably dreadful weather (which just refuses to get better), un-freaking-believably busy semester (2 core, 3 electives, entrepreneurshp project, internship and scp search, fulltime job search, electives for upcoming semesters, on average 3 projects a week with 4 different groups), couple of great fun night outs....phew! pics for some of these events are up. Will put up others too...

Now I shall share with you a great evening. The day started as usual early (hate getting up in darkness, even at 730, all cold and having to choose between extremely hot water or extremely cold water for a face wash as two seperate taps) as had to go for a operations management short field trip to the biggest TESCO in the neighbourhood with my study group. Have a great group for the core courses (all groups i have this sem are great :P!!). Spent about an hour there and back. Got home, changed as had a meeting with my Entrepreneurial project team. Then after another meet with MBA director with regards our EP, back home to get into a tux for a presentation by LOreal CEO Sir Lindsay Jones which was to be followed by dinner with him and his team and a few select MBA students. The talk in my mind was one of better ones I have heard. Sir Jones's speech personified what he said was the one thing his journey meant to him: FUN. He delivered expert subtle nuances on 'Enduring Success' from his experiences at LOreal in a very engaging way. AFter a drinks reception for networking with all the LOReal guests and all the audience, few of us proceeded for dinner in the boardroom. It was a great couple of hours being in the same room as some of these people with a wealth of experience having led truly global giants (I am sure the few other MBA students who were fortunate to be in there must have felt the same). A really engaging post dinner conversation gave insight into their minds and views from where they are at. A senior board of directors for a lot of big companies made a point with regards corporation's role in sustainable business. He talked about an example of how while in an african country, when he was helping out with a hospital which was trying to arrange for drugs which would help treat small kids with AIDS, it was a battle to arrange for the infrastructure and distrubution to get the drugs sent from the big nations to this small interior place in africa. As a solution helicopters were flown in for the same. Then he walked out of the hospital that evening and was surprised to see major cola drinks easily available. The obvious question was if there could be a network of distribution for the colas, how is it that something as critical as life saving drugs does not find its way? Should corporates not play a role? An extremely logical couter argument provided was that there is a difference between philanthropy and tax!!! Corporates are there to do what they do best. To create value, make wealth, re-invest, increase employment, improve economies and then help in ways they can. But to expect them to do what is actually the very basics that a goverment is responsible for or UN is responsible for is just leading to a scenario which will only take them away from doing their job and doing something which is not their expertise! Hows is it that we almost start believing that the corporataion is obligated (a la tax) to do what is the core responsibility of the goverment?
Somehow that thought process of the distinction between philanthrophy and tax just struck a chord ...

Also had a wonderful wonderful dinner at pushpaks and Alka's (yup if u following me blog, I had a great one last sem too at their place). WE were celebrating republic day of India. That explains the patriotism in the snaps..:-). As is usual at their place -- great food n good times! And the weekend weather has just been SPECTACULAR. I know it wont last tho....


I shall leave you guys with that. But from now on, shall be extremely regular as before...every sunday!! Next weeks menu: More bad weather, 3 projects, talk by founders of Netfinder and the Big Issue, dinner with CEO of the Big Issue, black tie dinner at Oxford Cambridge club with Oxford Business Alumni and much more!!!

Shout out to dear friend nbf..happy bday dude!