Inside HBS

…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:

1. Will it help me develop lasting relationships?
2. Will it offer a chance for experiential learning?
3. Will it add value to my resume?
4. 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

Related posts:

1. Hosting Speakers at HBS I was talking with a friend over lunch the other day and he told me that the HBS student motto...