My pedicure and other wacky stuff MBA students do for their class

Well, I guess this marketing guru has certainly lived up to his name.

Our MBA class was taught by renown marketing professor Bernd Schmitt from the Columbia Business School.

I, being passionate about marketing, was looking forward to this class and he certainly brought across his message of creative living.

After lecturing for a good 2 days, as we were drawing near the end of the 2nd day, he posed us this challenge of beginning to live our lives creatively. To do that, we must first take that leap of faith and do something we have never done before. In that way, we will be able to see things from a totally different perspective, instead of assuming that we actually know.

We were given 1 hour to roam Marina Square Mall and do something we have never done before.

Now, my class is filled with rather accomplished individuals of various nationalities who are middle to senior managers in MNCs. However, this was a time that we had to overcome our fears, challenge ourselves and do something different.

You see, if you have never done something before, it is probably because you have either:

a) no interest in it
b) never had the time to do it
c) never thought about it
d) afraid of it
e) detest it
f) it's illegal

You can imagine the level of fear and excitement some of us had. Let me relate what some of my classmates actually did...some rather interesting stuff:


The Yogi
This red head is a vivacious lady who holds the post of regional head in a certain MNC. She decided to sit cross legged in the middle of the shopping mall holding a deeply spiritual post. Some thought that she was part of a guerilla marketing promotion for Coach bags.


The Masked Ones
2 lovely ladies, one of which is a Financial Controller and the other a Manager, decided to buy beauty masks, put them on and leave them on their faces while shopping around Marina Square.


The Officer
He was dared to do a manicure. Now, he holds an officer position in the military and is very 'Man'. And so, this was truly a time when he was going beyond his comfort zone. With a red face and very stiff hands, he put them on the hand pillow and made a silent prayer that men under his command would not happen to chance by this rather interesting scene.


Myself
I've done quite outrageous stuff in the past, but what I really wanted to try was to have a pedicure. And so I did! And now, I'm a believer. I mean, it actually makes sense for everyone to have a pedicure! The toe nails do not 'bite' into your flesh; the dead skin is removed nicely; no more cuticles....someone sign me up for a package!


Of course, some others decided to get a head massage for the first time in their lives. Others included buying a Lego toy for themselves due to a very deprived childhood (joking yah, Mr R). There was this brave lad who strode into Chalone to buy a $300 lingerie set for his wife. There was also this guy who decided to go pierce his ear. And of course, who could forget our 3 Indian friends who thought that it would be so cool to stroll into a liquor shop to sample some booze and then come back to class.

Their rationale --- they have never come to class after having drunk alcohol before.