Korner Talk

Although my chances of going to HBS is as likely as me going to the moon, at least I can still read and dream about what it must be like. Philip Delves Broughton, an HBS alum, cracked open the door to what it’s like to attend HBS, the creme de la creme of bschools, in his book Ahead of the Curve. He was an atypical bschool student, a journalist by trade (most students are bankers or consultants) and older than most students (he was 31 or something when he started school whereas the average age of HBS students is 27). I appreciated “PDBizzle’s” nonstandard outlook as I often felt that if I were in his shoe, I would have reacted the same way. The book was extremely engrossing and humorous and I would recommend it to anyone interested in going to bschool. Below are some recurring themes I found interesting.

Uncertainty: It was interesting to read that even among the elites who seemingly have it made, doubt still permeates. Bschool seemed as much as a place to take a two year vacation for some HBS folks as it is to find themselves.

Bling: PDB ranked the most desirable jobs by students as: private equity, hedge funds, vc, and then ib and consulting tied for last. People actually scoffed at ibanking/consulting positions,  jobs that bank $150k a year, minimum. I really don’t find any of those jobs other than VC that appealing, so why am I going to bschool? Good question, tba later!

Balance: Part of chasing the bling means long hours, but many of the CEOs that spoke at HBS said that the sacrifice to bank their cheese came at an overwhelming cost. These same CEOs stressed the importance of having a good work-life balance, and even stranger is that when asked what their biggest regret was, most said that they wished they could have spent more time with their family. So you have current CEOs telling future CEOs not to be consumed by work, but the current CEOs were once the future CEOs who got the same talk from past current CEOs. Balance is difficult, if not impossible to teach to a bunch of people who are pursing power and money.

Ethics: With the troubles and scandals that Wall St has seen in the past year, people can’t say MBA and ethics without rolling their eyes. Ahead of the Curve was written before the market crashed, so it amusing to read the chapter called “Ethical Jihadist”. Ethics seemed to be ingrained into every class and activity @ HBS, shocking considering how things have played out in corporate America. I don’t think ethics can be taught although I wouldn’t say that it shouldn’t be taught. The best that teaching ethics can do is reinforce what good behavior and decisions are. Bad people are just bad and no amount of schooling can turn those that are predispositioned to make other peoples lives miserable into saints.

Case Method: I hate being called on in class, but the case method seems like a great way to learn. Although I prefer to learn by doing, the case method seems to afford the opportunity to power through a greater number of business problems in a short amount of time. In addition, you get to listen to different approaches to a problem from different people. The drawback though is you’ll have to listen to people who like to listen to themselves talk.

There’s a lot of other good stuff in the book. I especially enjoyed reading about the day to day type of stuff PDB went through, his interaction with the other students, and the materials and concepts from the classes he took.