You have to admit, it is a fitting picture.
Over four years ago, I arrived on a one-way ticket into London Heathrow's Terminal Four, at the time its nicest terminal. My firm was transferring me to London; I flew business class, was picked up in a corporate Mercedes Benz E-class, then was whisked into a corporate apartment, fully kitted out including a 50-inch plasma TV.
Now, I am sitting in Heathrow's worst terminal, Terminal Four. My firm, Lehman Brothers, famously went bankrupt. Mrs. V drove me to the airport in our VW Golf; I bought my own economy class ticket and will turn up in Los Angeles needing an apartment and, among other things, a new 50-inch TV.
When I decided to go to UCLA Anderson, I knew nothing about Los Angeles. So I bought, then binned, the Lonely Planet guidebook and decided to watch a lot of LA-based TV shows. Research, I explained to Mrs. V.
After marathon days of "24" and "Entourage", I confidently explained what will happen upon my arrival at LAX: I will immediately be issued loads of military gear so that I can arrest some terrorists before going to see the Lakers or Kings at the Staples Center with Emmanuelle Chriqui.
Mrs. V was not amused.
I'm excited to go to UCLA Anderson. Like many others in my class, for me, the MBA course will be the start of a career change.
I spent the past seven years trading, structuring, and selling the now-infamous derivatives known as collateralized debt obligations. I love the energy and pace of a trading floor, where decisions that affect millions of dollars are made in an instant. Doesn't every job involve being in seven conversations in three languages at once (two phones, chat, email, Bloomberg, your neighbor, and someone shouting at you from two rows away)?
But after seven years, I knew it was time for something new. Being laid off made me realize how much of a sports geek I really was - not as an armchair quarterback, but in a business sense. After boring Mrs. V, my friends, family -- anyone who would listen, really -- about my ideas for the sports industry, it finally occurred to me to try to make a career out of it.
For me there were many reasons to come to UCLA Anderson, but one sticks out in my mind more than any other. It's no secret that investment banks and consulting firms recruit heavily at MBA programs; but I felt that UCLA Anderson had a great mix of other potential employers as well -- not to mention strong links into the sports and entertainment industries. UCLA Anderson's famed entrepreneurial bent was icing on the cake.
Time to board. Last thoughts before the flight: to London -- I love you, will miss you, and am proud to call you my adopted hometown.
To Los Angeles -- tell Emmanuelle my flight lands at 2pm.
