I just spent ten days in Mexico City, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro as part of my OneMBA program. On reflection this was one of the greatest trips I’ve ever been on. In between the festivities (I won’t lie — there were a few) and some interesting lectures and company visits, it was a chance to engage with our fellow classmates from Mexico and Brazil and have an opportunity for them to share their home with us.

The countries have fascinating histories and, despite some very different circumstances, have many similarities to each other. What was even more interesting for me was seeing how similar both countries are to South Africa, my native country. The comparisons and banter between Cape Town and Joburg is a copy of the ones between Rio and Sao Paolo. The news coverage of drug cartels in Mexico is almost identical to story of crime in SA. All three countries are success stories and yet all three have their challenges.

What was remarkable was that the confidence of the people in Mexico and Brazil (especially Brazil) reminded me so much of living and working in South Africa. It’s the confidence you gain from having been through economic challenges and come out stronger on the other end (currency crisis in Mexico, hyperinflation in Brazil, apartheid in South Africa). I will remember the food in Mexico, the raw energy of Sao Paolo and the beauty of Rio. Most importantly though, I’m coming back!

However, in a global MBA program like ours, the real magic occurs when you get together with your classmates from all around the world. We do four of these weeks together during our program – DC, Amsterdam and Istanbul, Mexico City and Sao Paolo; and Delhi and Hong Kong next year. Despite our best efforts to hide the fact, we are a serious bunch – for example during one cab ride, a couple of us had conversations comparing our experiences with the transition from communism in Russia to the transition from apartheid in SA. Even so, we are also a festive bunch, and once again we were the Bacardi people taking over a bunch of trendy night clubs in a couple of the world’s most happening cities.

No one in my class is counting down the months. We’ve done enough finance, statistics and accounting to make us a bit weary when it comes to counting pretty much anything. Even so, the OneMBA experience keeps you so busy that it forces you to live in the now. Perhaps Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller, “The Power of Now” should’ve had a section on doing global executive MBA. A program like this bombards you with readings, assignments, papers and meetings. There is little time to worry about the long term because you have to dedicate so much energy to surviving and succeeding today. This need to live “in the now” teaches you a skill that is not always abundant among busy executives – the ability to be present.

This is especially true on the weekends when we have class. And you don’t just have to be present “in” class, it’s also important to be present outside of class on the weekends away. So much of this program comes from the bonds you make with your classmates and a lot of that bonding happens after class. Be it on a racquetball court, golf course or in the bar dominating the shuffleboard – having fun with your classmates is all part of the MBA experience.

What has been interesting for me in the last few months though is that while you’re going through the rollercoaster of MBA work, real life happens. The world outside the OneMBA doesn’t have a pause button. Some of my classmates have had some wonderful adventures of having babies, getting engaged and getting married (I have 2 more months to go). Some have had stressful adventures like having their company taken over or losing a parent or changing countries. In between all of these events, it’s the people sitting next to you that keep you going. Your classmates, especially the members of your study group, are the ones that hit you up on Skype when you’re having a bad day or who send you crazy Youtube movies about the why you need to be badass like the honey badger. You’re supposed to work together on MBA stuff but in truth you end up leaning on each other for so many other things. That’s how you benefit from being “present” for your group.

Everyone tells you beforehand that the best thing about doing an MBA is the people who you get to work alongside. Learning from world-class professors: Pretty Cool. Discovering new management skills: Pretty Valuable. Developing a support network of top-notch professionals from around the world: Priceless.

And it’s this support network that’s the real reason why no one is counting down the months till we’re done. Or maybe it’s because half my class are Apple geeks and they can’t focus since Steve Jobs left us. Either way, not long from now we’re all going to have to work a lot harder at maintaining these friendships, and we’ll have to do it without seeing each other in class or gathering over GotoMeeting. Which makes me wonder: maybe the real uphill comes when all of this is done.

For example, several leadership development exercises involved students role-playing as new leaders at an organization. In one video-taped session, I assumed the role of a senior executive whose company had recently been acquired.  With only five minutes to prepare, I presented my division’s performance plan to my new, very demanding supervisor.  I received invaluable insights into the verbal and non-verbal messages I send while in pressure situations. Another role-playing session had me providing an annual review to an employee. After each session, I reviewed the video and read the facilitators’ feedback on my performance.

In our Marketing Management class, our study group applied what we’d learned about segmentation and portfolio analysis to computer simulations of fictitious companies launching a new product.  Our group met weekly to decide what market segment to target with our product and made decisions around advertising media and distribution channels while sticking to a budget.

These experiential learning exercises have kept the program fresh and challenging for me. Years from now, I believe the insights I gained about myself and the managerial process from these experiences will be what I remember most from my time at Kenan-Flagler.

Doing business in Europe is very different to doing business in the USA or South Africa, my native country. The Netherlands has a strong culture of collaboration and consensus building, which is very different from countries with an Anglo-Saxon heritage.  We visited companies where the topics ranging from the recent EU financial struggles to how European companies embrace diversity.

In Turkey, the speakers confronted entirely different issues. The question of Turkish accession to the EU was a common theme. However, a group of us visited a nine-month-old company that was modeled on Groupon, a U.S. web-based business.  We witnessed the same universal frenzy you see in startup companies all over the world.

This week of “school” was not for the faint hearted. It required all my tiger blood reserves to survive. I foolishly made it harder for myself by giving up caffeine for Lent. I will confess that there were one or two afternoon sessions when the wildebeest came out – when the head dropped and suddenly jumped up again as I almost fell asleep…but I blame that on the jetlag.

But even after a full day, you could often us “studying” at a local bar.  Here’s my new global team —  a Russian, a Saffer (me), a Belorussian, an American, A Dutchman and the king of Brazil.

Another real-world application of the curriculum occurred in the organizational behavior class. While reading articles about the two types of power people possess in organizations was a great academic exercise, the real learning occurred by analyzing my own power on the personal and positional dimensions at my company. This enlightening experience occurred as I contemplated transferring from accounting to sales operations at my company and helped me to clarify the pros and cons of such a transition. In the end, the power analysis exercise clarified that transferring functions was an excellent career move for me.

Finally, writing my Professional Development Plan has been the most meaningful assignment for me thus far. Creating this document required a high degree of introspection about my personality and career goals. The assignment required me to articulate two very specific career goals and a design a detailed timeline for executing various tasks that would lead to the accomplishment of the goals. I appreciated that our professor did not just view this as an assignment to be completed for course credit, but rather as a living document that will help guide my career going forward.

Starting….now!

If you’re an engineer or scientist, you can probably solve quantitative problems in your sleep. You may find you breeze through statistics, finance, and microeconomic problems as an EMBA student. But I’ve seen more than one math whiz befuddled in General Management and Strategy where a management problem may have five good solutions. They squirm when the professor asks them to pick one and explain why.

On the other hand, I know liberal arts majors, or professionals with backgrounds in HR and marketing, who shine in communications and management courses. But when it comes to more quantitative courses, they sometimes struggle. Perhaps they learned many of these math skills earlier in life, but have rarely needed to use them on a daily basis. Or, they have avoided math all their lives and discover that there’s nowhere to hide in an MBA program.

If you question your quantitative skills, you’ll benefit from doing some extra prep work before diving into the EMBA program. Here are my suggestions for getting up to speed:

Know what to expect: Download this list of basic knowledge you need to get started.

Test yourself: Download these self-evaluation tests. This is the bare minimum you’ll need to know before you walk into an accounting, quantitative methods or microeconomics course.

Dig out your old text books: If you don’t fly through the self evaluations, but you took the courses way back when, you still need a refresher. You may be able to get up to speed on your own by reviewing chapters in your old college texts.

Go back to school: If the self-evaluation questions look like a foreign language, it’s a good idea to take undergraduate courses in statistics, finance, economics and accounting before you apply to an EMBA program. The EMBA staff can recommend good classes for you to take.

Attend UNC’s Review Sessions: When your application is accepted, sign up for the review sessions that are offered before the start of the EMBA Program. These are short sessions in statistics, microeconomics and finance, accounting, and Microsoft Excel. (The cost is very reasonable, and we offer a multiple-session discount.) We will also give you access to Web-based tools that you can work through at your own pace.

If you want more information, please post your question below. We’ll get back to you before the end of the next business day.

Over dinner, we discussed our favorite cuisines from around the world. We agreed on beef. I was partial to corn-feed beef popular in the United States. The Brazilian to my left did not agree and preferred grass-fed beef most commonly found in South America.

Our conversations ranged from globalization, politics in Latin America, our families, and even which countries have the worst city-street grid plans. Not surprisingly, the United States did not fare well in this last debate.

The diversity and culture in the OneMBA program is incredible. There is no MBA program out there that can rival the OneMBA in preparing business leaders for managing global organizations. What I am excited most about is learning more from my global peers.

Earlier today, nearly 100 students participated in a few games of football. No, not that football. The world’s game where our friends from Europe and South America embarrassed the U.S. Not only can we learn a lot from our global peers about international business, but maybe they can teach us how to play soccer!

I very much enjoyed Dean Jim Dean’s opening remarks and I immediately felt a part of the KFBS family. His views on Leadership in these turbulent economic times were right on point and a stark reminder that much of what will happen in the future of business depends on us. Integrity and being results driven are 2 of the most important qualities today’s managers must display at all times to be successful.

Now that classes have started, I find myself immersed in the world of reading assignments, homework and midterm exams. The teachings have been rigorous and yet fun. I have already leaned in ATDM, i.e. Statistics, that ‘in life, you only get to go around once’ and that is key to helping solve many problems. As I continue my beyond, I am reminded of a Chinese proverb Hugh O’Neil shared with us during our first day on campus: ‘The journey is the reward’. I am looking forward to it.”

The last time I blogged, I think I commented on the incredible Turkish professors we had an opportunity to experience during the residency. And, Friday was no exception. The class learned about “Big Business Organization in Turkey” from Professor Behlul Usdiken of Sabanci University, and they later heard from Mr. Cuneyt Yavuz, the CEO of Mavi Jeans (a very successful Turkish company). Professor Usdiken set the stage for the Mavi Jeans CEO by explaining how business has traditionally operated in Turkey, and how it’s changing with the increasing growth of a Capitalist society. Family businesses have really ruled that economy (and still do, to a large extent), and nepotism is a regular and accepted practice even in the largest of companies. My thought was, “Wonder what the SEC would think of that?!”

After lunch, the students once again had the opportunity to visit some Turkish companies: a bank, a furniture company and a gold company were some options.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Friday was the team exercise in the late afternoon/early evening. Each team was given a recipe and list of ingredients for a traditional Turkish dish and then sent to the world-famous Turkish Spice Bazaar to purchase the ingredients. The students then met at a former mosque-turned-private restaurant to assemble their dishes. This was a team competition of sorts: Congratulations Team 8 for creating the most authentic, delicious Turkish dish!

Directly after the exercise, the group stayed on at the restaurant for their final dinner together (during this European residency). We were treated to a traditional Turkish meal, including the entertainment of traditional dancers. I’m pasting below a photo of the the lovely meal as well as a video of the dancers.

On Saturday morning, the group completed the residency with a few final wrap-up sessions before concluding with lunch. Most of the students planned to stay in Turkey for at least one additional day in order to further experience the city of Istanbul and the culture on their own.

The final verdict on the residency? It was incredible! If you’re reading this and interested in learning more about the unique global OneMBA Program, please visit http://www.onemba.org and see for yourself what this is all about!

The past 24 hours have been an incredible whirlwind!  Yesterday afternoon, the OneMBA class traveled via Turkish Airlines from Amsterdam to Istanbul to complete the European Residency.  This portion of the residency is focused on learning about the challenges that business leaders face in an emerging economy.  Istanbul, in particular, is a fascinating subject because it’s the only city in the world that resides on two continents:  Europe and Asia.  To make matters even more interesting, this is a country that is governed by an Islamic government, but is very much a capitalist society interested in becoming part of the European Union.

Our first speaker this morning, Professor Soli Ozel of Istanbul Bilgi University, focused on that topic of, “Islamic Issues and its Impact on Business & Social Life.”  He was fascinating!  I literally took pages upon pages of notes.  A few key points that stood out for me:

• Islam and Capitalism can coexist, and Turkey is proof.  The trend in the Muslim world is for Capitalism to be further integrated.
• “Nobody creates something without making mistakes.”  Turkey has been on a path toward becoming “Western” for 200 years now, and it’s made its share of mistakes (and will continue to do so).  But, it’s made incredibly great strides toward democracy and Capitalism.
• One reason (perhaps the chief reason) the Islamic government won the people’s vote is because they are “committed to delivering services.”
• Turkey’s foreign policy is driven by its economic interests.  According to Professor Ozel, it’s in the best interest of Turkey and the rest of Europe for Turkey to become part of the European Union, but it’s unclear whether that will ever happen.  In the meantime, they will continue to foster open relations with their Muslim neighbors (i.e. Syria, Iran, Jordan, etc.)
• One of the next big challenges for Turkey:  ”How do we define our Secularism?”

I could go on; like I said, he was thought-provoking and informative.

The next speaker was equally impressive.  Professor Nakiye Boyacigiller, Dean of the Faculty of Management at Sabanci University, spoke about “Cross Cultural Communications” and specifically shared some information about Turkish culture.  During her talk, I wrote down a few statements that gave me pause:

• Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world.
• 60 percent of Turkey’s population is younger than 30 years old.
• 38 percent of University professors in Turkey are women.
• While gender remains an issue in this part of the world, education, class and family trump gender.

I’m sure you can imagine that the Q&A session after each of these speakers was lively!

In addition to the speakers, the students spent the afternoon on company visits, ranging from large (CNN Turk) to medium-sized organizations (Kahmi Roc Museum), and they have this evening free to meet with their teams and/or socialize.  Istanbul is a beautiful city, and I look forward myself to visiting some of the historic sites.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a short video of a OneMBA student (from RSM) sharing his thoughts about this part of the residency.