The AIM Blogger

Last week, MBA Cohort 3 students Vaidas Sukys, Ron Acedillo, and Sandeep Kaul successfully sailed (well, rowed to be more accurate) across the Pasig River using a makeshift boat . Yes, a makeshift boat using used plastic water bottles. This was part of Vaidas' walkabout project and it aimed to make a statement about the environment. The launch was a huge success that the city government of Pasig supported the initiative. Media also covered the event and Vaidas & co. were featured in the evening news. Congratulations to the students for this successful project! More coverage: Ripples of Change Lithuanian Student Rows His Plastic Boat in Pasig River

Credibility, whether on the physical or virtual world, is not easy to gain. It takes time, a good track record, and good relations with people. Like what I learned in Social Entrepreneurship (SE), one builds " Social Capital " as he moves around and interacts with society. In the real world, it's easy to imagine how one gains credibility-- one can get it by good character, proper actions, or deep knowledge. A simple act of honesty can help one's reputation and credibility. But when it comes to the online world, how does one gain this valuable commodity? My research brought me to a recent study entitled " Web Credibility in Online Journalism " where the researcher sought to find the link between web credibility and several factors, among them the author's identity. The study cited a work by MIT Media Lab expert Judith Donath: The writer’s identity – in particular, claims of real-world expertise or history of accurate online contributions – plays an ...

I've had my share of mistakes, but there has been one mistake that has come to bite me in the @$$. When the a certain forums site was launched a few weeks ago , I welcomed it with open arms. I saw its potential of being an avenue of intelligent and meaningful discussions among AIM stakeholders, particularly the students. A few weeks has passed and that site has accomplished none of what I thought it would do. Instead, we saw people posting crass criticisms like crazy, discussions focusing on "who's doing who," and doing very, very little to create a positive change. The moderators eventually saw the lack of responsibility in the postings of the message board, and disabled anonymous posting. The quality improved a bit, but the general atmosphere of that website still remained-- a raw environment filled with character assassinations. What was my mistake in what I've mentioned? I grossly overestimated the benefits of that forums site and underestimated its ne...

The Online Marketing mini-elective I taught with Professors Richard Cruz and Titos Ortigas had its 10th and last meeting yesterday and I had the pleasure of closing the class. The class session was brief but we recapped what we learned for the last 10 weeks and had some final tips for the groups will be competing at the Google Online Marketing Challenge . We also had a quick evaluation of the strategies of the different groups for their respective companies/clients. We rounded out the class with feedback on how the class was handled and the course content. Thankfully, the feedback of everyone in the class was generally positive. (Well, I wasn't expecting a vicious feedback a la AIM Bloggers Forum on the Professors , but you get the picture :P) I handled three sessions of the 10-session mini-elective (regular electives usually have 20 sessions), and I think it was a very good experience. I was there in almost all the 10 sessions to observe and learn as much about handling an M...

I'm proud to share that The AIM Blogger has been selected by GraduateDegree.org as one of the 100 Best Blogs for MBA Students . This blog is in good company-- blogs from MBA students, alumni & faculty from Wharton, Columbia Business School, Kellogg, Harvard Business School, Fuqua, London Business School, Ivey, Chicago Booth, Stanford, and Sloan were included in the list. I just feel honored that The AIM Blogger was recognized as one of the best all over the globe. :)

Just a quick one: In a basketball clinic where I served as one of the assistant coaches a while ago, the girls team of KT Tan, Karen Bitagun, Laurice Alaan, Bhavisha Dave, Carmie Pacheco, and Clarence Lim beat the boys of the MBA Cohort 3 in the all of the shooting drills and games. The girls and boys competed in free throw shooting, jump-shooting, lay-ups games and the AIM girls slammed the boys on all of the events. The basketball clinic was a walkabout project and it was held at the AIM parking lot. Congrats girls! :D

I've been visiting the newly-launched " AIM Bloggers Forum ," an online forum for all Asian Institute of Management initiated by, according to them, students and alumni. The forum's heart is in the right place-- it wants encourage feedback from the all the AIM stakeholders and elicit change in the institute. However, in my last visit, I've been quite disappointed with the quality of posts in the forum. As of this writing, almost half of the forum posts are placed in the threads pertaining to AIM rumors (which reads like a gossip column) and AIM faculty (which reads like a mud-slinging campaign). I'm disappointed because of the lack of responsibility of the forum posters. Here are samples: I will just fill in the blanks -- He is a xxxxxxx. To his future student, specially the girls out there, better weara skirt and a plunging neckline to class. Yes he can teach but he better stop talking after class. Not a good role model especially with the way he tal...