lunes, 17 de noviembre de 2008

IESE Video Essay

This week, BusinessWeek will release its MBA program rankings. A few weeks ago, BusinessWeek asked students of some MBA programs, including us at IESE, to submit a creative video piece answering the question: Why should your MBA program be ranked #1?

We answered with a SHORT FILM, a story of a prospective student who comes to IESE to discover the DIFFERENCE .. to find out what makes IESE a truly unique MBA experience.

Unfortunately, me and my horrible Spanish is in this. In my defense I was having a bad Spanish day. And if you look closely, I am wearing an Obama/Biden campaign button because they taped this on election day.

sábado, 8 de noviembre de 2008

Jump Club!

On the IESE Wine & Cava Tour...

miércoles, 5 de noviembre de 2008

My Election Day


It's amazing how one man can come into your life and change it forever. Today Barack Obama changed mine, in ways I could only have dreamed of.

I left to Spain to escape the US, but I guess I never realized the real reason was because I had lost hope. I was ashamed to be American. I wanted something more, but I didn't exactly know what.

Today I was waiting at the bus stop when a Spanish lady sat by me and commented on my Obama-Biden campaign button I always wear on my bag. "You speak English?" she said, in broken form. Then without thinking I beamed back at her and replied, "Yes. I'm American."

And I couldn't believe how easy it was for me to say.

For the first time in years I was actually proud to be American, even abroad. I was surprised to note that it wasn't just me who felt that way. American friends were writing me saying that they were finally not afraid to admit their nationality. Facebook status updates equally expressed this sentiment. And I couldn't help but notice it was all because of one man that made me feel that way; I didn't feel it yesterday. It was because he represented my interests. He was my voice. Either call me an idealist, or call me a traitor but I cannot support something I don't believe in, even if it is my country. Despite his noted eloquence and fluffy visionary rhetoric, Barack Obama did actually give me hope. And that's when I realized how inspiring a leader can be. And how one person really can make a difference.

One person. "We are the ones," Obama says. Despite appearances, we each contributed to this change by voting. I made sure to vote from abroad, even if my vote was counted in Texas, because I wanted accountability. Voting is a powerful thing.

Now Barack Obama has a wounded, emotional and lost nation in his hands. He has a lot of responsibility and a lot of expectations in front of him. He has built up so much expectation in his campaign that it could be very hard to satisfy. In this way I only hope the American people be patient and truly give him a chance. Barack Obama is a very intelligent, methodical man. He may be relatively inexperienced but I'm confident he and Joe Biden has what it takes to restore our place in the world as a great and humble nation.

I'm not saying that Barack Obama is America's savior. He will not snap his fingers and make everything better - the economy, the war, etc - he will make some mistakes. He's only human. But he will bring diplomacy abroad, faith at home, good education, good stimulus packages for small businesses and middle class families, hopefully rebuild our ties with Latin America... and generally restore the hope in its citizens that America so desperately needs. And even so, I might finally be ready to come home.