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E27: "Okay, that's a message of hope for the future."
186 Plays1 year ago
Top recommendations for Dean Veloso from the ‘03Ds:
“Just make sure that your education is raising the bar on future management, not only in terms of technical knowledge, but in terms of values.”
“The university has a great asset, it's the Alumni Network - invest more and with the expectation to get more out of it.”
“Keep up the education of your alumni and give them the opportunity to get back together, because at the level of the class is where you have the strongest bonds.”
Our 20Y reunion in a nutshell: Excitement, fun, connections.
“It's the life in your years that counts, even more than that it is the people in your life. To me INSEAD has brought a lot of important people and reunion was all about meeting the ones that we see often, the ones that we see less often and finding that old energy is still there, which is amazing.” Sofia Marimba
“When I think about the 4 reunions we've had - all of them a lot of fun. The 5 year was very much around what job have you got, what have you achieved in that period work-wise, where are you in your career. 10 years was a bit more like what's your family situation, have you had 5 kids yet, that kind of thing. 15 in Singapore was just a bit insane, people just wanted to be students again and largely behaved like that. This time, lots and lots of fun, but I found people in more reflective mood. I had more conversations about looking around what the next phase of life might look like.” Sophie Kent
“It was exciting to get back together with people and realize how much I enjoyed their company and being around them.” Jeff Clay
“The mood was different - there was no competitiveness anymore for sure, there was a lot more looking for cooperation.” Milena Ivanova
Favorite moments: the things that bind us together
“Life can be as fun as you make it up as long as you're blessed with health.”
“The feeling of the first hug that you give to people that you have not seen in a long time, this physical connection, the smiles and the happiness of just seeing again face-to- face people that you have not seen in a while.” Sofia Marimba
The fact that we can all get back into the Chateau and dance together in the way that we always did, that's definitely the first image that comes to mind.
I loved seeing the much older vintages also dancing with us and I was like “Okay, that's a message of hope for the future.”
“Fun and joy absolutely have no age. I actually took videos of our older colleagues on the dance floor jumping and dancing like they were teenagers and I basically shared those videos with friends back home and I said this is how I want to grow old.“ Sofia Marimba
“Just being on the lawn and having a beer right outside there was reminiscent of those conversations that you had that were kind of impromptu and ended up going for hours.” Jeff Clay
“Team work makes dream work and I think our class is best practice in that sense”
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Transcript
Introduction to Republic of Insiat Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
This is Republic of Insiat, the 20 years later O3D podcast edition. I am Milena Ivanova and will be your host in this limited series. So, here we are, 20 years later, hopefully all the wiser, naturally smarter and as charming as ever. There were 432 of us in the O3D vintage.
00:00:25
Speaker
and certainly there are 432 unique and very interesting personal and professional stories to tell. While I cannot physically cover all, I have tried to make a selection of stories that will keep you interested and curious. Welcome to the Republic of Insead Podcast Edition and enjoy the show!
00:00:49
Speaker
All righty, so someone may have missed me. One or two people. Well, let's
Recap of the Reunion Events
00:00:55
Speaker
see. So 20 Year Reunion is behind us now, but since some of you are missing the podcast, we figured we can pull a pre-Christmas episode for you. And also for the benefit of those who miss the reunion, maybe a few
00:01:11
Speaker
So today we do a recap of events with some of the other reunion volunteers without whom our reunion would not have been the same or rather I should say would not have been possible in many aspects.
00:01:25
Speaker
Buses from the middle of nowhere anyone And so Welcome to you. Let's see who we have in the room here. It's I do alphabetical Okay, so no no one offended or I think I'm doing yes Jeff clay Mario collapses Sofia Marimba and Sophie Walker with me who we are missing from the team are Rutger and Lara who were also part of
00:01:51
Speaker
have the core team, but unfortunately couldn't join us today. So hello to you. Three ladies, two gentlemen. I love this shape of the world.
Global Connections and Holiday Inspiration
00:02:05
Speaker
So I hope everyone is doing well. Maybe start with telling me where are you at at this moment as we speak and record in whichever order.
00:02:16
Speaker
I'll kick off. I'm in Dallas and it's sunny and warm in Dallas, Texas. I am in Stockholm having just been in Singapore and left Dubai where I live behind me due to the climate conference and the 90,000 people attending. I'm in a very rainy, cold, grey London.
00:02:41
Speaker
And I'm in a rainy, ugly day in Porto, not a cold out.
00:02:47
Speaker
All right, well, and I'm in wet snowy day in Sofia and it's getting dark here. So yes, the joy of talking to people across continents, we have to find the common time of the day that works. So there you go. So welcome to the Republic of Insead Podcast to all of you. I'm very happy we've talked with a few of you about doing this and it took a while, but here we are pre-Christmas with our Jingle Bell moons and all that.
00:03:18
Speaker
We wanted to recap and we also wanted to just keep the spirit and maybe give a bit of inspiration for the holidays and then for the new year to everyone. And so that's the main reason for this episode. And also some people have been begging me for more. So let's see. Let's see. I'm not saying this is the last one. I'm not saying there's more. I'm saying nothing. But there you go.
00:03:45
Speaker
So let's start with the facts, since we love numbers. 178 of us made it to reunion, plus 44 partners and kids, no dogs, no cats. And so that makes 222 people that gathered on campus.
00:04:03
Speaker
Or looking at it another way, 43% of the class showed up. And what I really love about this number is that it makes us an outperforming class because the average for 20 years later is 39%. So here you go, the first bottle of champagne should pop. I don't know, Stockholm give us some bubbles. And so that was on attendance.
Podcast's Role in Reconnecting Classmates
00:04:30
Speaker
And since we are chatting on the airwaves of the Republic of Insead Podcast, a few more stats on the podcast itself. So we've had 26 episodes in total. This will be the 27th. And these have been listened to a cool 7,670 times.
00:04:56
Speaker
This is what I counted across the three platforms, Spotify, Apple and Zancaster. That makes 292 lessons on average, which basically in a class of 432 is cool. Of course, it's not just our classmates listening to it, but I thought it's the ultimate in customized targeting our audience.
00:05:20
Speaker
Prime audience is 432 people. Tell me who targets and markets to 432 people. That's got to be some sort of rank record, don't you think? Listen per target audience record.
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's the most expensive episode. Because, of course, our time is so expensive. Anyhow, enough of joking, but the podcast did do the magic because we outperformed on participation and we also outperformed on fundraising, but I'll give you this a bit later. I already spilled a bit.
00:06:04
Speaker
gave you because you also don't know the current numbers. And of course, I think the podcast also helped greatly for a lot of people to catch up before Reunion. So in other words, a lot of us had done a bit of homework. For some probably it was a first, 20 years later. And so we did really have a great time at Reunion catching up and also getting a lot of inspiration. But I stopped talking here.
00:06:34
Speaker
And I pass it over to you. And what I wanted to probably start with is your personal key takeaway, if you can take one from the reunion. I can start. It's three words. Excitement, before, during and after. Fun, during. And connections. And it was a great takeaway, the amount of
00:07:04
Speaker
Reconnecting, connecting, expanding, morphing, developing the connections that bind us. I could not agree more.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it said that it's the life in your ears that counts. I do think even more than that is the people in your life. And to me, it has brought like a lot of important people. And the reunion, it was all about, you know, just meeting the ones that we see often. We want the ones that we see less often and just finding that old energies. Yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah, energy. Exactly. I thought it was really interesting when I think about the kind of four reunions that we've had, because I found the five, I mean, by the way, all of them, a lot of fun. But the five year was very much around what job have you got? You know, what have you achieved? You know, in that period, work wise, where are you in your career?
00:08:06
Speaker
10 years I felt it was a bit more like what's your family situation if you have any kids yet if you had five kids yet you know that kind of thing 15 in Singapore was just a bit insane as far as I can remember people just definitely wanted to be students again and largely behaved like that all weekend and then but this time lots and lots of fun but I kind of found people in more reflective mood I think and
00:08:36
Speaker
more I had more conversations about looking around what the next phase of life might look like that was you know that that when people were expecting a marked change from maybe what the last 20 years had brought like people are kind of
00:08:52
Speaker
approaching an inflection point whether they're there yet or not quite but in reflective mood. That's great and for me I think the the best part was I think you guys have touched on that right obviously we all have that core group of people we keep in touch with regularly we know what's going on it was that secondary that group that you were you know close with and friends with I didn't say but I had kind of lost touch with and for me that was exciting to get back together with those people and realize and
00:09:19
Speaker
how much I enjoyed their company and
Reunion Experiences and Ratings
00:09:21
Speaker
being around them. So that was the best part. Yeah, it did. I fully agree with you, Sophie. It was a lot. The mood was different. There was no competitiveness anymore for sure. There was a lot more looking for cooperation or for the lack of I'm not that fast with the words today, but I, uh,
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, I found the same and I was quite inspired by this because you suddenly rediscover your own. Right, and so on a scale of one to ten, how happy were you with the reunion? In all aspects. That's like you're giving yourself marks. As far along the belt as can I go, yeah.
00:10:21
Speaker
I would say nine, just I would leave it under a 10 just because there's a lot of things that I wanted to do that I wasn't able to accomplish. Right. And so to me, it was a nine because, you know, which is, I think is a good thing. There was some things that still wanting, right. There's like, Oh, I wanted to go to this session or see this person or catch up here. So that to me was the, you know, what kept it from being a 10.
00:10:34
Speaker
Your bonus depends on that.
00:10:43
Speaker
That's nice. So I have to go back. Yes. OK, your favorite bit or favorite memory from this? I think there were so many lovely moments, kind of side moments, talking to one person or another that you hadn't spoken to in five, 10, 15 years. But the fact that we can all get back into the chateau and dance together in the way that we always did. When I think about the weekend, that's definitely the first image that comes to mind.
00:11:13
Speaker
And I will just extend this because it was exactly what I would have chosen. I would just extending, I loved actually at that moment that Sophie was describing, seeing the very, the much older vintages also dancing with us. And I was like, okay, that's a message of hope for the future.
Reflections and Suggestions for Future Reunions
00:11:33
Speaker
That's a target, yes.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, I had to say that to me when I was thinking about this is basically just, you know, the feeling of, you know, the first heart that you give to people that you have not seen in a long time. You know, this physical connection, you know, the smiles and the happiness.
00:11:52
Speaker
of you know just seeing again face-to-face people that you have not seen in a while also because this was post-covid as well which I think helped the sensation of you know you know seeing and meeting people again that is all. Yeah I would say for me it was just being on the lawn having a beer right outside there that you know it just to me was the
00:12:17
Speaker
reminiscent of those conversations that you have that were kind of impromptu and you know ended up going for hours and so that to me was part of the would have liked more time doing that and that was my favorite part of you know the couple days we got to spend out there having a beer and catching them. All right what was a disappointment or what would you rather we do differently next time?
00:12:42
Speaker
I would have liked more time to replicate the moment that Jeff described, especially on this Saturday. And it's a comment that I heard from people. I wouldn't call disappointments, but I, you know, a lot of people said, Oh, it was so great. I wish I had more time to spend with everybody else. And somehow, sorry, this seems to be the key day for that. So would you, yes. Yeah. Like, yeah. How would you, how would you sort of,
00:13:10
Speaker
shuffle the agenda to make that happen. One suggestion, this is just a suggestion, is perhaps the late afternoon course, the one that we were proven that we have not, for example, taken all the steps for our pension management. I think it was fun, it was nice, but I would actually remove it and replace it with more time amongst us, definitely.
00:13:40
Speaker
Well, time is never enough, is it? Exactly. We agree. Any other additions, Sophia? So two things, in terms of, I would not call it disappointed, but I have to mention the heavy heart that I guess all of us got when we became aware of the disturbing events in the Middle East, I think, that was particularly heartbreaking.
00:14:07
Speaker
It's a bit frivolous to speak about, but being pragmatic and looking into your question. I think the combined energy, the brain power, the resourcefulness of our class is huge. And I think our goal for the next reunion could be that beyond our endowment, which I think is definitely like a legacy that we are living.
00:14:32
Speaker
Um, we should think about, you know, ways to deliver even more impact together and to contribute back. Um, I know that we already with initiatives with the Hopkins Institute, et cetera, but to really put our brains together and our energy together and try to deliver to next reunion beyond the fun, also something impactful or beyond our endowments in the name of our class. That would be probably what I would add. Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
which we are working on already. So we probably have a bit more to say a bit later. Jeff, anything else? No, no, I think, of course, to me, it wouldn't be, you know, it's trying to figure out what would you not do to add something? Yeah. I thought it was, I thought it was great. Time is always right. This is at some point we all realize, and I think this is why the 20th is different is that the most precious asset. Yeah. Well,
00:15:29
Speaker
that we all have this time, nothing else and healthy soul. Right. So just also we just talk about it's kind of like a kind of high point, but also how it could be done differently was the fact that we did the party on the Friday night, which was just our class. And Sophia, I mean, clearly, like it was amazing. And the amount of work that you did was like, you know,
00:15:54
Speaker
mind going, quite frankly. You know, we're going to do another one on Thursday next time. Oh, brilliant. My suggestion was going to be like how much the administration could help delivering that. But, you know, maybe they don't need to. In all seriousness, like I thought it was game changing, actually, for us and our class at the reunion to do that together on the Friday night.
00:16:20
Speaker
and bringing people just us was really, really special. And I'm sure that when people are thinking in the future about just how they connect with INSEAD and how much they want to go back, et cetera.
00:16:32
Speaker
It was a sort of powerful force for that stuff as well. I love that you bring it up on a few different levels because one is we have been working like Jeff has been a volunteer since graduation, Mario for the last 10 years, Sophia has been helping informally, you are helping informally,
00:16:52
Speaker
Right at the in Singapore, but we the result and this Friday was really the result of us getting together very early on and saying right How do we do this better and we took the feedback on board and we just delivered it now Sophia delivered brilliant
00:17:10
Speaker
Thank you very much. And I should also mention thank you to Ricky Knox, who did pick up the bill for Friday's DJ and whatever extra time we stayed there. And believe it or not, with French business and administration, we settled the bills more or less
00:17:30
Speaker
a month after the beginning finished. So Sophia and I were exchanging still emails and whatever and waiting for the French to demand their money. Some of them are not even good at collecting.
Volunteering: Contributions and Impact
00:17:45
Speaker
So yeah, but thanks to Ricky for picking this one up and also for Friday we did have the
00:17:53
Speaker
auction and so special thanks also for the gift which Francisco well the the lot that he donated which we auctioned and we raised just shy of 12,000 euro from these So that was and Ricky ran this auction. So, thank you Ricky as someone said he can sell ice to the Eskimos So he could get 12,000 for these
00:18:17
Speaker
Francisco just sent us a short notice for the swell that we can go this Saturday to Portugal to watch the wave. But clearly, trick Christmas, I don't think anyone has managed that. It's such a short notice. But that's it with the water and the waves and the ocean, so nature, Mother Nature.
00:18:39
Speaker
Anyhow, great. So was there anything unexpected, one new thing or one unexpected thing that you heard or learned or discovered? I have to pick up on Mario's comment. I think to me it was just that the realization that fun and joy absolutely have no age. I actually took videos of our older colleagues on the dance floor jumping and dancing like they were teenagers.
00:19:06
Speaker
And I basically share those videos with friends back home and I said, this is how I want to grow old. So to me, I thought it was just amazing as Mario said, like, it just gives you hope that, you know, life can be as fun as long as you're blessed with help. It can be as fun as everyone else is quite. So we are all in agreement. Oh, Mario. Absolutely. I would just add something about, you know, the new and expecting the reunion. I think.
00:19:33
Speaker
There's been so much new and unexpected things that I've heard through the podcasts that the sheer volume of what's coming from those, you know, definitely overwhelmed anything during that weekend. It's been great. But you know what, I've been doing the podcast and then I've been taking the transcripts and then I'm, you know, cleaning them editing because I want it neat and
00:19:58
Speaker
And I have learned a ton myself. And you know what? I think I got a bunch of courage to do things which I have been thinking about for the last 10 years and not doing. But then you hear how the guys, and here I mean the guys, the male friends of ours, do them and how they think about it. And I'm like, well, I should just like get over my whatever and just do it like them. So yes, so I've gotten my fair
00:20:26
Speaker
If you repeat one thing three times on the fourth time, you do it, right? So I think I'm getting to this point. I'm getting a lot braver. So yeah, there you go. And so this kind of gives us to the giving back topic end, which is, you all know, my favorite topic end.
00:20:45
Speaker
As I mentioned, Jeff has been with me. I have been with Jeff for the last 20 years, fundraising. And then Mario has been involved since Singapore. And then Sophie and Lara helped with fundraising, et cetera, et cetera. So my question here for you is, why do you volunteer? And what do you have to tell to others about volunteering?
00:21:10
Speaker
We all know it's a lot of work, so we don't need to discuss this. And it sits in the back of your head. So even if you are not doing anything about it at this point in time, it still bugs you because it's something that has to be done. But why do you do it, and what do you get out of it? I can go first on this one. So for me, genuinely, it's just an instinct that I have.
00:21:38
Speaker
I see some people that have it and some people that don't and some people get there over time. Like I think it's actually something that is reasonably innate. But I think also, you know, I know I'm in a place of privilege. And so making, you know, being able to kind of pass on and, you know, give back from from where we are, you know, I suppose that maybe that's the
00:22:04
Speaker
that's sort of moved from the instinct to the sort of sense of duty. I don't mean to sound holier than that about it, but I just like it is just, it is a very sort of natural thing. I know that my husband probably really wishes that I would stop volunteering because I do it in lots of different areas. But, you know, I think it is quite interesting is quite often you end up in a group like we have,
00:22:31
Speaker
sitting here today that it is a lot of fun that you're on a different team to the team you're on at work or family life or whatever it might be and you come together and you're all giving your precious time but you know so you want to get things done so you know generally I think you could be quite efficient and um particularly in this crowd and um and you know and create you know if you think about I mean look Friday
00:22:59
Speaker
night party is an example. I mean, you know, just every minute of all of our time that went into that was worth it by multiples, right? So, you know, in that instance, I think, you know, it's, you know, it feels worth it. It's very tough. I completely agree. I think ultimately is the same thing as at work, you know, like teamwork makes dream work.
00:23:21
Speaker
And I think like our class is best practice in that sense. I think we're setting the example for in a lot of things for other promotions, both with the Friday party, the podcasts, all these kind of things.
00:23:36
Speaker
And it's because we're lucky enough that this group of volunteers that has been there for a lot of years, I just joined from the sidelines. It's like a visionary, fun, brilliant group of people that, you know, start with the endowments and then it's almost like every year there's a novelty or a new initiative that then gets picked up by other promotions and other things.
00:24:01
Speaker
And to me, like, it's no effort. It's just so organic, so easy. And as Sofia said, it's just so much fun. That it's no effort whatsoever. I hardly consider this like volunteering your work. It's almost like another fun activity that I can do with my time. A big thank you for the leadership, like your leadership on this, Melena, for all the efforts that Jeff Cooker, you have been doing like in the last years with the fundraising.
00:24:30
Speaker
And to everybody who just made the board this year. That's great. I would say for me, it's a couple of things. One is obviously the opportunity to continue to work with Melaina, right? So she's amazing, impressive. And you talked, Melaina, about how much you've learned from these podcasts. You know, I've got to learn from you over the years of.
00:24:51
Speaker
you know, how you get shit done. And it's just pretty damn amazing to watch. And so for me, that's been the highlight. And then a couple other things. One was, you know, I knew for work purposes, I would be moving back to the US. And so I was fearful that I was going to lose that connection, that I was going to be like, wow, that was this great experience. And I was going to be able to reminisce about it, but lose the connection. And so to me, it was a way to help stay connected. And then finally, just on giving, I think,
00:25:20
Speaker
you know early on I had more time than you know than money and we've talked about now you know that time shift and so being able to donate to the fund that you know Malay and I initially started and it feels good to be able to give to that just to you know allow people to have that experience right for me was this amazing experience you know the you know the kid from Texas that got to go you know to this amazing experience and want other people who have
00:25:48
Speaker
you know, might not have the means to be able to go do that. So for me, you know, this has been, you know, an exciting and almost, you know, obviously the NCI year and experience was, you know, that life changing, amazing experience. But, you know, beyond that, it's continued to be, you know, getting to see a front row seat to Milena, you know, all these years is pretty awful. For me, actually, it's I also think it's very simple.
00:26:14
Speaker
I feel energized and it's great to help for a cause that I believe in. And the cause exactly that you all described, powerful, meaningful. So it's just logical and exciting. And in terms of the social part, I'll be honest, it started with, let's organize my birthday and extend the Singapore union by a day. It was a little bit awkward, but it's very simple as well. It's, you know,
00:26:41
Speaker
If I can help to contribute to people being even happier and a little bit more organized or not lost or anything on the social front, why not? And now, does this give me the opportunity to spend more time, as much of the time I can give with this lot? Absolutely great. Yeah, it's been a fun ride. It's been a great 20 years, I must say.
Class Endowment Fund Update
00:27:11
Speaker
So and maybe now let me ask you this I'll do so it's time to drop the bone, which is my personal pride and joy. But let me first do a quick survey among you here.
00:27:26
Speaker
Where do you think our in doubt fund is as a moral west? It was at 430,000 at the end of last financial year, which is August. Say 800. Yeah, I was going to say that too. Yeah, I would like to be a million, but that's what I would like to. So just put in the middle like mine. Sweet state. You're super.
00:27:56
Speaker
pessimistic. I am totally, you super underestimate your power, our power. So there you go. So we are at 1.2 million euro as of the 30th of November. So you know what, we are still chasing some emails.
00:28:22
Speaker
So we have outperformed and you know when I said the one million after Singapore, in Singapore we were coming at 350 or something. Well the next logical step has to be one million because from 350, half a million is not a challenge. But I really was wondering how we get there. And so this has been amazing. Now of course I have to be unhappy about something.
00:28:52
Speaker
and have KPIs for the next. So basically, what I am not as happy about is that our participation rate is still not high enough. So I mean, the bottom line is we know that we have a few classmates who have been super generous. And of course, it's not we are not measuring donations. And this is why I'm talking about participation, because at some point, of course, there are people
00:29:22
Speaker
who have much bigger capacity. Willingness and capacity are different things. So we have 15 salamanders, which means people who've given 15,000 and above. We have now one platinum salamander, which is 250,000 gifts.
00:29:43
Speaker
So we are in this range. The total number of donors for this year is 94, which basically means 22% of the class, which I'm sure I haven't gotten the number from this yet. I'm sure that this is good in terms of participation on a relative basis, but I somehow would love for us to
00:30:05
Speaker
become even more, not only chasing the amount. So there you go, but in any case, we are 20% above target already, and we're still in the year 2023, so this gives me great, great joy. And I kept it away from you on purpose, so I can get this reaction. This is amazing. Do I get the optimist's price or something?
00:30:34
Speaker
No, but this is amazing and I think it's like a super big thank you to everyone who has been, I think this money has been put to good use and that is what we need to make sure to continue to do. And I think as people get aware of the impact that the money is delivering, then more and more proactiveness is probably going to follow.
00:30:55
Speaker
Yeah, so in terms of so 1.2 basically basically it means that we would be able to disperse one very meaningful scholarship per year or to have tuition kind of
00:31:10
Speaker
scholarships. It's something like this where where this gets us to. And Jeff, sorry, I interrupted you. No, I was just going to commend you for, you know, I remember the early days when we were initially raising funds and wanted to do the endowment and the university pushed back that we just didn't have the money. And until we got to a certain dollar figure, and I will commend you, Milena, for pushing them very hard to allow for the endowment prior to because I do think
00:31:39
Speaker
There's an element of had we collected and distributed and really didn't have these big numbers that we can talk about, I do think it makes a difference. So I think early on, the fight that you did to go get the university to say, all right, fine, we'll make an exception from you. And as you guys all know, the French administration making an exception is not.
00:32:00
Speaker
the easiest thing to go do. So, but I do think it puts us in a great position to your point of, you know, a full scholarship, two half scholarships. You know, where does that grow to over time? Although they need to stop raising tuition. Otherwise, tell your American friends from HBS, et cetera, to stop raising tuition, you know, and to stop raising the salaries. Yes.
00:32:29
Speaker
But you make a really good point, which is like, what's the long term on this? We've got this incredible number and hopefully that means that we can provide in years to come. But what would be the aim beyond now?
00:32:51
Speaker
Well, and I think that puts us on track for who was saying Sophia for the next reunion or for the next time we meet because we are working on something where hopefully, but.
00:33:03
Speaker
working together and making impact beyond, okay, so the scholarships, it's all fine, but can we be solving a different problem? So many smart and plugged in people when you join them together. And as Sophia mentioned, we are talking with the Hoffman Institute and this is work in progress, let's see where, but yeah.
00:33:29
Speaker
No, which is great. I was actually meaning more from a fundraising perspective. What's the new goal, right? What's the new goal, exactly. Well, what do you think should be the new goal? Well, after one, would you do five? Well, I know that's the thing. What's the next thing to do? Who knows? Open question. Let's leave it open and let people reflect on it for
00:33:58
Speaker
for a while and then as I mentioned during the class presentation, which by the way I've been sharing the link for it in these emails that you're getting now daily, it's the advent calendar to Christmas and beyond. But there is, I was shocked because I was looking for something and Sunday I discovered a recording of our class meeting and I was truly shocked.
00:34:27
Speaker
But it is there. And in any case, we can discuss and figure out, you know, we keep on working on this and see where we are going. So work in progress. But let's keep that one open for the sake of
00:34:48
Speaker
having people reflect. And I would say there's probably a top line goal, but also participation goal. I know we've talked about that internally that says, you know, you don't have to be a big donor. And this is, you know, the university I came from was all about getting
00:35:04
Speaker
Everybody to give a hundred bucks, you know a hundred bucks a year and it starts to add up, right? And you think about all right. Can I go do a hundred or five hundred euro? Sure, right? Why not? And so to me that participation might be one of our next goals Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean in this what you are saying and I'm just looking for because I have put it in the class presentation and
00:35:31
Speaker
What we were saying is that if 100 of us pledged 1,000 euro per year over the next five years, we would have added half a million for our endowment. So 100 of us. And if 100 of us pledged 500 per year, we would have added another 250,000. So that's like coming close to 750,000 without really anyone
00:36:00
Speaker
Hardly feeling a pinch right because these are not big numbers It's more the discipline and then when we were writing emails after the reunion and reminding people Caroline wrote back to me and said you should tell this to everyone because what I had written to her was If you consider pledging this would help us greatly because it's gonna save us time in chasing you and she said you should tell this to everyone and
00:36:26
Speaker
Because in fact, you know, we don't think about we we we intend to give but then it gets on the pile of
00:36:35
Speaker
on the long list of to-do things, and making it easy also for us as volunteers, as fundraisers, is much, so anyhow, enough on that, but great job everyone, 20% outperformance, so far the year is not over yet, we are still chasing people, so if you are one of these people that has a Tonya to-do list, can you please do it before December 31st?
00:37:00
Speaker
End of commercial break. All right. Let's switch gears. And two more things here. And then I want to get a bit personal. But your hopes for the future and your fears, which ties in with what we can do together. But in general, what do
Parenting and Maintaining Positivity
00:37:23
Speaker
you worry about? What do you hope for? That's a long time. Now you're getting deep, right? Yeah.
00:37:31
Speaker
I'll go. I'm sure everyone else is going to be much more thoughtful, so I'll go first so we can build off mine. But I guess for me, it's really now we've talked about the different phases of life. So now having two teenage kids, right? I mean, I think there's a lot of hope and fears that come with that is, are we raising good kids? Am I being a good parent? Am I doing the right things?
00:37:57
Speaker
Obviously, you know, my personal network, professional, all those things are still important. And, you know, I continue to try to invest in those and do things. But I say probably my biggest investment now is my kids. And always, from a fear standpoint, you know, that's where I spend the most time up at night. Am I doing the right thing? My wife and I and, you know, how are they going to turn out?
00:38:21
Speaker
Right. And that to me is that biggest reflection on how well you did is, hey, did you raise, you know, good contributing successful kids or did you raise bumps? Right. And so now I said, all right, hopefully they're on that path. So that's where I would focus or where my attention is focused. Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, yeah, sort of at that phase of starting to think about the next generation coming through and hoping that
00:38:49
Speaker
you know, some of the problems that the world finds itself in, they will have the ability and the strength and resilience to get out there and solve them. I'll take it in a more general perspective. I think that, you know, we do live in times where it's very easy to read around
00:39:12
Speaker
doom and gloom stories from politics to AI, how's the world going to change, et cetera. What is the impact that we are leaving to the next generation from our work and focus and prioritization? On the other hand, I see a little bit the world through the eyes of my 20-year-old nephew in California. And there are fears, but actually, it's really not that bad.
00:39:42
Speaker
There is the same kind of excitement that we had back then, the same kind of focus, perhaps technologies are different, business models are different, big companies are different, but I focus on the good solid hopes for the future and staying positive and putting the fears aside, even though it is easy to see mistakes from the past being repeated.
00:40:10
Speaker
history repeating itself. I'd probably say something similar. I think my biggest fear is to lose a positive outlook on life. I think when you have a positive outlook on the future, it's basically when you also get the strength and the energy to do things and to contribute.
00:40:28
Speaker
And so I hope to continue to have like a good bit of optimism and positivity. And then the second thing is also that, you know, energy and strength doesn't leave me too early so that I can still continue, you know, to do things, be useful, contribute to others. I think in this stage of life is much more about being useful to others than, you know, just building a stage.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah, I would build on kind of, you know, what I said, what you said there, Sophia, as well, around like, actually, you know, so like medical science has advanced so much that everyone is living so much longer. But I don't think that the same shift in perception about what older people can give to society has moved at the same pace. And I know this is very different in different cultures.
00:41:19
Speaker
But, you know, certainly from the UK and, you know, just from my standpoint, I don't feel like the elders are given enough time and enough opportunity to share wisdom too quickly. They become irrelevant. And so trying to actually, you know, think about how generations work together is, you know, because you lose so much.
00:41:48
Speaker
if you lose all that experience, albeit that the world is completely different now, but there's a reason why people study history, right? And if history is still with us, then use it. History and philosophy and social sciences and psychology and just life experience, that's absolutely correct. Part of the problem is we are not studying history anymore and philosophy and rights. It's hard to get it on TikTok, right?
00:42:18
Speaker
We need little short snippets of history here. Oh gosh, no. Plato in 10 seconds. You say that though, our eldest is definitely planning to do history all the way through. So, you know, and she spends a lot. There's hopes of you. There's hopes.
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah, my daughter is studying history now in school, and that's her passion. And it's, it's like her renewed that for me, which is pretty exciting, right? And I'm kind of, you know, I let her read the books and summarize for me, which has been been fun. Payback at last. Yes, exactly. All right. So if we can summarize the last 20 years of your life personally, in one word. I would say just
00:43:07
Speaker
Actually, I'll let, yeah, go for it. Go for it. The war that comes to my head. Nice. Globe-trutting. Grateful. I'm going to say, always cute. You got me stumped here, Malia. I've been amazing, right? I guess would be a good way to summarize it. Not without a lot of ups and downs, but if you can kind of
00:43:34
Speaker
bear through those, the outcome has been an exciting one. So fortunate, amazing, globetrotting, and grateful. And you? What about you, Milena? Yes. Gosh, lucky. It's all positive, good. I mean, look, it could be positive. How can we not? It could be negative, right? It's a matter of glass is half empty or half full. So it's our choice.
Health and Self-care Awareness
00:44:03
Speaker
But yeah.
00:44:05
Speaker
I agree. At least for the podcast we're positive, right? We can go back. You seem to be on mute. All right. Well, tracing health, you mentioned, we mentioned health a few times. So how do you manage these aspects of life at the moment?
00:44:34
Speaker
at the moment as in at this point in life. I think by now most of my friends hate me. I have close friends and family because I'm just how to say a dictator of sleeping properly, eating properly, exercising and connecting. That I think should be the priority of any person.
00:44:57
Speaker
in this stage of life. What was the last one? Exercising? Connecting. Just, you know, be useful, connect to people, give yourself to people, help, be helped, you know. Yeah. And always prioritise that. I think one of the things I probably regret was I slept way too little when I was younger. I didn't fully appreciate the benefits of having like a rested body and a rested mind.
00:45:23
Speaker
And right now I'm just like quite the opposite. I just hammer everyone I know about this four habits, which I think everyone can slowly, slowly start building and put in my view, like the secret sauce to a happy old days. I think that actually it probably happened for me about three years ago, where I realized unless I did all of that, it was not looking good. And actually, you know, at first,
00:45:52
Speaker
that really difficult but you can respond and react and do all of the things that you're talking about and there's yoga and Pilates and all of those things that are massively helpful and now I look and I think actually it was just the opportunity I was given to start doing things in a way that was you know better for me and when it's better for me it's better for those around me as well. The one thing I would add on this is that you know it comes with experience that
00:46:20
Speaker
the radar is very alert on the potential traps and pitfalls that you know we all come across and it's under identifying them and reacting to them on time very timely and in the proper way and I would totally agree the ingredients that you both described are the ones to drive the solution but it's very important also you know life is dynamic you cannot just say that phenomena
00:46:47
Speaker
the state
00:47:02
Speaker
I never really took my health serious and then realized that I've kind of done some damage to my body over time. And so trying to make up for that. And the one thing I have done, it started probably 10 years ago doing yoga. And so we thought, I'm still a beginner, right? I'd still consider myself the guy in the back of the room, the beginner. But I did it more for physical ailment, aches and pains than realize, hey, there's actually some mental benefit to this. So I still kind of go to the neighborhood yoga class and get some benefit from it.
00:47:31
Speaker
Nice. I've recently discovered that I got the right one. In all honesty, there's no right formula. Different things are going to work for different people.
00:47:41
Speaker
The important thing is, you know, just prioritize your balance. There are so many situations when I'm talking to friends and I always end up with the same sentence, which is you cannot pour out of an empty vase. So if you're empty, you cannot help anyone around you. So I think we all feel guilty for taking care of ourselves and spending time on ourselves. You always prioritize your family and your work and all the Brazilian things that we eat on the shelf.
00:48:08
Speaker
sorry, on the priority. And if we get to a point that we are depleted, then we're of no use, no? So let's just look at those things as like, you know, the basics for us to be able to be out there for others. I really, really believe that. And I, yeah, again, people who normally probably cannot stand me listening to me talking about this anymore.
00:48:38
Speaker
Alrighty, well, you know in the 26 episodes we ran we had the quick round of questions and since it's four or five of us I'm not gonna do the fullest but I I selected a few so we'll try to go quickly and If you don't want to answer one, I don't have an answer Just raise your hand and pass it to the next one. So I start with happiness is
00:49:01
Speaker
Let's say deep friendships. A decision. Life in balance. Staring at the sunset, whether on an island or outside of an airplane window. Whatever you can. What keeps you awake at night? Nothing really. Sleep well.
00:49:17
Speaker
of worrying about my kids. So it made me think when you, the question before happiness is, so the expression is, you're only ever as happy as your unhappiest child. So, God, that's true. I'd say the same. It's just, you know, am I raising good kids? And that kind of is the one thing that I think about often. I would say very little. It gives me a wake night nowadays.
00:49:45
Speaker
I think occasionally is the lack of courage to just implement a decision which is hard but apart from that is you know very little. If you had to do it all over again what would you change? I think for me I would spend less time in middle management and more time doing entrepreneurship.
Living with Intention
00:50:04
Speaker
I'm gonna jump on what Sophia said actually and I would have spent less time trying to pull from an empty vase.
00:50:12
Speaker
for a very long time. I would say that I've been pretty unintentional in the way I have conducted my life. I'm very serendipitous about life. Maybe I should have been a little bit more purposeful, but on the other hand, I'm pretty happy where I am, so not sure it would have changed much. For me, I would follow my gut feel even closer and trust myself. If you had to pick one book, everyone should be.
00:50:42
Speaker
I would pick up something light because I know some of the ones that have been, we have quite serious books up to now. And that will be the subtle art of not giving a fuck by Mark Munson. Which is the best title for a book ever. I would say that typical stories, you know, Marco Dorelio Seneca, I think this is the type of. I read a book that really has stayed with me called The Body Keeps the School.
00:51:11
Speaker
Which is very linked. That's a depressing message. Well, yeah. So the first half of it is kind of, you know, everything that's happening to a body when it's in trauma. And the examples that he takes are
00:51:30
Speaker
You know, right out the heat, the guy that wrote it was involved with the Vietnam War Veterans and that was where they first came up with the diagnosis of PTSD. And so he talks about extreme trauma cases, but then you can kind of start to sort of weave in how, you know, pouring from the empty bars, all of this stuff is actually, you know, not so good for your body. The second half of the book is great. What do we do about it? And that's full of hope. And lots of yoga.
00:52:02
Speaker
You're in the right process. I'll stay probably a little less deep than Ali, but there's a book I just started called Fearless Golf. So my daughter is a golfer and I live vicariously through her because I've never been good at golf and I realize I never will be, but I'm thinking maybe she will be. And the mental game, it's kind of amazing, right? There's the physical aspect, but the mental aspect and a lot of that mental aspect is, you know,
00:52:26
Speaker
to me a reflection on life and things you deal with mentally. And there's this microcosm in golf. And so this is, you know, a golf mental game book, which is pretty interesting that I've taken a lot of left. I still am terrible at golf, though. I didn't help my game. Oh, well, you can always be your daughter's caddy, right? Yes, I'm good. I'm a good caddy.
00:52:50
Speaker
All right, well, most admire public person. So hard. This is always a tough question. Since I am in Stockholm right now, I'll pick up a Nobel winner and I'll pick up an African leader and that of course will be Mandela.
00:53:17
Speaker
because there's always something positive or a lot of positive things to talk about. Do you have any more on this one? I'm going to say if the public is defined as the INSEAD Republic, I'll put Molina up as mine. Nice. I'm totally not the public person. I would vouch for that.
00:53:42
Speaker
Well, Mandela wins it for our class, by the way, because there were four or five votes for him already. So with you, it's definitely the most frequently mentioned, voted, mentioned, however, admire. And I'll add a snippet here. I was at a fairly intimate dinner a few years ago where the
00:54:04
Speaker
a speaker was F.W. the clerk, and he was asked who is the person you admire the most, and he said Nelson Mandela. Exactly. That's pretty cool. I have to say that on a completely different note, not on a humanitarian, but I also like, you know, non-nonsense people, you know, like people like Warren Buffett,
00:54:33
Speaker
Like, I really like his non-nonsense approach to
Authenticity and Support within the Class
00:54:36
Speaker
life. Even Michelle Obama, she's very pragmatic, very to the point. So that's the type of that he personas that I tend to appreciate. But I'm always very worried because with public people you only know the persona that they want to portray, so we never know if that's the real you or not. And so most despised public person. The professional influencer. I fully agree with that. One,
00:55:04
Speaker
I think there are some fairly scary people knocking about in world leadership at the moment. Getting worse by the minute. People threatening to return as well is quite scary too. So if I were to say that any politician would be your hairdo. Yeah, you can get a nice room. He covers a couple of them. Also, let's include naked torso pictures.
00:55:35
Speaker
That covers another topic. No, including the ones we saw at the INSEAD Cabaret. No, no, no. This is a good thing. All right, well, that was fun. So before we close, and it is for part of the world, it is December, so it is the holiday season. So I'll let you all give your wishes for everyone. But would you have one thing
00:56:06
Speaker
If the Dean was here, the new Dean, what would you tell him? Tell him, because he's gone. I would say just make sure that your education is raising the bar on future management, not only in terms of technical knowledge, but in terms of values. So that would be the thing that I would ask him to guarantee is like with his program, his academia.
00:56:34
Speaker
He's just basically raising the bar. I would say that it's evident from coming out of the reunion. The universe has a great asset. It's the alumni's network. Invest more and with the expectation to get more out of it. Yeah, I think there's always work they can do on the administration. And I think when you have those conversations with people about giving, there is definitely
00:57:03
Speaker
some people I think the most likely kind of negative that I would get would just be that people don't want to give to that which I mean it's great our endowment you know is you know it circumvents that which is which is a positive for a lot of people but I think actually to your point Mario investing a bit more there would reap rewards. Yeah
00:57:27
Speaker
And mine is kind of just a piggyback on what's been said, right? It's really thinking about what, you know, what makes NCI great, right? What's the history? What are the things that, you know, have him learn those things. And, you know, I think to Sophie's point, right, which is, you know, make it a place that people want to give to and say, Hey, this is where I want my money to go. Cause I see what it's doing for people, organizations, institutions, those types of things, which I think it has the power to do.
00:57:56
Speaker
And so this is bridging into and do more with alumni and with classes. And it's bridging into what we are talking about now with the Hochman Institute looking to go back on campus. And I've had this with more than one person calling me afterwards and saying, can we do a mini MBA? Can we do a refresher? And this
00:58:20
Speaker
I feel after the reunion and after the conversations with various people is a massive untapped potential. Keep up the education of your alumni and give them the opportunity to get back together because at the level of the class is where you have the strongest bonds. You have bonds on many, many different levels beyond that.
00:58:44
Speaker
But the strongest and most emotional one would always be on the class level for the MBAs in any case. So let's see how that goes. We are working on this. So next year, maybe an interesting one. And we may not have to wait five years to get together again. But let's see. So any last words you have for our classmates? They could be funny. They could be stupid or silly. For all the ones who contribute already and the ones who are going to contribute.
00:59:14
Speaker
Nice. Wishing to see as many of you next year, if possible, as many as we saw this year. Yeah, stay in touch. I liked some of the ideas that were coming up on the WhatsApp group just off food together. And yeah, feeling like if anyone feels inspired with any of those things to push them a little, then I think they're kind of, you know,
00:59:38
Speaker
In a practical level, we're a great bunch, of course, but trying it from my tiny, weeny, you know, fresh company that I'm trying to grow, a very major thank you to the Portugal-based and Singapore-based people that have responded so well to me querying and needing information.
Closing and Holiday Wishes
01:00:01
Speaker
And I'm sure this is a tiny example of what more we can produce as a group
01:00:07
Speaker
helping each other and collaborating with each other. No, I think everything that's been said is much more well eloquent than what I can produce. But yeah, just excited to stay in touch with everybody. I think that touchpoint, their reunion, getting to see people face to face and hopefully
01:00:26
Speaker
you know the enthusiasm doesn't wear off right when you just kind of go back that hopefully there's you know and it sounds like there's some things happening and some reality I think Sophie touched on it right where people are different stages of their lie rights a little less competitive a little more you know cooperative and you know I guess you know people are more comfortable in their own skin and so feel good about you know the connections and realize how important these connections are so just
01:00:53
Speaker
you know maintaining those and building ones that you know might not be that big today. All right so and what I'll say to top it off is the last words I said in our class meeting which is think about how we can be advisors to each other, how we can help each other, how we can invest in each other and do
01:01:15
Speaker
business with each other because it is rather rare it's not rare but in the big world it is rather rare to find people that are like-minded that they share similar values so this is the most valuable thing we have at the end of the day as a group and we should look and think of
01:01:35
Speaker
how we can leverage it more. So that's my wish for everyone. And I want to thank you for taking the time in the middle of December, which is this crazy month for so many of us. And I look forward to seeing you. I'm sure I'm going to see you all next year. I'm seeing Sophie only in city gaze, and I'm looking forward to this. Yay! London, here we come. So thank you very much.
01:02:01
Speaker
May we pray for peace, in fact, because this is the one thing that worries me. There's too much negative stuff going on around us, around the world. So let's hope for a better 2024 as far as it is concerned. So see you all in the new year. Same to all. Thank you, guys. Happy and safe holidays to all, and see you all in the new year. Thank you so much. Thank you. Take care.
01:02:32
Speaker
You were listening to the Republic of India 20 years later or 3D podcast edition. It is my hope to remind everyone what an interesting and dare I say colorful bunch of people we are and how much we can contribute to each other, be it through ideas, knowledge or mere inspiration. The podcast is inspired by the original Republic of India, the yearbook produced on paper 20 years ago by Oliver Bradley and team.
01:02:59
Speaker
Thank you Ollie and team for this contribution to our class's memory and for letting me continue in the tradition, title and inspiration included. Creator and author of the Republic of Incia 20 years later O3D podcast edition, Am I, Milena Ivanova. Original music by Peter Dondakov would help from their film's productions. Thank you for listening.