More than a WFU MBA journal

Since I'm still in time-warp mode until January, backfilling a bunch of posts to recap the 1st semester, I'm occasionally going to preview some of the other things that I hope to do with this blog.  If it were just a journal, I doubt anyone would keep reading.  But if I take Seth Godin's advice and create a Tribe, then the possibility exits that we can create interest and expand the conversations we have in Winston-Salem (and Charlotte) each week

1 - "Decision of the Week" - Each week, I will take a recent topic from the Business Press and highlight certain aspects that are worth exploring in more detail.  It may be an executive decision, a competitive market shift, a unique marketing approach, a savvy financial transaction or some other interesting element.  I'll open up the discussion (via blog comments) to my classmates in both the Winston-Salem and Charlotte programs.  We have mechanisms in the program to do this within the context of a class topic, but this should let us explore cross-topic impacts of business decisions, as well as open it to outside input and discussion.

2 - "Discussion of the Week" - This segment allows me to highlight an interest discussion, or person from each weekend's discussions.  These discussions may involve classroom topics, or may center around back-of-the-napkins brainstorming that often leads to great ideas and great companies.  I also hope to highlight some of the gifted personalities from the WFU EXFT2009 class, or across the WFU MBA programs.  

3 - "Connecting the Dots" - Academics are greats, but unless you can tie it to real world activities, it's just learning for learning's sake.  This segment will highlight connections between the topics in class, and real world examples of the concepts in practice.  

4 - "inVinCible Ideas" - What would a MBA program be without the creation of new business models and company ideas?  This segment will spotlight the activities that classmates are exploring and developing as they plan for the next step in their career or life.  VC funding may be required.

[Update - Dec.28, 2008] - The more I think about this, and the more I follow people like Fred Wilson, Umair Haque and the read books like What Would Google Do?, I have to ask myself if the recent worldwide economic crisis doesn't require us to truly think differently about how we conduct business, define government and shape societies.  I don't have a name yet for this segment, but there will definitely be segments where we'll explore this type of thinking, which should be a lot of fun.