Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Henley MBA’

Summer’s giving way

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, Personal Development, tagged , on September 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

20130910-211040.jpg

Autumn is by no means truly here yet, but the warmest days of a warm summer are now behind us, and all the wheat and barley have been harvested. Gone too are my long days devoted to writing and to preparation (and, only in memory now, vacation).

In fact, as the air shifts in the south-east of England, it is just the precursor for the marking of a phase in a cycle of change ; a sign we’re about to see at Henley the busiest MBA period for new intake starts, new stage restarts and graduating ceremonies.

For me, these few weeks have been the calm before a storm of workshops, and there’ll be something happening just about every day now until the end of the first week in October. We have quite a few changes to the PD module and the curriculum to work into the routine, it’ll be a real test.

It has been a really great year professionally, and I still have several more goals I would like to achieve before it closes, so.. Deep breath…. Here we go…

Read Full Post »

Fran Connaway

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , , on March 18, 2013| 9 Comments »

Fran-Connaway_large378703_21306

With great sadness, over the weekend we received the news that the former director of the Henley office in South Africa, Fran Connaway, has died of pancreatic cancer. Fran had been ill for some years, and to those who knew her it is perhaps little surprise that she had defied the prognosis of a few months to live that was given to her by the doctors at the beginning. Fran being Fran, she found a way not just to exceed that prediction but benefit from various sorts of ground-breaking treatments that, while they may not have restored her to a very active lifestyle, at least made sure that no-one should forget that she was still around.

Fran was a founder member of the group that set up shop for Henley in South Africa (long before I joined the College), and was its heart as well as much of its character up until her illness. I first met her at Henley a day after I had been appointed to my job in 2005, about a month or so before I was officially to begin, at a clan gathering of the somewhat eclectic bunch of international partners and subsidiaries that the school then maintained. It was clear that she was a force of nature, a whirlwind of opinions (often forcefully put), ideas and a collector of ribald anecdotes.  She also had an encyclopedic knowledge of who was who and what was what in the education and business sector in South Africa, and I think she saw the wonderful potential in the place as being worth the constant hassles and worries.  Above all, she was dedicated to the success of the students; and woe-betide anyone who stood between them and their learning! She was particularly fond of taking aim at bureaucracy and nincompoops.

I’d say that Fran was utterly loyal to those she thought competent or like-minded, and completely dismissive of those she felt were in it for their own ego or simply just not up to the job; with Fran there were no half-measures. She didn’t suffer fools gladly, and was often right not to, but she had a big, big heart. She also loved to gossip, and always wanted to know the latest from the UK, and she made going down to Johannesburg a pleasure not a chore. I still recall on my first visit out there that she insisted on driving me (she drove like a southern-European in a hurry, and tended to talk non-stop while doing so, with ideas and opinions bursting out to the surface all the time) to a craft market to pick out some small souvenirs and gifts for my family.

It won’t be possible to replace her, but the good news is that the school she set the foundation for is now really blossoming into a major player in the market under the leadership of Jon Foster-Pedley and Frempong Acheampong, and the continued guidance of Vivien Spong, who was also Fran’s “right-hand” for many years.

 

Read Full Post »

What are the pathologies of management?

Posted in Henley MBA, My PhD and related things, tagged , , , on March 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been thinking lately about the idea of pathologies in management. It’s an interesting thought, but not one often dwelt on in the context of an MBA. I think this is a mistake because it’s always the pathologies that throw light on the day-to-day normal functioning that would otherwise be camouflaged from us by the fact that, frankly, there is just nothing noticeable going on.

The term ‘pathology’ conjures images of morgues and psychiatrist’s couches, but the definition also has other meanings and applications (see below). The one under discussion here is as “a departure or deviation from a normal condition”. This  seemingly spare definition is linked, of course, to the others and it should be of interest to managers and leaders for the following reasons:

1.  Although it is suggested that there is nothing to be learnt from “a normal condition”, actually it would be better to say that there is nothing that’s easily learnt. In fact, the normal is where most of us operate, most of the time. We just do it without thinking about it. We are somewhat hard-wired to seek equilibrium and place into our sub-conscious minds as many routine aspects of behaviour as we can.

Now, ‘normality’ is, of course, a loaded term; what, exactly, is “normal”?  It is anything we don’t pay attention to, either because we don’t have to to get by, or because it has become so routine, so habitual as to be impossible differentiate.  This routine world is not open to examination because what we wish to examine and the means we have to examine it are one and the same. Only when we have at our disposal a new lens, a means of differentiating the normal, only then can we draw its outline.

2. So the study of a pathology is important as it shows us what we cannot see in the “normal”, and therefore shows us the nature of what we take for granted. To understand what we do as managers, we have to find or provoke situations which are deviant, or perhaps just a departure from the everyday. The psychiatrist Oliver Sacks has illustrated this phenomenon very well in his numerous books on deviant psychological conditions. The whole medical profession, in fact, has relied on pathology as a source of information about what must, necessarily, be the case in the world of the non-deviant.

The question of what are the pathologies of management is important not in order to validate the deviation but to show us how we work when we don’t have any problem at all. In Personal Developmnet on the MBA, I think this could be a valuable, if theoretical, starting point for all incoming managers. The challenge in education, aside from documenting cases of managerial pathology, is safely to provoke enough deviation in the course of the degree to let leaders and managers see for themselves how this works.

n. pl. pa·thol·o·gies

1. The scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences. Also called pathobiology.
2. The anatomic or functional manifestations of a disease: the pathology of cancer.
3. A departure or deviation from a normal condition: “Neighborhoods plagued by a self-perpetuating pathology of joblessness, welfare dependency, crime” (Time).

Read Full Post »

South Africa diary – postscript

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , , on April 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It had been my intention to blog every day while in South Africa. I had wanted to capture the ongoing thoughts and impressions of being there and of running the workshop. But the days were just too long, the workshop too tiring and the evenings not necessarily with easy internet access (when will hotels stop milking the access to WiFi for cash?) and I’m rather ashamed to say that I gave up on Day One.

Now back home, here are the highlights (and one low point):

1. One is always mindful that what one is seeing is not the whole picture, not by any means, but what a great place South Africa is! I know that Johannesburg has serious problems to deal with, and that the country has a great deal to work out regarding its political and social problems, but if the diversity and attitude of the MBA programme members is any clue, then the energy to do something about these barriers is not in question. On top of that, I love the light in Johannesburg – it seems to open up the mind to all sorts of thoughts and possibilities.

2. The workshop ran with about 115 participants, the largest group I have ever had to deal with on the MBA. We held Day One more or less in plenary and then split the group in two streams, running repeat parallel sessions. Hard work, and kind of odd creating our own deja vu scenarios (once or twice I really wasn’t sure whether I’d already told the group I was with what I was telling them now), but also really good fun. I arrived still nursing a Spring cold, so my voice was threatening to desert me, but luckily it held in there. We were working at the JCC (Johannesburg Country Club), which is a relaxing and swish conference facility surrounded by a pristine green golf course. Golf does nothing for me, I’m afraid, which is probably for the good as there were therefore no distractions.

3. I think we got our points over. Many of mine were designed to “hole below the waterline”, in  a sense. I had hoped that I could offer some level of frustration, as well as surprise and interest, for the new participants to get them into a reflective mood. We’ll see shortly whether that worked, and frankly I never know until there is some feedback or reaction. Personal Development is a strong idea on the Henley MBA and I really think we’re developing a distinct and effective approach to it which is neither too faddish nor too dogmatic.

4. On day three came the devastating news of the death of a former, much-liked and admired colleague, Emilio Herbolzheimer. Emilio retired last September, having taught international business strategy and macro-economics at Henley for 13 years, but that does not do justice to the experience one got in the broad sweep of his workshops, nor to the lively nature of his discussions one-to-one. Quite simply, in workshops he moved with smooth brilliance through a kind of narrative, littered with humour, aptly chosen anecdotes and occasional political incorrectness (delivered so silkily that you forgave him instantly), across a range of subjects and ideas. I don’t think his was a style that could be easily imitated. He was also a charming colleague, quick to offer support, gracious in giving thanks when he saw the work of others (something not all faculty do) and  He could be cantankerous, too, of course, and no-one could accuse him of being a technofile. He would never shy from saying exactly what he thought. Occasionally, but not often, he would be off the mark. More usually, he was right, so it paid to listen to him. Above all, I’d say he was liked, respected by everyone with whom he interacted. We all have our Emilio stories and memories, and we all wish we could have some new ones.

But, we can’t, and I will really miss him.

Read Full Post »

South Africa diary, day 1

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , on March 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’m on my annual pilgrimage to South Africa for the MBA Starter Workshop, so I’m getting my fill of “what’s changed since last time” impressions.

The first thing I noticed as the plane came in on approach to land was that the road congestion had gone. Normally, one observes queues of traffic on the various highways and junctions, but there seemed to be little held up. It wasn’t until I was actually out of the airport and on the way to the hotel that I remembered it was Sunday! Oh well. They have completed the new rail link from the airport to Sandton City, and the road widening works on the city’s arterial routes looked just about complete as well. My driver reminded me that this work was prioritised for the World Cup last year, often at the expense of other, less publicly visible public works – such as the development of more decent housing in Alexandra Township, an 8 square km sprawl of shacks and home to nearly half a million people.

The TV in South Africa is quite different from the mainstream UK. For a start, there are a lot of sports channels, where there is meticulous dissection of cricket, rugby, soccer, swimming and just about any sport you care to think of. This morning they were previewing the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, mainly by reliving the glory year of 1995 when South Africa won it (that winning team have legendary status similar to the 1966 England world cup team). Interesting to note that Mandela’s charisma and humility formed a big part of the tournament and win making such a difference.

Anyway, on this morning’s transfer from hotel to Henley office, the traffic jams had returned with a vengeance. So tomorrow we kick-off the new intake, likely to number around 115 people! It’s going to be an interesting challenge, for them and for us.

Read Full Post »

Bits and bobs

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, Personal Development, tagged , , , on March 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It was quite a productive February. Aside from the progress made on the PhD, the conference paper in particular, I delivered several PD workshops at Henley and learnt a lot about the structure and flaws of the material. I have now started to think about a re-vamp (I won’t say re-write) of the PD materials. The trick will be to bring in some more contemplative or reflective ideas on self without sacrificing the practical and structured element of planning that many people seem to enjoy. But some of the material is frankly now getting a bit long in the tooth. One immediate success this week was completion of the first draft of a new “Values Questionnaire”, which will now need some road-testing.

The PhD is moving up a gear. My supervisors are suggesting I work on two of the chapters as part of presenting for an up-grade in th early summer. I shall also need to crack on with data collection. This is the scariest part, because a] I ave no idea if people will volunteer and co-operate, and b] if they do, there’s no slacking off.

I am enjoying browsing through the Learning Journal entries in the various online learning areas on the MBA. I know a lot of people never bother, or never pluck up the courage, to write, but often those who do are clearly getting something worthwhile from it. Some of them are actually quite moving!

Completed a half day workshop on “Building Career” with a portion of intake 41 today. I had to apologise to the group because there was just too much stuff to get through in half a day, but I think the main points were made. I know that I am trying to twist their brains a bit and challenge their patterns of thought, so I’m grateful they took it in good humour.

Read Full Post »

Stuck in the middle with you…

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, Personal Development, tagged , on February 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Attended a really interesting half-day session on Systemic Constellation Coaching today as part of the Henley Coaching Forum. John Whittington was the facilitator, and not only was he really good, the concept shone through as being a way of reaching something very fundamental about the relationship of (invisible) patterns within organisational systems. There were some memorable one-liners from the session, which was suitably experiential. “There’s only what feels true”, for example, rang nice-sounding bells for me.

This was on my mind anyway this week, following the preliminary recommendations of the mysterious “Reshaping” project that the School of Management has been the subject of by the powers that be at the University of Reading and the Business School.

I see the use of the principles of the idea of systems constellations (which I have covered in various ways in some previous posts) as being a really exciting opportunity to improve my practice, so I’m eager to know more. Exploring “stuckness” is close to my heart.

Other highlights of the day included spending time with some of the lovely Exec MBA students, who are in for their Managing Financial Resources module. This has been a bit of a stressful time for (many of) them, with their first graded assignments only recently submitted, and the pressure of the MBA hitting home. On the other hand, I hope that they feel that this whole experience really does work on several levels.

Read Full Post »

The Marquee Club

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , on October 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Today was the Henley Graduation ceremony, which is probably the 11th one I have attended (including my own).  There are always two ceremonies, though the timings have been moved in such a way that somehow everyone turning up for the second ceremony got to munching the sandwiches and finger food for those still attending the first one.

The whole of Henley is turned over to the graduation when it happens, and rooms normally set aside for teaching or group work find themselves hosting gownings, photographs, impromptu reunions, creches and myriad other activities that only make sense at Graduation. It really is nice to see everyone enjoying themselves, and family and friends taking in some of the atmosphere of the place. This year Chris Bones remembered to get those graduating to stand and applaud their families, which was really good.

Ironically, since I am no longer the Programme Director and get to sit at the back on the stage, not the front, this was probably the first graduation where I have known big chunks of the graduating members from start to finish on the MBA.  Nice to see Ginette Luxford, who has run our MBA in New Zealand for some time, actually picking up hers (at last!!), and great to see two members who are serving RAF officers in full dress uniform, gongs and swords for the day.

The Vice-Chancellor made a good speech, well delivered, I thought. His final message “Be bold and  make a difference” was couched in terms which were uplifting.

Read Full Post »

Henley MBA e-newsletter for May 2010

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , on June 1, 2010| 1 Comment »

Dear all,

because of the Bank Holiday in the UK yesterday, May’s newsletter is actually coming to you in June. The conflagration of technology, work practices, rolling onslaught of data from many different sources and perceived mantra always to be “doing more and more with less and less” is so much a theme in the World’s stricken economies at the moment Most, if not all, Henley MBAs will not only be familiar with the pressure always to be on-tap, but will (I suspect) also be struggling to come to terms with finding the right balance between what pays the bills and what paying the bills allows you to do. We talk a lot about “work-life balance”, a rather odd phrase really; why would the alternative to work be life?

Nevertheless, the temptation to work on this newsletter and other Henley matters over the holiday weekend was certainly there, and I’m probably not the only one in the Henley food chain who had to force themselves not to be looking at e-mails or reading minutes of internal meetings (or any one of the hundreds of at-work activities that seem to follow us around these days) in my time off.

I’ve reflected in these newsletters in the past on more than one occasion that one of the benefits of choosing Henley either as a place of study or as a place of work is its ability (should one need it) to instil a tranquillity or afford a space to, well, just take one’s time and, if one is brave enough, switch off the mobile, fold down the laptop and just watch the river (and your own thoughts) gently flowing by. It is still an ambition of mine one day to start something akin to the Italian Slow Food Movement, but this time call it the Slow Learning Movement, though it is perhaps reassuring that it appears to be taking a very long time to get off the ground. I have big plans for it (perhaps post PhD), however.

Henley on LinkedIn

I’m glad to see that numbers are still steadily growing, and I wanted to let you know that a new subgroup has been formed – the “Henley subgroup on Energy”, the aim of which is to link energy professionals who have shared the Henley experience. The link to the group is here: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/3072488/, but please remember that you need to join the main group first, and in order to do that your profile should be fully up-to-date.

Several of you have also pointed out that there appear to be a great number of Henley Management College or Henley Business School alumni /special interest groups on LinkedIn, and it’s not always clear whether a group is “official” or not. Since LinkedIn cannot know and doesn’t discriminate in the formation of groups and subgroups, there is probably no easy way around this. However, the Henley Business School main group has the University of Reading Henley logo, my name as owner and in excess of 5,100 members, so should be easy to spot.

Research corner

No entries in Research corner for this month, but please remember if you do have a survey that you want tested or you are looking for any other kind of assistance in your research for your dissertation or Management Challenge projects, I’m more than happy to advertise those here.

Family day

The annual Family Day event at Henley, which in the past has run on a Saturday, this year is scheduled for Sunday July 4th, and details can be found here http://www.henley.reading.ac.uk/alumni/Events/hbs-040710-event.aspx

Who’s who

In order to support the MBA programme delivery, a review of the structure of the MBA administration teams within the School of Management has been taking place over the last few months.  Below are the key changes which might affect you in your dealings with Henley: 

  • Marcia Doughty heads up our MBA operational delivery and is now “Programme Operations Manager”. The MBA Programme Administrators work in two teams each led by a Programme Coordinator, who reports to Marcia. 
  •  The Flexible Programmes team is responsible for the day-to-day administration of our Henley Based and liaison among International MBAs and will be led by Susan Parr. Susan Parr also becomes a dedicated contact for our Denmark, Sweden and Finland partners.
  • Responsibilities within the Flexible MBA team are now as follows:

Charlotte Ordish –  Hong Kong, HB36, 39, 42 & 45 (due to start in Sept 10)

Natalie Swadling – New Zealand, HB35, 38, 41 & 44

Sue Thomas –      Germany (Munich), HB34, 37

Deb Burdett – Ireland, Malta, South Africa, Trinidad, Greece/Cyprus

Susan Parr  will retain admin support for HB40 & HB43. 

  • At Greenlands the role of the two MBA Programme Managers (Alison Llewellyn – Taught, Kathy Jarvis – Flexible) is to support the Programme Directors in the longer term planning, scheduling, resource management and progression tracking of the programmes. 
  • Outside the UK, the excellent support teams that you deal with directly in your own country remain unchanged.

 About the Dean search, which I mentioned last month, I can confirm that the University has now identified and offered the position to one preferred candidate, and that final negotiations (which necessarily preclude the possibility of announcing a name at the moment) are well underway.

New Homepage

Many of you will already have noticed that the Henley Business School homepage has undergone a facelift, which is part of a bigger projects to reinvigorate Henley’s website. The link to access HenleyConnect is now at the very top of the page, so this new position might take a little bit of getting used to.

New intake – old intakes

Next week we will be welcoming a new intake on the flexible MBA at Henley, HB44, which will contain also this year’s International Stream cohort. At the moment it’s looking pretty good that we will exceed our target of 60 new members, and this will be the last group that we admit in the current academic year. We’re already looking ahead to 2010-11, which will be an interesting year for Henley because we will be into our third full period as a merged unit of the University and therefore should be able to begin to judge some of the impact each entity has had on the other.

Finally, quite a number of you close to the end of available time for your MBA studies will have received a separate e-mail from me in May regarding important points to remember in order to cross the finishing line with your degree. The e-mails were sent via Kathy Jarvis, MBA Programme Manager, and I’d like to thank all of those who responded — an overwhelming postbag which may take us some time to get through.

June’s newsletter will, I promise, get to you before the end of the month. Good luck to anybody sitting an exam this week, and to anybody intrigued by the idea of Slow Learning I look forward to a leisurely debate on the subject in the months and years to come.

Chris Dalton

Programme Director

Read Full Post »

Henley MBA e-newsletter for April 2010

Posted in Henley Business School, Henley MBA, tagged , on April 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

Dear All,

How did Eyjafjallajökull affect you? Were you left unmoved (as in stranded), cursing its unpronounceable existence? Or were you unmoved (as in it unaffected), left in peace simply to enjoy (probably for the first time in your life) the realisation of a sky blue and clear of all traffic? Or are you wondering what on Earth Eyjafjallajökull is? Lucky you.

Like others at Henley, I guess I belonged initially to the group which stared up in muted puzzlement, looking for the (invisible) ash and thinking how lovely it looked. As the days went by, though, several other intangibles became more ‘visible’. The obvious one was the extent to which we just take jet travel for granted. I don’t think we really realised how much flying gets done, and how much gets done by flying. I’m not that old, but even when I was younger, travel across Europe by plane was not automatically the most obvious or affordable choice; journeys more often resembled the patchwork of ground-routes and adventures that many of those who were left without a way to fly home during the air-space closure experienced. Another, related, revelation has been the homogenisation of distance that the airlines and the Internet have helped create. Getting quickly almost anywhere and getting instantly almost any information have become commonplace ideas within our grasp, unless, of course, you are one of the1.2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day. At the back of our corporate, global minds, this last point must be a salient one, though it is also a ‘can of worms’.

I’m sure these thoughts, and others, were on the minds of the numerous faculty members and Henley MBA Programme Members temporarily marooned (often near beaches and swimming pools, funnily enough) around the world, and perhaps they will percolate into discussions about creating a more sustainable definition of business.

Meanwhile, back at Henley, our late spring has firmly arrived and we’re seeing the grounds and surrounding countryside coming into their best. By the time the marquee goes up for the graduation in a couple of weeks time, I hope the woodlands will still be carpeted by wonderful Bluebells and the Wisteria on Engine House in full floral flow (tip: great backdrop for the Graduation photo before tea on the lawn). 

Henley on Linkedin

Having reached the 5,000 mark, we have reached a small plateau this month with fewer new sign-ups. Nevertheless, there are still about 50 pending requests to join in my inbox, and most of them are waiting for their authors to up-date their Linkedin Profile with accurate details of the Henley Programme. Without that, no-one else in the group has a handle on who is who. So if you do want to request membership of the group, only do so if you have placed Henley in your profile first. Thanks.

Research Corner

Full-time Programme Member Jan Kodadek is running a research survey and writes “I am part of a team who are researching a new business opportunity in the United Kingdom market. We are seeking the thoughts and opinions on fashion, from women of any nationality, who live in the UK.  I would appreciate if you’d help by completing this extremely short, anonymous survey – we are looking for responses by Friday 7th May. www.surveymonkey.com/s/handbagshoesurvey ”. 

Jan’s survey is also a link in the discussions area on Linkedin, as is Henley alumnus David Monk’s new project, www.thinktankpolitics.co.uk which allows you to explore your agreement various political parties’ manifesto statements without letting you know which party they’re from (though I think it tells you afterwards).

And, if you are looking for one, Linda Thorne linda.thorne@henley.com has a number of potential topics for Management Challenge projects. Contact her for details. Each project has a company willing to sponsor and facilitate the project. Alternatively, if you’re in survey mode on your own Dissertation or Management Challenge and need to access respondents who match the profile of fellow learners, then you can always advertise that here.

Results from last month’s poll

I mentioned that I had placed a poll on my blog asking about your attitudes to using Learning Journals for reflection. You can still visit this poll and take part, but I thought you’d also be interested to know what the results have been. Here are the four statements, with the %:

The question was: “Which of the following statements most reflects your opinion about Learning Journals on the Henley MBA?”

  1.  They have become an intrinsic part of my learning on the Henley MBA.                (22%)
  2. They should be an intrinsic part of my learning, but somehow I never get round to writing.    (48%)
  3. I’ll write them, but it doesn’t yet feel natural and I’m not really enjoying it.   (22%)
  4. Frankly, I don’t get what they’re for, and although I sometimes read other people’s, I won’t be doing this myself.     (9%)

 Encouraging that nearly a quarter of respondents are hooked, though I’d like a bigger sample size (hint, hint).

  New lick of paint

 The Bar Common Room and the Chiltern Room at Greenlands have both now been repainted in preparation for the next phase, which will see new carpets, curtains and seating. Yes, gone will be the days when, after a long workshop, members could sink into one of the green chairs and then continue sinking. Gone, too, is the infamous graffiti behind the pictures which were hanging on the walls.

 Events coming up

 With thanks to Amanda Proddow, here are a few selected highlights of forthcoming events (most in the UK, so if you have news of something in your region, let me know, or publicise it on LinkedIn):

  •  19 May 2010: “Innovation in Healthcare: the Route to Saving £20Bn?” – Healthcare Special Interest Group event, Clydesdale Bank, London EC2V 7QQ Speakers: Jim Dawton, Designit UK; Andrew Rudd, Andrew Rudd Consulting and Peter Ellingworth, ABHI.
  • 20 May 2010: eBusiness SIG – with Natalie Turner, CEO of entheo, a leadership innovation network, at the British Bankers Association, Pinners Hall, London EC2N 1EX.
  • 20 May 2010 – the Annual Belbin Award Keynote Lecture – ‘The food industry is a great place to work’ with Justin King, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc . Professor Meredith Belbin will be in attendance.
  • 26 May 2010 – Career Development Service – Evening event Optimising Linked-in, Job Search and Research – the latest cutting-edge strategies at Greenlands, Henley.
  • 27 May 2010: RREF Breakfast Forum – ‘The London 2012 Olympic Story’ – with Chair Duncan Innes, Director of Real Estate, Olympic Legacy Company and speakers Lawrence Chadwick, former Development Director, Grosvenor, currently working with Newham London on the legacy implications of the 2012 Olympics and Ralph Luck, Director of Property, Olympic Delivery Authority.
  • 02 June 2010: “Growing People – a Leadership Journey” – with Dame Mary Marsh, Director of Clore Social Leadership Programme. Henley Third Sector Network event, Henley Business School, Greenlands campus.
  • 8 June 2010: Career Development Service – Evening event Gavin Sanderson, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP gives an insight to life at PwC at Greenlands, Henley.
  • 15 June 2010: Career Development Service – Evening event Don Leslie, Director, Management Consultancy Recruitment Division from Beament Leslie Thomas will present MBAs & Management Consultancy at Greenlands, Henley.
  • 17 June 2010: Leadership of Organisational Change SIG: ‘Leading Organisational Change Through Conversations’ – with Richard Hordern, Client Director, Henley Business School. Venue: British Bankers Association, Pinners Hall, London EC2N 1EX.
  • 19 June 2010: Henley Alumni Germany: Top Event with Henley’s Moira Clark. – For full details please see: www.ha-g.de/
  • 22 June 2010 – The London & SE Group – Summer Garden Party An opportunity to bring your partners and guests to a networking event in the gardens of the Athaenaeum, London.
  • 4 July 2010 – Members’ Day – Bookings will open mid-May. If you would like to receive an invitation, please email us on: alumni@henley.com
  • 6 July 2010: Career Development Service – Evening event Senior level executive search with Eric Salmon & Partners at Greenlands, Henley.
  • 8 July 2010: Career Development Service – ½ day workshop CV Building at Greenlands, Henley.
  • 9-11 July 2010: Cranfield MBA Regatta 2010 – If you would like to join the Henley sailing team to compete against and beat other leading business schools.
  • 28 July 2010: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men perform an outdoor production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at Henley Business School, Greenlands Campus. 
  • 24 September 2010: Henley Golf Day – Sonning Golf Club. Calling all golfers! Join us for the 5th Henley Golf Challenge for an 18 hole Stapleford competition.

Who’s Who, Who’s New?

 The search for the new Dean of Henley Business School has been going on in the background and although I cannot reveal any details (inasmuch as I don’t know many) I can confirm that the selection panel has completed its first round and is finalising a short-list of candidates for the final round.  As soon as there is some word on this, I will pass it on.

 Good practice – Bragg and TED

 Here in the UK, on Radio 4 (and one way of knowing whether you’re old enough to be doing a Henley MBA is whether you have started listening to Radio 4 instead of Radio 1) there is a weekly broadcast on science, culture, philosophy and the arts, made by veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg. The show has been running for some years, and one reason for mentioning this now is to highlight that the BBC have just placed every show on an archive at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/.  Another reason it to encourage you to sign up to Melvyn’s personal weekly newsletter, which often features his walks through St James Park in London.

 And this month’s TED.com viewing tip? Try this one at http://www.ted.com/talks/catherine_mohr_builds_green.html, a talk recorded in February by Catherine Mohr, which looks at decisions she made in building a new house using, or trying to use, sound environmental decisions, and a good debate starter.

 That’s all for April, then.

 Chris Dalton

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »