‘Mommy, What Am I Doing Here?’ Asks A Barnard Undergrad At Harvard Business School

Youngme Moon teaches a case on Ikea at PEEK

‘THEY ARE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS IMPORTANT AND WHAT ISN’T’

During another session run by Frei, students were asked what they believed they excelled at and what got in the way of being excellent. “They are under tremendous pressure,” says Oberholzer-Gee. “They are trying to figure out a way to understand what it important and what isn’t. What they want out of life is really paramount to them. They feel pressure fro parents, peers, and prospective employers. And when you are young it’s hard to figure out how to navigate this world.”

“So much of our first year MBA program is focused on how to become effective at managing small groups of people, how can you get really good at taking whoever you have on your team and building them into a high performing unit. No matter where you end up, those are skills that will be prized. The MBA, to the extent that it is focused on personal development and figuring out what to do with your life, at least rivals the law degree in popularity.”

The HBS prof believes that PEEK made a difference. “My sense is that there were probably two things they took away,” he says. “Many of them were surprised how much a business school education has to do with personal development. We talked about the importance of resilience, listening to others, and motivating people to go along with things that may not be their cause. Very few of them thought of business school as first and foremost for them. Along that dimension, I think we moved the needle quite a bit. And then on the cut-and-dried business side, they had cases that left them with a sense that business school is intellectually interesting and engaging more than they thought.”

‘I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE CUTTHROAT AND INTENSE’

And for Emily London, the middle eastern studies major, the event was revelatory. After dropping her bags off in an assigned dorm room, she joined the campus tour just as jittery as the moment her mom drove away from the campus. “To be honest, I was pretty nervous because this wasn’t territory I felt comfortable in,” she admits. “I thought it was going to be cutthroat and intense. During our first case study, it felt all so new and all so scary. But I found the case method really envelops you and there is no reason to think about anything else but the case.”

Slowly but inexorably, she recalls, the edgy feeling slipped away. By the time, London left HBS she felt intrigued by the possibility of an MBA. “It wasn’t so crazy that someone like myself was there,” she laughs. “It was helpful to learn that the skills you’re taught in a business school aren’t just about numbers but how to speak well and be the best leader you possibly can. The curtains were totally taken off this other direction that my life could take.

“If you had told me two months ago that I would be talking about my positive, wow experience at Harvard Business School, I truly wouldn’t believe you. I’m excited about this new possibility. The biggest thing I got out of it is that business school is for people like me. I kept thinking I would be a non-traditional applicant and so different in that world. Sure, I don’t plan to be an investment banker or someone in the corporate world, but who knows? I could look at this in five years and laugh at that, too.”

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