INSEAD EMBA Blogging Reflections

Yep I like Champagne but I'm not the only one ....
 

Hear hear ...
 

More seriously ...
A regular Insead MBA had a funny blog last year where he was relating his experiences on a daily basis. The blog was well referenced on google and you would see it appear in one of the first pages after searching the INSEAD keyword on google.
I believe that if each of us would contribute by giving insights of how the EMBA has changed the way they do business, or the way they now perceive their career, or whatever other positive evolution, this "free" advertising would act far more efficiently than any PR offline campaign.
 

You probably refer to

INSEAD MBA BLOG

Impressions and Stories from an INSEAD MBA Student. Life at school, classes, life abroad...
 

Dear Albert,

Here is what I beleive to be the first enntry from an EMBA student at INSEAD. The champagne should be mine!

Thank you for a very interesting class in ICT with a lot of inspiration and new ideas.

/Fredrik Bernsel
 

Just one more thing. My favorite champagne is Krug :-)
 

Too bad Frederik, Did was there before you !
Albert, thank you so much for this great course. I have to say that I am quite proud of having my own blog. Needless to say that it will allow me to show off in Parisian dinners among IT idiots : - )
PS: I have included my family names in the blog names (in order to score a good grade at home as well : - )!).
Jean-Francois
 

Thanks Albert for the ICT course.

On a different subject, (as you can all see) there is a blog for men with a "less than average" amount of hair. Message to the rest of the group --> new members are always welcome.

WE ARE WATCHING YOU !
 

Hi baldies and other bloggers,

Check out the EMBA Party Blog, which we'll try to use for the planning of this event, http://embaparty.blogspot.com

In a more professional context, I imagine this technology could be used to improve knowledge sharing internally within bigger corporations. Why not ask people to post their monthly reports on a blog instead of Word + email, or maybe managers who have hundreds of people reporting to him/her could write a weekly blog to communicate his/her thoughts (of a more relaxed nature) to the organisation.

Cheers,
Andrew K
 

Andrew,
I have to admit that I am very impressed by the party blog. You never thought about switching career and becoming ITGO (IT Geek Officer) of your firm ? : - )
More seriously, you should send an email to everyone as I am sure the majority have not even seen it yet.
 

Andrew,
I have to admit that I am very impressed by the party blog. You never thought about switching career and becoming ITGO (IT Geek Officer) of your firm ? : - )
More seriously, you should send an email to everyone as I am sure the majority have not even seen it yet.

JF, a proud member of the baldmenyumyum club.
 

Gruezi Albert!

Great course, thank you so much!

Andrew K has perfectly illustrated how we could use blogging among eMBAs. I think it is a fantastic tool to post messages in a less intrusive way than mass email and chats. For us, it could be a useful tool to stay in touch after graduation, by posting short news messages (job change, new kids, holidays...).

In my professional environment (Trading / Capital Markets) I don't think there is much to do with blogging. People are already using chat, phone, email and even wikis. Either the information is urgent (for instance an order to buy XYZ shares), and then the person will use phone or chat, or it is not urgent and it will be published in a chat or a webpage. In others words, there are already many communications channels in my industry, and blogging will not add a lot.
 

Folks,

This is all really nice, but I am always on the move so how can we linked your passionating comments to my phone?
 

I have now created a passionating blog. The first to visit will get a free used Nokia T-shirt

Here is the link

http://ludovicgaude.blogspot.com/
 

Hi everybody,

as one of the few participants of the ICT course who previously understood "less than average" (I like this phrase!) about the subject, I really was impressed with our last session and the eye-opening information on blogs, wikis etc. I am even more impressed with the blogs created so far. Inspired by JF I thought of creating a blog for introverted women, but, then, I am a bit worried about how the chat is going to gain momentum. Any helpful comments?

To answer Alberts question, I agree with Pierre that this blog could be a better way of staying in touch after the programme than e-mails. Many of us may have more than one mail-box, all flooded on a daily basis, and, probably, we do not read all incoming messages. The beauty of the blog is that you enter it whenever you feel like (unless you have to do it for an ICT assignment...).
I am not too sure about what Andrew said about posting reports - can a company secure blogs from outside access (and is it still a blog if you limit access to anyone?)?

All the best, Katrin
 

I completely agree with those of my fellow bloggers who have pointed out that a blog can be very useful for gaining input to, and sharing information about, a project such as the emba party. Also, an EMBA Class of 2005 blog could be a great way of keeping in touch in terms of professional achievements (getting fired, getting a new job or demotion...or, who dares to dream, perhaps even a promotion) as well as personal achievements (getting married/divorced/remarried/children or running a marathon in the mountians of Pakistan for example).

I am not quite sure of how I would use a blog professionally...except indirectly to help me look more switched on than I really am (along the lines of as JF's thinking) by 'happening' to drop in a few words about the success of my latest blog at the right times in the right contexts. Speaking of blogs - I encourage you all to visit and contribute heavily to my virgin attempt at blogging (I'll be sure to update it soon with more stunningly fascinating insights ): http://iamuncool.blogspot.com/

Peace Out - Stefan
 

Great reading your inputs guys ..... Andrew,the emba party blog is great stuff. Stefan and Stu,your thought provoking musing on baldness moved me....

On a more serious note, I've started to think about how to use blogs where I work. There are a whole new generation of young doctors in my hospitals (about 800 of them) that are really tuned in to blogspots to communicate, correspond or to fulfil some latent need for voyeurism. They don't go into our intranets, or read our newsletters. I think we need to join them and talk with them through the world of blogs.What I haven't worked out yet is exactly how.

Patients and caregivers could also really take-off on blogs. Agreat way to facilitate support groups for patients with chronic or life-threatening diseases. I'd like to explore that as well.

Anyone has any thoughts on this? Would love to hear your comments.
 

On another topic: has any Mac user managed to launch the Ling He simulation on his Mac? I can't do it! Thanks in advance for your help.
 

Hi everyone, good to see you are all blogging away like mad men and women (although I noticed only one of the latter).

The challenge I find, is to use a blog as more than just an e-mail discussion. The embaparty blog from Andrew is a good example of how to go beyond that. A blog also works well to share information sharing via pull instead of push.

This is what made me think to use a Blog for projects at work. It allows you to have links to all useful project-related documents (like a library), while having a discussion forum on top of it. What do you think?

By the way, I just made my contribution to mankind (took 33 years!) by adding to the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonveneta, amongst others). I wonder how long it takes them to realize the quality and erase it again :-)

Rob
 

One of the challenges i face is getting people who are technology resitant to start enjoying the benefits and fun of ICT. I think if the company has a blog to exchange informal ideas and announcements, it gets people used to technology more and gets them to appreciate it. This may in turn lead to them using ICT more.

The second way in which a blog may be useful is to have the CEO launch one. This would allow open sharing of ideas and create a more informal environment in the company.
 

Hi All,

Albert asks us to identify how best to use blogging in EMBA. Of course the EMBA party blog is the best way, but maybe second-best would be:

Insead could replace or augment the Minerva portal with a blog. Course documents and administrative requests could be posted there, and anyone could comment or add questions. That's the point of a blog anyway, right?

Sven and Joanne would get easily see the feedback on their posts. The shared feedback would not only keep everyone in the loop, but it would lead to an improvement in the quality of information delivery. The world would be a happier place!

It would also draw the Singapore and Fontainebleau campuses together (note the order of the two). It has for me just by reading all of the above Fontainebleau posts!

I'm off for another pint...
 

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Hi everybody.
I would like to contribute a little bit more from the Singaporean campus as I am only the second one after Fidah...

Anyhow, I agree with Fidah's point that it might be very difficult to derive productive information from a blog. I have been in a forum a couple of months ago during my Atkins diet (www.ketoforum.de - sorry, only in German), but I thought it is especially helpful that this forum included a search engine helping to find certain topics and entries. Furthermore, the forum was kind of guided by different levels of experts and moderators who gave feedback and advice.

Overall, the information was really helpful and not too difficult to derive.
I see a chance to use blogging in my service organization as the engineers have to exchange a lot of experience and information about their work. This might help newcomers to get up to speed more quickly when having the ability to search for certain topics/entries posted by experienced colleagues.
 

Hi David, just realized that you are number two from Singapore within the blog - I was just a few seconds too slow...

According to your comment I would extend my point and think that experience and knowledge from former EMBA's could be transferred to new students quite easily through blogging (keeping in mind that 14 months are really short for an EMBA, isn't it? - every day counts ;o)

Your idea of having a blog for course documents and administrative work should be extended by an "experience exchange" with EMBA alumni to bring our new members up to speed !

All the best from Japan and "Prost".
 

Albert also asked us for critical comments, so here goes.

First let me say that my vast experience with blogs is entirely restricted to blogs at blogspot. Some of the above comments suggest that there are blog platforms that are richer in features (such as the one with a search engine).

In order to make a blog useful as a communication tool, and not simply a chat forum, certain features are necessary. The search engine is a good one. In addition, I see a need for the following three features:

The first is a way for the user to see where "new" comments are. When I bring up a blog with many posts, such as the embaparty blog, I have no idea if any new comments have recently been added. The blog platform should know when I last viewed the blog, or even precisely which comments I have already read, so that I can easily find new material that I have not yet seen.

A second feature that would be nice would be a way for me to "subscribe" to the blog, so that when new posts or comments are added, I receive an email notification.

And the last would be a way for the blog to dispense a tasty pint...
 

I must admit until now all I knew about blogs were from the newspaper! And blogs were for people with too much time on their hands to publish their every day lives. Thanks Albert for showing some business uses for blogs.

Interesting, over the last few days there were incidents of students posting in their blogs negative tings (probably untrue) about their teachers (in Singapore, but definitely not INSEAD!). They are threatened with expulsion from the school unless they withdraw the acusation and apologise. And then there is the case of 2 youths being charged in court for posting racist remarks on their blogs. blogs is thus like a powerful tool - use wrongly you might hurt someone or yourself.

To David - Will you consider me as a partner in your start-up to work on Feature 3? I see great potential in getting more people to visit your blog site!
 

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Being with Katherine in the "less than average" camp I am nervously making virginal steps into the world of blogs.

What I see is that the success of the blog depends on the openness of the author - what was in that comment that has been deleted from this blog? So if the EMBA team want to hear feedback on the course and ideas for designing upcoming modules then a blog seems like a great thing to use.

In our business we are always fighting IT resistance so it would be hard to get many people to use a blog. But we have tried to set up project-based intranet sites with comment sections - the comment secitons never work. So I guess a blog would be an easier way to generate "live" discussion.

Darren
 

Dear all, firstly let me thank too Albert for the very interesting course. After a period of IT "shyness" I would like to give my little contribution too to this spectacular display of technological sophistication.
I must confess that, similarly to Pierre, whilst understanding the potential benefits of this tool from a personal perspective - for example willingness to communicate with friends - I cannot imagine, within my organisation, a day to day application for this tool. Within my company the standard method to communicate is the email (lets get real the CEO box, if exists, no one really uses it! – the risk of getting fired is always too high), and, in the event you want to bundle numerous participants you would create a common email address. The other problem that I have is that all of us are already inundated with passwords and login and blog is just another thing that you need to memorize. Perhaps JF, given that works for JPM, can take the time contradict me! Lastly on a different matter I would like to leverage on this high quality “audience” to publicly congratulate "ladies - let me be your dog". I sincerely think is a very "insightful and intriguing" name for a blog. Ciao Camillo
 

As blog-fever spreads throughout our EMBA class, some interesting phenomena have emerged .....

Firstly we've gotten many interesting thoughts and reflections, but it's been tough getting a solid discussion going on any one particular issue. It seems that a blogsite, which by its very nature allows all and sundry to articulate freely their views, by the same token also reduces the collective ability and discipline to grapple with and dissect a weighty issue. Probably it would be near impossible for everyone to agree that any one particular issue is weighty to him or her! Therefore, a blogsite is great to say your piece for all to hear, but not so great as a forum for deep discourse.

Secondly, a blogsite is everybody's responsibility, and nobody's responsibility, to contribute! This differs from the email when a burden of reply can be placed more easily on the email addressees, when such replies are needed.

So the blog, while having a great deal of utility as a communication channel, appears to me to possess some limitations where group or team discussions are concerned. I imagine, though, that some creative agreed-upon norms or rules might circumvent this.

Any thoughts?

And I'd love to hear more from the baldmenyumyum club :)
 

Hi all

Just another thought along the same vein as before ...

A blogsite is "pull"technology. It requires users to actively go to the site in order to get information or participate in discussions. Email, on the other hand, is "push" technology. Whether we like it or not, it will be pushed to us and will require a response.

Implication therefore is that a blogsite may well be deficient as a means of information dissemination for postings that require quick response. For example, if a class decision on our EMBA party is required urgently, and only the EMBA party blog is used to solicit response, then only those of us that regularly visit the blog would see the request and reply. An email blitz on the other hand, will get everyone's attention.

Seems to me therefore that while the blog is a great innovation, it has significant limitations as a communication channel. Bottom line is one needs to be clear of the intention of one's communication and use the appropriate channel or platform accordingly.
 

I have nothing useful to contribute, but want to make sure I complete all the tasks from the ICT KMC.
 

eMBA wiki.

I just wanted to remind you that I had created a Wiki for the eMBA.
http://www.calt.insead.edu/LivingLab/eMBA/Wiki/

Of particular interest for this course are:
* The collection of blog resources
* Open source
 

Bloggings are an opportunity for serious business men to exchange important views on serious business issues.

Seriously - I will be glad at some stage in the near future to solicit your views through a blog (on how the private sector (ie your successful profit-generating companies) can contribute its energy, focus and $s to the public/private initiative to fight AIDS, tuberculosis & malaria..
 

Could be that I am coming last here - which has the advantage that on ecan read all the othe rcomments form th efellow syudents first. I blogged a bit around last night (in the plane to SIngapor e- thanks to Luftansa) and realized, that there a differnet types of blogs:
First there are those who use the blogs more as a chat room, so some people who have an opinion on everything on earth posting mesaage by message, sometime funny , sometimes not without any real content.

Second there are more serious blogs (read as well Nicol's comment!) where people post an article and expect to get feedback via the web. This eseems to me quite inetresting as one can search (e.g. in google) for blogs to a specific theme and get lots of good, although sometimes unstructed, information. (Look as well in my blog http://distributed-development.blogspot.com

Third I saw blogs where people wanted to distribute information,more or less "in leu" of an own web page. For example there were blogs for people living around New Orleans /Loisana where to find things afte rthe hurricane on what to do and what better not. So people in certain situations usingthe blog to help each other - quite useful, specificaly as thecreation of a web site takes much longer and required higher IT savvyness.

Finally and that answeres partly ALberts questions, there are many CEO blogs and company blogs around. In companies like the one I work for (SAP), it is more like that the Executive Board Memebrs all do have a blog, they post on enew article a month and ask the community to give feedback. This is already quite good and informative and it provides direct feedback to the board members by a large community of people. SAP has as well a weblob where employees and othe rpeople of the SAP community exchange views on latest stuff around SAP: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/q/webloggers - but one has to become memeber firts to participate.
A very good example for coporate blog usage is Microsoft, where there is on the Web a prominent link to "Communities" where one can find all blogs of all employees who do have a blog ( sorted by categories). Quite useful, if a developer or customer somehwere in the world really would like to get more insights about sertain specifics. Of course, here one can as well find blogs by STeve ballmer and other Executives: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx
Companies like Micrososft and SAP use blogs in the intention Ghouse mentioned it - to create excitement around their technologies and to create a large community using (and maybe buying) it.


Overall - blogging is fast, simple and adds value - and I agree with Fidah, that one has to be clear what to achive before deciding on the "right" channel. Otherwise, the frontiers between cahtting, webpage postings, blogs and other technologies get blurred and the communication won't be effective.
 

Last but not least (or maybe...)

For me, the use of blogs is not clear in the entreprise world. If you compare with the other web applications or communications tools, we can wonder if blogs will become of standard use like emails or web sites, or just remain marginalised to the use of mainly non professional communities like the chats, internet forums, or news groups.
For me, unless the general managers become magically well aware of these tools (and their differentiations in terms of technology, access, rights for editing, topics usually covered, types of community users...) they will not penetrate the company world easily - except for early adopters or the IT sector. But let's see what will happen! ICT is revolutionising so much the business world. Blogs will come into companies when some actors will develop competitive advantages from them, see how!