I think back on the things that have taken over my life for the last 6 months and hope to synthesize that wisdom into a few good lines. In an effort to make it at least readable, I'll look at my life in 3 ways: MBA, Brooklyn and work.
MBA LESSONS
At NYU Stern, I started in the summer program and was humbled by an amazing group of 70 people known as summer starters. With them I took three (and a half) classes:
- Statistics: Nothing is ever right. You can only be proven wrong (Null Hypothesis)
- Conflict, Collaboration & Negotiations: Never take the first offer. Figure out the "why", not the "what". There's always more to include in a negotiation "to increase the pie".
- Managerial Communications: be clear, be calm, be collected.
- Personal Communications: speak up; stand tall.
In the fall, I was humbled again by the 400 students that are the Stern class of 2014. Every person I met was so accomplished and impressive, in different and unique ways. My next four classes added to the MBA education, in which I learned:
- Financial Accounting: accountants lie... and play games in the footnotes.
- Marketing: A company's goal is to make money; brands make more money. Brands are a promise of something repeatable, which requires processes
- Intro to Finance: Risk intolerance drives all prices, baed on discounts of cash to present value.
- Strategy: choose wisely, and according to the best returns. M&A only when first derivatives don't align.
BROOKLYN
Like most Manhattanites, I was really reserved about moving to Brooklyn. The tales of hipsters, pickles and mustaches scare most people away, despite being closer to downtown that either the Upper East Side. A few things I've learned about BK, since moving to the land of mason jars and ironic tattoos:- Community: live in a neighborhood of neighbors; not in a city of randoms passing by.
- Charity: Most everyone here thinks about the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit. Well, not always profit.
- Commuting: bicycles get stolen, most likely by Superman; kryptonite is the only thing that stops that theft. Subways don't really connect the good parts of Brooklyn.
WORK
While it may make Jack a dull boy, it certainly pays the bills. Or in the case of my nonprofit work, keep things going (not getting paid, which becomes a theme).
- InSITE: BEST decision in b-school. Great access to startups, VCs and actually business --- not just jargon of strategy and digital marketing.
- Venture Capital: Interned at IGC where I learned how the sausage is made. Not surprisingly, I still want in.
- Start Ups: Before and during school I helped a few great companies, like Condition One and TeachBoost. The more entrepreneurial
- ECAA: Voted in as President (Oct '12). Donations have soared. Re-org coming.
That's a quick enough recap. Less recap, more thinking in the next post.
Be well, do good.
BG