MBAMondays: Valitas Presentation week

This week, academic pressures really kicked in.

P.S. I have a juicy activity, read all the way to the bottom.

Let's get into it.

Queen's MBA sponsored headshots


Photo credit: Greg Black

Help me appreciate this fine looking somebody.  

Another One


2 minutes from my place.

Surely, I will run out of these at some point.

A course has already finished


Ladies & gents, Matt Reesor, Director of the MBA program and teacher of the class on Communications.

Valitas Presentation

To round off our class on communications we had to present a financial analysis to an advisory firm, Valitas Capital Partners.

Each team took turns to present.


... and Matt was there too. #NoPressure


It is also worth 25% ... What is Pressure? 

I went to a conference at University of Toronto


It was such an eye opener. I've never really imagined how many things I take for granted that are not as useful for some others, like a door knob. People without grip, those with arthritis, some with no hands can't use a door knob. 



So, some of the speakers

Unstoppable Tracy

A 4 way amputee, who has competed in the Paralympics and completed her MBA at U of T.

You can find her website here



Micheal Nesmith

Lead Designer at Amazon.



You can also watch his impressive Ted Talk below

The Juice

The activity here is to read the story below, rank the 5 characters starting with the most offensive and ending with your least questionable. You should also note your reasons why they are in that order.

We did this in class and it was interesting.




The Alligator River Story


Once upon a time there was a woman named Abigail who was in love with a man named Gregory. Gregory lived on the shore of a river. The river, which separated the two lovers, was teeming with man-eating alligators. Abigail wanted to cross the river to be with Gregory. Unfortunately, the bridge had been washed out. So she went to ask Steve, a riverboat captain, to take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would consent to go to bed with him preceding the voyage. She promptly refused and went to a friend named Ivan to explain her plight. Ivan did not want to be involved at all in the situation. Abigail felt her only alternative was to accept Steve's terms. Steve fulfilled his promise to Abigail and delivered her into the arms of Gregory. When she told Gregory about her amorous escapade in order to cross the river, Gregory cast her aside with disdain. Heartsick and dejected, Abigail turned to Slug with her tale of woe. Slug, feeling compassion for Abigail, sought out Gregory and beat him brutally. Abigail was overjoyed at the sight of Gregory getting his due. As the sun sets on the horizon, we hear Abigail laughing at Gregory.

Make sure you've done yours before asking someone else.

Send to someone and be amazed ... or impressed by their choices.


Seriously, do yours, my perspective is more entertaining that way.

My Assumptions

  • The events took place in one day.
  • It's a small world, surely everybody knows each other in some way.
  • There's some extra element of danger in crossing the river with "man-eating alligators" otherwise, I'm pretty sure "river" is dangerous enough as is.
  • Ivan is not only neutral, he is completely against her going. I can't see how my friend would  not want to be "at all involved" when I'm trying to see bae.
  • Communication is only a face to face type of thing in this world.
  • Slug is on Ivan's side of the river so Abi probably has to sleep with Steve (again) to get back to tell Slug.

My choices

  1. Steve ... because yuck! Shame on you. 
  2. Greg ... (Toss up between Abi and Greg tbh). Maybe if you had crossed the other way, we would not have this conversation. Nobody but Abigail likes you. Steve knows you but still wants to sleep with your girl. Ivan, her friend, doesn't think you're worth the trip.  Man like Slug just wants to woop you without even hearing your side of the story. Unless Slug is some kind of hot head, who leaves his house and crosses man-eating alligator rivers to beat people, what have you been doing bro? Oh and why are you involved with Abi in the first place? I question so many of your choices tbh bro. Anyways, you gotta go.
  3. Abigail ... I mean, honey, you need several seats to chill. Where do I even start? Ugh. 
  4. Slug ... This was none of your business but I mean, hero syndrome is a thing so I guess.
  5. Ivan ... you called it bro. You knew stuff was going to hit the fan. Just minded your business like a real G. 


LOL. Please, if you have Steve any higher than 3, block me, block my number.

God bless.

Till next week,

Believe in yourself, you matter.