Tombstones

I recently got told off by some readers for leaving the full sentence that has been this blog without a full stop. Or so to speak. Truth be told, I have been trying to write a final entry for a while now and it's been proving quite tricky. I guess there's so many loose ends to tie up, that getting it all done in one entry becomes an impossible task to strive for initially, and later on an excuse for not getting on with the job.

It seems 10 months of hardcore business studies has not knocked out my engineering analness, so I shall go for a simple 3 part structure.

The first part I guess has to be the dry logistics. After graduating jobless (not an experience I can recommend) I had a final round interview 3 days later which I clinched with an offer. So yes. I will be a venture capitalist. I have no idea what would have happened had I not got it - it would not be worth contemplating. And kids, although in the virtual world of the Career Casino putting all your chips on red and waiting for the wheel to stop worked out for this character, please do not try this at home. It causes sleeplessness and other stress related disorders which after a 3 weeks of steady rest are only just now starting to disappear.

The second part I guess would neatly explain an overview of the MBA. I don't really know how to go about this (which is the main reason this entry is so late). I think for me, the main thing to come out of the whole experience has been the results of the introspection one is afforded when they step off the career treadmill for a year. Things like gaining confidence in going with your feelings, learning to recognise what you like and don't like have actually been pretty big steps for me. Kicking it all away and going for an adventure in the forest also made me realise that I'm done with adventuring for now. Other useful snippets have been realising how poorly Casino owners cope with complete blank piece of paper uncertainty and potential implication for entrepreneurial career paths. But these are all quite personal things, and to be honest I think in a lot of ways stem from my fairly unique INSEAD experience. They may well seem obvious to others - but weren't to me. So I'm not sure how much wisdom I can bestow on others through this process. The studies, although on paper can be made to appear incredibly useful would for me always rank bottom of any list of things I got out of INSEAD. But hey. That's just me.

And the third part? Was it worth it? Who knows. I know for me it was one of the hardest years of my life. And yes, I did have fairly unique circumstances, so I don't want to put people off from applying to the Business School For the World. And right now, I feel that it has indeed been worth it - I have achieved a career transition which would simply have not been possible had I not been to INSEAD for my MBA. And there's a ton of other good things to come out of the whole experience. It's just that for me, I know the cost with which these things came, and if someone came to me now, wound the clock back and said "hit or stick" I really don't know what I would do. Thankfully this is not really on the cards, so that's one less decision to worry about.

So, onwards and upwards. I wish you all the best with your endeavors, wherever they may be or whatever they are. I am done playing and have cashed my chips out. A bientot, as they say in France.

CQW: When do you start?