Graduation is in two weeks and I miss it already. Something which I didn't expect to miss so strongly is the amazing energy of the place, because when you're there, you tend to just get used to it. Bumping into dozens of totally different and fascinating people every day, talking about starting companies, starting companies, planning overseas travel for next month and the month after, going through interviews, discussing important cases, reviewing life plans, playing sports in the afternoon, learning from world class professors, hanging out together at night, etc.... that is just an average day at HBS... and that is definitely not the "real world." It is something I miss, but life does have to go on, and we can't just be students forever; we have work to do and we have contributions to make."Reviewing" my experience at HBS is too difficult, but I will summarize what I think HBS teaches based on my 2 years here. HBS is more than just a transfer of knowledge from an institution to a student, and it's also more than a brand name on a resume. I would summarize what HBS provides in three broad categories (adapted from one of my favorite professors), in order of least importance to most important:
1. Knowledge, information, and techniques
2. A perspective and approach to problem solving and decision making
3. Values, attitudes, and beliefs
1. Knowledge, information, and techniques
This subject of learning overlaps with many other MBA programs. In fact, if one had the self-discipline, one could learn much of this by reading enough books and doing enough online training programs. This includes things like understanding how to analyze an industry, financial leverage, calculating net present value of revenue streams, techniques in marketing, the structure of a Board of Directors, as just a few examples among thousands. Among all the skills that HBS provides, this is probably the most fundamental, but also the least important. Most of us will only apply a very small percentage of this knowledge base in the first couple of years after school, and most of the rest will be forgotten or become obsolete. For those of you who are in the military, think of this as the equivalent of your entry level training... it's mostly replaced by different tactics and techniques once you get to your first unit, but it is still a good foundation to establish.
2. A perspective and approach to problem solving and decision making
After technical skills. the next most important element taught at HBS is how to approach and solve complex problems given limited information. This is equivalent to how new officers learn to be decisive, develop a bias for action, learn to step up in the critical moment, and feel comfortable being in command. Those skills are usually much more important than the nuances taught at basic training, and those are the skills which are critical to a life of success in the military.
Most of my HBS non-military peers were previously individual contributors only; they were never in charge of a unit... so the experience of learning to persuade others, to defend positions, and to just make decisions, was a previously underdeveloped skill set. Just like it is done in the military, these are things that develop best with repetitive person-to-person exercises, which at HBS is done 600 times over two years in 80 minute periods called the case method.
Former military people still greatly benefit from this as well though, for while most of us are not uncomfortable making decisions or defending points of view, we don't know how 1) to transfer our knowledge to a technical business environment and how 2) to do so in a diverse civilian environment. HBS is therefore outstanding for this purpose.
3. Values, attitudes, and beliefs
The most important element of the HBS education, in my opinion, is the values, attitudes, and beliefs it imparts on people who are receptive to it. To this end, non-military students benefit much more. Veterans are used to applying ethics in their decision making, understanding what it means to work towards a purpose beyond themselves, weighing conflicting moral dilemmas, etc. Many non-military classmates however have not been forced to think through many of those issues, so for that purpose, the HBS education imparts a tremendous sense of responsibility and judgment on students, or at least, those who are open to receive it.
What I would like to emphasize though is not the moral or ethical views that HBS imparts, but what may be the most important "value, attitude, and belief" that HBS imparted on me as an individual, even though I have never heard a single person explicitly say it...
I feel that I need to give a little bit of context though first; I grew up in a middle class family. My mother was a homemaker, and my father was an engineer. Although our house was in a neighborhood most people would consider very nice, it was 50 years old, had 1300 square feet, and one bathroom for the entire family. I didn't grow up poor, but I didn't grow up rich. I went to a public high school and I paid most of my own way through college. Nobody has ever pulled any strings for me to get into any school, nor any job, and I am very proud of that.
I have also always been very engaged in current affairs, in politics, in my general surroundings, and of those beyond. However, besides for my direct impact in the military, I tended to watch the news as an observer, not as an actor on the world's stage. I always thought the news was made by "those people" - people who's decisions have had a big impact on the world. People like George W. Bush, Jeff Immelt, Mitt Romney, and Michael Bloomberg. I picked those four as examples because they all attended HBS, and two of them came from very well established families, but two did not. I tend to believe that attending the school is a better indicator of success than one's family status.
The four people I listed as examples are people who have had a very significant impact on the world. They are part of "those people" I used to watch on the news. What I realized at HBS, was that "those people" were just my peers! So when I looked around, I realized I was one of those people as well. Of course, nothing changed about who I was, it was only my outlook that changed. It may make me sound naive, but for somebody who grew up in a middle income family and then served in the military, this view was a radical departure. To be clear, it is NOT a feeling of entitlement, for I have never been, and am still entitled to absolutely nothing. On the contrary, it is a feeling of responsibility and purpose.
Previously I could justify being an observer of world events...as somebody largely watching it unfold and mainly contributing through my direct and immediate role. Today I no longer have that excuse. HBS has given me the perspective, the tools, and the network to at least have as much of a shot of success in any endeavor as anybody else out there. If there is something I don't accomplish, I have nowhere else to look but at myself now. So while it was not explicitly said at the school, this is what I learned at Harvard Business School:
If there is something in the world which you don't like, either a gap, a void, or an injustice, whether it is a business opportunity, a political imbalance, or a social cause, YOU can go and change it, for if not you, then who?
You may or may not be successful, but the right thing to do is to try.
It is this self-realization and determination which has empowered our greatest leaders to achieve what they did. Although incredibly difficult, they didn't leave it to somebody else, and they didn't let others stop them from pursuing their goals, no matter how great of a challenge. My real lesson to you as the reader, is that this is obviously true for all of us... not just for a small group of HBS graduates. It only took myself, as a slow learner, an HBS education to believe it.
For all these reasons, HBS can put a tremendous amount of pressure on students to achieve... but for those of you who served in the military, the burden of leadership is far from a new concept. Whether you attend HBS or not, I hope you will find and pursue your calling in life.
To read more about my views about the complicated topic of one's purpose in life, read my previous post on "What do you believe in?"
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