Word

Being multilingual is such an asset in our global economy that it surprises me that all b-schools don’t make it a requirement for graduation. LBS, INSEAD, and the countless top companies that recruit at both places clearly see the value, so why don’t all b-school administrators? I guess it would be too great a marketing challenge for them to attract their future “global” leaders to campus??? Who cares, I guess, as long as my classmates and I have the upper hand by being able to directly engage in business in different parts of the world. For my part, I am currently bilingual (Farsi & English), but I am working on improving my Spanish enough to meet LBS’ language requirement (ie, I’m watching World Cup games on a Spanish channel). Once my Spanish is up to snuff, I want to leverage the Latin base to become conversant in French and Italian. My father spoke 5 languages (Farsi, Turkish, Russian, German, and English) so it’s kind of a goal for me to match that. LBS’ exchange program may actually take me to IESE for just this reason. For those unfortunate enough to wonder about what I wonder about, I checked and securing an HSBC loan does not preclude you from leaving the country for 3 months to do an exchange.

Weekend: I’m off to the great and nearly barren state of Wyoming tomorrow. I’m actually traveling with my girlfriend to Denver for one night before making the 6 hour drive north. A good friend is getting married to the ’03 Miss USA contestant from Wyoming, which may be the only reasonable argument for having a wedding in the middle of nowhere.

Now: I’m now signing off to watch the Portugal v France game that I went out of my way not to find out the score for while at work so I could have another chance to learn Spanish.