I’m back.

And with more energy than the battery bunny.

Going to continental Europe has been a balm for my spirit. France’s food has expanded my culinary horizons (as well as my waist), after three years starving in Anglo Saxon food deserts. Koln Dom (Cologne’s Cathedral) is as impressive as ever. Simple pleasures of life in Aix-en-Provence, like reading by the swimming pool, have brought serenity. The Côte d’Azur landscapes reminded me of my native Catalonia. The warm temperatures and few days of sunshine have lift my spirits to the clouds.

And two weeks in company of my one and only, my lover, is simply the best thing that can happen to a man.

Holidays are meant for this

Pending posts for the future:

• Take aways from my summer i’ship.
• Suggested advice to 1st years (as if they would have the time to read it…)
• Life as an entrepreneurotic and what it means for an employee’s son
• The buddist videogame and what I am learning from it

As always, I have little time for blogging, but preferences expressed through comments will be taken seriously into consideration.

Activity will be low for a couple of weeks, due to well deserved blog-holidays by his author. See you at my return!

If you read the comments on Martin Varsavsky’s recent post about some wealthy person robbing Martin’s iPhone (Los Ricos también Roban in Spanish) you will witness one of the most depressing characteristic of my native Spain.

In the comments, many people display how they believe that business is always a zero sum game, and a dirty game at that. The idea is as follows: “If someone is rich, (s)he must have stolen from the poor”. This idea is quite widespread across the country, and many of the comments suggest that, “of course all business men are robbers”, and “Martin you are naive because among business people you are among robbers, of course someone stole your iPhone”

I am not naive enough to believe that ALL rich and/or business people are natural do-gooders, a flock of angels; but a majority of them are good hard working ambitious people. And, of course, there are the occasional bad apples, as in all groups in society.

Unfortunately, these attitudes are quite bad news for the country and for anyone who loves business like I do, who enjoys it, and who believes it is a fundamentally positive force in today’s society. It creates multiple negative outcomes:

* Many talented people prefer to stay away from business. Few in Spain agree with the view that “business is good for society”, specially at a younger age, and few smart people choose a career in business.

* People, in general, display a passive-aggressive attitude towards business. “We consume your products, we want a good job at a stable organization, we love the low prices, but businesses are fundamentally evil!”

* In consequence, many people working in business have a passive-aggressive attitude towards their work.

* Because business is seen as dirty, many people don’t know much about how they work, therefore remain financial illiterates and do not upgrade their skills (”why? to learn more and do more evil?); this affects the country’s productivity (EU15’s lowest productivity per hour) and because of illiteracy, all business news are portrayed in a negative light in the media.

* In my view, the previous passive aggressive attitude to work, creates a vicious circle of low motivation and the preponderance of the “ugly manager”, whose work is to “scare/force people into work”; this promotes bad managers and bad management practices and reinforces the negative views. But the fact is that a “positive reinforcing manager” might not generate as many results, because some people don’t want to work per se… (Good news MBAers: Leadership skills are sought after in Spain!)

* Businesses and business-people have a bad social reputation. Who wants to be labeled as a rogue robber? Therefore many successful business people try to stay as anonymous as possible. No Forbes or Fortune equivalent in Spain!

In all fairness, the situation is not as bad as I am describing (and quite a bunch of comments on the original blog just show support to Martin). But comparing attitudes with other countries (US, UK, Scandinavian, Germany) the differences are shocking! So many Spaniards are anti-business despite the fact that they work at them, buy at them, etc…! Businesses are a fundamental part of people’s life, and Spaniards’ attitudes show a fundamental mismatch between the reality and their ideas!

I guess this post explains pretty well why I am ambivalent (read reluctant) to return to Spain. In the USA, an entrepreneur is a hero, a creator of jobs and wealth! In the UK, a good corporate citizen (as long as she is green and CSR compliant). In Germany a pillar of the community. In Spain,… … Well, a “rogue robber” is a mild way to put it.

So why should I return to Spain? It must be the food and the sun, because to be seen as a rogue robber… Not for me, really!

I am thrilled: I can confirm I got all my elective choices. Other than the two courses I took last quarter (Advanced Marketing Strategy and Strategy 2: Corporate Strategy), I will be taking the following cocktail of Entrepreneurship, OB-soft skills, Finance and Marketing.

Analysis for Marketing Planing & Dec. Making
Capital Markets & Financing (previously Finance 2)
Financial Statement Analysis
Leading Teams and Organisations
Managing the Growing Business
Negotiation & Bargaining
Paths to Power
Financing the Entrepreneurial Business
Shadowing Project
Venture Capital & Private Equity

And those will be the courses for the totality of my 2nd year. I hope all my 2nd year readers got the courses they wanted too!

Firt summer weekend! This past weekend had clear skies and bright sunny days, and temperatures above 25ºC (80ºF). It was the first summer WE in London this season. It was hot, I could wear a t-shirt without freezing, even sweating a little bit, we went to the swimming pool (note to self: use the swimming pool more during the 2nd year), and strolled in the sun.

Beautiful.

The spell only lasted for Saturday and Sunday, today it’s cloudy again. Good thing to get working.

PS: By the way, if you missed it, or are dubious about what that burning yellow sphere suspended in the sky was, it’s all a natural process. You might not recall it, but it’s true, it’s called summer, and it happens every year, especially in more temperate climate. True! I am not pulling your leg, Check it out:  Summer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fran is blogging, biking, marketing and MBAing. Another London Business School blogger hits the scene. Leave him a comment (comments are the fuel of bloggers, remember that!).

Visit his website, and don’t be scared of the attached picture. He is a great guy, and among many other talents, an online marketing guru.

Following the “tips from the battlefield”, I received an email of an acquittance asking for tips about flat hunting. Here they are, use at your own risk!

——————

Dear XXXX,

I am happy to give you a couple of suggestions. In our case, we had one month of corporate housing before moving, so we were more relaxed on searching.

My suggestions:
.1. WHERE? Survey the area you want to live with a photocopied map and mark with colors whether you want to live there or not. As everywhere, one street might fit your criteria and the next one not (noisy or whatever reason). We spent the first weekend surveying the area and we define the boundaries of what was acceptable and what was not. Take pictures of street and their names, it will help you remember.

.1.a. While walking, write down (or take a digital picture) of all the small real estate agents you could find and where are they located. Small agents have access to local apartments. Worth contacting them, normally have slightly better deals than big names (foxtons, etc…), but it requires more work on your side to reach them.

.2. HOW? Same for the place: For us, ground floor was a no-no, and we wanted a 1 bedroom with integrated kitchen. Knowing what you want is very important. In general, the market is very liquid and you should be able to find what you want, but it’s expensive, of course.

.3. SPECS and VISIT: Prepare a “specs list” of what you want in a sheet of paper: Include a map of where you want it, how you want it and how to reach you. Go to small agents and big alike with spare copies. Ask what they have that fits the specs, leave them a copy of the specs in case something comes up. Deny visiting flats that do not match the specs.

In the case of many of my classmates, the “horror stories” of 50 flats visited normally correlates highly with being clueless about what they wanted. That’s a waste of time both for you and for the R.E . agent. I visited 6 flats only, but probably denied visiting about 40-50 of them. The six of them matched what I wanted. It’s quicker

By the way, to find estate agents, walk around, but also use google maps.
Example: http://tinyurl.com/ys9kxc

.3.a. If only one of you is going to visit the appartments, I suggest to bring along the camera and also to fill in some sort of template of “things to check”, so you can share it with the other with more data.

.3.b. Try all the plumbing equipment in the house. Every single tap, both hot and cold water. Some properties have appalling installations.

.4. DECISION MAKING: Finally, decide quickly, but don’t rush. The market moves very fast, and most properties stay available for days, 2 weeks top. If you find something that fits what you want, waiting can mean losing it. But also, do not hurry into a place you don’t like, because at the end, you will be living there for a year!

To figure out what you want (in terms of equipment, etc…), I’d recommend using foxtons webpage. Their properties are on the expensive side and their sales people redefine what “pushy” means, but the website is incredibly information rich, with pictures to look at and decide what is important for you.

.5. SMILE: Finally, try to keep good humor and smile. The process can be stressing, but it’s not worth depressing about!

And that’s all I can think about now. At the end, everything worked well for us, and we are very happy with our one bedroom apartment.

Peaches are one of those summer little pleasures. I just had the first one of this summer. It was pure pleasure, skin and everything. Oh fruity glory!

Next stop: I need to figure out where to get muscat grapes in London…

Summe is a fantastic time of the year, specially when the sun shines, but also because of old’summers remembrance, being away from school, holidays, etc…

For me, now summer is also becoming a period of change. It was summer when I started my first full time job, summer when I moved positions to Santander in northern Spain, summer when I returned, summer when I left the company to travel and move to the USA, summer when I moved to London and started the MBA, etc…

Tomorrow, Aug 3rd, will be a full year since we arrived to London. Plenty has happened since. The anniversary is a perfect moment for reflection. What has happened during the last year? What does it mean? What’s next? What do I want to do with my life? Where is the future? Should I keep blogging at all?

All are fundamental questions, that I always consider, but I consider more during anniversaries!

A reader of the blog, Manoj, asks for advice about visiting LBS. For the benefit of all the readers, I post my reply here.

Hi Patxi,

Trust you are doing well. My name is Manoj XXXX, and I am a potential applicant to LBS. I’m a big fan of your blog and a regular reader, although I have never commented on it. It’s a fun blog, and extremely informative.

While I’m originally from India, I’m currently in London on work and will be here for a few months more. Naturally, I plan to visit the School as many times as possible while here. I know you are extremely busy, what with school and all, but I was just looking for some sort of advice on what, if anything, I need to take or be prepared with prior to visiting. I’d also love to hear any tips you might have for me about LBS and B-school in general.

Hope to hear from you soon. And keep blogging!
Cheers,
Manoj.

First, apologies Manoj for the delay in responding. But my inbox is full and my calendar too.

Specific advice: Take advantage of the visit to discover those elements that are more difficult to be discovered by distance. How?

1. Try to picture yourself attending the school. It’s all about imagining. Would you fit in there? This is the most fundamental question you need to answer yourself. Plus, answer Why would I fit in here? Two years is a long commitment (plus a huge opportunity cost) if you just want to ticket punch. I recommend picking a school where you would fit, and know why. In addition, that is extremely helpful for the application process.
2. Discover what the school is about. All top schools have similar brochures, and all have great programs. But the highlights are different. And not only the highlights… Do they have specific strong areas? E’ship in LBS is fantastic, but you would not necessaraily guess it from the print material. My point is that all top schools are great, but with different spins. To do a car simil: BMW, MB and Audi are all great german mass luxury car manufacturers. But they all have different personalities. Drive them before you pick them. Same with B-school. Visit them all!
3. Try to go to a lecture, and talk with as many students as possible. This might be difficut during summer time. But is one of the best ways to discover the school. How is the people? How is the mix? How are their interactions?
4. Would you have fun in there? If you have fun, you will also learn more and take more advantage of it.

And these are my pointers. In my opinion, if you understand the place (which you can improve by visiting), you will choose better and also enjoy it better.

I hope this helps!