Chris Dalton's Personal Development Blog

Dear all,

 

You will have noticed that some themes recur in these newsletters, and quite deliberately so. ‘Henley’ as a place often features, partly because it lends itself so easily as a magnificent backdrop to your workshops and graduation. ‘Henley’ as a brand is also sometimes a starting point. Yet another is learning, which might be little surprise in an educational setting. But I have to admit that ‘learning’ is creeping more and more into my thoughts as I develop my early PhD research ideas.

 

So what has got me thinking this month (a month of news globally about turmoil in markets) is summed up by this quotation, attributed to H.G. Wells:

 

“You have learned something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.” 

 

I think loss is a rarely explored aspect of learning, which is often presented as a process with only the sunny-side of gain. But personal change is double-edged and a new position cannot, by definition, be the same as the old, yet the old was what defined you, and it was there for a reason. It would be interesting to ask people who are at or are approaching the end of their MBA journey what they feel they have lost along the way, and how they dealt with it. Don’t be surprised to see the question as a future discussion posting on LinkedIn…
 

Henley on Linkedin and Home Straight Community news

 

The Henley group continues to go from strength to strength and there are a number of active discussions currently running among the 3,887 members. If you haven’t signed up yet, don’t forget to up-date your profile with accurate info on your Henley course first.

 

The main Home Straight news this month, aside from the steady progress being made by quite a number of people under the guidance of Mike and Richard, is the launch of a special group on LinkedIn for those who are in the Henley-Based Home Straight group. At the moment, membership is only for those of you working on your dissertations who are studying via the Henley. If you are at Part Three with an Associate or Partner, we are looking at this as an option for development.

 

Research Corner

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record with the LinkedIn references, I happened to notice an appeal by Michiel Commandeur, who has a posting there looking for volunteers to take his survey.

 

As he writes: “In my research I’m linking internal control frameworks to organisational behaviour. The objective is to identify how governance / internal control frameworks can add more value to an organisation. The link below brings you to a questionnaire that only takes 5 minutes to click through. I can send participants a summary of the research once completed. Thank you for helping me with my research!! [link removed from the blog version] “

 

Please note that the dissertation clinic, advertised in last month’s newsletter, due to take place on the 18th May has been brought forward to the 11th May.

 

Face-to-Face Electives

 

I’m pleased to announce that this year for the first time we are opening pre-bookable spaces to Distance Learning programme members on our “taught” elective sessions (which are designed to run as part of the Executive and Full-Time MBA programmes). These electives are offered via two-day residential workshops here at Greenlands and will run on various dates in May 2009. We have secured five places on each, which can be booked on a first-come first-served basis. If more than five people from DL wish to attend, then a waiting list will operate.

 

Details on which electives are being offered and on what dates can be found in the electives portal, or by contacting Marcia Doughty.  Marcia will also be taking the bookings for secured slots.

 

New intakes

 

Today we welcomed our latest intake, HB40, which I’m pleased to announce consists of 61 managers from 19 different countries. The group is one third female, too, which is a sign I hope of a healthy trend in more applications from women in management. 

 

We also welcome this week our first intake to reach the beginning of Stage 3 in the new MBA curriculum, and the first to be introduced to the successor of the Dissertation, the Management Challenge.  The group is from Denmark and numbers 15. We wish them and HB40 well. March will see new starts in New Zealand and South Africa, from where I shall be writing the March newsletter.

 

In all, we now have 33 separate intakes studying at various stages of the new MBA curriculum around the world. In total, this adds up to almost 1,900 of you. In addition, worldwide, there are another 1,400 of you who are currently completing your Part Three and Dissertation.

 

Points of interest and forthcoming events

 

David O’Daly sent me a link to an article that profiles a Henley DBA graduate, Mike Young, which is quite interesting and may be of interest to some of you. Click here for more.

Amanda Proddow of our alumni team reminds me of the following upcoming events:

 

04 March 2009 – “Gaining Competitive Advantage through Collaboration and Partnering” – Dr. Richard Gibbs, Henley MBA alumnus, discusses his research and book “Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships” . He will explain the problems that affect partnering and how to make effective management decisions to improve both the relationship and productivity. Greenlands Campus.

11 March 2009 – Construction & Property Industry Group with Howard Cooke, GVA Grimley Ltd speaking on ‘Strategies for Uncertain Times’ and Fred Ng, Replus Ltd speaking on ‘Tips from a Restructuring Practitioner: some Generic Survival Strategies’ – London

18 March 2009 – Construction & Property Industry Group as above – Greenlands

19 March 2009 – Keynote Lecture series sponsored by Accenture 2009: “Chaos Theory in Practice” David Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, Bawag PSK – Royal Society of Arts, London

24 March 2009 – Pharma Forum alumni event – “Creating Market Insight” – Dr Brian Smith (OUBS) and Peter Garnett, Head of CSC’s Procurement & Supply Chain practice – London

 

Other dates for your diaries:

 

April/May 2009 – Henley Golf Challenge, Sunningdale Golf Club

10 June 2009 – Third Sector Network alumni event, Henley Business School, Greenlands Campus

01 June 2009 (date tbc): Pharma Forum Summer Meeting – “The Reality of Emerging Markets for Pharmaceuticals”, Henley Business School, Greenlands Campus

05 July 2009 – Alumni Members’ Day at Greenlands, Henley. Please note that this event is on a Sunday this year. Full details will be available on the web from 1st March 2009.

02 November 2009 – Pharma Forum Winter Meeting – “Customer Marketing Challenges in Pharmaceuticals” – venue to be decided

 

Good luck to anyone sitting for their exams next week, especially those taking the last ever Part Two exam in the previous version of the MBA curriculum.