Chris Dalton's Personal Development Blog

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 4^th, 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

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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

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Dear all,

This month, I wanted to talk to you about Learning Journals. As Programme Director, I get email alerts each day to tell me whether there has been any activity over the last 24 hours on all the HenleyConnect MBA intake areas. If I’m waiting for a daily deluge, however, I appear to be waiting in vain as, apparently most of you are reluctant diarists, and in some intakes an outpouring of reflection looks unlikely.  That’s not the case for some of you, and I know that the process and habit of vocalising your thoughts can become an MBA routine (even the occasional, but timely, record of an insight, event or thought begins to pay you dividends in others way, on the MBA and beyond).

However, for the silent majority, there may be a blockage. Now, although I thought I would talk this month about the art of reflection and of writing Learning Journal entries as part of your personal development, it occurred to me that perhaps the reason for taciturnity is because you feel a little self-conscious about voicing your thoughts in public, or maybe you lack the confidence to write. My going on about it would, in fact, be counter-productive and would send you further into your shells. 

For those of you who have not got the writing bug,  I’d like to invite you to turn inward – grow even more taciturn – with the question of how you feel about expressing “you and the MBA”, or you and your work/career, or, for that matter,  you and the world you’re in.  If, after doing that, you really feel there’s nothing to say, then I urge you to carry on not saying it, your secret’s safe with you. If you feel that thoughts do occur to you, but (for whatever reason) you object to writing them down, then I encourage you to hold on to that objection as hard as you can and, in as unchanging a way as possible, don’t let it go.  After all, you have paid for this, so who are we to tell you otherwise?  As for me, I’ll just carry on praying for rain.

Now, on with the newsletter and no more about Learning Journals. Honest.

Henley on Linkedin

I’m always keen to start with news of the Henley group. We’re about to hit 5,000 members, and so there’s a tremendous amount of potential there for you to maintain a profile and make good and collegiate contacts with fellow members and alumni around the world. The Special Interest or local alumni subgroups are growing, albeit slowly, and we’ll see whether the model is viable. That will depend, I think, on whether the technology enables something you’d do anyway.

Right now, there’s a second wave of discussions about the Henley merger and the MBA brand reputation, and several others have posted requests for assistance with their dissertation or management challenge research projects, too.

Research Corner

No items here this month, but don’t forget that if you’re looking for people to respond to your Dissertation or Management Challenge questionnaire or survey, then you can also ask me to advertise it here.

MBA Student of the Year Award 2010

You’re an impressive bunch and I am often amazed at the jobs you are doing, and occasionally of the lives you are managing to lead side by side with the MBA study. AMBA, the Association of MBAs is again launching a campaign to find the MBA Student of the Year, and is asking Henley to nominate one strong candidate.  Shortlisted candidates get invited to interview in London and get whittled down to four finalists. I don’t know if swimsuits are involved, but it would be great to have someone from Henley represented. So, if you’re interested, and if you think you meet AMBA’s selection criteria of a strong academic record, a contribution to group dynamics and leading groups, as well as commitment to the School and the MBA programme, and also (there’s quite a list) that you have demonstrably benefited from the course in your career and/or you have overcome a significant challenge to get to where you are, then please let me know and we’ll look at the rest of the criteria together.  Closing date for nominations is 21^st April, with judging and interviews in May and awards presented in November.

Events

Amanda Proddow writes the following: “can you please ensure that all your current programme members are aware that they are very welcome to join the Henley Sailing Team to compete in this year’s MBA Regatta.  Please note the event has been renamed from the BSAR (Business Schools Alumni Regatta) to the Cranfield MBA Regatta 2010  and encourages current programme members, staff and alumni to take part. Paul Bennett and Richard Steele from Henley are members of the team!

Cranfield MBA Regatta 2010 – 9^th to 11^th July The Cranfield MBA Regatta website has been updated with a bit more info on the event. See http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/regatta . The event is slightly changed on last year with an overnight stop in Cowes on the Saturday and four races. The entry requirement is described as “The Regatta is open to all Business Schools MBA students and alumni”. As before, they also include Business School staff and partners in the teams. Tim Lawson, (DL MBA 2001) is the team organiser and has scheduled 2 practice weekends in April and May.  If anyone is interested, I need to firstly register their interest and then will put them in direct contact with Tim for full details. There is a page on the alumni website advertising the event:

http://www.henley.reading.ac.uk/news/hbs-100710-event-alumni.aspx.”

Advanced notice now of this year’s Henley Golf event, which will take place at Sonning Common Golf Club in September. More details to follow, apparently.

Also, there are quite a number of other events being organised in March, and here are some of the details and contacts. I know that many of you are living or working outside the reach of these, and it would be good to know what’s been going on with you in your regions, so please do let me know:

•  8 March 2010 – Rescheduled: London & SE Group – AGM at the Athenaeum Club, 107 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ER. The focus of the evening is the AGM, however there will also be time for networking after the meeting.
• 10 March 2010 – Rescheduled: Henley Alumni Leadership of Organisational Change Group – Winter Event ‘Developing Connections and Understanding Organisational Energies’ with a presentation from Bernd Vogel at Henley Business School.
• 10 March 2010 – Careers Service Event – 1/2 day workshop on Effective Self Marketing at Greenlands, Henley.
• 11 March 2010 – Henley Keynote Lecture Series: Lionel Barber, Editor, Financial Times at the Royal Society of Arts, London WC2
• 11 March 2010 – Careers Service Event Evening event on Interim Management at Greenlands, Henley. 
• 25 March 2010 – Henley Keynote Lecture Series: ‘What sort of House of Commons should we want?’ – with The Rt Hon. John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons at the Royal Society of Arts, London WC2 

TED.com

I’ve mentioned this site before, and my tip for a good video to watch this month is Jamie Oliver, speaking about his mission to change America’s eating habits. He looks a little out of place on the stage at first, but stick with it and you’ll end up rooting for him. This clip is especially important for anyone working in food or health related industries. View it here.

New Intake

Today we’re running the opening day of the latest Henley-Based Flexible Intake, HB43. There are 49 members of the group and as I type they are sitting in their syndicate rooms getting to know each other. Easily the most rewarding part of Day One, I always think. 

Good luck to anyone preparing to sit for their exams in March.

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