Why I Love Running

Lately I’ve been running more outside, with the hope to prepare myself for the Paris Marathon on April 5. Yesterday I went for a run around Hype Park in London, and while running I thought to myself about all the fantastic places I’ve lived and how that’s provided me so many fantastic places to run.

Today a 6-mile run takes me from my apartment south to Hyde Park, all the way around the park (all 350 acres) and back home. A year ago a 6-mile run would take me from my apartment, through the Marina-district of San Francisco, along the San Francisco Bay to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and then back home. And, four years ago, a 6 mile run would take me from my apartment in to Central Park in NYC, one lap around the outside loop and then back home. Needless to say, each of these runs offered a pretty spectacular setting, and each reminded me how fortunate I was to live in cities that offered such beauty.

So which is my favorite? Where’s the best running? Who knows, to each is their own, and to me each city holds its own magic. Winter running is a little colder in NYC and London, but the winds in San Francisco can be absolutely brutal!

MBA TV

LBS now is broadcasting a "mini-series", if you will, on YouTube. It's called MBA TV, and it aims to provide potential applicants with information about the School. Here is the most recent installment, with coverage of the LBS Media Summit. (I would of preferred coverage of the Asset Management Conference, but oh well...)

LBS Santa Pub Crawl

A London Business School holiday tradition.

450 Santas making their way through one of the greatest cities in the world, spreading holiday cheer and enjoying each other's company one last time before winter break.

In case you're having trouble imagining such a site...

(Santas in the tube!!)

(Most tourists at Piccadilly Circus probably didn't expect to see this)

A Chilly November Day in London

Raining, cold and grey – a normal November day in London! So, we decided to go to the British Museum, a London landmark that opened its door to the public in 1759. The British Museum is a human history museum, with artifacts from all over the world documenting human life. A few photos from our afternoon at the museum…

(Inside the British Museum)

(The Rosetta Stone - an Ancient-Egyptian artifact created in 196BC, on display at British Museum since 1802)

(Marble statue of a naked Aphrodite crouching at her bath)

(Preparing the British Museum for a future installment)

After the museum, we warmed up in a pub before heading to the Tower of London for ice skating. I’m sure that the few beers I enjoyed helped my ice skating abilities!! Fortunately, we found a brief break in the rain and had a blast on the ice skating rink.

And on our way home, we ended up near Regent Street, a popular shopping street between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. The holiday decorations were out in force, so enjoy!

(Looking down Carnaby Street, near Regent Street)

(Looking south down Regent Street)

Cool Places in Our Neighborhood, #2

Well school is in full swing, which is the main reason why no blog updates over the past few weeks. I’d like to expand on my previous post highlighting cool places in my neighborhood. One of my favorite places in this area of London is Regent’s Park.

(The Avenue Gardens)

The park, as it is today, first opened to the public in 1845. The park is huge – it’s around 500 acres in size. It’s great for sport, with plenty of open space to play football (soccer), rugby, cricket, ultimate frisbee, and, of course, a little American football. There are tennis courts and plenty of running paths. The London Zoo, the world’s oldest scientific zoo, also is located in the park. Finally, because LBS sits on the southwest corner of the park, I get to enjoy the beauty of the space from a few of my classrooms.

Whether I’m running around the outer loop, playing rugby or walking through the gardens, Regent’s Park provides an excellent escape from the busy streets of London, and if you’re in the area I highly encourage you to check it out.

(The Boating Lake)

(Next to the LBS campus; the white dome in the back of the photo is LBS)

Cultural Diversity

Last night was London Business School’s annual Tatoo Party. This gathering celebrates LBS’ cultural diversity, and because my class consists of around 60 different nationalities there is quite a lot of celebrating to do. There are around 20 regional clubs at LBS (North American club, Brazil club, Asian club, Africa club, etc) and each of these clubs brought something from their culture to the event. I enjoyed an excellent Russian meat dish (still unsure of the name), sushi from the Japan club, paella from the Spanish club, gelato from the Italians, and some pretty tasty chorizo from the Portuguese. You won’t be too surprised to hear what we brought from the States – hot dogs, hamburgers and apple and cherry pie.

And, it wasn’t all about food; I also caught a Lion dance, an African drumbeat and a Bollywood dance (with LBS students and partners dancing). I missed the belly dancers, mariachi band, salsa dancing and samba. I just couldn’t make it to everything!

Finally, this was the first time I heard the LBS student band, No Donuts for Hilda (btw - they're great). We ended the evening listening to the band, rocking out to songs like ‘Mr. Brightside’ and feeling like we were back in undergrad at a fraternity party listening to the great local cover band. Some things never change, regardless of where you are in the world. Enjoy a few photos…

(Lion Dance)

(African Drumbeat dance)

(A little Bollywood-style dancing)

(No Donuts for Hilda - the LBS Band)

A Day in the Life...

Here's a glimpse in to life as a business school student. (This is Tuesday, September 30, and I wrote this the following day but didn’t have time to post until now.)

7:30am – Wake up, read some news online and check to see 1) if the press developed some cheesy name for the rout in global stocks on Monday, and 2) if the European markets are going to continue to be battered after Congress failed to pass a bailout package. Futures down sharply; more fun.

8:30am – Arrive at LBS, pick up a copy of the WSJ, grab a coffee from The Bite (LBS’ onsite café), pick up my Managerial Economics binder from my locker and head over to the library. I run in to a few friends at The Bite who are on their way to a Speed Reading course taught as part of our Development Skills class. I decided not to take the speed reading class (although I'm sure it would help) because I'm taking classes on negotiation and influencing others later this fall. I’m at the library early today because I need to finish up some assignments before heading back to California for my sister’s wedding.

12:30pm – After grabbing a sandwich, I’m back on campus for an Investment Management Club meeting. The purpose of today’s meeting is to discuss the upcoming stock pitch competition. The competition is open to all LBS students, and each student who wants to be involved selects a stock and, in one page, explains why it’s an outstanding investment opportunity. The submissions are first reviewed by a small group of investment professionals (mostly LBS alumni) who then select 5 finalists to present their ideas. The LBS student who wins gets to represent LBS at a European stock pitch competition as well as at the Alpha Challenge, a global competition held in the U.S. at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

2pm – A 3-hour Managerial Economics class…highlight of the day.

6pm – After running back to my flat to change into more appropriate business attire, I’m off to a CFA Society event at Goldman Sachs’ office (“Alternative Assets: How Risky are Hedge Funds and Private Equity in the Current Climate”). My lousy understanding of London’s tube system means I arrive at the event about 15 minutes late. Following the event, I meet one of the speakers, Drago Indjic, who happens to co-run the Hedge Fund Centre at London Business School and who was one of the speakers at the event. Small world…

9:30pm – Finally get back to my place to have dinner with my wife.

11pm – Time to hit the sack. A busy day, but so far fairly typical of life as a MBA student…

Day Trip to Brighton

Brighton is a beach town on the southern coast of England, and on the quickest train from London it takes only 51 minutes to get there. (Too bad I didn’t find the quick train.) Last weekend we decided to get out of the city, and Brighton was on the top of our list. Other contenders included Oxford, Cambridge and Bath, but we’ll have to get to those places some other time.

There are some neat sights to see in Brighton, in addition to the beach, ocean and sun, of course. First to see was a summer home of Prince Regent (later King George IV) that was built in the early 1800s. It’s called the Royal Pavilion, and looking at the building you wouldn’t guess it’s in a small beach town in England. Its Indian and Chinese influences are notable, and obvious; it was built to compliment the “Regency style” that was prevalent in buildings back in London.

(The Royal Pavilion)

Next we made our way to the beach. Brighton’s beach isn’t your normal beach – there’s no sand, it’s all small pebbles and rocks. Along the beach are numerous restaurants, bars and nightclubs. We found our way to one restaurant for fish ‘n chips (I’m rapidly becoming an official connoisseur of this English delicacy). Afterwards we decided to take a rest on one of the many sets of chairs located on the beach, only to find out it costs £2 per person for this pleasure. We promptly got up and left.

(Brighton Beach)

Finally, we visited St. Nicholas Church. This present church dates back to the mid-14th century, but there is evidence that a church stood here in 1086. The church is surrounded by a graveyard with tombs dating back to the early-1800s. Some quick history – the French attacked this town back in 1514, burning the village to the ground. This church was the ONLY building in the entire village to survive the attack. It’s strategically located on the top of a hill, and it felt like we were back in San Francisco as we walked from the heart of the town up to the church.

(St. Nicholas Church)

It was great to learn that such a great place exists so close to London. I’m sure we’ll be heading back, although that trip may need to wait until next summer. While I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Brighton, the high that day was about 62 degrees (F). The weather wasn’t all that important this trip because we spent most our time sightseeing, but next time I’d enjoy spending more time relaxing on the beach in the warm sun!!

LBS MBA2010 - Class Profile

Here’s a look at London Business School’s Class of 2010. The programme office showed us this during our orientation, and I thought I’d share it with you.

Students: 320
Age Range: 23-34
Average Age: 29
Work Experience Range: 2-12 years
Average Work Experience: 5.6 years
GMAT Range: 600-800
GMAT Average: 694

And where we all come from:

Africa/Middle East: 7.5%
Asia: 22.5%
Australia/New Zealand: 2.5%
Europe (non-UK): 25.4%
Latin America: 12.8%
UK: 9.3%
USA/Canada: 20%

Cool Places in Our Neighborhood, #1

Well we finally moved in to our ‘flat’!! We’re living in an area called Marylebone, and it’s a pretty nice neighborhood. There’s a lot going on, and the place is filled with history. So, I thought I’d write a few posts about cool places around us. Here’s #1: Dorset Square.

Dorset Square is the site of the original Lord’s Cricket Ground (see posting below for more info about the current Lord’s). Thomas Lord founded his original cricket venue on this site back in 1787, and it was used for matches until 1810. I walk by this park on my way to LBS, and I can’t help but think about the people who were playing cricket on this very site over 220 years ago.

We looked at a few flats right off of Dorset Square. The area is very nice and residents are the only people who have access to the park. The places we viewed were pretty crappy, but I guess that’s what you get with a student budget. Nice one bedroom places are available, but it takes about £430 p/week to get one (do the USD math if you like, current exchange $1.77). I prefer our place, which is just down the street, and I’ll happily give my extra money to the EXCELLENT fish ‘n chips place right around the corner.

Orientation Week Over

Orientation week kicked off on campus, but after only a few hours we hopped on a bus and went up to Lord’s Cricket Ground. If you’re like me and don’t know anything about cricket, this means absolutely nothing to you. However, if you’re a cricket fan, a huge smile just came across your face. Lord’s is ‘mecca’ for cricketers, and widely considered the home of cricket. Cricket has been played at this location since 1814.

Lord's Cricket Ground

LBS MBA2010 is a group of 320 people from all over the world. Our group’s nationality diversity was highlighted when we played the “International Citizen Game” on our first day of orientation. We created around 25 teams based on nationality and each team prepared a two minute presentation on their culture and what it’s like to work with people from their country. The Chinese won first place, followed by a team from the U.S. (interesting given what happened at the Olympics!!).

One of the most anticipated events of orientation took place on Wednesday – finding out study groups. The school creates our study groups to for us, and there’s no changing them. I think I got lucky; my study group looks like this:

• A Swedish guy who most recently lived in Brussels with a background in operations management
• A Bulgarian guy who managed businesses in Bulgaria
• A Colombian woman who most recently lived in the U.S. with a background in corporate finance and investment banking
• An Israeli guy from the telecom industry who formerly served in the Israeli military
• A Canadian guy who most recently lived in Vienna and is a concert pianist

I think it’ll be great to work with all of these people, and I know I’m going to learn a ton from them.

Thursday was our “Away Day”. We ventured up in to the English countryside to a corporate training site for team building exercises. The really fun stuff was on the ropes course, and two best events involved climbing up 40 foot telephone poles. (I hope to post a photo soon!) Many of us were skeptical about how much we would take away from the day, but on the way home we all agreed that it was a fantastic experience that provided us a chance to get to know all our team members extremely well.

After a great orientation week it’s finally time to get to work – 6 hours of business statistics on Monday, ugh…

First Day in London

I just finished my first day in London. After arriving at Heathrow airport 30 minutes early, a nice middle-aged man driving a Peugeot hauled me over to my home for the next 3 weeks, 3 Durweston Mews, Marylebone. Upon arrival I found a well-furnished, two-story flat that definitely could serve as home for the next three weeks. Yes, it’s small, but it’s well maintained with new appliances and should make for a good place to stay while Jamie and I find a place to live.

Immediately I had a long overdue shower, and then I walked over to LBS to get my student ID and welcome packet. My student ID afforded me access to the LBS library, where I sent emails to my family announcing my safe arrival in London. Next on my to-do list, a cell phone…

Well not so fast. In order to get a monthly cell phone plan, the company must run a check to ensure the address on your bank account matches your address in London. Of course mine did not. So, after being denied a UK mobile, I went to the bank to update my address to the flat where I just moved in. We’ll see tomorrow if this works.

After paying £9 for a chicken sandwich and fries (yes, that’s just under $18) I proceeded over to the evening’s festivities – the LBS Flat Hunter’s Pub Crawl. Undoubtedly created by students, this ‘reason to drink’ takes place every day of the month leading up to the start of business school. Marketed as a way for students to meet flatmates and share stories about estate agents, this gathering of MBA2010s was an excellent way to socialize with my new classmates. After hanging out at the pub until 1am, I called it a night. (BTW – This pub served Sierra Nevada, however I preferred the local brews that I’ve never had before.)

I left San Francisco 29 hours ago. I’ve already met so many cool people, and so far my time in London has been great (as I listen to the rain outside my bedroom window!).

Why I'm Excited About my MBA

Today I read a great story about two LBS students (an MBA2009 and his wife, a MIF2009 [Masters in Finance]) and their new business, Gelato Mio. As if the rigour of the LBS MBA and MIF programs wasn't enough, these 2 students decided to open a new chain of gelato stores in London.

Check out this video showing the success of the store's recent opening...I can't wait to go try their gelato!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQt9na6WMM

San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

I finally developed the photos we took during our San Diego marathon weekend. Here's a photo of us with some friends at the finish line...yes, we just ran 26.2 miles, and I think we look pretty good!

(Chantal, Marjorie, Jamie, me and Scott)

This marathon was the FIRST marathon for everyone in this picture except me. I know how special it is to finish one's first marathon, so hats off to Jamie, Chantal, Marjorie and Scott!!

Also, Jamie, Marjorie and Chantal all ran for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team-In-Training program (thus the purple shirts). Among the three of them they raised nearly $10,000 for blood cancer research.

Where I'll Spend the Next 21 Months

Jamie and I finally made a trip to London together. With less than 2 months to go before our move, this trip offered us a chance to figure out where we're going to live, open a bank account (an ordeal for non-U.K. nationals), attend the London Business School Admits Weekend and spend a few days enjoying one of the greatest cities in the world!

(River Thames and The London Eye -- tallest Ferris wheel in the world until May '06)

The highlight of the trip was Admits Weekend. LBS organizes this weekend so that all the admitted students can come to London, meet each other, learn more about the program and get an idea of what the next 21 months will be like. Also, for LBS, the weekend offers one more chance to sell the School to any undecided applicants (I only met one -- deciding between LBS and INSEAD, a decent French b-school just south of Paris). Here's a photo of me at LBS.

For me, Admits weekend really drilled home how international the program will be. At my breakfast table, I met future classmates from France, Bulgaria, Germany and the UK, and the following day I grabbed a beer with a consultant from Canada (who's Mexican), an entrepreneur from Boston and a consultant from London. I really enjoyed meeting so many interesting people from all over the world.

We also had some time to figure out where we want to live, or at least we narrowed it down to a few possible neighborhoods -- St. John's Wood, Swiss Cottage and West Hampstead. All three neighborhoods are near the Jubilee tube line (subway), which swings by both LBS (for me) and Mayfair (for Jamie). Here's a picture of the St. John's Wood High Street - the main street in the neighborhood. (St. John's Wood is famously known for the Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles recorded.)

Earlier this week I announced my final day at Lehman Brothers -- July 18. The next chapter in my life is rapidly approaching, and I know I'm not ready!

Rising Fuel Costs

This week the price of oil passed $125 a barrel, and the national average price for mid-grade gasoline stands at $3.898 (5/9/08). A year ago, the average price for that same gallon of gas was $3.223. We all hate paying more to fill up our gas tanks, and the high gas price is killing our wallets, but how's it affecting the overall economy? I did a little digging and found a Morgan Stanley report that suggests a 1 cent increase in the price of gas translates to a $1.3 billion reduction in consumer spending. All else equal, that means $87.8 billion of consumer purchasing power has been pumped in to the gas tank over the past year. Ouch!

While I'm writing about oil & gas, I thought it would be neat to show how rising oil prices impact gas prices. So, see below. Today, the cost of crude oil accounts for about 68% of the price of gas, up from 43% in 2001. Of note, nearly all of the increase in gas prices over the last 7 years is due to increasing crude prices, not increasing taxes, refining costs or distribution costs.

Safety, Investing and Investing Safely

I recently read a letter written to clients of Oaktree Capital Management (http://www.oaktreecap.com) by the firm's Chairman, Howard Marks. Howard's been around a while, and he offers some excellent insight. Howard discussed a number of relevant and important topics, but I particularly liked the following line:

"Investment safety doesn't come from doing things safe, but from doing things safely."

Risk aversion leads too many people to shy away from investing [safely] simply because they believe it's unsafe. More people should consider their own investment policy in the context of Howard's idea above.

Expensive Cities

Jamie made her first trip to London last week. She visited Big Ben and Westminster, had dinner in Mayfair, enjoyed Regents and Hyde parks and visited the London Business School! In doing so, she figured out why everyone tells us London is such an expensive place to live. After living in NYC and San Francisco, surely we're accustom to the "expensive" city lifestyle, right? Wrong.

Items in London cost the same as in San Francisco. A venti Starbucks coffee: 1.75, a cab ride from the City to the airport: 40, lunch at a Thai restaurant: 10. However, instead of having a "$" symbol in front of the number it's a "£". Ah, the exchange rate. Today, $1 will fetch about £0.50. That means, in London, a venti Starbucks coffee costs $3.50, a cab ride to the airport runs $80 and that simple Thai lunch is $20! Now I'm beginning to see why so many people warned us about the cost of living in such a great city!

In case you're wondering, only one city beats London in this year's list of the world's most expensive cities (as compiled by Mercer). Surprisingly, San Francisco didn't even break the top 20!

1. Moscow
2. London
3. Seoul
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong
6. Copenhagen
7. Geneva
8. Osaka
9. Zurich
10. Oslo
11. Milan
12. St. Petersburg (Russia)
13. Paris
14. Singapore
15. New York City
16. Dublin
17. Tel Aviv
18. Rome
19. Vienna
20. Beijing

The Sage's 31st Letter

Last week, Warren Buffett provided his 31st letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Buffett's first letter, written in 1977, two years before I was born, described a company with operating earnings of $21.9 million and an investment portfolio worth $181 million. In 2007, Berkshire provided $20.2 billion of operating earnings and held an investment portfolio worth $75 billion. Not bad, Mr. Buffett.

Buffett's annual letters are insightful and relevant, and I encourage anyone interested in business, investing, or just a good 20 minute read to download the most recent report here.

One interesting story in this year's letter describes the outcome of Berkshire's investment in PetroChina, the Chinese oil and gas company. In 2002/2003, Berkshire invested $488 million in the company and in 2007 sold it's stake for $4 billion. Again, not a bad job. But, with heafty gains come heafty taxes. Berkshire paid the IRS $1.2 billion in taxes on this gain, which paid ALL costs of running the U.S. government for about four hours. Wow.

Goldman Gets It

Today, Goldman Sachs announced one of the largest philanthropic initiatives of any Wall Street firm. The program, called "10,000 Women", aims to raise $100 million for women running small businesses in developing countries. Goldman's money will be used to train these women in areas such as marketing, e-commerce and accounting.

So why such an effort for this specific demographic? Goldman research indicates that closing the gender gap in employment in key emerging markets could lift per capita income 10-14% above baseline forecasts by 2020.

Hopefully you noticed the link to Camfed at the bottom of my blog. Camfed supports the education and development of young women in rural Africa, and Goldman named Camfed one of their key partners for this new initiative. After spending time in rural areas of Kenya, seeing first hand how children cope with poverty and lousy living conditions, I immediately connected with Camfed's cause, and it's great to see such a meaningful commitment from Goldman.

Check out www.camfed.org, you'll find it really interesting. Meanwhile, props to Goldman for putting up a bunch of money for a great cause. However, just to put it in perspective, $100 million represents 0.5% of Goldman's 2007 compensation expense.