Christmas Pot-pourri

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. No, it doesn't mean I don't love you.

The reason for the silence is mostly that I've been submerged with work, and during my free time have prioritised living my life rather than writing about it. Which, I think you will concede, is a reasonable choice.

However, it is the holiday season and as such, time for some introspection and taking stock of the current state of affairs. Feeling rather scattered, however, I offer you a hodge-podge collection of my thoughts, only loosely organized into a three-part framework structure of my life.

The good...


1) I have a job. That counts as a "Good Thing". Especially in light of the current crisis, which has resulted in hundreds of highly-qualified, deserving MBAs finding themselves still unemployed, 6 months after graduation. I take this opportunity to call upon any alumni who might be reading these pages to make an extra special effort and show some solidarity in these trying times. Any of you who would be interested in receiving Res Ipsa's Zagat rating of top ten employable MBA J08s should feel free to get in touch...

2) I have a social life. Granted, I still occasionally have to cancel plans, and meeting friends for dinner during the week is a quasi impossibility but still, there's been tremendous progress since my last foray into the job market. And between family, pre-mid-life-crisis friends, INSEAD friends, and the far-away friends that I promise to finally get around to visiting, there's plenty to keep me busy.

The bad...

3) The general mood is crap. Let's face it, this is the ultimate anti-depressant-popping era. Markets are yo-yo-ing, jobs are disappearing, and us 30-somethings are stuck in the middle of this mess with all the normal difficult life stuff to deal with as well. Several of my friends have been having a really hard time of it lately, and the gloom seems to be spreading like chicken pox in a playground sandbox. Here's hoping that 2009 brings the smiles back.

4) Temperatures are sub-arctic. So this is not quite on the same level as, say, famine in Africa or the Middle East peace process, but it is nevertheless one of my chief concerns at the moment. Paris has turned into a polar-bear friendly environment in recent weeks and, to my utmost dismay, the client site I am working from is essentially unheated. Why an organisation would pay to bring in BM consultants but fail to invest in an efficient central heating system will remain one of the great mysteries of life...

The as yet undetermined...

5) I have no idea where my career will take me. Yes, I am happy that I have a job. Yes, there has been a noticeable lifestyle improvement. And yet. I just can't seem to shake this nagging feeling that this job is not for me. More worrying, there's a rather nasal little voice in my head that keeps suggesting that my perfect job is in fact... international litigator. Damn. What does that mean about what I should learn at BM? how long I should stay? where I should go from here?

6) I have no idea where my life will take me. This is a whole other kettle of fish, although intimately related to the point above. Until now, my life has pretty much boiled down to my career, so resolving one meant resolving the other. But having now reached the grand old age of... well, more than 30, should that still be the case? And if I should go out and conquer other of life's territories, what's the battle plan? And how do I ensure that I don't end up in a ditch somewhere minus a few limbs and with a large axe sticking out of my head? OK, perhaps I dramatize a bit, but you see my point. I thought I was making progress by seeking to apply BM problem-solving techniques to my personal life, but unfortunately I got no further than structuring the problem before the plan backfired. I should have known better...!

So there you have it. A snapshot of my brain's turmoils in 6 points and 3 parts. Stay tuned for updates in 2009...