A Brief Week Back at HBS
A few memoriesThe last time I took classes at Harvard was back in 2018. Looking through the photos from then, I looked so green.
Time has settled a lot of things.
A couple of days ago, standing in the glass-roofed courtyard of the Harvard Art Museums and looking at the marble columns, I suddenly felt dazed, and my mind went straight back to five years ago.
What makes me happy is that I'm still in touch with most of my classmates from back then, and we've become important sources of support for each other.
What I took away this time
This past week, input and output ran side by side.
A new realisation about case learning and teaching at Harvard Business School: the models taught in class matter, but they're not everything. Other things that matter just as much, or even more, are... understanding what kind of manager you are; testing the dimensions and blind spots of how you think about business; sparking your passion and joy as a founder; experiencing the intellectual, political and social challenges of business; applying what you've learned to your past and future businesses.
A preview of the next few articles, which are more like my rumination and review — I hope to absorb the knowledge better, and also catch up on my KPI of 52 articles this year😄
- Value Based Strategy2. The process and methods of team building3. Building trust and rebuilding trust4. Balancing profit, growth and control5. Disruption6. Building a winning culture7. Mastering strategy execution8. Strategies for creating and enhancing value9. Negotiation10. Life under a heavy debt load11. A glimpse of Chinese art12. Globalisation13. Growth and expansion across the industry life cycle14. The Harvard Art Museums, a little bit of art15. A collection of memorable quotes
These articles will come in no particular order, and I hope to write them all before Christmas. I'm putting it out there now to force myself to finish every one.