Alumni eNewsletter - August 2010
Editor's Notes
Welcome to the August 2010 edition of our quarterly eNewsletter which is split into 4 sections:
Editor's Notes - news specifically aimed at Henley alumni
Business School News - latest news from Henley Business School
International News - news from our international alumni associations
Past Issues
Each part of the eNewsletter can also be navigated to from the left hand navigation under 'eNewsletter'
Innovation in Healthcare: the route to saving £20Bn?
The Healthcare SIG's second event of the year was kindly hosted by Clydesdale Bank on Wednesday 19 May 2010. Over 50 members and their guests enjoyed a stimulating evening exploring the proposal: "Innovation in Healthcare: the route to saving £20Bn?". The three speakers were:
Jim Dawton, MD, Designit UK - who suggested that £20Bn could not be realised without thinking differently about products and also about staff and patient involvement
Andrew Rudd, from Andrew Rudd Consulting, previously Chief Operating Officer of the NHS Purchasing & Supplies Agency - who explored how the work of PASA to enable reduced purchasing costs still had room for further efficiencies, but that this could only be a supporting part to real change in the style of healthcare provision
Dan Jones, Communications Manager for the Association of British Healthcare Industries - who proposed that the contribution of small and medium sized businesses in the healthcare sector still had a great deal of underutilized potential to offer to the NHS
A lively question and answer panel discussion followed and a great deal of positive networking was also achieved!
For copies of the three presentations, please click here:
- Jim Dawton presentation (PDF-589 KB)
- Andrew Rudd presentation (PDF-1,321 KB)
- Dan Jones presentation (PDF-715 KB)
eBusiness SIG 47th Meeting - 'The power of informal networks' a workshop with Natalie Turner, CEO and Founder of Entheo
Malcolm Gladwell in his famous book The Tipping Point, talks of three fundamental roles certain individual's play in affecting large scale social change; mavins, salesmen and connectors. But what about organisations? Are there similar roles that individuals play in affecting how change happens, or not? Dr. Karen Stephenson, Harvard Scholar, quantum chemist and corporate anthropologist, has put the microscope onto the heart beat of organisational life to identify not only the core roles that certain individuals play, but the eight informal networks that are in operation in any organisation.
On 20 May 2010 at the 47th meeting of the Henley Alumni eBusiness SIG held at the British Bankers' Association in London, Natalie Turner, CEO and Founder of Entheo Leadership Innovation Company, took the 28 delegates on a whistle stop tour of the DNA of organisations to shed light on the power of informal networks and how their health can make or break cultural change. For more information contact Natalie Turner on natalie.turner@entheo.com.
To join the eBusiness Group please email ebusiness@henley.com.
Presentations
- The Power of Informal Networks - Entheo Presentation (PDF-772 KB)
- The Quantum Theory of Trust (PDF-339 KB)
- Video clip of Natalie Turner's presentation
Growing People - a Leadership Journey"
Wednesday, 2 June 2010 at Greenlands
On a beautiful summer's evening, we were delighted to welcome Dame Mary Marsh, DBE, Founding Director of the Clore Social Leadership Programme who entertained our alumni and guests with details of her own leadership journey and how it contributed to the creation of the programme which seeks to develop and nurture third sector leaders. She emphasised the breadth of skills a good leader requires including physical and emotional resilience and a toolkit of technical skills. Her talk was a source of inspiration to a most appreciative audience.
The Henley London & SE Alumni Group Summer Garden Party
Tuesday, 22 June 2010: in keeping with the Summer Garden Party tradition there was another fantastic turnout that saw 45 guests congregate in the exclusive gardens of the Athenaeum Club. It was a beautifully warm summer's evening that began with a refreshing glass of champagne, before fine wine and snacks were served. With tonsils wetted in a relaxed environment, conversations ebbed and flowed with ease. For those swept up in the moment, the evening continued in a delightful pub nearby.
Guests included previous speakers Julian Tregoning (Director, Bank of New York Mellon) and Bruce Beringer (Managing Partner, 33 St. James's), and other guests included Seamus Smith, (Chair of the Alumni Board, Henley Business School) and Chris Bullmore (Director of Alumni Services, Henley Business School).
The committee has received kind emails from members who thoroughly enjoyed themselves at this event and would encourage everyone to spread the word about their events. Finally, and very importantly, the Committee would like to thank the members of the Alumni Services and others who continue to make our London & South East Alumni events a success.
Annual Alumni Members' Day 2010
Held on Sunday 4 July 2010, this year's Members' Day saw yet again over 1,000 alumni, friends and family return to Greenlands' beautiful lawns for a traditional English family day out. To order photos, check the answers to the quizzes and a full write-up please click here
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An excellent regatta for the Henley team
The Cranfield MBA Regatta took place over the weekend of 9-10-11 July. The weather was glorious with hot sun and good winds resulting in near-perfect sailing conditions. The biggest ever entry included seventeen boats from Cranfield plus over ten other business schools. The Henley crew finished 12th out of 37 boats, a massive improvement on last year and the result of training, good leadership and a lot of hard work by all the team. Well done everyone! Tim Lawson, DL MBA 2001 & Team Organiser
Click here for the blog of Henley Business School's sailing group and to see the full results table. If you are interested in joining the Henley Sailing Group, in the first instance please contact alumni@henley.com.
Mark Henry's observations of the MBA Regatta were summed in the following poem - with apologies to Clement C Moore and his visit of St Nick
'Twas our weekend for racing as the HBS Crew; all of us keen to see how well we'd do
Our skipper said the start line will be over there, so I settled my nerves with a pre contest beer
The pit crew warmed up by drinking their tea; then eating a croissant & a doughnut (or three)
Ready for action for the start line we made; the race officer said 'the first race course is laid'
The skipper said "Right guys now this is my call" & we all gathered around to listen to Paul
"We'll put the sun in our faces and close haul on port tack".......................
So we broad reached to starboard with the sun at our backs '
Click here (PDF-81 KB) for the full poem "With apologies to Clement C Moore .."
TSIBA Project
Concerning all the elements of the MBA journey, the experiences gained in terms of business exposure, personal development and life influencing issues, by far the most rewarding were those experienced while working with TSIBA (Tertiary School in Business Administration) a charity based in South Africa.
"The school actively recruits as student's untapped talent within communities that are impoverished, both academically and economically"
Predominately this criterion is within the townships of South Africa and home to a large proportion of the students who attend the school.
Our role as a visiting MBA team had a number of objectives:
- Current effectiveness of the brand, how it might be improved
- Recommend ways to increase the student uptake and decrease those that leave early
- Make recommendation to increase funding through current and additional stakeholders
This required us to visit all the stakeholders from potential investor's, current students at TSIBA and the schools within the townships in which most of the recruitment for TSIBA takes place.
It is while researching the current students and visiting the schools within the townships that from a team and individual perspective, we found more then we ever thought we would.
To provide some background, you will note from the image above the size of the accommodation that a proportion if not all the students live, sharing it with a number of family members including siblings. The average journey time from the townships to TSIBA by train is 1:30 minutes each way.
When the student arrives home, many have household commitments, which are expected to be done before any further studying can take place, in addition the student usually has one room to eat and sleep, giving little quiet time to study.
At the time of our visit, the students who were at TSIBA indicated to us, the culture within the household and generated by the family head, were not always conducive to further study. One student commented; "In my family, we were told by our mother "Now I have put you through school (primary and secondary), go out and earn".
This was due to the financial situation of most families within the townships requiring their siblings to go out and work, bringing scarce but additional resources into the home.
It is hard to express in a few words the mental discipline these young talented students need to have for further education. Although the desire of the students to better themselves shines through and many who come to TSIBA are in need of English and Mathematics improvement, their focus and commitment leaves an impression.
David J Monk MSc MBA
(Henley Full Time MBA, October 2009)
Soroptimist Fair Trade Fashion Show
Jane Slatter, Henley Full-time MBA student from 2004/5 is working on a voluntary basis as a member of the global women's organisation Soroptimist International (SI). She is currently a Regional Director managing PR activities for SI London Chilterns Region and from October she will be the PR, Marketing and Development Director for the Federation of Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland Ltd. Jane ran the promotional activities for a Fair Trade charity fashion show on the 27th May. The event raised money for Project SIerra, which helps disadvantaged women and children in Sierra Leone face their futures with confidence www.projectsierra.org. The event was also being used as a recruitment vehicle for SI. Guests enjoyed a glass of wine during the evening while the girls showed off a selection of People Tree Fair Trade fashion, and two dresses made by women in SIerra Leone who have been supported by Project SIerra. In addition to the fashion show there were displays for guests to view with information from Soroptimist International, The Fairtrade Foundation and Women for Women International, plus clothes, jewellery, gift items and beauty treatments from independent local businesses. The event was held in the prestigious surroundings of the library in the University Women's Club in Mayfair.
Henley on LinkedIn
I'm glad to see that numbers are still steadily growing, and I wanted to let you know that a new subgroup has been formed - the "Henley subgroup on Energy", the aim of which is to link energy professionals who have shared the Henley experience. To join the group, follow this link:
Henley sub-group on Energy, but please remember that you need to join the main group first, and in order to do that your profile should be fully up-to-date.
Several of you have also pointed out that there appear to be a great number of Henley Management College or Henley Business School alumni /special interest groups on LinkedIn, and it's not always clear whether a group is "official" or not. Since LinkedIn cannot know and doesn't discriminate in the formation of groups and subgroups, there is probably no easy way around this. However, the Henley Business School main group has the University of Reading Henley logo, my name as owner and in excess of 5,100 members, so should be easy to spot.
More recently, there has been increasing anecdotal evidence that Henley programme members and alumni are using the site as a vehicle for mutual networking, not just window-shopping or displaying and exchanges views on various topics. LinkedIn is slowly introducing improvements to its site, latterly changes in the functionality of the groups area. As for subgroups, we are now looking at setting up one for those of you who work in government or public sector. Another final plea to anyone requesting membership to have their online profile accurate and up-to-date with your Henley programme and years. There are still about 80 in the queue, mostly for that reason. For now, it will be me that continues to manage the Henley groups.
Chris Dalton, SAL for Personal Development
P.S. Congratulations Chris on your new role as Subject Area Leader for Personal Development. May we take this opportunity to offer a huge thank you from all of us in the Alumni Team for the thousands of hours you have invested in checking the authenticity of each request to join the Henley Business School Group on LinkedIn. Thank you also for agreeing to continue to manage the groups on LinkedIn for us.
13 alumni attend workshop on Brand Innovation and the Future of Marketing as guests of Benchmark for Business
Martin Luther King never said "I have a corporate mission statement," but he did say that he had a dream. That was the message that lay at the heart of Kevin Roberts (Global CEO Saatchi & Saatchi) workshop during a fascinating conference on Brand Innovation and the Future of Marketing organised by Benchmark for Business in April.
Being a top-notch business event, it was attended by no fewer than 13 Henley Alumni and there was much leading-edge thinking to reflect on. The morning session conducted by Kevin Roberts was focussed on how to cut through the noise of branding and marketing initiatives in an increasingly cynical world to connect emotionally with clients, customers and users. The MBAs amongst us were delighted to see that he even brought along his own 2 x 2 matrix to demonstrate how Saatchi and Saatchi plot brands on axis against the respect and love (their emotional connection) that they command in their markets. His recommendations to create businesses with meaning and let emotion rip were far from standard business school fare though and his call to understand customer mindsets rather than their revealed buying preferences through market research offered pause for thought amongst many in the room.
After a superb three course lunch the afternoon session by Guy Kawasaki on the marketing possibilities for social media was equally as fascinating and served to highlight just how fast the field of marketing is evolving at present and the advantage that can be captured by firms fast enough to exploit the new communication channels that are emerging. All in all, well worth a day out of the office.
Bill Guthrie, FT MBA 2008
"Guy Kawasaki at the Brand Innovation and the future of Marketing Conference, Kings Place, London"
Do you regularly shop on-line?
The Henley Centre for Customer Management is continuing its research into Online Customer Experience. This is the second phase of the research and many of you kindly helped with last year. If you regularly shop on-line we would appreciate it if you could take time to complete the questionnaire using the link below. The questionnaire should take no more than 10 minutes and we will provide all those who take part with a summary of the research findings as we did previously. If you wish to have a copy of the findings please email julie.stout@henley.reading.ac.uk. Even if you did not take part in the first phase please feel free to complete the questionnaire now.
Online Customer Experience questionaire (PDF-123 KB)
Many thanks for your help.
Professor Moira Clark
Director of The Henley Centre for Customer Management
Take part in worldwide research into organization culture and work
Visiting fellow, Peter Thomson, who ran the Future Work Forum at Henley for 16 years is carrying out groundbreaking research along with one of our MBA students and in collaboration with Cass Business School, London. This examines organization culture, management attitudes and innovative working practices and will feature in a book to be published next year. A key part of the project is collection of data through a short questionnaire that takes 10 minutes to complete. You are invited to participate by going to Organization Culture and New Ways of 
Working survey and completing the survey by Friday August 31st. If you take part, you will receive a summary of key findings which will go to participants only and you will be entered for a draw for a $100 Amazon voucher and copies of the book. So please support this project and contribute to this important piece of research.
Books Written by Henley Alumni
If you've recently published a paper or book, we can promote this on the website
Books Written by Henley Alumni by contacting alumni@henley.com to list publication details. Items are listed by publication date. If you can arrange a discount with your publisher for fellow alumni, so much the better.
Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)
The Institute of Leadership & Management is the largest qualifications awarding body in the UK with over 90,000 learner registrations for qualifications in leadership, management, coaching and enterprise each year. They're also a leading professional body with over 35,000 practising managers as members. Henley Business School has teamed up with ILM to give further recognition for Business School alumni who are also senior managers.
Benefits of Fellowship
Use your ILM Fellowship to broaden your professional network, keep your leadership skills up to date and join a worldwide community of cutting edge leaders and managers.
The annual subscriptions are £125 per year with a discount of £10 if you pay by direct debit. For Henley Business School alumni there is a special offer - a saving of £50 on the usual initial joining fee. (NB prices are valid until 30 September 2010)
For more information about ILM Fellowship and how to apply visit Institute of Leadership & Management, or call Hilary Hall, Director of Customer Services at ILM on 01543 266819 or
email hilary.hall@i-l-m.com
Henley Business School Theatre Club - August Offers
Welcome to your August theatre club offers. This month sees a new look for Westendtheatre.com - we hope you like it. Some big shows are about to close in the West End including La Bete and Enron this month, HAIR, Tap Dogs, Burn The Floor and The Prisoner of Second Avenue in September, Avenue Q in the autumn - and Oliver! in January - so make good use of the special offers available this summer. Also this month, WIN two tickets to hit new show The Railway Children at Waterloo Station, and enjoy our best deal yet on Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre (£20 off) and half price tickets to see the thrilling new drama The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre. For more information and to book please visit the Henley Business School Theatre Club.
General information:
The Henley Business School Theatre Club is a special service to help book tickets to London theatre - and save money. Westendtheatre.com is one of the UK's premiere websites for booking London theatre tickets and has large allocations of tickets to premium shows, and discounts and special offers to a wealth of West End musicals and plays. Westendtheatre.com has set up a special Theatre Club for Henley Business School that brings together their latest offers and discounts on West End shows, plus special theatre and dinner packages and hotel and theatre breaks.
Reading Real Estate Foundation (RREF) News
For the latest news from RREF:
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