HBS Leaders on HBS | Alumni on Leadership | Community Memories

Community Memories

A collection of poignant, humorous stories and reminiscences on the HBS experience from our community members, including alumni, staff, and MBA students.

1-8 of 8 listed alphabetically by storyteller's last name

CLASS OF1987

Edmundo Costa Story VIDEO: 11 minutes

Story regarding his experience attending HBS in the 1980s, especially the discipline of brevity instilled by Professor Pearson that impacts him today as a leader of high technology businesses in the Silicon Valley. He also talks about the value of the international perspective, gained at HBS, when he conducts multi-national business negotiations.

 

CLASS OF1983

Janie Decelles Story VIDEO: RT: 08:59

Story regarding how she enjoyed all aspects of her HBS experience and still benefits from her HBS ties. She formed an inter-sectional study group whose strategy was to pool their observations and preparations for the same classes. Prof. Henry Reiling's personality and aphorisms, such as "Don't run out of cash", profoundly shaped the course of her career and life. A rare setting for first-year and second-year students to mingle was the HBS Student Show, in which she played the role of a Baker 20 Lady in a James Bond spoof, and she reprises part of her performance. From Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld's Self-Assessment and Career Development course, she gained insights that were invaluable as she embarked on her professional journey. She urges the students of today and tomorrow to profit from all of the rich opportunities at HBS.

 

CLASS OF1988

Arnold Dicke Story VIDEO: RT: 06:18

Story regarding his fond recollections of the intensive learning environment and lifelong friendships of his Advanced Management Program. As an actuary, he quickly completed the mathematical portions of a case but he admired the insightful summation of information which enabled other students to zero in on the crux of the matter and thus he gained a deeper understanding of his own capabilities. At the executive seminars he organized, Prof. Robert S. Kaplan was a big hit, especially his pin factory story. As a symbol of the indelible impressions of his AMP experience, he remembered the names and faces of all the classmates at his reunion, even those whom he had not seen for twenty years.

 

CLASS OF1992

John Dyment Story VIDEO: 9 minutes

Story regarding his international experience attending HBS in the 1990s, pursuing a summer job in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, forming a small company with fellow students to privatize regional telephone services in Hungary, and the complexities of running a business from a dorm room.

 

CLASS OF1982

Philippe Goetschel Story VIDEO: 7.5 minutes

Story regarding his experience as a Swiss legal and economics graduate attending HBS in the 1980s, mainly how the capabilities of the single Atari 800 computer at HBS piqued his interest during a quiet winter break and led to his career in the computer software industry. Story includes a comparison of the European and HBS methods of teaching business, and the characteristics that define an HBS graduate.

 

CLASS OF2009

Netta Kivilis Story VIDEO: 9 minutes

Story regarding her experience attending HBS in the 2000s, a discussion of Career Treks organized by students, and the impressive helpfulness and responsiveness of HBS alumni (some, very powerful and busy people) to participate in treks and give career advice. She and other students from Israel were inspired to organize a trek there.

 

STAFF

Erika McCaffrey Story VIDEO: 4 minutes

Story regarding her experience working at the Baker Library, featuring nesting pigeons, a rug heist, and an inventive attempt to evade photocopying fees.

 

CLASS OF1992

Joe O'Brien Story VIDEO: 13 minutes

Story regarding his experience attending HBS in the 1990s, including the strong friendships he made at school, and the understanding of human behavior integral to conducting business, which he learned from the case study method. He also gives an account of influential professors and courses.