KISS

Keep It Simple Stupid! That seems to be the theme for today. Today was official de-stress day for the fulltime MBA's, put on by the Programme Office. On the schedule were free chair-massages, dvd's and chocolate fondue and english tea with scones. It was a wonderful initiative, but I'm not quite sure if a lot of MBA's took advantage, being too stressed out ;-)

Before I had some of the wonderful de-stress day goodies, I had my first tai-chi lesson. Again, the theme was KISS. I was trying really hard to think of how to do the exercises, until our teacher said 'let it go, follow the natural rhythm and let your body take over and you'll be fine'. Keep it simple again. And I loved tai-chi! What a wonderful way of waking up your body and preparing for the day.

At lunchtime I went to hear Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, being interviewed. And this was by FAR the best talk I've heard so far at London Business School (although I lost out on the scoop on this one, see Al's blogentry on the interview). Again, the theme was KISS. No board meetings, no worries about competition (they just do what they're good at and respond to what their users want), no partnerships and no fuss. It was incredibly refreshing and it reminded me a lot of home and the lessons my parents taught. Keep it simple, no need to worry about everything. At the same time, hearing him talk worried me. Before I came to b-school, people would comment that I was good at thinking outside the box, and my reply was always that I was good at that because I had no idea what the box looked like, or where it was, let alone if I was thinking in- or outside of the box. Now they're teaching me what the box is (ha, and not just what it looks like, but who built it, how they financed it, what the box-strategy was, how the team worked that built it and why there is a demand for boxes in the first place), and I'm worried that I won't be able to think outside it again. Which used to be my strength.

And after all this philosophical pondering, it's time to hit the real MBA world again. I did pay 40,000 pounds for this, and I better pass my Finance I exam next Saturday.

[edit 1: Gaurav's posted a great review of yesterday's talk with Jim Buckmaster, you can find it here. And is that a real comment by the real Craig from Craigslist???]