Wind of Change

Have you ever seen signals that switched on the light in your head to change?

It’s really strange but it’s happening all the time. You hear accidentally a conversation that you are not supposed to, or someone knows you very well meets with people who also know you and both don’t know that you know both THEN they start to talk about you !!!!

So what exactly can be changed and what can not?

I remember in my first job in the field of pharmaceutical sales back in 1994, I was talking to the office secretary and after finishing I don’t know why I did not close and by mistake she did not AND she started to talk to the office manager and they talked very bad about me and I was listening !!!!! What would you do then? For me I put my resignation the first thing in the morning and this office manager kept telling my why, why, I am planning a good job pathway for you and bla bla bla. Eventhough I had to wait for acouple of months to get another job, Do you think it was right? I think if this was repeated 100 times I would do the same thing OR you can say I am still doing it until today.

But what if these bad words were from a close person to you, would you cut your relationship with him / her immediately or what?

Yes it’s difficult, this is the nature of interpersonal relationships and that’s why it’s so difficult to change the behaviors of people even if they admit that what they are doing is wrong.

Take care for now,

Tarek

Is it natural that any achievement will be followed by changes?

For me, a week after being awarded the MBA last July, I took a new responsibility in a newly formed company as an acting GM plus my other private business, so I am a “two hats” person as my colleagues like to say. Was thas a right and wise direction?

I noticed that I tend to overload myself as if the MBA increased my BANDWIDTH if this term is applicable here J

I also think that most of class mates have the same feeling: they either started already new jobs or were asked to take more responsibilities at their workplaces or at least actively looking for new job.

So can we say that getting the MBA is a change agent? Can we generalize that to any other personal and / or professional achievement?

I really want to know your opinion on that.

Tarek

Well, I finally did it, we all did it (almost all !!)

We got our MBA and for me I really can’t beleive it’s done until now.

My feelings are so mixed up, the only thing that I can do now is to thank some people exactly like when you are awarded the Oscar or Grammies.

First I would like to thank all IE staff and Professors who did huge efforts with me and keep encouraging me and supporting me all the way, special thanks to GAMA for keeping me and all of us RELAXED all the time
Then I have to thank all my class mates: without all of you I am sure that I won’t ever make it. I leant so many things from all of you and I think one of the great achievements of this MBA is to have all of you as friends for life, special thanks to THE SOLEX PROJECT TEAM for being together the whole 13 months, it was really an unforgetable experience.
I also like to thank all my friends who supported me a lot morally during this tough period, my big family for their backup and continuous prayers.
A final word to my wife: you beared it all eventhough you had a tough time: THANK YOU.

Tarek

Here I am back to the lovely city of Madrid, the FINAL CLOUTDOWN will start from tomorrow. 10 more days and I am done with my MBA !!!

Staying some how close to the instituto in the lively Calle Goya, I know now for sure why I love this city: it’s people.

I really wish to come more and more to Madrid and have the time and chance to see it better and interact with it’s people without the worries of assignments and exams, surely I will !!!

Tarek

And again, NO COMMENT !!!

Tarek

Thank you Dilbert !!! It’ so realistic

Tarek

Following yesterday’s list of questions, let me continue to ask: can we control changes going around us? Probably NO. And if anyone says yes, I think it more of a change management rather than control. It was really interesting to google and see what is up there on the internet regarding that subject: only 22,800,000 results with so many resources, directions and toolbooks but does it really help?
I really don’t have a clear answer to this but from what I am passing through allover my life, I can tell that anticipating change is the best way to manage it and even control it in rare times. Life is full of turbulence everyday, in my case, I have to manage changes at home, work while studying my MBA which is quite tough especially when you have to absorb everyone around and even worse when no one absorbs you.
Another question just jumped again into my mind: what is the reward for all that? I think the only reward is that when we look back to your lives, we will say that we succeeded to manage that hard time !!!

Tarek

Well, sometimes changes are happening too fast or are too much to record and comment !!! that’s common these days especially in 2006 as I predicted earlier. While trying hard to cope with life , that is full of changes!!, I was not giving this blog enough time which was making me a little upset as I really feel much relieved when I share my thoughts and felling here in this space. Therefore, I decicded finally, and I hope I will be able, to pay more attention to this blog and its main idea CHANGE: how it affects us and how to mange it. On the right, there is my NEW LOOK for 2006. This picture was taken last week at office. When I did this, new look, I really did not know why excatly I am doing this? so this question started to jump on my head and nag me since then, why do we change? why do we change our look? why do we go for plastic surgeries and what really we want to change by doing that?

So many questions that really needs to be answered.

Tarek

Today in the NEWSWEEK, there is an excellent article about the Instituto De Empresa with an interview with our dear friend David Standen, it really summrizes what we are passing through doing this MBA; a real thrill and big challenge to face in a very short period of time.
What I really want to focus on here is how the new technology is changing the face of education that we used to know. There is no comparasion between how I am learning now and how did I learn during Pharmacy school 15 years back, so again the key will be how to adapt to these changes and try to ride the technology wave to get the maximum of it.
It is not easy but it’s not impossible, just believe in yourself and you will do it like many others how did it and still doing it

Tarek