Archive for April/2011

Wedding Fever is mounting in London as 1000´s of people camp outside to get a view of the Royal Wedding which is taking place tomorrow morning, Friday 29th April.

Thanks to the public holiday in honour of the wedding, offices are closed (including ours) and street parties are taking place all over the UK to celebrate, a very curious British tradition!

If you´ve been living on the moon and haven´t heard what´s been going on, visit the official website to follow the day real-time!

This month IE took part in Aiesec’s National Conference in Germany, which aimed to bridge the gap between Youth and Business by discussing and collaborating around important global trends that move society and economy: Climate change, Responsible Corporate behaviors, Labor mobility and Diversity. Approximately 350 students from all over Germany, who already gained leadership experience in the 47 local sites of Aiesec, as well as experts form industry and practice participated at the event held in Bielefeld.

IE’s workshop, hosted by Nora Anderson, concentrated on Social Entrepreneurship as well as Leadership Skills for Challenges of the Future. Participants were encouraged to take a close look at their own personal strengths and talents and think about how to develop these skills even further in order to continuously improve as a corporate responsible leader. Together in groups, participants had to come up with solutions to develop products and services for customers at the Base of the Pyramid, the worlds 4 billion poorest and a segment often excluded by markets, banks and multinationals. Creativity and innovation was key in the design of these new and original solutions. Participants in IE’s workshop were very positively surprised that a business school had so much knowledge to share on Corporate social responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship.

Check out the video above to experience the vibrant atmosphere at Aiesec Germany’s national conference.

IE Professor Gayle Allard visited France this month to share her vision with local alumni on the world situation after the 2008 economic and financial crisis. She also talked about how countries, corporations and individuals could deal with this “new normal”. This successful event on April 5th was held in the famous Louvre Musuem district downtown Paris gathered many current students and alumni who actively debated during the conference. The evening was concluded by a cheese and wine gathering allowing attendees to further pursue the discussion.

The IE France Club would like to thank Professor Gayle Allard, Victoria Gemeno, Nora Anderson and Liudmila Ishchenko for making this event possible, as well as all attendees for their active participation. We look forward to seeing  you at our next event scheduled for May 2011. Please stay tuned on social networks to get informed on our next events!

Check out these photos from the event, as well as an official IE video interview with Professor Allard sharing her views on the world economy. The video is unrelated to the recent event.

On April 11th professor Steven D’Souza lead a Master Class in Milan titled “Achieving success through networking and social capital.” Steven is an executive fellow and member of IE Business School’s Corporate Learning Group. He was formerly vice president in global wealth management (private banking) at Merrill Lynch responsible for managing diversity and inclusion across the EMEA region.
The class, open to alumni, prospective students, and others simply interested in the topic, was a good opportunity not only to learn how to uncap our potential through networking, but also a chance to put the recently acquired knowledge into practice during the cocktail that followed.

La Semana Santa or Holy Week is one of Spain’s most celebrated religious festivities. It is a one-of-a-kind display of tradition, music, culture, theatre and religion.

Southern Spain is definetely the best place to immerse in these milenar traditions, in cities like Sevilla and Granada. However, small villages and towns, also known in Spanish as Pueblos, organize amazing celebrations.

In fact, each city offers unique Holy Week festivities, always culminating with stunning processions. Typically, these processions boast floats adorned with scenes from Christ’s Passion which are watched by huge crowds of locals and tourists from all over the world, also known as Nazarenos or Penitents. Some of the penitents walk barefoot the entire procession. In some cases, processions may last for almost an entire day or night.

So, if you are planning a visit to Spain in Semana Santa, don´t waste the amazing opportunity to experience the rich traditions of del País del Sol.

– Deise Leobet