The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.
The quote is from Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand.
I am happy to say I have finished my first class for my MBA, MGMT 705: Managing in a Global Environment. It consisted of going to class on two Saturdays from 9am - 5 pm with an hour lunch break, and then writing a quick reflection on the class. I get one pass/fail credit hour for this. The content was delivered mostly through the 5 guest speakers. Since I was an undergraduate international business major, none of the content of this intro course was really new or enlightening. But it was decently enjoyable. I found it interesting to observe the students who were being exposed to the subject for the first time. And the guest speaker lineup was quite respectable: the KU provost (a Sanskrit scholar and former IT/business consultant working in India), a retired managing director for Hilte in East Asia, the director of supply chain development for Payless Shoes, a former Japanese diplomat who helped negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, and a professor who is the director of CIBER and a specialist on economics in Latin America.
I wish the title quote were true for my MBA, but I doubt the rest of my classes will be this easy. My first real (graded) class, Financial Accounting, will be finished in March. It’s going well so far. I guess I should stop blogging and start studying for my next quiz in that class.