Tag: Oxford MBA

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A Yank at Oxford

David Simon on Systems Thinking for Lawyers

Tune in every quarter to learn how David Simon, a 53-year-old lawyer from the US, navigates the ancient world of Oxford University in pursuit of an MBA. David is a Partner at the white shoe law firm Foley and Lardner, who has dedicated his career to white-collar compliance with a heavy international focus. “My practice touches a lot on some of the sanctions and international trade issues that typically come up on international matters,” he says. In A Yank in Oxford, David and host Tom Fox will discuss what inspired his decision to pursue an Executive MBA and his hopes for where the journey may lead.

In this Episode 6, we deep dive into a paper Simon wrote entitled Personal Action Plan: How Can I Bring Systems Thinking Into My Legal Practice? We also reviewed his trip to Vietnam and what is left for Simon in the final 9 months in the Oxford program.

1.         Systems Thinking

·      What is Systems Thinking?

·      How is it different from the traditional delivery of legal services?

·      How could it be used in the practice of law?

·      What is Systems Leadership?

2.         Vietnam

·      Current business status in Vietnam.

·      Is corruption a manageable problem?

·       Geopolitical role of Vietnam in the 2020s.

Resources

David Simon on Foley and Lardner

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A Yank at Oxford

Reflections from Oxford at One Year

Tune in every quarter to learn how David Simon, a 53-year-old lawyer from the US, navigates the ancient world of Oxford University in pursuit of an MBA. David is a Partner at the law firm Foley and Lardner, who has dedicated his career to white-collar compliance with a heavy international focus. In A Yank in Oxford, David and host Tom Fox will discuss what inspired his decision to pursue an Executive MBA and his hopes for where the journey may lead.

In this Episode 5, David reflects on the one-year mark in his Oxford MBA Program.

  1. Reflections at the one-year mark.

It has been amazing in so many ways. I love my classmates, and the core value proposition is my interactions with them. I love Oxford and feel lucky to spend time soaking up the atmosphere. Riding the bus into town makes me feel smarter. And I’ve learned so much – about technical business and commercial issues like accounting, finance, and statistics- but also about the macro-level, big-picture issues that drive society and thus drive business.

  1. Favorite courses so far.

Governance and Ethics.

Global Rules of the Game.

Accounting was surprisingly good.

M&A – mini-MBA in itself.

  1. The Physical Environment

            *          Oldest coffee house in the UK is in Oxford. There’s a theory about the coffee house’s importance to the Enlightenment’s emergence. Lots of people with different ideas bouncing around but similar themes. Brilliance of being immersed in an environment of smart, curious, open people.

            *          Thinking about all kinds of issues in different ways and thinking deeply and reading deeply about big societal issues that massively affect business enterprise – my clients – and government and policy.

            *          Presentations and Papers on:

  • Supply chain and geopolitical risk.
  • US/China relations and decoupling.
  • ESG – theory, and practice.
  • Human Rights – Forced Labor/Child Labor in Supply chains and the ethics and practical compliance challenges.
  • The Beatles and the Get Back documentary and leadership lessons learned.
  • Techniques for promoting virtue and ethics in organizations.
  • CSR is a means to develop a sustainable competitive advantage for a business.
  1. What’s coming up?

Global Opportunities and Threats Oxford:  Apply systems thinking too big complex problems. We’re focusing on food security.

Vietnam – Emerging Markets course

  1. What has been some fun stuff?
  2. Rowing
  3. College dinners
  4. Wimbledon
  5. Queen’s funeral – being in the UK
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A Yank at Oxford

Getting Tough at Oxford


Tune in every quarter to learn how David Simon, a 53-year-old lawyer from the US, navigates the ancient world of Oxford University in pursuit of an MBA. David is a Partner at the white shoe law firm Foley and Lardner, who has dedicated his career to white collar compliance with a heavy international focus. “My practice touches a lot on some of the sanctions and international trade issues that typically come up on international matters,” he says. In A Yank in Oxford, David and host Tom Fox will talk about what inspired his decision to pursue an Executive MBA, and his hopes for where the journey may lead.
In this Episode 4, David discusses beginning his academic journey through his third quarter in the Oxford MBA program. Highlights include:
1.           You are now about 9 months into your EMBA program. How is it going?
 2.           Working with your classmates. Are you finding interesting collaboration opportunities?
 a.         working with a classmate on a proposal to the State Department for an anti-corruption project in sub-Saharan Africa;
b.         some nascent legal tech projects involving AI; and
c.         required Entrepreneurship Project.
3.          What substantive stuff what you been learning.
 a.      Global Rules of the Game.
b.     Strategy Class.
c.     Accounting.
d.     Technology and Operations Management.
4.           Fun stuff – matriculation 
The Ceremony was in the Divinity School, one of the oldest university buildings. Very formal – Latin incantations and subfusc? As Oxford as it gets.