Creative Space

Excellent guest lecture today by Prof. Gunter Henn from Dresden Technical Institute. Prof Henn is the architect who designed BMW's R&D center in Munich. His premise is that physical space has a direct effect on organizational structure (and vice-versa). A hierarchical organization will prefer traditional office spaces (individual, closed offices), whereas a network organzation will prefer a more open space (open desk areas with high ceiliings, for example). Creativity is bred in large open spaces where the right people come together at the right time to solve a problem. A work environment should stimulate communication while protecting concentration and these seemingly opposite goals can be achieved with the right architecture and organizational structure.

Lately, I've re-discovered the idea that I'm more creative in open spaces and more productive when I interact with people. Today's lecture confirmed my thoughts. At one point, Dr Henn postulated that "the higher the ceiling, the more creative you are". Hmm! This may explain why I tend to gravitate to the lobby of 77 Mass Ave, the large open area with the domed ceiling at the entrace of MIT. There's a Peets Coffee in the corner and I usually get my caffeine shot there every morning. Maybe it's not just the caffeine buzz I'm searching for, but that ever-elusive spark of creativity?
PS. Rajiv wrote a much more detailed summary of this lecture in his blog.

Brain Drain

Given MIT's reputation in the scientific world, it should be no surprise that corporate America is knocking on its doors looking to hire the best and the brightest students. What is surprising (at least to me) is to see that some companies are setting up shop right in the shadow of the Institute. Interestingly enough most of these companies that circle the campus are biotech or pharmaceutical companies. I wonder why? Is it because they're so addicted to MIT's best brains that they need their "fix" as soon as a promising result becomes available?

MIT always takes pride in its connection with the industry. But, for me, these pharmaceuticals are a little too ubiquitous. Why don't we have an IBM or an Oracle or a Google in our backyard?

New Media

Great article in this week's Economist about the rise of a new form of media: participatory media, as opposed to mass media. It turns out that as a blogger, I'm the forefront of this media revolution. How so? Mass media uses the classic one-to-many approach to disseminate information from content creators to an audience. Participatory media uses a many-to-many approach to disseminate the same information; more like a "conversation" rather than a "lecture". Examples of new media are blogs, podcasts, and Wikipedia. The survey goes on to predict a media revolution on the same scale as the one that happened 600 years ago when Gutenberg invented the movable type. Wow! That a bold prediction. Will these "new media" predictions be as good as the "new economy" predictions of a few years ago? One thing is certain, there is a revolution; we just don't know how deep its impact will be. We'll see...

Long Weekend

Ahhh! What a relief! A much needed long weeekend to catch up on school and life. Monday was Patriots Day holiday here in MA and Tuesday was a special "student holiday" at MIT (now I know the reason behind this special student holiday: the last couple of weeks have been horrendously busy). I took advantage of the holiday to catch up on my ERBA lectures (second exam is coming up), do my taxes (I've never waited until the last minute), and, of course, do a couple of long bike rides. On Sunday I rode around Boston and ended up, by chance, in Copley Square the finishing point of the Boston Marathon. I walked along the route and watched people who would never, ever run a marathon take pictures of themselves crossing the finish line. On Monday I went to the Fells reservation where I could forget about asphalt, cars and pedestrians, and remind myself how to negotiate between all those sharp-edged rocks, exposed roots and other obstacles. On the way back I took a picture of this sign on the road. I always wondered, does anybody read these signs backwards?

Asleep at the Wheel

Michelle Pelluso, the CEO of Travelocity, was the featured speaker in the CEO Perspectives class that I'm auditing on Wednesday nights. She was very laid back, casually dressed and spoke to us while perched on the table at the front of the room; a huge contrast with the other CEOs that came before her. I enjoyed her casual style, approachable nature and (perceived) soft management skills. Which comes to show that you don't have to be a high-strung, tough-as-nails, superachiever to become a CEO. Or so I thought... Until she said she'll answer every e-mail that is sent to her within 24 hours, no matter what the subject is or whether she's on vacation, traveling or working at the office. Which begged the question: How do you manage to do all these things and still have a life? Her simple answer: "I don't like to get a lot of sleep". Ouch! I guess being a CEO means never falling asleep at the wheel...

The Big Apple

Nineteen years ago, when I first set foot on American soil, I had one and only one wish: to see the Statue of Liberty. As soon as we landed at JFK, I asked my dad if we can go see the Statue, that quintessential symbol of America who greets new immigrants and welcomes them into the land of freedom. But timing, logistics and rush-hour traffic prevented us from doing even a drive-by. And so, my American experience started with a few images of Manhattan, dark cornfields of Pennsylvania and then... my new hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. I never had another chance to go back to NYC after that. So it should come as no surpirse that my American experience should be unfullfileld until such time when I get to see New York and the Statue of Liberty in all of its splendor.

And now that I'm on the East Coast, I had to go see it. During spring break I made a run for the Big Apple. To keep with the immigrant theme, I took the Chinatown bus, a Greyhound-like bus that ferries mostly students and Chinese shoppers between the two cities with incredible speed and efficiency. From Chinatown, the Statue of Liberty was a relatively short walk. And so, on a beautiful March afternoon I sat on a bench in Battery Park and marveled at the Statue. From a mile away it seemed small and unimportant. And then I realized how appropriate this should be: its symbolism has gotten smaller over the years. It's as if Lady Liberty's torch no longer burns the same mixture of promise, idealism and wide-eyed immigrant curiosity as it did 19 years ago. Slightly dissapointed, I walked back towards Midtown and lost myself into the turmoil of the Big Apple, searching for a new symbol of promise and hope.

Promise and Hope

Our team made it into the finals of the Ignite Clean Energy business plan competition. It's a huge achievement for us. Last Tuesday we presented our plan to a private panel of five judges: three VCs, a university director and a CEO. We must've said something right because they picked our team for the finals (9 teams out of 30 made it). What have we got ourselves into!? Our next step is a presentation to a panel of judges (in a public setting this time) on May 9th at MIT.

Catching Up

I haven't written much lately, but that's not because there's nothing going on. Quite the opposite. There's too much going on! School is incredibly busy, the business competitions are heating up, the social network is widening and I find myself with less and less time to blog. Through all this I try to remind myself to "stop and smell the flowers" sometimes (it's spring time, after all!).














If I do so, I'll discover all those interesting little surprises that life offers. Like this lost toy that I saw on the side of the road the other day. She sat there lonely and dejected, calling to its owner who perhaps had forgotten about her upon seeing his friends at the park accross the street.

Slammed!

It's only been a week since we started school again, but it's been a fast and furious time. I've been slammed with school work this week which explains the lack of activity on the blog (reading some of the other blogs, looks like I'm not the only one in this position).

I was already behind in my classes before the semester even started. The second class on Monday is a new class (Tech Strategy). This is a case study-based class and, apparently, everyone but me read the case beforehand. Needless to say, I didn't have much to contribute. I hate showing up unprepared for class. "I'll catch up quickly", I said to myself. And catching up I did... all week long. I had to get up to speed with my PDD team, the business plan for the Ignite competition was (and still is) full of holes and unexplained assumptions, the readings were piling up.... and the hours of sleep were going down. Thankfully the weekend is here to save me from this vicious cycle (I slept for 11 hours last night. Ahhhh, what a relief!).

It's funny how the weekends are no longer a time of relaxation, but a time to catch up on readings and sleep. That's student life for you!