By Giri Kesavan, MBA2021
Giri is the Co-President of The Tech & Media Club at London Business School. An MBA2021 student, he also chairs the degree & careers wide Technology Sector Steering Committee, working with the school, faculty, industry, alumni and Careers Centre on Technology education & careers. Over his time at LBS he has been interested in experiential learning at the school, including coordinating student-led physical and virtual treks to connect students to industry, from London to the world.
Experiential Learning is a central theme of our MBA programme at London Business School. Bringing what we learn in the MBA classroom to industry, from London to the world, is a key element of the MBA. This central value of the MBA was at risk when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. With the inability to travel internationally…the key question was…what would happen?
I’m so proud of LBS for not taking the easy way out. It would have been easy to simply cancel such key programmes that added huge value to our MBA experience. Instead, students, staff, faculty and alumni came together to develop a new kind of virtual global experience – connecting students with different cultures and economies in a virtual context, with all the safety and security that’s needed in these tricky times for international travel.
I’ve had the privilege this week to be part of a unique new virtual global experience in Tokyo along with Professor Lina Yueh, Lara Chambers, Avgi Chatzimpalioti and 22 MBA2021 classmates. Ranging from Robotics, Economics, Technology, VC, Cultural Challenges and much more, we had an amazing virtual week in Tokyo that highlighted how, even though we couldn’t physically be together – we can create truly global experiences in a virtual context.
Our Tokyo GBE wrapped up this morning with key debates on the prevailing themes of the week, focusing on the Robotics sector in Japan, as well as the key challenges to alleviate the issues surrounding a stagnating economy. Check out the previous entries in the blog series for deep dives on these themes!
On a personal note, this was actually my final course at LBS for the MBA programme. What a fantastic way to consolidate the MBA learnings into a truly global context, working collaboratively with the Experiential Learning Team, Faculty, Staff, our amazing alumni and a whole host of industry partners. It’s really come full circle.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our virtual week in Japan, and a huge thank you to our Experiential Learning team at LBS for creating world-class global experiences even in such a challenging environment.
Missed the previous entries in the series? Catch-up from Day 1 of the Tokyo GBE.