Day 420: Columbia or Bust

One lesson I've learned while living in Paris for the past two years is... to take time to reflect. "Réfléchir" they call it.
So last night I spent a very long time researching the three alternative - but potentially more successful - options given to me from accepted.com - Stanford, MIT and Trium courses. Sloan Fellows courses are evidently aimed at us older more experienced folks, but from a live-in full-time perspective, Stanford seemed the only reasonable choice.

I spent hours researching the Stanford program, and to be fair the course looks amazing, the alumni truly great, and the location superb. I even downloaded all the iPhone apps to look around the place, and checked out the on-campus accommodation options.

You know, I actually believed for a second this was a viable alternative. Then I paused to "reflect".

Today was a very wet day in Paris. It has rained almost non-stop, which hasn't happened for a long as I can remember this year. It's still raining now, and the drips are beating down on my roof. A sound I find calming and reassuring. Must be a British thing. So I have had a long time to reflect.

And you know what? No. No to Stanford. It has to be the Columbia Full-time MBA, and I will do my darndest to get in.

Although living in New York City has been a dream for as long as I remember, that is only partially the reason for the MBA at Columbia. The main reason - my long-term goals, and the connections and networking I can do in NYC that I know will be without parallel anywhere else in the USA or the world.

I have a dream to bring small, profitable and promising companies or ideas and expand them into international markets. To do that alone, I will need venture capital. To do it for a company, I will need international contacts and money, the like of which exist nowhere but in New York. And to be taken seriously, the words "Columbia MBA" will be the clincher.

I've lived all over the world. And when I say "lived", I mean I didn't just go somewhere for a couple of weeks. I've lived - rented apartments, paid bills, opened bank accounts, got local travel cards, paid taxes, you name it. Abu Dhabi, London, Kuwait, Dubai, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Paris. And I count amongst the cities I know very well, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, Bombay, Stockholm, Bolzano... and more.

Now I'm ready to take someone, or some company, or some idea, and with the benefit of living and working in all of these places, help them to globalise. And where better to set myself up with the capability and contacts, than the world's true "global capital city". New York. And where else to gain the qualification in this city other than... Columbia.

It's nice to get doubts out of the way quickly. The French approach to thoughtfulness and reflection is superb. But you can't beat the anglo-saxon approach to taking an instinct and running with it, if you feel it will result in success.