Answer: There has never been a big plan behind it. I studied law because I wanted to join the Intelligence forces, like MI6 or the CIA. In order to become an officer in Belgium\u2019s intelligence forces, you need either 10 years of experience or a law degree. That\u2019s why I studied law.<\/p>\n
The Intelligence Forces\u2019 selection process is peculiar: a government paper publishes when they are hiring people. I think I sent them three letters and never heard back from them. They must have checked up on me and saw something they didn\u2019t like. I probably talk too much or something like that. [laughs]\n
This was also my reasoning behind joining the Special Forces. I thought that, with my law degree and experience as a military parachutist and a commando, the services would for sure hire me. I am still waiting. [laughs]\n
When all that happened, I thought to myself \u201cYou\u2019re kind of in trouble.\u201d By that time, I knew I wanted to leave Belgium, but the problem with law degrees is that most of the law is domestic law. If you want to work abroad, it\u2019s almost impossible. I thought to myself, the only places in Belgium that hire people with law degrees and send them to work abroad are banks, so I sent my CV to banks.<\/p>\n
The recruitment processes at Belgium banks are heavy on numerical tests and weak on interviews. Before earning my law degree, I had studied mathematics, so my numerical tests were pretty good. The HR director asked if I was interested in becoming a trader. I didn\u2019t have a clue about what she was talking about. I asked if I could do this abroad. She replied that the bank had trading floors in Hong Kong, New York and London. My follow-up question was \u201cWhat is trading?\u201d It was 1989 and the HR director didn\u2019t know too much about it either. She asked \u201cHave you seen the movie Wall Street<\/em>? It is something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n After doing some more numerical tests, I was hired into the bank\u2019s Dealer School, an intensive 4-month training program for financial markets.<\/p>\n During each semi-annual performance review, I would ask when I would be transferred abroad. Each time the response was something similar to \u201cYeah, well, it\u2019s a little bit early, but keep up the good work.\u201d<\/p>\n The second year, I had an incredibly good year, so I thought, \u201cThis is it, I will definitely be going abroad now.\u201d But again they told me to be patient. When I found out that they had just hired a new batch of inexperienced employees into the Dealer School that would be posted abroad after completing the course, I resigned and left to do an MBA at IESE.<\/p>\n Q: That was it.<\/strong><\/p>\n A: That was it for me. I did my MBA at IESE and my summer internship with Goldman Sachs. Later on, I worked for Salomon Brothers and again for Goldman Sachs. In 2002, I decided to take a break after one of my close friends passed away from cancer. We were a very close group of friends, having first met at the swimming club before becoming water polo players and colleagues with the North Sea Lifeguards. When Jurgen passed away, I had a \u201cwake-up call\u201d that made me think, \u201cLife might be way shorter than I think it is.\u201d I always wanted to travel around the world, so that\u2019s what I did. I resigned from Goldman. They told me to take my time and come back when I was ready.<\/p>\n I used Barcelona as my home base when I wasn\u2019t traveling. One day I received a call from the dean of IESE, Professor Jordi Canals, asking if I was interested in teaching. Q: What major trend do you think MBAs will face over the next few years? <\/strong><\/p>\n A: These are some challenging and exciting times. There are some big trends colliding globally while corporations are responding. A first trend is an increase in the speed of innovation and disruption. Take Google, for example. In my view, Google is one of those companies that does not take rules as a given, they don\u2019t take the world as a given, they take it as something that they can shape. They achieve this through innovation and disruption. Along these lines is the coalescence between business, science, mathematics and engineering. Look at what\u2019s happening at SpaceX, Tesla or indeed, the Singularity University. We need this type of thinking, as there are so many big, big issues in the world. Poverty, wars, food insecurity, pension fund problems, climate change, just to name a few. We will not be able to solve these issues unless we start changing the way we do business. As Einstein quipped: \u201cInsanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.\u201d<\/p>\n The re-emergence of China as a global player is another trend that is here to stay. After teaching financial markets over many years, one of the funny things for me is that this is only the second year people mention CPI and China\u2019s GDP. Two years ago, nobody talked about it because its impact was secondary. It is just a matter of time before we have two economically equal powers and with equal powers, I believe our minds are going to change, especially here in Europe where we are Americanized in our way of thinking, with a very \u201cblack and white\u201d approach. I think that this will introduce changes in the political sphere as well.<\/p>\n To be honest with you, I would be super-excited if I were an MBA right now. When I graduated, MBAs basically had two choices\u2014banking or consulting\u2014but now there are so many other things that you can do. I come from a time when failing was considered a bad thing and consequently, we would only take limited risks. Today, on the other hand, failing is seen as a \u201clearning process\u201d and that shift is just massive. I would love to trade places with you. But\u2026it is also \u201cyours for the making,\u201d it\u2019s what you\u2019re going to make out of it. I\u2019d be excited if I were you.<\/p>\n![\"Jan](\"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/mba\/files\/2015\/11\/Jan-Simon-4.jpg\")
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\nI met with the head of the Finance Department and we agreed that I would teach the investment course during the last leg of my \u201csabbatical.\u201d After it ended, I continued to teach on weekends, flying in from London. Eventually I decided that flying back and forth wasn\u2019t sustainable and accepted IESE\u2019s offer to join full-time while I earned my PhD.<\/p>\n