Vermont "Mountains"

I won’t go into too many details, but I do want to say that I had a fantastic time.  I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it… after all, who really wants to spend their only two days “off” with the same people they spend every weekday with?  I need downtime from HBS stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it!  With 90+ people on the retreat, there were always a bunch of different options.  If you wanted to play board games or poker, you could do that.  If you wanted to drink bottles of tequila and dance on tables, there was definitely a chance to do that, too.  Not to say that people broke up into cliques, but everyone could float from activity to activity fluidly without feeling stuck or committed.

Which brings up something that’s continued to surprise me: I remember being intensely skeptical of the large class size at HBS.  After all, 90 people?  That reminded me more of the impersonal lecture halls from undergrad rather than the small discussion-oriented liberal arts classes.  The difference has been remarkable — I feel closer to every one of those 90 people in my section than I did to almost anyone in undergrad.

What causes this?  Is it from the case-method dynamic?  Or from sitting in the same seat talking with the same people for 3-5 hours every day?  I’m not sure, but, either way, I’m a complete convert.

One last note… here’s a Harbus article on HBS retreats.  Surprisingly accurate, in my opinion.  I particularly enjoyed the “M is for Mafia: A great game for retreats, involving lots of people staying quiet for a bit, accusing each other of lying and then being voted out. A bit like RC classes.”  This little party game was quite a hit (beyond what I expected) and I think they hit the reason dead on.

900 Candidates for 2010

The morning started with a fairly typical “Welcome to HBS” speech by the Dean.  We’re all unique handpicked snowflakes, etc… then some general thoughts on the program from a panel of administrative faculty.  Honestly, I can’t remember too much of what was said.  Too much glancing around and thinking about who was going to be in my section, who might be in my learning team, and what was in store over the coming weeks…!

Welcome to HBS!

So, HBS decided a few years ago that groups of 6-7 people were the ideal number to discuss cases.  As such, we spent the remainder of the first day (from 11am-6pm) doing team-building excercises with our newly formed “Learning Teams”.  HBS runs the entire class through some sort of algorithm designed to optimize the diversity and group dynamics of each team.  Although, I’m not sure if the algorithm was firing quite right for my team — two consultants, three investment bankers, and myself.  The famed HBS diversity.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all works out… We’re supposed to meet every morning one hour before classes start and discuss the cases we prepared the night before.  From what I’ve heard, only half of the learning teams make it past the first semester, with only a few remaining for the entire first year.  There seem to be a lot of benefits, but the extra hour of sleep proves to be too alluring a call, it appears…

Anyway, each learning team was assisted by a “team-building” consultant who guided us a through a day’s worth of “toss the ball”, “build lego towers”, “assemble a puzzle”, and more activities with post-analysis of our team’s dynamic and the best way to approach group problems.  I’m of the opinion that handing each group a few party games (scrabble, balderdash, etc) would have been just as effective and probably a lot less costly…  Some photos from across Baker Beach:

Team Building Exercises!

Perfect Day to Be Outside...

A nice, easy first day of Orientation…  Tomorrow’s the first practice case-day!