Barbarians at the Gate (Part 1)

Okay, among the other things I never thought I’d be doing (and loving) was reading about the fall of RJR Nabisco. But here I am, halfway through the book and at the edge of my seat. The learning curve is pretty steep here – I get a bit lost on the technical bits and have to go back to have things make sense – but I’m liking that I’m learning about leveraged buy-outs in an impressionistic way – a real rough-and-tumble, gritty real-life adventure.

A Single Step

As soon as I decided in late September 2008 to get this going, the journey began. I committed, hung a sign ’round my neck saying “INSEAD or bust” and set right off.

It started with the GMAT – blitzed the studying in four or five weeks (obsessively did so and practice tested in a frenzy) and enjoyed it immensely. Took the test on 5 November. Didn’t do as well as I would have liked, but I made a decent show of it.