My first week as a newly minted student in the MBA Masterclass is behind me. Last Friday, Vroni and I attended the induction event together. Alongside the mandatory faculty introductions, there were several engaging keynote speeches on the upcoming curriculum.

Over the next three months, I will be diving deeper into Innovation by Design (aka Design Thinking), Agile and Innovation-driven Leadership, and Business Sustainability and Economic Decision Making. While I’ve encountered some of these topics before or picked them up throughout my professional career, it is fascinating to study them in depth—especially when discussing them within such a diverse group. We have Kiwis and international students from Argentina, Australie, Chile, China, England, Canada, Nepal, Poland, and the USA (I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone!), all bringing vastly different cultural and professional backgrounds to the table. What we all have in common is that we aren’t fresh out of undergrad; we each have several years of work experience under our belts. Nevertheless, for many of us—particularly the international students like me—this marks a significant turning point in our lives: the change of scenery, immersing ourselves in a new culture, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead professionally.

Our group consists of about 40 people, some studying part-time alongside their regular jobs and others full-time, all progressing through the program at different speeds. Working in this group is great fun, and I’ve already discovered common ground with several classmates. For instance, I ran into a Canadian colleague during a house viewing over the weekend, and a mountain bike ride is already in the books with one of the Kiwis—as soon as the container with my bike finally arrives.

At the beginning of the week, it poured and stormed so heavily that I was soaked to the bone just walking the short distance from my car to the library, where I had my IT account activated and received my student badge. I then had to sit in the classroom in wet clothes for three hours—just like back in my school days at sixteen. Since Wednesday, it’s been dry again, and I was able to cycle to the university yesterday and today.

I don’t want to arrive there all sweaty, of course, so I take a leisurely thirty minutes for the nearly 7 km ride. Getting some exercise in the fresh air before class feels fantastic; it leaves you awake and ready to learn. Plus, about 2 km of the route takes me through the lush Hagley Park, with its massive trees from all over the world, and Riccarton Bush with the picturesque Riccarton House. The rest of the journey is safe to navigate thanks to the cycle paths, which were excellently developed as part of the reconstruction efforts following the devastating 2011 earthquake. My only struggle is still with turning right; I always try to merge into the flow of traffic far too late and consequently end up on the wrong side of the road at the traffic lights. Surprisingly, it’s much easier in a car. Hopefully, it will soon become part of my cycling routine.

It is an interesting experience studying on campus alongside so many young people who are the same age as my children. I often find myself wondering how Moritz, Victoria, Luisa, and Ferdinand are getting on with their own education, and I naturally miss them dearly despite our occasional video calls.

The absolute highlight of this week was an incredibly engaging session on the core topic: „Māori History—Why should New Zealand business leaders engage with it?“ Chrisma and Roki, two successful Māori businesspeople from the Ngāi Tahu iwi (~tribe), covered a vast arc from the settlement of New Zealand about 1,000 years ago to the present day. Using numerous examples from the past and present, Chrisma and Roki illustrated the significance of Mana. Mana, as I understood it, is a fundamental concept in Māori culture that is often simplified as „prestige“ or „power,“ but it is far more profound. It is a spiritual quality encompassing authority, influence, and the very essence of a person’s status in the world. Because Mana—and the relationships closely tied to it—is of paramount importance to Māori, they typically think long-term and often pursue goals across generations. This approach paid off during the pandemic, for instance, where Māori-led businesses continued to grow steadily while many other firms struggled.

We are still living out of suitcases in what is now our third Airbnb, and it is astonishing how few material things one truly needs. Nevertheless, living out of a suitcase does get tiring over time because you simply become accustomed to certain comforts. We are therefore quite relieved that our shipping container is getting closer. It was transshipped in Singapore from the MS Ever Eon to the NZS Norfolk and is now on the final leg of its journey to Christchurch, where it is expected to arrive in mid-March.

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