Well friends, it is not about vegetarian food once again …
I want to share my experience of an exciting challenge that I survived!
I was not fully aware of what’s going to happen when I signed up for the 24 hour Business Concept Challenge (part of Inspiration Week Live) … The agenda was more clear only when I received the detailed email – few days prior to the event (It read ‘Keep in mind that we do not supply a place to sleep or shower. In other words, you will not be able to sleep or shower because you will be developing concepts for 24hrs’)
It reminded me of the ‘threat’ we were subjected to while signing up for the MCC course. However, it was nothing compared to the threat of going to the dark forests and facing the wild animals (who turned out to be too body concious -maybe because of the moonlight- and never showed up!)
The event was hosted in the ADO soccer stadium of The Hague (or Den Haag). It started with introduction of around 70 participants. Most of the students were related to ‘entrepreneurship’ course in some way. Some of them were young (in their 20’s) and were ‘on their own’. I was the only ‘un-Dutch-able’ participant (and had to keep them reminding to talk in English becuase their ‘cough’-ing language reminded me of BAFA BAFA simulation)
Dr. Cheek from Kauffman Foundation (US) kicked off the event with inspiring talk on entrepreneurship. He mentioned the interesting trend in the US where many people are setting up their businesses while there are still in the school. He mentioned a book that profiles very young entrepreneurs from the US (is this it?). However, my fellow PGPXers – don’t get disheartened – we are never too late for starting our own business (Dr. Cheek himself – a double PH.D. – or PHenomenally Dumb as per him – is still thinking of starting his own venture next year)
Then started the all-night challenge. They divided us in teams of 3-4 and assigned some questions to build a business around that. The two ex-army event co-ordinators kept us awake throughout the night with their PPTs filled with war-related videos. They tried to claim that things taught in ‘MBA’ are not new. It is just new avtaar of MDMP (Military Decision Making Process) being practised for long.
At 5 or 6 in the morning, when I was feeling like a zombie, they made us exercise & run round the stadium in chiling cold!
All in all – it was an interesting learning experience – meeting enthusiastic participants, innovative companys and exploring the demonstrations.
Well, what are the hardships that I survived?
– I was out of the bed for 40 hours at a stretch and I survived only on few Pepsi, 1-2 kanzi apples, a cup of (innovative!) potato soup, several packs of Lays chips and some chocolate bars!
Moreover, I had not visited our B&B owner’s princely bathroom for 50 hours and still thanks to the popular Unilever product – aXe (see, every good thing in life has an ‘X’ in it!) no one around me fainted!
PS: One interesting dichotomy I was exposed to – these guys want to eat all living things – but they want to make sure that before it goes in their stomach it had a ‘happy life’! What a strange world – haven’t they heard of anything called ‘vegetables/grains/non-living eatables’ ?!?
unique ideas! 