Life changing year

I told you this would be a life changing year, in any sense you can imagine. Indeed, somehow it included a MBA, a new house, a wedding, and... a new job!

Over 30 conversations and interviews later, pretty much with all relevant firms in Portugal, a few mentors, and two headhunters, I came to accept an offer to be part of the Strategic Planning team at José de Mello Saúde (JMS).

Most of the firms I talked to did not have open positions at the moment, some were not the right fit for me, and others took forever to go through my recruitment process. In the last stage of this process, I was between Strategic Planning at JMS, M&A and Business Development at EDP, Business Development for Entertainment at NOS, and M&A at Semapa, in this order. All options were strong in different ways: JMS plays in the sector that is growing the most, EDP is the most solid firm, NOS is certainly more dynamic, and Semapa has cool projects on its mind.

José de Mello Saúde was the first one to make me an offer (and a pretty good one). On top of that, I like the sector and am quite interested in learning about healthcare, eventually to share some knowledge with Gorda (and his family business) in the future. Finally, I like everyone I met in the firm, and I have heard great things about my future boss.

The toughest parts of the entire recruitment thing were i) managing all the processes and relationships well, without closing any door or leaving any bad impression, and ii) quitting from BCG. I talked to Miguel Abecasis (the BCG partner I am closer to) on Monday. He kindly tried to convince me to stay, but was nice enough to understand my position. I then sent a goodbye e-mail to everyone else yesterday, and received lots of love from everyone since then.

New life ahead, y'all... And now it is time to enjoy the bride life.

The official e-mail announcing I'm leaving BCG:

(Some of) what I learnt at INSEAD

Hello from Portugal y'all.

Classes are over, and I am back home. In the meantime, I wrote another post in the INSEAD official blog, which you can find in this link.

For the lazy ones, I also posted below a summary of (some of) what I learnt at INSEAD, during the best year of my life (so far). [By the way, I would rather have you clicking on the link because that will increase the number of clicks on my article and, therefore, make it more successful. hehe]

Let’s start with the basics. Academic wise, I learnt quite a lot. I learnt the basics of finance, accounting, macro and micro-economics, marketing and entrepreneurship. I know better than ever how to value a firm, how to assess a project, and how to relate income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. I know how to interpret market signs, which personal investments make more sense, and the whole theories behind price discrimination, auctions, and supply and demand. I know about agency costs, wrong management decisions, and operational efficiency metrics. I know how to position a product, how to create a strong brand, and how to price it. I would certainly be more capable now to open a new business than before my MBA – too bad I am not the most creative and risk taking person in the world. I know this and more – and I learnt it only in a few months.

More important than what I learnt, was the network that I built. Even if I am still not an expert in many of the topics mentioned above, I now know better than ever who to reach out if I have any question. Moreover, I now have contacts literally around the world, in as many sectors and functions as one can imagine. And that’s not only incredibly powerful, but also something that INSEAD is especially strong at.

Because everyone knows about different topics and wants to discuss them out, I’ve had daily contact with questions I have never thought about before. I just feel that, everyday, my knowledge and curiosity grows. And, the more I know, the more I want to know. The more I read, the more I feel that I gotta keep reading. The more questions I am asked, the more questions I need to ask myself. The more I write, the deeper I want to go. It’s like a (good) vicious cycle.

What else have I learnt? I learnt about different cultures and working styles. More than any other experience, INSEAD promotes diversity, both in terms of gender, nationality and background. It taught me how to adapt to different contexts, and how to strive in different environments. It also taught me more about my working style and how I should take advantage of it while dealing with different people and styles. Also, all the travelling and relationships with different nationalities taught me ever so much about different behaviours and values across cultures. I know better than ever the similarities and discrepancies among cultures, and that’s even slightly reflected in my group of closest friends. European countries with Latin origins, Southern American countries and Middle Eastern ones are more similar than one would ever imagine.

Another major learning for me was related to the Women in Business topic. I found out that most ambitious women struggle to ensure a good work-life balance, together with a successful career. I read a few books and blog posts about it, and I even got some female friends of mine interested in creating some kind of informal group to discuss these issues and go through all this together. I wrote about it already, here.

For many people, INSEAD was a good wake-up call in what concerns to relating with other people. In general, it is crucial to maintain relationships, work on them, renounce certain things. Doing an MBA can put anyone in a bubble, and it is important to keep long relationships healthy while enjoying a new network of friends and contacts. And trust me, this is only one of the life lessons we get at INSEAD.

Last but not least, I learnt A LOT about myself – what characterises me the most, which are my main strengths and weaknesses, who I am and who I want to be in the future, what I should do to get there, what I value in other people, what I can do to help them improve, and so on.

Thank you INSEAD for so many learnings. To everyone out there, don’t even think twice if you are considering doing an MBA.

London with the Melinhos

A few weeks back, when I realized that Gorda’s bachelor party was coming up soon, I had the bright idea of trying to keep myself busy during those days. Most of my INSEAD friends were travelling to Lebanon for a week, in a trip organised by Tony, but I had classes until Friday late afternoon and back on Monday early morning. Skipping classes to go to Lebanon was a no go. I am such good friends with Chantal and Tony that I am sure I will go to Lebanon at some point. I then decided to get train tickets to London and visit my hun Carolina Almeida Pires, instead.

Carolina was supposed to be by herself during weekend, as Ricardo had planned to be in Austria playing an European Tour tournament. We were excited to spend a bride & bridesmaid weekend on our own. He changed his schedule last minute, and we ended up having a lovely weekend all together. They did not seem to mind having me and Carolina’s youngest sister, Beatriz (aka Bitinha) as third and fourth wheel, whatsoever.

After a stressful journey to Paris Gare du Nord (had to leave class early, almost lost the train from Fontainebleau, and then thought I would not make it through Eurostar check-in on time due to extra security checks), I made it to London around 9 pm. Carolina, Ricardo and Bitinha picked me up at St Pancras, and the festivities started right away.

We had a drink and a small bite in a typical British pub in Soho and then went to a super duper restaurant for dinner: 2-Michelin star restaurant Yauatcha… Really good and very cheap for a 2-Michelin star restaurant. The golfer paid dinner to the girls. Ricardo had to practice the next day, and the three girls were pretty exhausted from a busy week, so we went to bed right after our late dinner.

On Saturday, we woke up to a very sunny and warm London. We put on our fitness clothes (as pretty much any other person that lives in Chelsea), and left home for breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, in the sun. Ricardo left to the golf course, Carolina and I jumped into London’s bike sharing bikes, and met Bitinha. We checked Chelsea’s Saturday Food Market, walked around King’s road, and ended up sitting for a while in the terrace of a cool place called Joe and The Juice. At 1 pm, Carolina and I did a killing fitness class at her gym, and around 3 pm, we met Bitinha again for a yummy lunch at Chelsea Market. We jumped in our bikes again, and rode all the way to Portobello, where we walked around for a bit. On the way to and from Portobello, we crossed Hyde Park, which was full of Londoners, enjoying the (rare) sun. Ricardo met us back at 7 pm, and we dressed up for a Saturday night in the city. And what a fun night: hipster rooftop in Shoreditch (Queen of Hoxton), dinner in a Spanish restaurant in Soho (Rositas) with a couple friend of Carolina and Ricardo, cool bar already close to home (Goat). At 1 am, exhausted from all the physical activity and fun, we went home.

Today was a chill day. The bride and groom did not wake up until after 10 am. When they woke up, I had already finished my home workout and packed. We had a very nice brunch in the sun at Bluebird Chelsea, walked around King’s Road again, and biked until Hyde Park, where we walked a bit and then sat for a while. We then biked back to Chelsea, had an amazing healthy lunch at L’Eto, helped Bitinha deal with a guy in charge of eliminating all the ants in her house, and then drove to St Pancras, where I had a train waiting for me.

Favourite part of the weekend? Noticing that good old friends will always be good old friends. It’s been a few years since the last time I spent a weekend with Carol and Ricardo. Our lives changed quite a lot too. Despite all that, we were together as if years haven’t passed through us nor if our lives changed.

Thank you Melo Gouveias for such a warm weekend. It is a honour to be a bridesmaid in your wedding this September. 

I promise to come back, next time with my Gorda (who, by the way, survived a few days in Puerto de Santa Maria). Check some pictures of my weekend in London and his weekend in Spain below.

Shai shinned - trip to Israel

Finally got to meet the Middle East, and managed to start literally in the middle of it: Israel. Even if not in the geographical middle of the region, Israel has been the center of attentions for many, many years.

Israel is a country of less than 9 million people - 75% of which Jews -, only 70 years old, surrounded by enemies, resulting in a continuous state of war since its foundation. Yet, it is the most advanced countries in the region, in terms of education, technology, entrepreneurship, industrial development, infrastructure, and economy in general. Some people even say that Israel is the Silicon Valley of this part of the world.

Being in a frequent state of war comes for much further in history. Since ever, Israel was located between empires fighting to conquer Israel in order to expand their domains. Israel became a nation about 1300 BC and is the only country in the world that keeps the same language, culture and religion since then. It’s impressive how strong their values are. It’s quite impressive how strong they are as a nation as well.

I’ve reflected a lot about the Israeli situation in the past few days - about how fair it is that the World decided that the jews should own back their land, about how quickly they transformed a poor Arab country in an economic power, about why the jews have been chased all over history. Is it because they never adapted to the outside world that they have always been attacked, or is it because they have always been attacked that they never adapted? Out of curiosity, did you know that Israel means “struggle with God”?

There’s something else that has kept my mind busy in the past few days - religion. I will talk about it as I describe our days here in Israel.

We met at Orly airport around 5 am on June 1st. Around 2 pm, local time, we made it through security at the Tel Aviv airport. Luckily, Shai - our Israeli friend - was the first one to talk to the border control people, and managed to avoid weird questions and constraints.

We stayed in a really cool hostel in the center of Tel Aviv - Abraham Hostel -, 12 boys in one room, 3 girls in another room, and Laurinha by herself. Shai (aka the boss) had it all planned, so we just followed instructions the entire time. 

Our Israeli experience started at Dr Shakshuka, with an enormous lunch of salads, humous, tahini, shawarma, shakshuka, roasted lamb, pitta bread (for everyone but me), and more, and more, and more. The common element of all our meals in Israel was the absurd number of small plates in the table, and the exaggerated amount of food. Very full, we walked around the cute streets of Jaffa (Tel Aviv oldest and most historical neighbourhood), and then along the sea front. Before heading back to the hostel, we crossed the nicest neighbourhood in town: Rothschild. Some took a nap, while others met Shai’s friends straight away. He booked to big tables at a cool bar called Beer Garden, and gathered both old Israeli friends and new INSEADers. From there, we went clubbing and… damn, Tel Aviv nightlife is something!

Day number two was pretty relaxed. Before the big event of the day - dinner at Shai’s parents’ - everyone did whatever they felt like doing. Laura and I did a good workout at the hostel’s rooftop, and then went for a yummy brunch in Tel Aviv’s coolest street. From there, we walked to the market, where we experienced the movement, noise and colours expectable in the Middle East. Before heading to Shai’s parents, we enjoyed a few hours at the beach. Dinner was again very good. The brave souls went clubbing. The weak ones, me included, went to the hostel after a drink in one bar in town.

Day three walked us through the history of Israel and the Catholic Church. It was the day to explore the North of the country. We left the hostel with our guide - one of Shai’s best friends - around 10:30 am. We walked in the waters of Magrase Wadi. They mark old frontiers with Syria and represent the importance of water during war. There, we learnt a bit about the history of the country and it’s fight against its five surrounding enemies. We then passed through the Sea of Galilee, the Golden Heights, and stopped at Capharnaum, which was home for many important religious entities, such as apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John, as well the town of Jesus. The last stop of the day was Nazareth, “the Arab capital of Israel” (70% Muslims, 30% Christians), which interestingly enough is known to be the childhood home of Jesus. It is also home to the Church of the Annunciation, the place where Annunciation took place. The day finished with a brutal lunch/dinner still in the capital of Northern Israel, and a walk back in Tel Aviv to digest it.

Day number three was pretty rough to me. I visited some of the holiest places on Earth - Capharnaum and Narareth -, places that mean so much to so many people, and I felt nothing. Actually, I felt like a rock. It’s crazy how so many people are dependent on religion and others just don’t let it go through their lives. Is it weird that I don’t feel the need to be religious or that I don’t follow any God? Is it good or bad to be an atheist?

The following day was very special. It was time to visit Jerusalem. We had a wake-up call at 6:00 am in order to make sure we had time for everything. Our first stop was at Mount of Olives, the mountain adjacent to Jerusalem and the land of the major Jewish cemetery in the world. It is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven, and has a very significant meaning for Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. From there, we went to the City of David, the original urban core ancient Jerusalem. Now an Arab neighbourhood, it still holds relevant archaeological sites and very old water tunnels, where we walked in the dark. Despite the important biblical meaning of the City of David, still no archaeological evidence of his presence has been found in the region - only evidence of his successors.

From there, we moved to Jerusalem, the claimed capital of both Israelis and Palestinians. There, we spent some time at the Western Wall, the holiest place on Earth for the Jewish, after the Temple Mount, which lies behind it. There, people leave their wishes and pray to God. Nowadays, it seems to have an effect in everyone - Jewish and non-Jewish -, and you can see anyone spending some time facing the wall and reflecting/ meditating/ praying for a bit. It is a truly special place. Due to Ramadan, the Muslim sites of Jerusalem (Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque) were closed. So, after a quick shawarma lunch, we moved to the Christian part of town. We walked around the city, following the 14 marks of Jesus history in Jerusalem, and checking all the Christian points. We ended our Jerusalem chapter by visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. What a day! So many religions, values, people and cultures laying in the same little place. Unlike the day before, and even though I don’t associate myself with any religion, I felt a special vibe around me. It was good to see how so many different people felt so much (and such different things) in the same place. And it is quite interesting to realize that the three major religions in the world share holy sites. Here we said goodbye to our amazing tour guide: Ma’or Perry (+972522214814, maorperry@gmail.com).

We then travelled for a few more hours towards the desert, where we went on a camel ride, had dinner, drank a few beers and ate a few s’mores around a fire bond (I just looked at people doing this, of course), and slept in a tent, all together.

Day number five was one of my favourites too. We woke up before 4 am, in order to make it to the top of Masada before the sunrise. We hiked for half an hour, saw the sunset on the top of the rock, explored the ancient palace and Jew site, heard the amazing story of the place, and then hiked down for about one hour. The story of Masada is quite special and reflects a lot the values of the Jews. I won’t tell you about it because I don’t want to ruin your experience, one day that you go there. Let me just leave you Masada’s motto: “Masada shall never fall again”. What a special place as well…! After a quick breakfast box at the bottom of the mountain, we checked some fresh water springs, and then went to the Dead Sea, for some floating and mud baths. By the middle of the afternoon, and after 12h awake, we arrived in Tel Aviv. I worked out while most of us napped, and then we went out for dinner and a few drinks.

And this is how it all ended. On the next day, I just checked an artist market and then enjoyed a few hours at the hostel, doing admin stuff. Some went sailing, others went brunching, and that’s it. We went to the airport a few hours in advance, to experience the strictest border process in the world.

Thank you Shai for such an amazing trip.