Reflections on the first semester at Harvard Business School

It is the end of my first semester at Harvard Business School. The past four months have been an incredible season of change, and having now reclaimed some space in my calendar, I thought I would reflect on some of the lessons I learned in the classroom.

For context, the courses for the first year of the MBA programme are fixed, where the entire cohort takes the same classes on the same days. All the courses are taught using the case method, which requires us to come to each class prepared for an in-depth case discussion.

Reflecting on the lessons I learned over six courses and 128 cases, here are some of the highlights:

• I thought?Financial Reporting and Control?would just be a course on accounting. We did learn how to put together financial statements, but we also had multifaceted discussions on what constitutes good governance. Preventing fraud starts with not only having the right controls, but also the right values and company culture. And it comes from the top, where leaders set the tone.
• In?Marketing, the concept of market disruption was a constant as we looked at brands in the launch, growth, and mature phases. The deeper questions though centred upon what businesses should stand for as they evolve, and how that impacts the way their products are priced and sold. How do you weigh the trade-offs between maximising profits and purpose, and can you do both? When should brands advocate for social causes?
• Having worked in an asset- and supply chain-heavy industry like mining, I thought I would be familiar with?Technology and Operations Management. Yet, beyond the calculations of output rates, throughput times, and managing variability, the discussions on how to deal with supply chain disruption and ethical sourcing in a globalised (or de-globalising) world were the most difficult and fascinating. What does a sustainable supply chain really look like? How do you measure it, especially when there are trade-offs between metrics such as efficiency and reducing carbon footprints?
• Finance 1?is where I discovered that I do enjoy financial modelling. It is also where I learned that access to capital, which translates to the discount rate at which projects are valued, is critical in determining the economics of a project. This is most acutely felt by communities that lack access to capital, for whom the cost of capital (i.e. interest rate) is prohibitively high such that it hinders their ability to participate in projects that could improve social mobility. Seeing this reality through valuation numbers drove home the learning.
• Leadership and Organisational Behaviour?and?Inclusion?(they are two separate courses) brought together many of these issues by addressing the central topic of leadership. Through stories of leaders who successfully led change in the face of adversity to those who experienced epic failure, we were taken on a journey of learning how to lead teams, how to build effective relationships and influence others, and how to lead change. At the heart of it, it was a masterclass in leading ourselves. Having to constantly put myself in the shoes of leaders who were making very difficult professional and personal decisions helped me to take a different perspective. How do you motivate teams and influence others without direct authority? When do you know that you need to ask for help or support? What does it mean to be a moral leader? What are your values and non-negotiables? I can only hope that one day, when I am faced with decisions that are as difficult as the ones that these leaders had to make, I will apply these lessons well.

There are no easy solutions for many of the issues raised in the cases, which is why the most important lesson I learned is to listen. Listen deeply. My best teachers were my 92 classmates in Section D and my 5 discussion groupmates that met every morning to prepare for case discussions. These are the people with whom I will spend my entire first year, and each of us has been carefully selected to maximise diversity. Their thoughtful opinions and wisdom in discussions facilitated by stellar professors have broadened my perspectives, and have shaped my views as I learned to see the world through their eyes.

I have come to understand that the ultimate question of what difference we will make in the world is best thought through with a community of mission-driven people, and it helps to have a community that will keep us honest.

The courses we will be taking next semester will be equally stimulating: Finance 2; Strategy; The Entrepreneurial Manager; Business, Government, and the International Economy; Leadership and Corporate Accountability; The Social Purpose of the Firm; and rounded off with a project for an international company in FIELD Global Immersion.

I can’t wait.

#hbs