HBS AMP 179 Program - The week before start

The week before leaving for Boston Finally the day of leaving arrived. And the last week before leaving for Boston was quite a hectic one. I was supposed to leave on Saturday night Sept 4th – and the first few days of the week became quite a busy one. Monday, I was hosting an important customer delegation from Europe. On Tuesday had to make a flying visit to Chennai – it was nice to drive to the airport, park the car, take a flight, finish work in Chennai, fly back to Bangalore and drive back home. Though I enjoyed it, it was quite tiring. On Wednesday, we were meeting offsite with some members of the leadership team and it was one hectic day. Though I had planned to take off on Thursday, I ended up going to office to close a few things – including filing all expenses ! On Friday, had to go for a routine medical checkup. Friday turned out to be a long day – started with a much needed bath for Boxie (our pet Boxer) – giving bath to pets is quite tiring but, I also find it a stress buster ! The evening turned out to be very good – watching a play by Bangalore Little Theatre on a folklore – in the wonderful company of Subroto and Mita Bagchi. The play ended at around 9:30PM and then we drove to a nice restaurant for a quiet dinner. Reached home past midnight ! Saturday was reserved for phone calls, meeting some close family elders and packing. After a very long time, I am travelling for a longish duration – so it was dilemma in terms of how many things to carry. I hate heavy luggage and hence the problem was compounded. Finally managed to pack everything into one check-in bag and one carry on. Completed some last minute action items related to work, finished calling a few close people, including my daughter Maddy. Walked up to my in-laws place to say bye, finished early dinner and left for the airport at 10:30 PM, which is quite early for a 2:20AM flight. But I always do so, so that the family at home atleast can sleep well. Anyway I don’t have a choice ! While I am eagerly looking forward to this program in HBS, I am going in quite underprepared. While I did manage to read the case study, could not read the three books recommended. One part of my brain tells me that I will be okay, as I am reasonably comfortable on financial statements like balance sheets and P&L’s. But I also know there is more to financial analysis than just balance sheets and P&L statements. More later .....