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  • HR advice from Uber’s Amee Parekh

    Patrick Crowder

    Amee Parekh has had an extremely successful career since she graduated from the University of Mumbai in 2005. She worked at IBM in software engineering roles for three years before attending Cornell, making the switch to HR, and going on to work for Expedia. She is now Head of HR for Uber Freight and Finance. We talked with her to find out her views on the best ways to succeed within the industry, the value of quality HR, and gender equality in the workplace.

    “I grew up in India where I did my engineering work, and in India HR is actually an immensely hot function. It’s almost like how software engineering is in the US or how tech is in other countries,” Parekh says, “HR is very precious because a lot of companies over there are very high growth, so they really need HR to supercharge their hiring, train people in new skills, and manage a staff of thousands.”

    Parekh was aware of how many opportunities in HR were out there, but she truly became interested in the field while working as a software engineer.

    “On one of my first projects I happened to be working with the HR team building an internal portal, and through that I got a close-up look at the amazing job they were doing with hiring and how they were truly driving an impact on the business. That’s what motivated me to seriously consider this as a career.”

    Parekh then applied to a wide range of Master’s programmes in the US at top universities, and got accepted to every single one. She chose Cornell University because of their top-ranked HR programme. Much has been written about the best ways to get into top schools – unique experiences, volunteering, sports, etc. – but Parekh took the traditional but difficult approach of pure academic excellence.

    “I know universities want all of these extracurricular activities, but I think universities in the US also value academics a lot, so my undergrad was very useful,” she recalls, “My scores were very strong all throughout school. I was very much a geeky or nerdy student growing up, and even in high school I was taking advanced physics and maths.”

    But what about outside of education? After graduating from Cornell, she says that finding employment opportunities was not difficult. For many, the guiding hand from study to work may take the form of a mentor who can advise on career opportunities and help people find their way into the corporate world. For Parekh, her career boost came more from the bosses she worked with than from any other source of advice.

    “I have been able to grow and succeed in my career because I have had two or three managers who have truly believed in me,” Parekh says, “One manager at Expedia helped me by doing two major things; pushing me into difficult challenges and providing amazing feedback.” She adds, “The kind of feedback I received from him was transformational for me, and I think that can only come from a boss who is much closer to your work than an outside mentor.”

    Parekh has succeeded through a lot of hard work and intense study and breaking into the world of top-level HR can often take years. We asked her what traits she thinks are essential in a good HR officer.

    “Business acumen is a crucial trait, because there are thousands of HR initiatives and you can be aware of the framework of it, but what makes one HR professional far better than others is an understanding of the business where they can advise the CEO, ‘because of where the business is, we should do X, Y, and Z’. If you can do that as an HR professional, that’s where the magic comes,” Parekh says, “Having a good sense of quantitative abilities is also very useful, because business is all numbers. Even if an HR professional doesn’t come from a data background, I think that is an area which is worth investing in and learning about.”

    Gender and racial inequality in the workplace has come a long way in recent years, but it is by no means perfect. Parekh has three children and a top-level position, which shatters what she describes as the typical perception.

    “My experience has been very positive, but I cannot say that reflects every woman’s experience. I think it’s come through a lot of hard work – people are aware that I outwork everybody else,” Parekh says, “But if I tell people without any context that I have three kids, there’s an assumption that I won’t be able to put as much time in as other employees. There is an expectation there, and that’s why you have to break it every time.”

    In a parting message to the industry, Parekh says, “Try it out. Hire a few female leaders and see how things go. Conversation isn’t enough, you have to actually put women in these roles, then you can see the advantages.”

  • Victoria Bream: Maternal anxiety, mental health, and the economy

    VIctoria Bream 

    Victoria Bream, alongside Catherine Green and Fiona Challacombe, have authored “Break free from maternal anxiety: A Self-Help Guide for Pregnancy, Birth and the First Postnatal Year”. Bream is an experienced psychotherapist, and here she shares her thoughts on maternal anxiety, effective treatment, and why supporting mental health is good for the economy.

    Cognitive behavioural therapy is the form of psychotherapy I’m an expert in, and CBT is very popular these days. It’s based on a scientific understanding of how things like anxiety and depression work. It is about using evidence-based techniques and models to help work with people, as opposed to some of the other forms of psychotherapy that are more reflective, or more about the relationship between the therapist and their patient. It’s very problem focused, and it’s short term as well; you don’t usually do CBT for years, you do it for weeks with defined problems and goals.

    The three of us who are the authors of the book have worked with people using CBT to treat anxiety disorders for quite a long time now. What we’ve all seen over the years is that people in the perinatal period (whilst pregnant and within the first year of that infant’s life) can be quite often affected by the enormous ups and downs of the processes of pregnancy, birth, and raising an infant. Whilst there’s really good recognition and treatment of postnatal depression, anxiety disorders are more common, and people aren’t always receiving the treatment that they need. There are very effective treatments that can work quite quickly and can be quite focused, but it’s sometimes difficult for people to access these treatments or for these treatments to be delivered effectively in that perinatal period.

    Maternal anxiety can manifest in a number of ways. It can mean people being very preoccupied about their health or the health of the baby, which is obviously understandable. Everyone’s somewhat preoccupied with that, but those with maternal anxiety are really preoccupied with that, and they’ll take lots and lots of precautions to try and avoid anything that might pose any potential danger. Whilst it’s obviously typical, understandable, and definitely not preventable to feel anxious and worried at some point in pregnancy and around the time of birth, maternal anxiety is when it actually becomes a distressing, time consuming problem where the person is feeling anxious, worried, or frightened a lot of the time.

    Some women have more specific problems than that, such as a blood injury phobia. They’re very worried about needles and blood tests which can sometimes prevent them from accessing the antenatal care that they need, because they’re so terrified of having blood tests that they might even try and avoid them which can obviously have an impact on their own well-being and cause difficulties. Some women might have had a very traumatic birth with a previous pregnancy and then have PTSD related to that birth, and that can then be retriggered by being pregnant and the prospect of giving birth again. The specific symptoms or phobias can be any number of different things.

    We know that if people are experiencing anxiety disorders then it can lead to unemployment, or not being able to go back into retraining, and we know that for women the process of pregnancy can be a discontinuity in one’s career. Also, if employers aren’t supportive, or the organisation isn’t set up to accommodate more flexible working or make provisions for childcare, then for a lot of people it’s both economically and emotionally unacceptable to return to work. About 15 years ago Lord Layard wrote The Layard Report which revolutionised mental health services because it was an economic argument. If you get more people effective mental health treatment you get people back into employment and you stop people from losing their jobs. An investment in mental health services pays off for everybody in terms of emotional well-being and reduction of suicide and awful things like that, but also people being able to continue with their paid employment. That report led to the improvement of access to psychological therapies and a mental health revolution in this country. Since then, we’ve seen a lot more people trained in CBT and it is now something that a lot of people can access, both in the perinatal period but also just across the lifespan. It is remarkable to be able to have mental health services that are accessible to so many people and use evidence-based techniques.

    We must continue to invest in accessible mental health services for everyone. For any parent who is suffering from anxiety or depression we have really effective, powerful treatments that are available through the NHS – we just need to make sure they are available to everybody when they need them so that people aren’t stuck on waiting lists or living in an area where the services aren’t quite up to strength. It is vital in our universal health care system that everybody can access mental health services when they need them.

  • That humorous feeling: how much comedy in the workplace is too much?

    That humorous feeling: how much comedy in the workplace is too much?

    The witty can sometimes prosper in the workplace, but take it too far and you may have a problem, writes Lana Woolf

    Stephen Fry once said of the great Peter Cook that he was never unfunny, never ‘off ’. When Finito World caught up with the legendary comedian – and great friend of Cook – John Cleese earlier in the year, we asked him what he thought of Finito, and he showed us that he, too, never turns off the taps.

    When we told him about our mentoring programs, he was immediate: ‘It’s a very decent thing to do. I’ve heard of a finishing school – and I know Finito is Italian for finished because I eat a lot of Italian food – and I finish it all. But I’ve never heard of a finished school.’

    While we were laughing he was continuing, ‘I have heard of Finnish schools but they’re something quite different.’

     

     

    The Monty Python and A Fish Called Wanda star went on to share some advice as to how to forge a happy career. He quotes American comedian George Burns as saying: ‘If you do something you love, then you don’t have to do a day’s work for the rest of your life.’

    Wise advice, but our encounter with Cleese also had us thinking about an implied lesson that may be as important: what role does humor play in the workplace?

    Well, success in life can sometimes be attributed to ability to get on with people, and that is always to do an appreciation of nuance, which usually goes hand in hand with an ability to navigate intricate situations. The amusing are often, though not always, empathetic.

    Sometimes this proposition can have vivid illustrations. It was Jerry Seinfeld who observed that in US Presidential races it is an unwritten law of politics that the funnier candidate always wins. Obama was always funnier than Romney or John McCain; George Bush Jr. was funnier than Al Gore or John Kerry; Ronald Reagan was funnier than Jimmy Carter or Walter Mondale. Clinching for the theory, Donald Trump Jr. was demonstrably funnier than Hillary Rodham Clinton.

    But does this translate in the same way in the workplace, which is a less performativity space than electoral politics? Part of the force of a personality like, for instance, Sir Martin Sorrell derives from the sense that he might at any moment bark with delighted laughter even at a difficulty.

    Pat Thompson is the founder and managing director of Thompson Dunn, a central London-based psychologists’ firm. For 30 years Thompson has worked with CEOs on organizational culture and creativity in business: ‘I used to deal with delinquent adolescents and then went onto work for Michael Page selecting senior executives. I was once asked: ‘What’s the difference between a delinquent adolescent and a CEO. I replied: “Pinstriped trousers”.’

    The jury is out on how funny this is, but Thompson is arguing that humor is a way of making a ‘a difficult truth say able’. It is a form of smoothing – of moving the dialogue forwards in a way that we might miss if we proceeded solely in an earnest register. When asked about humor’s wider role, Thompson offers a two-word THAT HUMOROUS FEELING answer which dovetails with my own experience of office life: ‘Stress release.’

    A joke, said Nietzsche, is ‘an epigram on a death of a feeling’: the power of comedy is that it discharges feeling which had been accruing by admitting to that feeling and thereby ousting it.

    However, Thompson has a cautionary word about taking things too far, warning against becoming an office prankster à la David Brent in The Office. She also explains that one’s relationship to humor will depend on the tenor of the organization you work for. This can be challenging for women, she explains, recalling how ‘humor in the City was a darker shade of blue in a male-oriented environment. Women are often the butt of a joke and you have to cope with it. In financial services, you have to develop a thicker skin.’

    Moving on up: can a sense of humor lead to swifter promotion?

    Liam Williams is a professional comedian known for Sheep’s and Lad hood and the now the author of a brilliant debut novel Homes and Experiences. So what led him towards his career? ‘In the workplace, I’ve never known where the line is, and I was drawn to being a professional comedian because you are necessitated to go over that line.’

    Did he enjoy: ‘I found that having a laugh with my colleagues was the only thing that got me through the less fulfilling aspects of the job. Obviously, you don’t want to be like David Brent in The Office and you need to find a happy medium between not being too buttoned-up and boring, and not being the idiot with the Homer Simpson tie.’

    He notes that much humor comes from ‘absurd corporate language. This twee idea of ‘We’re all a family” – of language that comes down from on high and doesn’t mean anything to us. There’s so much euphemism.’

    Employers, then, must be careful not to alienate their employees with language that doesn’t match their real experience. A recent podcast produced by Fair Acre Press called ‘Word Bin’ invited participants to choose their preferred word to bin. A huge number of the choices related to corporate culture: normalcy, incentivize, optimized, moving forward, thinking out of the box, reach out/ reaching out, cascading down, time urgent, upgrade, inputting and solutions.

    Nadia Kingsley, the founder of the podcast, told us: ‘I was surprised at how passionately people wanted to bin some corporate speak. Having never worked in an office myself it was a real eye-opener. Some of the binning’s reveal something more than ridiculous management speak – but the old-fashioned hierarchy. For instance, the phrase ‘cascading down’, refers to minions who aren’t good enough to actually go to the conference but are given a version of it by someone above us.’

    Former deputy prime minister David Ludington makes a useful distinction between humor in the public and private spaces. Recalling life as the de facto no.2 in Theresa May’s 10 Downing Street, he explains: ‘Humor is vitally important in private. In a tense meeting, a well-timed and well-phrased quip can defuse tension. In the same way, if you looked at both Betty Boothroyd and Lindsay Hoyle operate as Speaker of the House, a joke or an aside can ensure that those tensions which had been building up would suddenly lapse.’

    Ludington also points to its impact in a speech: ‘Humor changes the register but also helps the audience to concentrate. A successful joke will make the audience listen as they’ll wonder whether there’ll be another joke coming. And humor that’s well received can get people on your side.’

    But he also has a warning against humor used against a political opponent which may also apply to life in a more ordinary workplace. ‘The risk is you get written off as a comic. You need to show you have the comic and the serious. In Shakespeare’s tragedies – even in Hamlet – you have tragedy and serious side by side.’

    Then Ludington laughs, recalling some of the inevitable ups and downs of government. ‘The truth is it sometimes feels more like a black farce. And black humor can keep you going in the inner team.’ This chimes with Thompson’s remarks: ‘Humor is an aspect of positive psychology. If you face difficulty in an organization, then looking on the bright side includes humor.’

    And if all that doesn’t work, and you find yourself caught in a job you dislike at the age of 40? Then John Cleese has some advice: ‘Don’t just take the money. But if you do and you get to 40, you can always kill yourself, I suppose.’ Black humor indeed.

     

  • The English Teacher: A poem about mentorship by Diego Murillo

     

     

    The English Teacher

     

     

    There is always one latent in your life,

    who will shape you to your own advantage.

    Mine was Balkwill. Chaucer-fat. Quotation-rife.

    Flushed with good booze, and dying in a rage.

     

    Rushing to complete his time, he came in

    for the lesson, ranted in despair about his death.

    The next day he swept through, played Beethoven –

    the Ninth – from start to finish. Nodded – left.

     

    In those days, it meant little. How could we see

    past youth to bear witness to him dying in such glory?

    We told ourselves it was how the world was framed:

    to the wise came decay; to the brilliant, shame.

     

    Yet to suspect all this – the passion he held

    in that last summer of his, though dissolving in his palm,

    was to long to join him in whatever he loved,

    and do it ongoingly. This is how we all link arms:

     

    When he died we knew that we’d been chosen.

    In his each and every fantastic literary whim –

    Hardy, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Wilde, Owen –

    he’d lived. We would too – and if we could, live like him.

     

     

    Diego Murillo

  • Review: Dinings SW3

    Patrick Crowder

    If you are looking for a world-class Japanese culinary experience in the heart of London, it is in your best interest to take a stroll down Walton Street, nestled between Chelsea and Knightsbridge. Since 2017, Dinings SW3 has produced an authentic Izakaya-style experience under the leadership of head chef Masaki Sugisaki.

    An Izakaya is, in a way, the Japanese take on the pub; an informal restaurant and bar with good food where many people go for after-work drinks. While Dinings would not be considered informal by most, it is certainly a place where you can go with no fear or expectation of pretension. The main restaurant formerly served as an artist’s studio, and remnants of the past can be seen in the form of neon lips on the wall and an intricate historical fireplace dating back to the 1500s.

    The restaurant also features an even more private section upstairs called the Kurabu. It is carefully furnished with comfortable and elegantly upholstered seats and perfectly set up to accommodate your needs, whether that be a company event or an intimate outing. It is known that celebrities choose Dinings not only for the exceptional quality of food and service, but also because they are unlikely to be recognised and bothered in such a hidden away space.

    Dinings

    The food and drink at Dinings are of the highest quality, and the nature of the dishes shows that they are not afraid to place their locally sourced ingredients front and centre. Fitting their style of mixing traditional Japanese cuisine with European dishes, our first dish was truffle-topped sea bass carpaccio. The delicate fish mixed with the earthy truffle created a wonderful combination, especially when paired with Dinings’ own 78 Kin Daiginjo sake. For those who are more accustomed to European wines than sake, Dining’s offering is a great place to start due to the sake’s mild yet familiarly floral taste.

    Dinings Yellowtail

    Even something as simple as a tuna roll is done to the nines at Dinings. This dish is a tuna tour de force, incorporating all cuts of the fish including the belly of the tuna highly sought after for its buttery, mild flavour. For those who do not share my love of fish, Dinings offers a number of vegetarian options including miso aubergine. This baked aubergine, marinated in and then topped with both light and dark miso sauce, quickly won the favour of our table and was a true highlight of the meal. If wagyu beef is more your speed, Dinings has you covered with a truly unique take on slider burgers. No matter your palate, Dinings SW3 will have an option for you of the highest quality. This place is something special, and once you’ve experienced the exemplary cuisine and service of Dinings SW3 you’ll find it extremely difficult to stay away for long.

  • Arts universities produce the most start-ups, study shows

    New research from the financial tech company Tide shows that art universities produce more start-up businesses than other institutions.

    By using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), they were able to see that the top start-up producing university in the UK is the Royal College of Art. 1,665 graduates have started their own businesses since the 2014/2015 academic year.

    While having a high number of start-ups tends to be associated with the tech industry, arts-focused universities actually produce more start-ups, due to artists frequently being self-employed. The trend towards the creative industries continues, with Kingston University coming in second on the list. Their focus on business, engineering, and many types of art including fashion and design makes graduates from Kingston more likely to start their own businesses than those from other institutions.

    Third on the list, Falmouth University has fostered creativity and helped their students translate their ideas to the real world of business through their Launchpad programme, which focuses on giving entrepreneurial students access to the market through mentorship and networking opportunities.

    Having a high number of start-ups coming out of a university is a good sign, and due to the freelance nature of many creative careers, this seemingly unlikely pattern is actually not that unusual. However, although arts-focused universities produce the most start-ups, these are not always the most financially successful.

    Aside from the number of start-ups a university produces, Tide also looked at the value of a university’s intellectual property. They found that Oxford University tops that list, having produced intellectual property valued at £213 million since 2015. Oxford also has the highest number of patents, with 3,086 granted over the five-year period. Most of these innovations came from the prestigious university’s tech and healthcare developments.

    The Institute of Cancer Research has seen graduates produce £208 million in intellectual property over the last five years. This remarkable number can be explained by the high value of developments in the fight against cancer.

    At £64 million, the University of Sheffield has proved that accelerator programmes can directly lead to increased student success. Their Pre-accelerator programme helps students generate, develop, and sell their start-up ideas with a focus on getting products through to the investment stage.

    Tide’s research shows not only that the creative industries are large producers of start-ups, but also the value that can be created when creative instruction is coupled with mentorship and networking programmes which allow students to get their ideas onto the market. While the highest-value start-ups are still based in tech and healthcare, design, fashion, and other creative courses can create lucrative start-ups when students are given the opportunity to take their ideas to the next level.

    Credit: https://www.tide.co

  • Economist Roger Bootle on the positive side of AI

    The chair of Capital Economics has an optimistic view about the impact of Artificial Intelligence

    It seems strange to recall now that before the ghastly Covid pandemic descended on us there was a massive obsession in the media and elsewhere about Artificial Intelligence and robots. The conclusion was fundamentally negative. Most people argued that this great technological improvement was going to bring some form of impoverishment: basically, we were all going to lose our jobs.

    I got stuck into reading it all – and found that most of it was written by non-economists. I discovered they had their economics upside down and it was time for an economist to get to grips with it all, which I did. My take on the subject was fundamentally optimistic, so my book stands out from others on the subject.

    You’ve got to start with the history and the technological improvements which have been going on for ages. Since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve had a wave of improvements which have knocked out various jobs and skills, and in some cases industries. Others have sprung up to take their place. For me, the question was why should AI be any different?

    When you got down to the specifics what the pessimists focused on was that essentially there were going to be no areas where human beings will be able to compete with robots. They say that AI will be different as past machines had to be operated by human beings. I looked at that and thought: ‘That’s bunkum.’

    For a start the capability of robots is massively exaggerated in the literature put out by the enthusiasts. Every time I go through an airport, I chuckle at the AI-enabled automatic passport machines. When they work, they’re fine: rows and rows of officials guiding you here and there. When they don’t work, humans come into play. If we go onto robots, they’ve been going on in industry for forty or fifty years but the idea of the omni-capable robot is a long way off. They don’t have sufficient manual dexterity; they can’t plump a cushion or tie a shoelace.

    Of course, those shortcomings could theoretically just be temporary. But more important is the question of what you think human beings are. I quote someone as saying in my book that “the human brain is just a computer which happens to be made of meat.” I think that’s fundamentally wrong. There’s something about the way the human mind works which is very different from the way a computer works: we use instinct and make great jumps which a computer can’t make.

    The central thing is that human beings are social creatures and like to relate to other human beings. They’re naturally suspicious of machines and sympathetic to other humans.

    Take medicine as an instance. Not only is there room for great advances in record-keeping but also in diagnosis and some people suggest this will lead to the redundancy of medical professionals and surgeons. This is complete and utter nonsense. Human beings needs to interact with and trust other human beings. You’re not going to go along to an AI surgery and hear a robotic voice say, “You’ve got to have your leg chopped off” – and just go, “Okay.” We’ll need to have human beings intermediating between us and the robots and AI.

    At the moment, robotic surgery has bought some terrific advances but what it hasn’t done is make surgeons redundant. What it has done is make surgery much more accurate, reliable and quicker and potentially have it done at remote distances. I see a whole range of jobs where humans beings will want to interact with other human beings. There’s one thing which robots will never be better at than robots – and that’s being human.

    Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re not seeing the more menial tasks removed in favour of robots doing more. Checkout tills are still a nuisance at the moment, but they will get better. Translation is another interesting one. When these translation apps first started they were useless; now they’re not bad. Google Translate does a pretty reasonable job. Basic accounting and basic legal services are also possible.

    It won’t undermine the need for labour for people at the bottom of the heap. It’s the clerical positions which will change – people doing admin and clerical type jobs. I suspect they’ll be replaced. But overall, I see it as something which will massively increase productivity over time.

    Roger Bootle is the Chair of Capital Economics

  • Ten Thousand Hours: Psychologist Natalia Ramsden

    Experienced psychologist and founder of SOFOS Associates Natalia Ramsden says that it’s time for a proactive approach to cognitive health.

    I’m a psychologist by background. I did some clinical stuff very early on when I first graduated, and there I saw a lot of trauma and PTSD. Then when I worked in public service I saw a lot of people dealing with substance abuse and victims of domestic violence, so it was my job to then rehabilitate them back into the workforce. I’m always very drawn to the intimacy of an individual, which is probably why I ended up in this one-to-one role rather than a large public health policy role or something like that. I think that the unique complexity of what makes each individual them is quite a driver and an attraction for me.

    SOFOS is a brain optimization practice, and I believe we were the first one in the UK. We work with individuals to improve brain health and enhance cognitive function, so we’re purists in that way – we just focus on the cognitive piece. There were a couple of things that came together at the moment SOFOS was born. Firstly, I had a career in consulting, working with senior executives, CEOs, and boards. We would look at intelligence, measure it, and factor it into our judgments around executive capability or their likelihood of success, but we didn’t do anything in terms of cognitive development. Alongside that, you had some really remarkable developments in the world as a whole. The tech world made some major leaps and bounds, and in the scientific community we started to really understand things around Alzheimer’s, dementia, and what prevention might look like, and we started to understand a little bit more about neuroplasticity and how the brain changes. With all of these things coming together, I wondered if we were to take a healthy, high performing population and apply some of these learnings, would we get an enhancement effect? This marked a crossroads from development being quite traditional and really needing a shake up, to applying the innovations coming out in the scientific community to the executive world, leading to a great deal of benefit for individuals and the companies they work for.

    We’ve got a pretty stressed out workforce. I think that’s clear across any level of an organisation in any industry that you’re in, and I think that there is a huge cognitive demand on us. We live dynamic, complex, multifaceted lives where we work and have families and have interests, so I think the increased cognitive load is something that is very real. Before Covid, I think our clients were looking for a way to boost their brains, to get an edge, and to be better. Whilst that’s still true post-Covid, I think some of the drivers have changed. People are more interested in sustaining their performance in the long-term, and they’re thinking about their wellbeing, happiness, and performance all together as one rather than separating things like work, nutrition, and fitness.

    In terms of interventions to improve cognitive health, it’s very broad. You have everything from simple, straightforward stuff such as what you eat, your sleep quality, how much you exercise, and managing stress levels, all the way through to some of the most cutting-edge innovations including neurofeedback, brainwave training applications, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, nootropics, and different supplements that have been found to have an effect on cognitive performance. There’s so much coming out, and it’s coming at pace. It’s been remarkable to see that research really speed up.

    I did an MBA not that long ago, and I don’t recall there being any content addressing the cognitive side of things, and I’d like to see higher education give students the resources to improve the way their hardware functions. We send people off to MBA programmes and we teach them how to put together balance sheets, write up their profit and loss statements, and put together marketing strategies, but actually all of that is resting on their cognitive functions. So why aren’t we talking to these individuals about what they can do to enhance their cognitive function? Why aren’t we talking to them about managing stress levels and what high cortisol as a result of stress does to their brains? It impacts memory, it impacts the ability to make decisions, and it impacts the ability to think strategically, and these are abilities that we all need. Teaching people how to do, say, an accounting course doesn’t have the same value if they’re not cognitively able. I’d like to see everyone, and certainly people in the education system have that information provided to them. You aren’t stuck with what you’ve got – everyone should know that there are lots of things they can do to enhance their ability and intelligence.

  • Georgina Badine: Exploring university options

    Finito World’s own Director of Admissions Georgina Badine has studied in Geneva, Paris, and London. Through her experience, she explains the myriad options available to prospective university students.

    Firstly, I can compare Paris where I studied at the Sorbonne to Imperial College, which is very different. The Sorbonne was very structured, and challenging the lecturers wasn’t really welcome. Whilst it was very competitive, it was a lot more formal than in the English system. In the English system we worked a lot more in groups, and while you had the lectures you also had the seminars, whereas in Paris, it tended to be just more lectures. It was a less open forum than in the British system.

    On top of that, in the French system you might study economics or finance, for example, and then go on to work for a bank. The English system is much more flexible in that you could study history, or politics, or literature, and then you could go on and work in finance or another field. In terms of the way you study, there’s a lot more group work and flexible thinking in the UK. In the US it’s another completely different system, even when you’re applying. The essay is a lot longer, and that surprises a lot of UK students. Here it tends to be a very concise personal statement, and then it could depend on A Levels or to whichever level you’ve studied, and then you get a contextual offer. In the US, people tend to do advanced placement and the application process is much more rigorous.

    The class sizes in the US are much larger in the US as well, depending on the college there could be 600 people in a lecture. However, you do have much more campus life in the US. In the UK it really depends on where you are studying, but if you study in London, you don’t really have much of a campus. You’re kind of right in the middle of the city, whereas if you were to go to Scotland or something like that you might have more of a campus life. Those are just a few differences between France, the US, and the UK, but if you look at Switzerland it’s a completely different system altogether. Switzerland employs something called the elimination process, in which they’ll tend to eliminate about 30% of the intake during the first year. In contrast, the entry requirements are quite easy, but then they start to eliminate people. Unfortunately that drives like a lot of bad behaviour because some people then get so competitive that they will give you the wrong information on purpose, which is really horrible. That’s the main reason why I chose not to go to university in Switzerland.

    When attempting to navigate all of the different systems with all of their distinct traits, as well as complex application processes, it helps to have someone helping you who’s been through it. That can be someone like an older sibling or someone like a Finito mentor. That’s why I get a lot of people coming to me and saying, “Can you help my son or daughter? They want to apply to uni, but they don’t know what they’re doing.” It helps to have an older sibling who’s gone through it, but if you don’t have that, it’s all about being well connected and knowing someone somewhere in your network. I think there’s a real gap in the market here for people to actually help others because currently I don’t think there’s much guidance available. Schools need to prepare their students better for that. The process goes like this: What would you want to study? Why are you choosing that particular course? And what system do you think will fit you best as a student? The answers to these questions will vary from person to person, but anyone who can answer all three honestly and confidently is on the right track.

  • The Finito World Guide to Ivy League Universities

    Patrick Crowder

    The US group of universities known as the Ivy League is world renowned for the history, high academic standard, and excellent experience offered by the institutions which fall under the Ivy League umbrella. They are among the oldest schools in the nation – in fact, many of them predate the nation – but they continue to attract students from around the world.

    In the UK, there is a growing interest in attending American university, with one in five school leavers reporting that they have their eyes set on a US institution. To help our readers navigate the complicated world of US unis, we’ve prepared this ranked guide of the Ivy League schools. It is important to note that these institutions have been competing, in some cases, for more than 300 years. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and often finding the best fit will come down to personal preference. For example, someone who likes living in the city may find the quiet town of Hanover lacking and choose Columbia University over Dartmouth as a result. Alternately, a nature-lover might choose Dartmouth over the University of Pennsylvania in bustling Philadelphia. At the end of the day, these are all excellent institutions, and we hope that this guide helps you on your higher education journey.

    1.     Harvard University – Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Harvard University is one of the most prestigious within the Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $55,587
    Acceptance Rate: 5%
    Top Majors: Law, Economics, Medicine, Engineering

    With a history dating back to 1636, Harvard University is the oldest university in the US, predating the founding of the country by 140 years. Harvard is perhaps most famous for its stellar reputation in the fields of law and medicine, but it is also worth noting that the Harvard School of Divinity is widely considered to be the world’s most respected theological programme. Harvard students are known to be extremely driven and hardworking, and that’s no surprise considering the school’s extremely low acceptance rate, but Harvard also offers ample opportunity for students to explore the City of Cambridge and Boston as a whole. A historical city which feels more like an oversized town than a sprawling metropolis, Boston is a place to explore the history of the nation and enjoy the rich culture embodied by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Fenway Park.

    2.     Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $59,950
    Acceptance Rate: 6.5%
    Top Majors: Economics, History, Political Science

    Yale is often seen as the Ivy League school with the heaviest focus on the arts, and for good reason – Yale’s art, film, dance, and music courses are among the best in the world. Since 1701, Yale University has provided the highest level of instruction to History, Social Science, Engineering, and Mathematics students, but their offering doesn’t stop there. If a student’s interests cannot be contained by a single traditional programme, Yale also offers multidisciplinary programmes. The city of New Haven is not as large or bustling as Boston or Manhattan, but there is a good amount of culture and nightlife to be found near Yale. Crime in the city can be a problem, but the vast majority of Yale students have no issue and rapidly adjust to life in New Haven. Yale is also home to the world famous Whiffenpoofs, so if a cappella singing appeals to you, it’s worth checking out the longest-running a cappella group in the US.

    3.     University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $61,710
    Acceptance Rate: 9%
    Top Majors: Finance, Registered Nursing, Philosophy

    The University of Pennsylvania is known for its work hard/play hard attitude, but don’t let the active social lives of the students distract from their tireless work to maintain the institution’s reputation as a top research university. Founded in 1740 by Ben Franklin (who was also no stranger to the party life) the University of Pennsylvania is best known for the Wharton Business School, which is one of the best in the country. Wharton often overshadows the university’s other offerings, though the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Nursing are also highly respected. The university’s location in Philadelphia will give students the chance to feel the weight of the history surrounding them each time they walk down the street. Bars, museums, and music halls offer great places for a night out, and PennU’s sprawling campus can often feel like a city of its own. While UPenn is still highly selective, it does sport a higher acceptance rate than other Ivy League schools, and extracurricular activities are considered more heavily when making admission decisions.

    4.     Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey

    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $56,010
    Acceptance Rate: 5.6%
    Top Majors: Social Sciences, Engineering, Economics

    Princeton University is one of the finest of the Ivy League schools, with a world-renowned reputation for International Relations and Public Affairs, and the humanities in general. Princeton’s alumni, among other prominent figures, include the US Presidents Woodrow Wilson, James Madison, and John F. Kennedy. Founded in 1746, making it one of the oldest universities in the country, Princeton offers students the unique opportunity to become accustomed to thesis writing through the Junior Project, which is completed under the supervision of a faculty member. The application process and requirements for Princeton are notoriously difficult, placing much more emphasis on pure academics than extracurricular activities. While the university campus spans more than 600 acres, the town of Princeton, New Jersey is much more suited to nature lovers than city-dwellers. While the town is not large, with a population of around 30,000, there are good restaurants to be found, and downtown Princeton offers opportunities to see a bit of history while visiting the shops. It is recommended to drive, as while there is public transport, having a personal vehicle is far more convenient if you plan to leave town.

    5.     Cornell University – Ithaca, New York
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $61,015
    Acceptance Rate: 10.7
    Top Majors: Computer Science, Biology, Labor and Industrial Relations

    Cornell University may have the highest acceptance rate of the Ivy Leagues, but that does not mean that the quality of instruction is second class. Since its foundation in 1865, Cornell students have had the opportunity to study under Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and other major leaders in fields ranging from Agriculture to Industrial and Labour Relations. Greek life is a large part of life at Cornell, but if joining a fraternity or sorority doesn’t appeal to you, there are many other extracurricular activities including the Glee Club, Kung Fu, and Archery. The city of Ithaca is fairly small, and though it does contain some solid restaurants and nightlife, you will almost certainly want to be comfortable driving a car as the small town can be isolating to those accustomed to the big city.

    6.     Columbia University – Manhattan, New York
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $63,530
    Acceptance Rate: 6.7%
    Top Majors: Political Science, Computer Science, Engineering

    Originally founded by King George II in 1754, Columbia University can now be best defined by the cutting-edge research taking place there. Home of the Pulitzer Prize, Columbia’s humanities courses are well-respected, however the long-standing engineering programme is the most famous and prized course. Columbia’s application process is heavily academic, however they value a well-rounded student over one who excels in only a few areas. The core curriculum at Columbia also seeks to expose students to diverse ideas far beyond the confines of their chosen field of study. Columbia’s location in Manhattan comes with all of the advantages and drawbacks of living in New York. For those who crave the big city life and the wealth of opportunity which comes with living in such a major financial and cultural hub, Columbia is an ideal choice, however factors such as cost of living and fast-paced lifestyle should be carefully considered. Students at Columbia will not need a car, as public transport is well established in Manhattan.

    7.     Dartmouth College – Hanover, New Hampshire
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $60,870
    Acceptance Rate: 9.2%
    Top Majors: Biological Sciences, Engineering, Social Sciences

    Founded in 1769, Dartmouth College has the history one would expect from an Ivy League institution while maintaining the new ideas present at more modern schools. A great example of this is their flexible “D Plan”, which is a schedule consisting of four 10-week terms per year. This means that students have time to take advantage of internships which run during normal university times, and Dartmouth’s many study abroad opportunities. The Thayer School of Engineering is one of the oldest schools of its kind in the country, and it offers a dual-degree programme allowing students from other universities to attend. Greek life is a huge part of Dartmouth’s tradition, and students from the many fraternities and sororities flock to the great outdoors available in Hanover. Hanover is a small town, but what it lacks in bright lights and vibrant nightlife it makes up for with its beautiful hiking trails, rivers, and opportunities for outdoor sports. If living near nature interests you, Dartmouth is the place to be; the College even owns its own ski hill!

    8.     Brown University – Providence, Rhode Island
    Ivy League

    Average Undergraduate Tuition: $62,304
    Acceptance Rate: 7.7%
    Top Majors: Applied Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science

    Brown University takes a different approach than other Ivy League schools, in that students are not locked in to one field of study, and the school has no strict majors. The “Open Curriculum” programme at Brown allows students to combine classes from different fields to tailor their experience to their own specialisation, though they must complete at least one “concentration” to graduate. Brown was founded in 1764 on the novel idea that students of all religions were welcome to attend, and that open attitude is still present in the university’s philosophy today. Brown’s eight-year Program in Liberal Medical Education is highly regarded and is an excellent way to work towards an MD, and extracurriculars including sailing, journalism, and martial arts provide an effective way for students to take a break from their studies while also bettering themselves. Located in Rhode Island’s capital Providence, students at Brown have ample opportunity to explore a lesser-known city which nonetheless features excellent restaurants, an active nightlife, and the historical architecture of College Hill.