Spring Break
Class Day Essay Finalists - Richard Pole
Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: Viewpoints & Humor
The 12 months that have followed that epiphany have, I believe, been characterized by me increasingly 'getting over myself'. Instead I have enthusiastically embraced the learning opportunities that HBS presents us with. My HBS education has taken me from the fundamentals of the required curriculum to the delicate specifics of Professor Porter's Healthcare Immersion Program. From a summer internship managing healthcare delivery in The Bronx, to a field study in the villages of Uganda.
As quaint as it may sound this place has changed me - and changed me for the better.
My story is, of course, completely exportable. Many of you have a similar story to tell. You may have come from even further afield. You may have completed this Harvard MBA in a language that isn't your own. Many of you from other parts of the US will have felt as dislocated as I did when you first arrived in Boston. And even those of you who call the great state of Massachusetts home have grappled with the HBS experience, albeit right here in your own backyard.
Despite our geographic diversity. Despite our differing world views, our differences in political opinion. Despite our different cultural backgrounds, and the diversity of our religious convictions, there is something that will now always unite us.
We are the HBS Centennial Class of 2008. And just as they said we would we have made it. We are graduating back into the world. We are primed with new knowledge, new skills. We are full of promise. And now the challenge ahead of us is not only to convert that potential into action. Not just to go forth and make a difference - but to go forth and make a positive difference.
Which begs the question - how exactly does one do that? What did we learn here that enables us to make a positive difference? Why did we put ourselves, and our partners and families, through the intensity and pressure of the Harvard MBA?
Tough questions. Hard to answer. But even a simpler question like "what is the most important thing you have learnt here at HBS?" presents a myriad of differing responses depending on who you ask. For instance, I still don't know exactly what a hedge fund is - but I've learnt that people who work for them are a good source of fundraising.
As quaint as it may sound this place has changed me - and changed me for the better.
My story is, of course, completely exportable. Many of you have a similar story to tell. You may have come from even further afield. You may have completed this Harvard MBA in a language that isn't your own. Many of you from other parts of the US will have felt as dislocated as I did when you first arrived in Boston. And even those of you who call the great state of Massachusetts home have grappled with the HBS experience, albeit right here in your own backyard.
Despite our geographic diversity. Despite our differing world views, our differences in political opinion. Despite our different cultural backgrounds, and the diversity of our religious convictions, there is something that will now always unite us.
We are the HBS Centennial Class of 2008. And just as they said we would we have made it. We are graduating back into the world. We are primed with new knowledge, new skills. We are full of promise. And now the challenge ahead of us is not only to convert that potential into action. Not just to go forth and make a difference - but to go forth and make a positive difference.
Which begs the question - how exactly does one do that? What did we learn here that enables us to make a positive difference? Why did we put ourselves, and our partners and families, through the intensity and pressure of the Harvard MBA?
Tough questions. Hard to answer. But even a simpler question like "what is the most important thing you have learnt here at HBS?" presents a myriad of differing responses depending on who you ask. For instance, I still don't know exactly what a hedge fund is - but I've learnt that people who work for them are a good source of fundraising.
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