"Donner du temps au temps"

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It’s Sunday and I am sitting outside in the beautiful back terrace of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. Yes it is still “warm” (about 53 degrees) enough to sit outside (at least for now) and I’m going to take full advantage.  It has been an unbelievable month and as you can tell by the lack of posts on my blog, unbelievably busy.  So I am going to do my best to catch you all up. Thank you for your patience and your support.

For those not familiar with this stage of my journey, I have joined the Executive MBA programme, an intensive 12 month MBA in Hospitality Administration, at the prestigious Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL). EHL has consistently ranked at the very top in terms of higher education hospitality management institutions and has been the Swiss and international reference for over 120 years (EHL was founded in 1893!). EHL has one of the strongest alumni networks (over 25,000 individuals) spanning the globe, across all industries, yet is uniquely positioned in the hospitality industry.

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I'm a professional (student).

My reasons for joining EHL will become clearer and clearer as the year progresses, but my two main reasons are: One to build upon my current skills in hospitality and grow in the areas of corporate finance, revenue management, real estate valuation, and business research methods and two, to join the EHL network of industry leaders gaining access to vast resources of knowledge and experience, to seek guidance from those have paved new paths in the industry, and to meet the future hospitality leaders of tomorrow. Not to mention being in the center of Europe able to travel to some of the greatest cities and wine regions in the world! So far, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to come to EHL, everything I have hoped for is here and ready for me to take full advantage of.

With all this opportunity literally beckoning me at every turn, it is understandable that my excitement level is at a 10.5 out of 10.  As I was explaining this excitement to one of my professors, she told me a beautiful and poignant phrase that has become my mantra thus far: Donner du temps au temps - Give time to time. So with this phrase, a deep breath, and a calming spirit (and an excited heart) I head into my EMBA year at EHL.

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Coming together

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The 2015-16 EMBA Cohort!

My first week at EHL (the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne) was all about bringing the cohort together. On Sunday evening we met each other for the first time. Sixteen strangers from all over the world coming together for a similar purpose yet all on an individual journey. And in classic Swiss business school style, we were taken on a cruise of Lake Geneva to Montreux. Needless to say it was a very welcome start to the program.

At first I was a little nervous about the small size of the program, considering last year’s class contained 28 students.  On the following morning, our Program Director, Achim Schmit greeted our cohort and immediately set my worries at ease. First he stated that the EMBA program is the most important piece of the EHL student base, since we are not only the most experienced individuals on campus, but we stand as a testament to the caliber of students EHL attracts (both during the program and after we leave). His sole purpose is to help us develop as professionals, succeed in the rigorous academic environment at EHL, and to be placed in suitable leadership jobs after completion.  In his words, “It’s time to think like an executive.” And since we will be continuously working in groups and collaborating as a class, our specific cohort is vital to the success of the program. EHL selected us, the absolute best candidates for the program, brought together from around the world and across diverse professional backgrounds and were very carefully accepted to create our 2015-2016 cohort. He mentioned that he could have easily built a class of 25, but it was far better to have a very strong group of 16 then a group of 25 individuals, with some not as dedicated or capable of handling the intense workload as others. I totally agree.

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On the cruise to Montreux

Our cohort is made up of 10 women and 6 men. Nationalities are: 3 Russian, 3 French, 2 British, 2 Americans, 1 New Zealand, 1 Thai, 1 Indian, 1 Swiss, 1 Venezuela, and 1 Greek. Our professional backgrounds are about 50% from Hospitality and 50% from other industries. I have the most experience in Food & Beverage. Others come from hotels, one bar manager, finance, the military, and real estate. Average age is about 32, although about 60% are late 20s.

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In the past couple of weeks, we have come together remarkably as a team. We took a series of personality tests to analyse how we individually think and learn, helping us to understand our individual strengths and weaknesses as well as helping us to learn how our group may best function as a unit. We had a very fun day in the test kitchen preparing a fine dining meal, which we served to each other that evening. But by far the most fun and interesting team building exercise of the week, took place in a field.

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What are we doing in this field?

We were driven about an hour out of Lausanne towards the foothills of the alps. We pulled into a fenced in clearing and all looked at each other with inquisitive eyes. As we exited we noticed three pens around the small pasture, all of which contained sheep and there in the center of the clearing was Groubar, the sheepdog. We would soon find out that we would be learning (or trying to learn) how to herd sheep (so Swiss). It turned out to be an amazing team building exercise. We were broken into three smaller groups and given a task (i.e. lead the sheep through the gates, make the stop in a circle, and then lead them around the field back to the pen. Where is Babe when you need him.). It was extremely difficult, we planned and planned and the moment we opened the pen, the sheep took off. We slowly learned to stay calm, engage the sheep, look them in the eye, walk them slowly while always maintaining a perimeter, and working together to keep the sheep in a tight group. It was hysterical and so much fun. Welcome to business school!

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That's me on the right trying to shepherd those sheep!