Overcoming prejudice . . .
. . . as in, my own. Here's the story:
Lately, I've doing a lot of work with Harvard Business School and have just begun a large website re-write for them. As part of the project, I'm interviewing more than 30 MBA candidates who will be profiled on the site.
I expected to talk to a lot of sharp-elbowed,Type A white guys with an aggressive fix on profits and bottom lines.
Man, have I been wrong. First of all, the student population is genuinely and authentically diverse, representing men and women from ALL over the world -- as much as 30% of the student body comes from outside the US. Better still, nearly every student I've interviewed (17 so far) has said that the diversity of people, values, perspectives and points of view is one of the best things about their MBA experience.
And their stories are not what I had expected. There's a guy who's starting a new car company based on composite materials and small, local manufacturing facilities. The woman from Brooklyn who wants to build an arts and athletics facility for inner-city kids. A man who spent six years in Ghana, three of them in the Peace Corp during which, among other responsibilities, he helped farmers defend their crops from elephants (without harming them, of course). A female neuroscientist from New Zealand who helped a non-profit organization that provided seed money for wireless inductive power technologies. A Marine who wrote a NYT bestseller about his experiences in Iraq and now wants to work in the public sector.
And so on.
Look, I'm sure there are plenty of people at HBS who just want to make a lot of money. But that's far from the whole story. The ones I've interviewed say that they want to change the world for the better. After talking to 17 of them, I'm inclined to believe their intentions -- and in their ability to fulfill them.
Lately, I've doing a lot of work with Harvard Business School and have just begun a large website re-write for them. As part of the project, I'm interviewing more than 30 MBA candidates who will be profiled on the site.
I expected to talk to a lot of sharp-elbowed,Type A white guys with an aggressive fix on profits and bottom lines.
Man, have I been wrong. First of all, the student population is genuinely and authentically diverse, representing men and women from ALL over the world -- as much as 30% of the student body comes from outside the US. Better still, nearly every student I've interviewed (17 so far) has said that the diversity of people, values, perspectives and points of view is one of the best things about their MBA experience.
And their stories are not what I had expected. There's a guy who's starting a new car company based on composite materials and small, local manufacturing facilities. The woman from Brooklyn who wants to build an arts and athletics facility for inner-city kids. A man who spent six years in Ghana, three of them in the Peace Corp during which, among other responsibilities, he helped farmers defend their crops from elephants (without harming them, of course). A female neuroscientist from New Zealand who helped a non-profit organization that provided seed money for wireless inductive power technologies. A Marine who wrote a NYT bestseller about his experiences in Iraq and now wants to work in the public sector.
And so on.
Look, I'm sure there are plenty of people at HBS who just want to make a lot of money. But that's far from the whole story. The ones I've interviewed say that they want to change the world for the better. After talking to 17 of them, I'm inclined to believe their intentions -- and in their ability to fulfill them.
