2009 Distinguished Alumni Award
Aug, 2009
Geoff Allen AM (MBA 1969) talks about what it means to be nominated by his alumni peers
My grandson, having heard a story about a wise old owl told me his great grandfather (my father-in-law) "was so old he must know a hundred things". I asked him how many he thought I knew and he answered "You must know about sixteen things!"
Well, if I know sixteen things, at least one of them must be how important my MBA experience, and my continued association with the Melbourne Business School, has been to me.
These musings result from a request from this newsletter, MBS Today, to comment on what it has meant to me to be given the 2008 Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award.
The first thing that comes to mind has been recognition, albeit lightly deserved, by the MBS family that I have been close to for so long.
I have had more opportunity to benefit than most, having been not only student, but staff (for many years as an adjunct), involved with the alumni organisation, and on the Board.
However, it has been my experience with a remarkable group of eager fellow MBA students, that has had a real impact on me, professionally, and personally.
It was a long time ago, but warm friendships and close associations have lasted and only this year we celebrated our fortieth anniversary at a country retreat. Amazingly almost all the fit and able from the class attended, several even coming from remote parts of the world for the occasion.
I continue to value highly my undergraduate background in history, philosophy and theology but, while it had equipped me well for thinking and preaching (friends tell me I am better at the latter than the former), I felt I needed to get more vocational support for a career departure I had undertaken. The experience far exceeded my expectations.
For me the value was not so much the technical content of the classes. As only one example, Jeff Bird could never get the mysterious tools of quantitative decision analysis into my head. It was more the structured way of approaching issues, including the complex interweaving of various disciplines to approach real life organisational challenges (or, for instance, their case study proxies) that I think is unique to management education.
No doubt not all alumni have had such a positive outcome, but I hear similar stories from the more recent classes of the EMBA, and our Mt Eliza colleagues who have experienced a shorter, but even more intensive executive education experience.
An other note that comes to mind about the Distinguished Alumni Award is the awesome (proper use of the word) company I have been blessed to join.
My predecessors, the first two recipients of the award were Margaret Jackson AC, (who many years ago had to endure my classes on business government relations), and Mt Eliza alumnus, John Ralph AC, with whom I have had a close and warm association throughout my career.
I am reminded of the ditty-
"Tis said within the learned schools
That flattery's a thing of fools,
But now and then a soul of wit
Might condescend to take a bit."
The award is also enhanced overwhelmingly by the occasion - the event at which the award is made.
The Annual Alumni Dinner has been for a number of years now, the MBS night of nights, with hundreds of alumni and friends of the School gathering to catch up and celebrate the MBS community. Great speakers like Geoffrey Blainey, Chip Goodyear, Lt. Gen Peter Cosgrove, Richard Goyder and Tim Costello over the years have been a garnish on this great event.
Thank you for asking. These are some of the things the award has meant to me.
Submit your nominations for The Distinguished Alumni Award and, new to this year's dinner, The Outstanding Recent Alumni Award by 25 September 2009
Awards will be presented at the 2009 Annual Alumni Dinner on Thursday 5 November. Download nomination forms:
