The Business of Rowing at the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race by Bernhard Grassl, LMU Munich
Thursday, 1 July 2010 | Student Reports
The Wall Street Journal Europe's Future Leadership Institute invited LMU Munich student Bernhard Grassl to write of his experiences of The Business of Rowing seminar in London.
On Easter weekend this year, WSJE Future Leadership Institute (FLI) invited me to one of the great London events, the prestigious and tradition-steeped Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, which creates a festival atmosphere on the banks of the River Thames year by year. Prior to the actual race, the FLI, a virtual institute bridging university and industry, brought together speakers, students and business leaders to explore certain aspects surrounding this historical event.
As a selective and alert reader of both business and economic literature, I already knew the above mentioned institute, which contributes in an innovative way to the development of skills in finance, economics and international business from a global perspective. Anyway, I was decidedly impressed getting a personal invitation to such a striking event. Since it was my first ever trip to London, I found this long-established and history-charged event to be a great introduction to the UK's largest and most populous metropolitan area. Added to this, exclusive attendance at the preceding seminar, which covered my sphere of interest to the greatest extent, made the journey all the more remarkable. A variety of top-class speakers starting with business leaders like Graham Smith, a former rowing pro and now partner of a leading global broker firm, right through to Dr. Mark de Rond, a Cambridge Judge Business School Professor who conducted extensive research into managing high performance teams by being embedded in the Cambridge rowing team for 7 months, catered for an effective learning moment in the imposing rooms of the London Rowing Club. Another noteworthy highlight was the presentation of David and James Livingston: the two siblings had battled each other in the 149th Oxford-Cambridge Boat race, watched by over 8 million people. In their book "Blood Over Water", which was shortlisted in the Best New Writer category in 2010, David and James tell their stories for the first time, giving an intimate insight into one of the nation's least understood but best-loved national sporting occasions.
To give a short review of the fascinating contents of the seminar, the speakers looked into such subjects as processes in rowing and business and the possible transfer between them, transfer of coaching or leadership techniques from rowing to business, historical background of the race, training and selection processes that produces teams, and so on.
After enjoying the presentations, I took the opportunity to get in touch with other attendees and swap ideas on this and that. An enjoyable atmosphere emerged immediately when I met fellow students from the UK, but also from Switzerland, India, USA and Germany. It was most interesting to exchange views on various different things, e.g. study affairs, fields of interest, future plans and so on. As time for the actual highlight of the day moved closer, the banks of the river Thames got increasingly crowded. Thus, almost everyone of our coterie went up to the exclusive balcony of the London Rowing Club with its panoramic view of the starting point of the race near Putney Bridge. After watching the build up of the race for a little while, a roar went up on cue when the starting signal was fired! The Blue Boats gathered speed. Thousands of people were cheering their teams on. A few moments later, the boats disappeared round a bend in the river. The BBC was televising the complete event live, a big screen installed in an imposing room of the Rowing Club ensured uninterrupted viewer participation. At the finish Cambridge won the 2010 Boat Race by 1 1/3 lengths in a time of 17 mins 35 seconds. To my mind, the whole event was a great and unforgettable experience in two respects: the valuable lessons learned from the seminar embedded in a sporting event which is truly part of Britain's cultural heritage as well as manifold networking opportunities.
About Bernhard Grassl
Bernhard Grassl is currently studying business education at Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität in Munich. Previously he completed a commercial apprenticeship and worked as a sales manager in the building industry for almost two years. Besides his studies he is tutoring pupils of all ages, helping them to reach their educational goals. His interests include reading business/economic literature and playing sports.
