Mid November is one of the most exciting times for us at MSM Romania because it’s when we get to meet the EMBA new students. With only 1 intake per year, this is the chance to know those amazing managers and entrepreneurs starting their transformation journey.
Every group is special and has its unique qualities and features, but this group was particularly special because it marked our 10th year of running the Executive MBA program in Romania.
What will they be doing for the next 2 years?
Our Executive MBA is considered one of the most practice-oriented programs, where students learn during the weekend what they will apply at their jobs during the week.
Being surrounded by managers with a lot of experience means you get to learn from your colleagues not only from the teachers. For the next 2 years, we meet every other week for courses, with a break over summer and winter holidays. Our time together kickstarts with the Discovery Camp, where we spend a weekend away from Bucharest.
The Discovery Camp
During the 3 days of the Discovery Camp, we encourage students to discover their strengths, weaknesses, limits, capabilities, fears and hopes. Since the value of a world-class MBA is greatly depended upon the other students in the program, the Discovery Camp also provides the platform for them to make this discovery along with those colleagues who will not only be joining the same MBA class, but will also be an instrumental part of your lifelong network.
“Looking back, an important contribution to this positive Executive MBA experience brought the diverse smart people I met: teachers and colleagues, the intense hours spent to find group solutions in such a diversity. Those experiences triggered business networking but also long term friendships.”
Is what Andrei Radulescu, Co-Founder & CFO, Qriser.com told us.
Kick off
We met in the morning at MSM HQ and left for Casa Vlăsia, our destination for the weekend. We checked-in to our rooms, then met for a kick off meeting, facilitated by Radu Atanasiu, our Lecturer of Critical Thinking. We did the rounds to introduce ourselves and explain a bit about the role we have in our companies.
Then, Adrian Stanciu, our Associate Dean for Knowledge & Leadership, conducted an exercise called “Red and green”, which helps test our team collaboration skills. We won’t offer any more details about this, since we don’t want to spoil it if you join any of out future Discovery Camps.
We ended the evening with a campfire and some singing that will never leave our internal WhatsApp group, for fear of the blackmail that could be associated with it.
Day 2
Day 2 started with a session with Adrian Stanciu on leadership, with materials from Human Synergistics, followed by an exercise of survival at the mountainside. Then, split in groups, the students worked on an exercise of group values, helping them identify what is important to their teams.
The afternoon was completed with a discussion with Sergiu Neguț, our Associate Dean for Entrepreneurial Growth and wine tasting. This turned out to be an exciting experience for the students, as Costin Baicu, Chief Financial Officer, Total Soft, has told us:
“During Discovery Camp, I met people from different industries, with diverse challenges and I had the pleasure to reflect together with them on interesting subjects, which we approached from different perspectives. Personally, I felt like I did when I started my professional career, when I was working in a consultancy company. There, I had a lot of colleagues that taught me a lot and I found answers to questions I had. The experience to contribute with your best to a new group, in which people get to know each other for the first time, was very interesting.”
Day 3, Sunday, meant a short debriefing and returning home with the start of new friendships already being formed. Here’s how Claudiu Butacu, Chairman of the Board at Solar Decatlon Bucharest Association lived the Discovery Camp:
“It was an exceptional weekend, with new people and useful information we received after 20 students have started a new chapter called: What helps me develop, what chapters from my ‘hard drive’ does this course answer and what ‘software’ can I use to implement it. 3 days to get to know each other, to find out what motives us and what info we are passing on.
During the day we listened and we applied during the evening, either in the camp fire, or in the team at mime or the talent evening, which will remain for a long time in our memories.
Sergiu and Radu have opened our appetite for discovering more about what happens around us, how we analyze and make decisions, how important it is to balance the arguments we have and how to deal with external factors that appear. The short time, the wine tasting and the superb atmosphere were the concentrated doses which helped us know each other and set the expectations for the upcoming period.”
The next class takes place on the 13-15 December (or if you’re reading this later, check out the schedule here) and you can join us for a half day, to live for yourself the EMBA experience.