Here I am in Boston!  My first week here (last week) was the coldest one in Boston history since the 1890’s.  And, it rained the whole time.  What an introduction.  Nonetheless, I managed to get my apartment furnished and stocked – quite a shock to see what it costs to do that from scratch.  The first week reminded me how annoying academic administration can be…lots of paperwork, lines, and employees in no particular rush.  My classmates are an enthusiastic bunch and, via email, arranged quite a few activities before school began.  I went to dinner in Chinatown, at Cheers, and the North End (Italian); went to a sports bar/nightclub and got a private tour of Fenway Park; and played soccer!  Tuesday was the official first day of the program, but by then I’d already socialized with about 60 or 70 people.

The official name of our program is the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Global Leadership and Innovation.  Our class is approximately 90 people from 22 countries and ranges in age from 32 to 55 or so.  Almost everyone in the program has at least one graduate degree; there are 9 lawyers and quite a few Ph.D.’s.  There are probably more engineers by training than anything else, but I’m not the only undergraduate English major.  My assigned study group includes a doctor from China (who knew Chairman Mao) and is now a venture capitalist; a developer from Cameroon; and a telecom engineer from Japan.  My larger group includes an American engineer who has started and sold a series of companies; a Korean engineer who designed the fairing for the flaps on the 757; and a Chinese oil and gas executive who speaks Chinese, Russian, English, & Indonesian. 

This week was mostly leadership exercises.  Most were designed to get us to open up to each other and it worked pretty well.  We were encouraged to talk about cultural issues and it’s already helping us figure out how to work well together.  We even had a one day Outward Bound experience – think 9 people all blindfolded, holding hands, finding their way across a field with trees and bushes to a specific destination.  Academics begin next week, but I’m happy to report that I did well on a few exercises this week.  There was one about surviving after a plane crash and I came in fourth out of the 90 (and talked my group into doing what would help them all to survive).  And, today, we did a supply chain game and my group was the winner – the professor collected $1 from everyone to get them motivated, so I got $13!

They tell us we will be insanely busy starting Monday, so I doubt I’ll report too often, but I will try to get out the occasional blog.