…about five-hundred feet away from me in Spangler Auditorium. And instead of being there, listening to this celebrity CEO discuss how he “grew a $60 billion company in 14 years”, I’m sitting in my room about to start preparing cases for tomorrow’s class. What do you think — am I making a poor decision?
Today is a very busy day. Along with the usual load of classes (and a three-case day tomorrow), there are career team meetings, student panels, improv classes, a venture capital club meeting, an outdoors club meeting, and… of course, the Dell CEO. If there’s one thing to be said for HBS, it’s that it forces you to be a brutal time manager. You start to evaluate every activity and compare it against the world of amazing possibilities that lie at your finger tips every hour of the day.
As I was standing in the shower after a quick racquetball match today, I think I finally developed a framework for screening activities. The framework is something like this:
- Will it help me develop lasting relationships?
- Will it offer a chance for experiential learning?
- Will it add value to my resume?
- Will it allow me to explore new ideas?
In that priority. Unfortunately, listening to Michael Dell talk really only hits #4… and even that one’s uncertain (depending on how much the Q&A draws out beyond what I could read in a magazine article). It’s interesting… I wouldn’t have given the same answer two hours ago. If someone asked why I was going (which no one ever does), all I would’ve been able to say was “Well, he’s Micheal Dell. He’s fabulously successful. How can you not go see him talk?”
I guess it would’ve given me a good photo and story to post on this blog. 
Anyway, the sun finally came out today… here are some celebratory photos from around campus:
Across Baker Beach in the Sun
Baker Library in the Sun
Out the Window of My Dorm
Curious if your screening questions have changed since you posted this.