Buffett in Paris–again!

This weekend I hopped on the train to Paris to meet Mom for her birthday. The very first time I took the TGV from Lausanne to Paris it was to be with Katie before the MBAT and now, the last time I took it (for a while, at least) was to be with Mom for her birthday. That train has done a good job of transporting me to be with the women I love. The 4-hour trip is quite scenic but I’m usually so excited about my destination that I can’t focus on the French countryside outside my window.

Mom was there with a tour group from TCU, her undergraduate alma mater. Most of them were Texans and every one of them welcomed me to join them with open arms. Although there are many things I will miss about Lausanne, I will be quite pleased to return to Texas hospitality. After lunch on Friday at Le Petit Sommelier, Mom and I walked around Paris and went into the Rodin sculpture garden. Very impressive stuff, but I still prefer the Italian Renaissance sculpture of a few weeks ago.
Friday evening we dined at Aux Charpentiers, which remains the best value restaurant I have ever found in Paris, if not all of France. Fresh, delicious cuisine, a gracious staff, AND a special birthday cake prepared just for Mom–what a wonderful evening!
Saturday morning we joined the tour group at Musee d’Orsay. We had three art historian guides–two locals and one professor from TCU. This made for a very informative tour of a museum replete with stunning impressionist works. It struck me that art is like wine: the more you know about it, the more you appreciate it. Multiple times we spent 5+ minutes on an individual painting that I might have otherwise given just a glance. Learning about what made that painting so distinctive (sometimes the painting technique, sometimes the subject matter, sometimes the sociopolitical context, sometimes all of the above!) made it much more interesting.
After a morning full of Monet, Manet, Courbet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, and Van Gogh, we decided that we were kind of saturated. So we skipped the afternoon tour of the Louvre and spent the afternoon wandering around Ile de la Cite, including Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. I had never even heard of Sainte-Chapelle before but it was magnificent! Floor-to-ceiling stained glass made for a very luminescent experience and it housed 32 relics of the passion of Christ, including his crown of thorns, the spear that pierced him on the cross, and a piece of the cross itself. Wow!
Saturday evening Mom and I were in for a cultural experience of a different variety: a Jimmy Buffett concert! When we lived in Alabama we used to listen to Jimmy Buffett when we would head down to the Gulf beaches; he was part of the lifestyle there. Mom took me to my first Buffett concert at Auburn University when I was 8 and I’ve been to many since then. Therefore it seemed appropriate that I take her to her birthday Buffett concert in Paris!
It was a great show, as always–basically one big sing-along with the crowd. This year’s venue, La Cigale, was significantly larger than last year’s but there were still easily fewer than 1,000 people there. I ran into another Rice alum there (whom I had bumped into at last year’s show as well), which was fun. Great show, great night, great birthday weekend.
Now Mom is cruising along the Seine and visiting important impressionist sites with the TCU group. I’m back in Lausanne for just three more days before I’m gone for good. The weather is beautiful and I already miss this place. However, I am so, so, so excited for this next chapter!

Family Time

The weekend was a lot of fun. Nick came into town on Friday so he, Katie, Cox, and I went to dinner at Indika for excellent Indian food. I accompanied mine with a Madras Mojito, featuring chili powder on the rim–awesome!

Saturday we took Nick’s son, Aidon, to the zoo, which was a blast. I haven’t been to the Houston Zoo since 1998 and I was happy to see that it’s still a great place. We made our own Indian food for dinner and all crashed pretty early. Sunday Nick and Aidon returned to Florida pretty early so Katie and I spent the day just enjoying being at the house–something we’ll do much more of in the near future!
Sunday night I took the red-eye to London and spent Monday in Oxford meeting with enistic’s sister company. That night we celebrated our recent steps forward with dinner at Jamie’s Italian. The food was all good but the CLEAR highlight was my main course: three orders of chips (fries): garlic and parsley, parmiggiano and truffle, and polenta chips with rosemary. I’m a fan!
Now I’m back in Lausanne and beginning to prep my apartment for the trans-Atlantic move!

An Early Win

As many of you know by now, I have stepped full time into founding a US-based green technology company, enistic. US businesses spend over $9b each year on energy for office equipment–$1b of which is for equipment that isn’t even in use. enistic reduces office equipment energy consumption 20+% with wirelessly monitored power strips that you control over the Web, and that affect not just the equipment itself, but also human behavior.

I am extremely excited about this venture for several reasons. First, it is exactly what I have been looking for: a company that marries economic value with green value. The better we do, the better it is for our shareholders and the environment! I can’t think of a better incentive to succeed. Second, the product already exists. It was invented in the UK and clients such as IBM are already experiencing energy savings of up to 27%. This is not a speculative technology development venture; it is a venture to commercialize an existing, excellent product in a new market. Third, this is a perfect fit for my background. My greatest successes have been in starting and leading US-based, information-driven technology companies that provide products and services to businesses–a profile that enistic, inc fits perfectly!
This week I have, for the first time, focused on enistic. I secured and moved into office space downtown. In the heart of the Theater District, my new office window looks out onto the Wortham Center, Jones Hall, the Alley Theater, and Bayou Place–the site of Katie’s and my first date! It feels great to work in an area I love so much!
There wasn’t any time to get settled, though, as Thursday was the Rice Alliance Energy & Clean Technology Forum. enistic was chosen to be one of 50 companies presenting its 90-second elevator pitch to judges comprising VCs, angels, and prominent executives. I really wanted to nail the enistic pitch because it would be our public debut. We’re raising $1m to fund electrical certification in the US and a pilot rollout in Houston, one of our largest markets, so the pitch could provide some good exposure for us to potential investors.
Antmachine, the first startup I worked with, was one of the first companies ever to present at a Rice Alliance event back in 2000. Back then the organization was just getting started. Thursday morning, when I arrived at registration, I was impressed by how far the Rice Alliance has come! There were 650 paying attendees, 50 company presentations from all over North America, and great keynote speakers–the President of Shell Wind and Vinod Khosla.
The elevator pitch competition was great. The business ideas were as varied as the day is long and they were generally very well delivered. At the end of the event, awards were handed out and I was elated when enistic’s name was called for the top honor of “Most Promising Company of 2009!” What an honor among such distinguished company! It has attracted some attention too as we have been contacted already by several investors.
Katie and I celebrated with some wine in the Village–what a great feeling! We can’t stop here, though, we need to capitalize on this momentum and keep rolling. Still, I will take a break this weekend, as my brother and nephew will be in town and the weather is looking fine!

Victory Lap

What a truly wonderful week it has been! Katie and I arrived in Florence early Monday morning, just in time to catch the sunrise over the Arno. We found our hotel, which turned out to be a medieval tower in the center of the city, close to the Duomo–awesome! We dropped off our bags, got some breakfast, and then climbed to the top of the Duomo for spectacular views of the city. Wow, did I miss living there–it really is beautiful.

After spending the whole morning just walking around, we rested our legs at an outdoor cafe, where we had excellent fresh pasta and two Tuscan specialties: ribollita and fava beans. A full day of walking around after a not-so-restful night train with not-so-comfortable sleeping quarters meant that an afternoon nap was in order too!
Recharged, we struck out for the evening. First things first, we stopped by Art Bar for caprioska alla fragola (strawberry). We were informed, however, that peaches were in season, so we ordered caprioska alla pesca instead. Then we were informed that it was happy hour and drinks were half price–so we ordered the caprioska alla fragola as well! After all that fresh fruit, it was natural for us to want more so we headed to Salamanca for sangria and tapas. We then called it a night after a long, wonderful day in bella firenze.
Tuesday morning began with a visit to the Accademia to pay our respects to David. We then trekked up to Villa La Pietra, where I lived nine (Yikes!) years ago. The villa grounds were largely unchanged (as they had been for six or seven centuries!) and brought back a flood of memories. The villas from the 1500s, where I ate, slept, and took classes . . . the fig trees, olive groves, and vineyards, where I took long walks and contemplated what I wanted to do with my life . . . the rolling hills where I ran incline sprint workouts . . . 🙂 What a sublime place to spend several months of my life!
Tuesday afternoon we rented a car and drove to San Gimignano, which was as charming as I remember. We arrived there late enough that most of the bussed-in tourists were gone so we just walked around the entire town, analyzing menus to see what spoke to us. We finally settled on a little cafe in the square of the duomo, where we enjoyed some great pasta dishes and lots of Baroque violin from a street musician.
We then moved to a wine bar near our hotel. I remember San Gimignano’s local wine, Vernaccia, as a simple, crisp, delightful white wine and, yes, it still is. However, at the wine bar we tasted several oak-aged riservas which were downright stupendous! Kudos to the local vintners for experimenting with some modern vinification techniques; these riservas could go toe-to-toe with some of California’s best chardonnays–and for a fraction of the cost.
A description of our evening would be incomplete without mentioning the amazing gelato at Gelateria della Piazza. During our stay of less than 24 hours we visited the place thrice (It was maybe 20 meters from our hotel.) and savored its award-winning awesomeness. I wish I could remember all of the flavors we tried but here are a few: Vernaccia, violet, lavender, saffron, black cherry, raspberry & rosemary. So good!
Wednesday morning we beat the crowds to climb the Torre Grossa and take in the breathtaking views of Tuscan countryside. It was at this location that, nine years prior–almost to the day, I first looked out over Tuscany. I had seen pictures and paintings before but nothing could ever do justice to the beautiful patchwork tapestry of rolling green hills. There must be one hundred different shades of green in any given Tuscan landscape, each more beautiful than the next. I love Paris in the springtime but oh how I love Tuscany in September!
Wednesday afternoon we spent in Siena, walking around and sampling the local cuisine. The highlight was definitely the risotto at lunch. It was prepared tableside inside a huge wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. The heat from the rice melts the inner layer of cheese as it’s being mixed up and creates flavorful, gooey goodness.
For the next two days we resided at Villa Casabianca, another great find by Katie. In the middle of the Tuscan countryside, this complex of villas and suites was peaceful, serene, and absolutely beautiful. We were shown to our suite, “Suite della Musica,” where sparkling white wine awaited us. We sipped it while strolling the grounds and listening to Mozart’s Requiem in D. Dinner followed and we were very, very happy campers.
Thursday was dedicated to tasting Brunello di Montalcino. We began at Livio Sassetti’s Pertimali estate. Livio’s son showed us around the vineyards, explained their winemaking philosophy, and then showed us how they carried it out in their viticulture and vinification. Generations of passion for great wine came through in his explanations–and in the tasting that followed! This family loves its wine and I strongly recommend it.
We then visited Valdicava and dined at Boccondivino, both of which I covered in my post about my June visit. As in June we visited Castello Banfi, but this time Katie and I toured the winemaking operations. Banfi was the first winery in the world to be certified “green,” which is a pretty cool distinction. They also use funky oak/steel hybrid fermenters, which I don’t really get. However, there’s no arguing with the end result; they make a damn fine Brunello.
After days and days of rich restaurant food, we stopped by a supermarket and assembled a picnic dinner of cheese, bread, and grilled vegetables. Of course we supplemented it with Castello Banfi 1998 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al’Oro Riserva, which was gorgeous: rich and complex with undulating layers of taste and texture. First you were hit by the black cherry then along came the vanilla. After that the tannins were very smooth and the finish lasted forever. I like!
Friday we departed the villa after a lazy morning and wound our way through Chianti. We stopped for lunch at Castello di Brolio, where Barone Ricasoli “invented” Chianti centuries ago. We walked around the castle grounds and then stopped at the cantina for lunch.
Although our flight back to Switzerland was later that night, we managed to squeeze in some additional Chianti time. First we stopped by Greve in Chianti, where the annual Chianti Harvest Festival was just beginning. Scores of vintners were present in booths waiting to show you their wines and olive oils. The cost of admission bought you a Chianti glass, which you could then use to walk around the booths and taste. The glass came with a convenient necklace attached to it so that you wouldn’t break it when you were too bombed to hold it any longer.
A short drive from the town center was the winery estate of my former professor, Count Niccolo Capponi. He is a descendant of the Florentine Capponi family and a fine historian. His brother runs the wine operations at Conti Capponi but Niccolo was able to sneak us down into the cellar for some barrel tasting. We caught up, reminisced about the Fall of 2000, and drank good wine–what a pleasant evening!
Finally Katie and I turned in the rental and hopped our flight to Geneva. Tomorrow we fly to Houston so that I can begin work on my new startup. Our grand Tuscan adventure is over, but oh what a week it was!

The Next Chapter Begins–Sort Of

This week was really amazing. It began with my last day at Poken on Monday. After working all day to ensure that every last bit of my responsibility had been successfully transferred, we all went out for a drink (well, several). The team bought me a fondue set with which to remember Switzerland, which was really thoughtful. I was kind of hoping for a Patek Philippe, but this will do! 🙂

Tuesday through Friday I spent catching up on administrative details related to my impending move and taking the the first steps down the green career path. This included participation in the GoBeyond Innaugural Cleantech Forum in Geneva and many, many Skype calls with potential investors, partners, and clients in the US. Due to the time difference, most of these calls happen late at night, which is unfortunate. I usually finish the calls very wound up and excited about the future, which makes it difficult to sleep. I think it’s a very, very good sign, though, that this is the right move: the more I work on this, the MORE energy I have, not less. Bring it on!
Katie arrived early Saturday morning and we spent the day lazing around Lausanne. The weather was gorgeous so we packed a picnic and set up at a park overlooking the lake. The bottle of champagne lasted us most of the afternoon and we really, really savored the beauty of this wonderful country.
Today we took a trip to Gruyeres with my coworker, Bogdan, and his girlfriend. The quaint medieval castle town was absolutely charming and I will post pics soon. Naturally we tarried for fondue in the town square–anything less would have been inappropriate.
It was a great Swiss weekend but tonight Katie and I take the night train to my favorite September location: Tuscany! We’ll spend the week touring about and enjoying the local wine festivals–la dolce vita!

Reunion

The last week has been absolutely wonderful. Building up to the IMD MBA 2008 reunion here in Lausanne, I spent most of my non-working hours catching up with those whom I haven’t seen since our graduation last year. It began on Tuesday when my Swedish classmate, Jesper, arrived in town and crashed at my apartment for a few nights. We went out for drinks with the other Laussanois classmates as well as some others who had made it into town early but we also had great opportunities just to catch up between ourselves. I found this particularly valuable as Jesper is working on a project to bring distributed solar energy to the developing world. I know he will be wildly successful and perhaps some day we will have the opportunity to work together.
On Thursday, Jesper’s family arrived so he moved into a hotel with them. Then Friday my Slovakian classmate, Tomas, arrived to take over the Jesper suite. Friday was fun. The reunion began with lunch at IMD followed by a full afternoon of presentations from IMD faculty and staff about the school, the program, and the like. After our back-to-class sessions (No case preparation necessary!) we moved to the IMD restaurant for a cocktail and dinner. For those of us who traditionally spent most of our lunch time playing ping pong, this meant that we first played ping pong all evening until the sun went down and it was no longer feasible. Oh what glorious memories!
That same evening the Class of 2009 had organized a Latin Party so we stopped by for some dancing and catch-up then wrapped up at MGM, one of our favorite lakeside watering holes from last year. It was a great kickoff to what was sure to be an exceptional weekend.
Saturday morning most of the class loaded onto buses for a day-long hike in the mountains. The four of us who frequently played beach volley last year, though, embraced the gorgeous weather and returned to the sand courts of Vidy. Mario (Brazilian), Martin N. (Czechoslovakian), Tomas, and I were the only ones playing so we enjoyed several games and a dip in the lake before a relaxing lunch at Le Carousel.
It is amazing but the weather here is clearly tending toward fall already. The high on Saturday was in the mid-60s (F) and there was evidence of many fallen leaves on the ground. Furthermore there was that particular autumn smell in the air that indicated warmer clothing would be necessary soon. It seems that just about the time that it becomes too cool for beach volley in Lausanne I will move to Houston where I can keep playing for another two months–good planning!
After lunch we returned to the courts and played against locals, who had finally begun arriving. A dip in the lake and a nap back home prepared us for the evening’s festivities. What seemed like the entire class gathered at Le Pur for dinner and followed up at Red Club afterward. It was wonderful to see everyone but it was apparent that everyone was dead tired after a full day of physical activity in the sun. By 3 AM only Peter (the Great Dane), Ian B. (Canuck), and I were left at the club so we decided to call it a night.
Sunday morning began early as I met up with Sergei (Belorussian) and Martin N. for a mini-reunion of our first building block bbb7 group. We decided to allocate some time to discuss the weightiest issues on our mind. I therefore expected to be talking about career issues, professional challenges, etc. but, instead, we spent the whole time talking about the women in our lives! Hmm, maybe that’s dangerous to refer to our women as “weighty” but they know we love them! 🙂
Although we could have tarried for hours, we wrapped up our discussion and made our way to Parc du Milan for the final Class of 2008-vs-Class of 2009 soccer match of the year. 2008 won 2-0 to take the series decisively. The Class of 2009 will forever cry foul that some of their players were unavailable due to ICP travel requirements but, well, a win is a win. 🙂
All Sunday afternoon was spent at a relaxing picnic along the lake. We grilled out, ate, drank, and took hours to say all of our goodbyes. It was a wonderful weekend and many thanks go out to the organizing committee–especially our fearless Chair, Irina (Russian), for pulling it seamlessly together. Those who were unable to attend were sorely missed but we will all hope to see them soon.
On the subject of tearful goodbyes, today is my last day at Poken. I have a great deal to accomplish in order to enjoy a farewell drink this evening at Les Brassieurs. What an intense ride it has been! I will definitely miss the Poken team and just as definitely I will continue to foster Poken adoption wherever I go.

IMD Keeps On Giving

Last week was a very IMD-centric week for me. It began Monday night with dinner at a professor’s house to discuss my next career move. After dinner and much discussion of Harry Potter with his children, we moved out to his terrace for dark chocolate, 1997 Castello Brolio Chianti Classico, and a marvelous sunset over the lake. While I distracted his dog with lots of petting, he played an excellent sounding board to my ideas and offered very helpful insights based on his experience and contacts.
Tuesday and Wednesday I met professors at IMD for coffee and again benefited from their very different perspectives. Also the IMD Info Center has helped me discover articles and papers to inform my decision process about next steps. Not wanting the benefit to flow only one way, though, I’ve been trying to give back to the IMD community as well and last week I met with three students interested in entrepreneurship to discuss some of the real issues encountered when starting up a business.
This weekend my Poken coworker, Bogdan, and I traveled to a few castles in the area. First on the list was Yverdon, which is a charming, sleepy little town with a modest castle in the center. Apparently the castle operated as a school for much of the 20th century–what an awesome place to have classes!
Next we moved up the road to Grandson, which boasts a much more sizable castle and was hosting a medieval festival that day. Although much smaller in scale than the renaissance fairs to which I am accustomed in the US, this one did have the advantage of location on real castle grounds. There was an artillery demonstration, archery competition, and duel between armored knights outside plus a museum of armor and weapons inside. The turrets (Yay!) offered breathtaking views of Lake Neuchatel and a pleasant feeling of dominance over the peasants below. 🙂 Here we bumped into Paul, the ping pong “ringer” from IMD who used to beat most of us last year–again the IMD network is ever present!
Unfortunately, though, there was no meat-on-a-stick to be found so we departed in the afternoon for Neuchatel. The castle there is very Swiss in style and provided some good exploring through its courtyards and along its parapets. The day was beautiful but almost chilly with the wind coming off the lake–what a change from August in Houston! I’ll still never forget the 140-degree heat indexes of two-a-days in full pads at Rice Stadium . . .
As the day wore on we returned to Lausanne, but not without a pit stop in Renens for the European Sumo Championships!!!! We arrived just in time for the highest level of women followed by the highest level of men. Having never attended a sumo match before, this was quite a spectacle to me and it was interesting to see that a match consists of much more ritual than actual wrestling.
Bogdan and I bet on each of the matches and cheered loudly whenever someone much smaller beat an oversized opponent. They might as well have called it the Eastern European Sumo Championships, though, as it quickly became easy to predict the winners by country of origin: Georgia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Poland seemed unstoppable. The poor Swiss contenders never stood a chance.
It was a fun day of local exploration and I’m glad I took advantage of Bogdan’s offer to drive us around. It would have been all too easy just to stay at home and get work done but opportunities like this are fleeting before my imminent return to the States. Switzerland really is a beautiful country and I will miss it dearly–especially in the summer!

Berlin, Take My Breath Away

Another weekend, another great trip to visit friends in new places. This weekend I went to Berlin to visit IMD classmates Matt and Lucy. I arrived late Thursday night, crashed at Matt’s place, and awoke early to accompany him into work. His office is conveniently situated in Mitte, so, while he worked on Friday, I walked around and took pictures of Berlin’s cool buildings.
Berlin’s architecture is really cool. Much of it has been rebuilt since WWII, and some of it even since Germany’s reunification. The result is beautiful, very modern architecture juxtaposed with beautiful, very old architecture. Downtown Berlin is very walkable, making a great deal of sight seeing accessible in a short amount of time. I began at the Berliner Dom and made my way down Unter den Linden. This took me past the Lustgarten, German History Museum, opera, St. Hedwig Cathedral, and Starbucks (They’re everywhere!), arriving at Pariser Platz and Brandenburger Tor.
 
Pariser Platz was mostly cordoned off for for the 2009 World Track & Field Championships, where Rice alum Funmi Jimoh will compete later this week. It’s too bad the timing didn’t work out but I’ll be cheering her on in spirit! I tarried a bit in this square, watching them set up the athletic facilities and eating my first meal in Berlin: a “Berliner!” This was the subject of great controversy after, upon my arrival the night before, I tweeted “Ich bin ein Berliner” and was told by many that I was a jelly doughnut. Fortunately some quick wikipediaing revealed that I–and JFK–were both in the right.
 
Making my way through the Brandenburg Gate, I veered right to walk around the Reichstag and surrounding government buildings then moved back in the opposite direction past the Holocaust Memorial to Potsdamer Platz. As Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in IMAX 3D wouldn’t be showing until the afternoon, I spent the next few hours getting in touch with my musical side, first paying a visit to the Berlin Philharmonie and then the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum.
 
That afternoon Matt ducked out early from work so that we could enjoy some currywurst and Smash Ball before Lucy arrived from Norway. Upon Lucy’s arrival we went out for dinner at Massai, an East African restaurant that served up food reminiscent of the time we all spent in Kenya last year. Although the samosas we ate there were much better than those we were used to in Nairobi, we still found it to be pretty authentic.
 
After dinner we did some bar hopping but ran into one disappointment after another–one bar was closed, another advertised numerous drinks that they couldn’t actually make, etc.–so we called it an early night.
 
Saturday morning began with breakfast at a local Turkish bakery–yum–then more walking around downtown. Matt took us on a tour of the Berlin Wall and the bunker where Hitler spent his final days. We wrapped up with a leisurely beer lunch outside the zoo and then napped it off in the late afternoon.
 
Saturday evening began with Thai dinner and was followed by excellent cocktails at The Velvet Lounge–stark contrast to the night before! Street prostitution is legal in Berlin so it was kind of shocking to witness obvious hookers soliciting johns all along the sidewalks between the restaurant and bar. I suppose it’s the oldest profession in the world but I was still somewhat taken aback by how overt it was. We finally called it a night and were treated to Bollywood’s greatest hits on our taxi’s DVD player–what a finish!
 
Sunday morning was lazy and featured pancakes made with Matt’s crazy awesome unbeatable pancake flipping technique. Lucy deserves some credit, though, because the recipe was Australian. They make a heck of a team and it was a heck of a weekend in Berlin. The sight seeing was wonderful but the best part was the company. Thanks for hosting and you’re both welcome at my place in the US anytime!

Prague, Musical City

This weekend I took advantage of a last-minute fare to head to Prague, where I had never been before. A friend of mine from the Rice volleyball team, Klara, lives there and she kindly opened her doors on very short notice to host me. It was a wonderful–if short–weekend that has left me hungry to explore the rest of the beautiful Czech Republic.

The trip began well; while I was waiting to board in Geneva, someone kept whistling The Final Countdown. When I arrived at Prague airport Friday afternoon, I was disappointed that my passport wasn’t stamped (Switzerland is now part of the Schengen area.) but my disappointment didn’t last long. I was thrilled to discover that the baggage claim conveyor belts notify passengers of incoming bags with a sound similar to 80s-era video game lasers instead of the harsh buzzers I’m accustomed to. Good start.
When I exited customs, Klara was already there waiting for me and she whisked me off to her family’s apartment in the 6th district. It was a nice house with a big garden, an apricot tree laden with fruit, two dogs (blood hounds), and three cats. Fun! We dropped off my stuff and headed immediately to Prague Castle, the largest castle in Europe or the world, depending on whom you ask.
Prague Castle is very cool and has a great view over the city. Its main gate features two very gruesome statues of men savagely beating other men with clubs and knives–what a warm welcome! Inside the castle walls is a very impressive St. Vitus Cathedral. Its exterior is mostly Gothic but includes Renaissance and Baroque architectural styles as well. Inside the cathedral stained glass windows create a dynamic light show on the stone and the pipe organ spans multiple stories. I could have spent an entire day there just learning about the myriad monuments, sculptures, and artwork–again, very impressive.
From there we wound our way down and walked around a bit, stopping at a cafe along the Vltava River. Everywhere we went there were numerous posters for classical music concerts: Mozart, Beethoven, and of course hometown favorite Dvorak. Every church, concert hall, and outdoor venue must have been booked for concerts. And then there were plenty of modern music concerts advertised as well: Madonna, Leonard Cohen, and on and on. Surely there must have been a music festival going on that weekend–nope, just business as usual in this very musical city.
After our exploration of Western Prague we returned to the 6th district for dinner with Klara’s sister, Karo (also a Rice volleyball player), and brother-in-law at a converted abbey that now serves traditional Czech cuisine. I had roasted leg of rabbit on garlic creamed spinach–delicious!–and, of course, hand crafted beer. We wound down with a few more beers at a nearby beer garden and then called it a night.
Saturday we headed over to the East side of the river and walked around all day. We had lunch at Klara’s parents’ restaurant (Anna Bar–highly recommended!), where I had garlic soup and Czech goulash–so good!. Our next stop was Old Town, where we witnessed the chiming of the really, really, really ridiculously cool astronomical clock. En route to Vysehrad, we passed many beautiful towers, churches, theaters, concert halls, and other buildings–I’m so fortunate to have had a tour guide who knew where to go!
Vysehrad was another cool castle with great views over the city and a cool basilica (St. Peter & St. Paul). After paying our respects to Dvorak in the cemetery, we hung out on a bench along the castle walls and just enjoyed the nice weather for a while. We then relocated to a cafe with a black tie pianist who played everything from Beethoven sonatas to oldies. It was nice to be out of the direct sun for a while so we lingered before making our way to dinner.
In a major departure from meaty Czech cuisine we dined at Prague’s best vegetarian restaurant. The food was phenomenal (I had bulgur risotto with chili tofu and peanut sauce.) but unfortunately Karo couldn’t join us–because she was going into labor! We cut the evening short and returned to the apartment to await news–which came around 1:30 AM–of the birth. Congratulations to the entire family and no need to thank me for my services–I’m sure the baby would have come eventually even if I hadn’t been there.
After a full weekend of Czech food, beer, walking tourism, and friends, and after instigating the birth of Klara’s nephew, there was nothing left to do but return to Lausanne–but not before buying a bottle of Slivovice in honor of my Czechoslovakian classmate, Martin. Here’s to you, Martin (Na zdravi!), I’m sorry we couldn’t meet on this trip but I assure you that your compatriots gave me an excellent introduction to your beautiful country.
While I was waiting to board my flight back to Geneva, the Prague airport speakers began blasting The Final Countdown. What a poetic bookend to a great weekend in such a musical city!

A New Way

There’s a feeling I get
When I look to the West
And my spirit is crying for leaving
 

After months of very hard, conflicted consideration I submitted my resignation to Poken on July 13th. In this blog entry I will lay out the reasons behind my decision and present what comes next.

First, let me be clear: I love Poken. I believe in its success. I especially love the team, including the awesome, incredibly dedicated people we have on staff AND the amazing extended team of resellers, evangelists, and users around the world. I’ve never been part of something before that has elicited so much passion so quickly from so many. So why leave? There are many reasons, but they fall broadly into three categories:

  1. As many of you know, my real desire post-IMD was to make a positive impact on the global energy challenge. I tried to tell myself that Poken would be a learning opportunity (and it has been!) that would better prepare me for a green career later on (and it has done!) but, at the end of the day, I’m just not buying my own rhetoric. Every movie I watch, every book I read, and most of the news articles I read remind me that energy presents THE challenge of this generation and I simply don’t feel fulfilled professionally if I’m not contributing to the solution. Looking back through my IMD application essays and even my very first blog entry reminds me that developing the skills and tools to help address this challenge was my major motivation to come to IMD in the first place. 250 blog posts later, sitting in the Poken office, I began feeling that I had lost my way–time to get back on track.
  2. I need to be closer to Katie. I love her, I need her, my life is more complete when I’m around her, and she deserves better than a partner who is halfway around the world. After 18 months of trying to make a commuter relationship work, I have a lot of airline frequent flier miles (Woohoo!) but that is little compensation for the heartache during the times apart. It was hard at IMD but we always had the light at the end of the tunnel of graduation. Now there is no light other than one that we make for ourselves. My prospects in the US are much more favorable than are hers in Europe, so I will return to the US.
  3. There is another reason to return to the US as well: my country needs me. Oh wow, that looks even more arrogant on my screen than it sounded in my head. Let me explain. We spent a lot of time last year–especially in Jean-Pierre Lehmann’s International Political Economy class–revealing the faults of the US and the mistakes my country has made. I learned a lot from the 44 nations represented in our auditorium about collective psychology and about attitudes toward the US–both positive and negative. Perhaps nowhere did I learn more, though, than in study room 007. I will never forget a heated debate with my Chinese groupmate, Gong Ping, regarding with whom lay the responsibility for changing the world’s course on energy. Over time it sunk in that the world may never correct its path unless we gluttons who steered it wrongly in the first place lead by example. And so I believe that a better energy future has to begin with the US. Thank you, Chairman, for helping me see the way.

Over the past several years I spent a lot of time apologizing for the US–it was hard not to, given the administration. I moved to Europe. I even applied for dual citizenship in Italy. I’m ashamed to say it but I may have lost my national identity somewhat. But discussions in class that made my blood boil, the rhetoric of a new administration, and a lot of self reflection have jolted me back to my senses.

For all her faults, I love my country. I still get chills when I hear the Star-Spangled Banner. I still cry when I think of those who have given their lives in her service. I’m still a patriot. I’ve never taken the opportunity to serve my country as valiantly as have some of my noble friends and family in the forces, but now perhaps I can do my part. She needs devoted leaders to support a sea change in energy and I will answer the call.
Leaving something that is very successful and gaining momentum is hard to do so I spent a lot of time toiling with the rational pros and cons of my decision. At the end of the day, though, I made the decision for exactly one very irrational, very compelling reason: this new direction just feels right. Trusting my feelings is something I still have a hard time doing but I had a much harder time with it before IMD. Many thanks to all of my professors, classmates, and especially loved ones for helping me develop both the awareness of and trust in those feelings last year.

So what now? I will stay with Poken until the end of August to ensure a smooth transition of my responsibilities and not leave Poken hanging. I will remain in Lausanne until the end of September to tie up loose ends and begin work on identifying whatever comes next. I have an offer to be the CEO of a US green technology startup. It’s a really good fit for my background (IT-based, B2B, based in Houston) so I may take it, but I am still vetting the opportunity and identifying others. I feel actually somewhat as I did at this point last year: with a universe of possibilities out there and not really knowing where to start. With the benefit of 8 months of work behind me, though, I am now much more focused on exactly what I want to be doing and where/how I can contribute the most.

Whatever I wind up doing, I will miss my classmates and Poken colleagues on this side of the Pond very dearly. I emailed this blog post out to my classmates yesterday and the tremendous outpouring of support I have received from them has been nothing short of moving. In the language of George Kohlrieser, my family, friends, and classmates are secure bases that give me the strength for tough decisions and I am truly blessed to have them in my life. This move will be a step toward living up to all the blessings I have been given. There is no certainty in this path and I don’t know where it will lead. However, in a blog entry just over a year ago, upon my return from Kenya, I committed to give responsible leadership all I’ve got. Well, here it is. Here I am. Bring it on.