As I write this, the 'circuit breaker' in Singapore has been extended to June 4, a big blow to the student and faculty morale. Invariably, this will be another post amongst the 1000’s detailing the disruption COVID-19 has caused albeit with a focus on leadership. Specifically, I will touch upon the ‘act’ aspect of leadership from my perspective of the faculty and students. Students

• Read more about A Call to Leaders

The INSEAD MBA is an intense 10-month rollercoaster and the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to put a sudden brake at the very summit, jolting us back to an unfamiliar new reality. But despite our self-administered physical fences, the unwavering support of our INSEAD friends shone through, reminding us that we were in this together.

• Read more about The Lockdown Project

I recently had a session with my career coach. Our meetings often have a straight-forward agenda. This one in particular was to talk about how to highlight my leadership abilities in my upcoming interviews. But, as usual, this session would be one where we choose to meander our way around this agenda and take the scenic, reflective route instead. She’d let me give an account of how I was feeling, what I’d been up to since we last spoke, and would then proceed to respond with a series of questions that would kick-off our hour-long session.

• Read more about How to Stand in a Storm

This week marks the third week I’ve been following INSEAD’s classes online less than a kilometre away from INSEAD’s Europe campus, and so far the experience has been better than I thought it would be. What I miss the most in online classes are mini interactions that happen in hallways, in the bar, in the restaurant, or anywhere in the city. Last month, a trip to the supermarket or a restaurant would involve me bumping into 3-4 INSEADers along the way. Now, a trip to the restaurant is around eight steps and surprise! I’m the chef, waiter, and guest. “Bienvenue Monsieur!”

• Read more about Making Online Classes Work

How the world has changed over the last two months. In early February, my classmates and I were still planning to go on the China trek over the P3-4 break and now, even those in Fontainebleau, who are 9,000 miles away from Wuhan, are quarantined indoors. 

• Read more about Acceptance and Appreciation in Today’s COVID-19 Reality

The journey of the MBA class of December 2020 is probably not what we were expecting, when we started it. And yet, this year might turn out to be one of the most consequential times in our life. As the class of December 2020 gathered in January, in steamy Singapore, I was first struck by the diversity, open and well-meaning of the class.

• Read more about The Fierce Urgency of Now

How times have changed! Just a month ago, the biggest challenge for me was exams. I was on the INSEAD campus for most of the weekend, wearing slippers and frantically studying in a discussion room on-campus.  Look at us now! The INSEAD Fontainebleau campus has been closed since 16 March 2020, and we have started our classes using Zoom. It is non-debatable that this is a crisis that no one had expected before. Thus, we need to understand that everyone is trying their best with whatever resources they have. 

• Read more about Communications in Times of Crisis

Arriving in Fontainebleau in January 2020 was a hassle for many of us who were eager to start the MBA journey at INSEAD. Paris had been on strike for almost a month as unions were protesting President Macron’s proposed pension reforms. The city was nearly paralysed, and few trains were running to Fontainebleau.

• Read more about In Search of the Silver Lining