January 8th & 9th : Esade University & Tech City
Day 1:
My first two days in Barcelona on this GDC have absolutely surpassed my expectations. The amount of knowledge and insight that I have immediately taken from the numerous spaces in which I have JUST been exposed to is incomprehensible to me.
Esade University is one of the top MBA Business Universities in the world, and after touring the campus, and meeting some of their faculty and students, I completely understand why. Our lecture with Ferran Blanch really put into perspective to me, how important satisfaction is in marketing and business in general. I think we tend to overlook that face, and focus mostly on the profit, or monetary aspects of business, so this was a new thought for me to ponder and explore. Providing a satisfactory service to a consumer and acquiring their loyalty in the service you provide will eventually result in profit. Ferran emphasized having global vision when marketing, and being able to think first, and act later. His Five Decision Making Strategies were especially helpful to putting into perspective how to be successful in all marketing and business realms as well.
Challenge the market
Understand the market
Create value
Capture value
Sustain value
I very much so enjoyed the conversation we had with Javier Aguilar, and how he opened up his experiences with owning numerous business and being an entrepreneur to the class. He was very genuine, relatable, and open-minded to the topic of discussion, and I strive to be the same way in many aspects. One takeaway that stood out to me in both presentations was this notion of not rushing and jumping right into situations (pertaining to life, as well as business) without thinking strategically about the effects that this may have in the long run. Ferran noted that he finds that our generation tends to think we know all the answers, and don't take the time to really strategize and just think for a moment, and I 100% agree with him. But the first step to change is realization, so this is something I will definitely keep in mind as I further in my professional and personal pursuits. Javiers pie chart for how he utilizes his time has made me realize the importance of not wasting the time we do have, and that there is a way to balance your professional pursuits, while still remaining to have leisure time. He made a few statements that I appreciated greatly, and that inspired me to chase what it is I am working to accomplish in my lifetime.
"Be bold, be brave."
"Be right the first time-not after many times."
"Adapt to trends in order to minimize your investment."
These are just a few of my takeaways, but I think these lectures were a great way to set this experience into gear.
Further on, the facilities and resources offered by Esade were astounding. The way that they promote creativity and innovation in their students clearly has had an impact on the way they were able to go into the world and continuing developing themselves in order to make a difference. The Rambla of innovation and these "think spaces" really are ways to enhance student opportunities to create and innovate in whatever way aligns with the student's insights.
The presentation by the CEO of Kernel were especially fascinating to me, because I have a strong interest in the philosophy/study of the human mind. The way he was able to combine the sciences of neurology with marketing was absolutely amazing to me, and these were technologies that I had never heard of previously. I took a great deal out of my first day, and cannot wait to see what the rest of this experience has in store.
Day 2:
Today, we took a visit to Tech City, and it made me very ware of how innovative and technologically focused Barcelona truly is. In having these spaces to allow individuals to grow themselves and work together comfortably, I can see why providing growth to the city of Barcelona ends up being the result. These innovation hubs in turn, end up providing a number of services for the city of Barcelona, as well as employment. These spaces to grow, and learn with so many different companies, talents and perspectives really does promote how well things can operate when the goal is to grow each other and not bring each other down.
It was in Tech City that I realized how different Barcelona's operative perspective of business is different in comparison to New York in this way. In coming from the states, I have this almost engrained mindset to always be the best, and make money in order to be as successful as possible. In visiting these spaces, I was opened to the reality of being the best through helping others and the spaces around me in order to be successful. Most of the companies in Tech City were working on projects that really do have some sort of influence on growing and aiding the city of Barcelona. One of our tour guides noted the developments created around the Sagrada Familia in order to track tourism in order for better management of traffic efficiency. This is the perfect example of innovation meeting with societal issues to produce a mutually beneficial outcome for this directly and indirectly involved.