GSB Class of 2020: Lessons from the Farm (and Beyond)
In the months leading up to business school, I was sometimes asked, “What do you want to learn at Stanford?” I would reply with something yawn-inducing like “Entrepreneurship.”
Truth was, I also hoped to learn lessons beyond business. My service light had been blinking for years, and I was looking for an existential repair shop. Did the GSB teach courses on overcoming loss, fixing troubled relationships, and becoming a better person? “No way,” I thought. “An MBA is strictly focused on the fine art of administering business. Better luck next time, kiddo.”
Then Week Zero came. In between building LEGO sets, painting with our sections, and hearing the Deans’ cultish speeches about the merits of vulnerability, I quickly realized I was dead wrong about what I might learn the next two years.
GSB, you surprised me (and kind of freaked me out).
Since that first week, the days have felt long and the quarters far too short. My mind goes back to times hanging out in JMac and Schwab, bumping into friends in Town Square, road tripping to far-out destinations, and sitting in windowless rooms at Hayes Mansion. Thinking back on these memories remind me that many of my favorite lessons of business school have come from outside the classroom — they’ve come from classmates, often in unexpected places.
As I’ve been going through this oft-heartwrenching exercise in nostalgia, I’ve wondered how to make sense of this eclectic educational experience. What do we take with us when the clock hits June? I’m bad at riddles — so, deferring to you, I asked the GSB Class of 2020:
“What have you learned at Stanford?”
We’ve learned about compassion.
“Beneath the surface, every person has fears, doubts, and insecurities.”
- Lucy Montgomery
“Everyone is carrying their own iceberg. Be generous, even when it’s hard.”
- Ellery Berk
“I’ve learned how to be comfortable being myself with others and how to be proud of myself.”
- Elisa Albella
“I’ve learned how to trust and be more kind to myself.”
- Jack Strabo
We’ve learned about relationships.
“The experience has reminded me of the power of a community. As someone who often struggles to ask for help, the community’s willingness to help has been breathtaking.”
- Jes Simson
“This experience reinforced how fulfilling building new, different, and even unexpected relationships can be.”
- Adam Drooks
“I’ve learned those closest to us have the greatest access to help or to harm. They shape who we are and, importantly, who we are perceived to be. Choose wisely.”
- Erica Byas-Smith
“I’ve learned that it’s OK, and often more valuable, to spend time relaxing with friends instead of chasing the next shiny object.”
- Jacob Rosenberg-Wohl
“It is easy to conflate the comfort and care of your partner as love.”
- Rohan Manchanda
We’ve learned about values.
“I’ve learned that disagreements often arise from differences in values, and it is more constructive to focus on those differences than the original argument.”
- Charlie Spokes
“Forget what other people think. Just do what is right.”
- Anonymous
We’ve learned about ambition… and the boundaries we want to set for it.
“I’ve learned that I’m more introverted and less ambitious than I thought.”
- Dan Mandelman
“I’ve learned to be less blinded by ambition.”
- Anonymous
We’ve learned to broaden our notions of success…
“I’ve learned to reframe both success and risk. Success comes in so many different forms…and any decision we make, even if it seems wild, isn’t really that risky.”
- Sam Margo
…and to see the genuine value in failure.
“I’ve learned to recalibrate my concept of failure to build endurance in pursuit of my dreams.”
- Celena Tyler
We’ve learned to question the water we swim in.
“I’ve learned that Silicon Valley can sometimes be far removed from reality.”
- Anonymous
We’ve learned about perception.
“Think about how you want to be seen and understood by others, and project that outwards. It will stick.”
- Nnamdi Iregbulem
We’ve learned about the power of an attitude.
“Make the choice to be an energy-giver, and let levity and humor help you enjoy the journey.”
- Natalya Thakur
We’ve learned that life is full of ups and downs.
“I learned that I peaked at Vegas FOAM and hit my low point the morning after.”
- Kaitlin Lang
And we’ve learned the learning doesn’t stop here.
“I’ve learned that learning itself is circular, not linear. There were things I thought I’d already figured out about myself and how I interact with the world that I’ve revisited at Stanford, and now understand that I will come back to them periodically.”
- Isabelle Fisher
“I’ve learned that the goal here is not necessarily to learn the right thing to do in a real-world situation; the goal is to develop a series of insights, relationships, and tools that will allow you to figure it out when the time comes.”
- Edward Silva
In thinking through my own learnings, I recognize that I haven’t quite found that one-stop-shop to life’s big issues hiding somewhere on the Farm. There’s no two-year shortcut to the good life or masterclass on solving grief and becoming the person I aspire to be — and that’s okay. My time here has helped me chip away at those topics, more clearly see who I want to be, and even come to terms with some of life’s complexity. Luckily, what I have found is a community full of insights that will be with me along way. In seeing your responses, I’m hopeful that you have too.
We might be losing the LEGOs and paint as we step out of Stanford’s ̶b̶u̶b̶b̶l̶e̶ warm embrace, but new lessons will emerge alongside the old as we build on all we learned here.
I can’t wait to see and share what we find.
This article was written for Stanford GSB’s “nondisclosure” and intended for the GSB Class of 2020. Thank you to everyone who contributed!
