The (Fresh GSB Grad) List of Things I Wish I Had Known

GSB Class of 2020,

The Class of ’19 determined long ago that “we actually really like you”. As a graduation gift to welcome you back to us in the real world, I present…

The List of Things I Wish I Had Known:

Lifelong Mantras

Stay in Your Feelings

• Get a dog after graduation: There is nothing more #gsblessed than giving 420 daily hugs for 2 years straight. I have certainly freaked out a new business associate, or twenty, by hugging on a first meeting in the GSB way.
• Invest in a real therapist: No one will ever care about your feelings again as much as your classmates and your paid T-group facilitators. Between self-coaching, Touchy Feely, TALK, PLCs, and drunken FOAM heart-to-hearts, “therapy” is a commodity at the GSB (albeit of questionable credibility).
• Extend GSB-style reflection and accountability: Cherish your intimate support groups (WIM, Fellows Clinic, Show dance crew, DeMarzo partner, pass-down house fam, BPL team) and create post-grad versions to lean on. I’m part of a lifesaving “professional” support crew of 7. We have met monthly since August, no excuses. We’re even planning a retreat weekend!

Keep the Spontaneity Alive

• Strategize a GSB dance party calendar in your city: Tri-weekly dance parties only exist in real life if you moved back to Colombia. Maybe New York. Certainly not SF…sigh. I long for the steamy hot mess of a Patio dance floor with Red Shirt Guy, galas, pass-down basements, and even Opal. When you do reunite though, not a damn thing has changed, as evidenced by a recent ‘19 takeover of Cigar Bar’s salsa floor!
• Responsibility creeps back in so say yes! to crazy adventures: Non-GSB friends will be reluctant to carry on your weird traditions of theme parties and epic trolls. Document and draw future inspiration from your hilarious activities: 9 am campus scavenger hunts while drinking Fireball in your underwear in fountains, flying to cities for overnight parties, organizing elaborate Olympics, reading from childhood diaries, dancing flash mobs, and generally creating genius organized chaos.

Recognize the Absurdity of Network

• Lay the groundwork now to stay in touch with your favorite professors and lecturers: They are busy and important humans. The class beneath you is just as interesting as you are. News flash, just because Joel Peterson “adds you” on LinkedIn doesn’t mean he will remember you forever (trust me, I tried to say howdy in a Delta lounge en route to SLC recently). Faculty go out of their way to help you discover yourself in business camp. Return favors, grab dinners, write emails, Zoom catch-up, invite them to speak at your company, and build long term relationships with those who you genuinely care about. Why do you think I’m even writing this piece (what up Glenn!)…
• Don’t be disappointed when your clients aren’t as entertaining as GSB guests: It is a rare privilege to play golf with Condoleeza, practice Buddhism with Jeff Weiner, and listen to Gwyneth talk about her ex.
• SEND ALL OF THE COLD EMAILS with your active GSB domain: Email anyone and everyone you have ever wanted to interact with on this planet before you are demoted to an alumni domain. Your student address is worth $200K with a 100% response rate to the opening line “Hi there, I’m a Stanford Business School student working on a project…”
• Don’t be afraid to leverage the hell out of the broader GSB network after graduation though: We. are. literally. everywhere.

Don’t Stop Creating

• Lock in what sparks joy and take it with you: The creative and competitive outlets at GSB, my god! What a gift to discover lifelong talents in hip hop dance, Oprah-style interviewing, DJing, improv, hackathons, TED Talk presenting, competitive cooking, or relive your glory days of sports goddess/god status, spelling bees, and drum major leadership.
• Run with your wild idea or work on a side hustle: Particularly key if you’re entering finance or consulting. Classes like Startup Garage and Lean Launchpad make you feel invincible and courageous when pursuing new ideas. Keep it up. Although beware, you may have false-positive traction if your early customer cohort is Blast ;)

You are Not the Next Business Messiah…Yet

• You have plenty of (life)time to compare yourself to classmates: The summer looks different for everyone. Explore entrepreneurship, find the right job (many are opportunistic), spend time with family and friends who barely remember who you are but supported you all along, sneak in one last passport stamp, or just detox from White Claw for a month or two.
• Avoid dropping “I just graduated from Stanford Business School!!!”: Resist this factual but pretentious urge during every new coworker coffee chat and business call. No one cares and they’ve seen your LinkedIn.
• Sadly, your new boss doesn’t believe in you as the next “Business Messiah”: as much every professor, classmate, internship manager, former colleague, and mom. Jumping into a new job, assessing the situation, and giving advice to your manager based on a “case study I that role-played in class while I was hungover at 8 am that was really effective” is not really effective, at all.
• When you work in finance apres-GSB you wish you would have paid attention in Finance, instead of planning a spring break trip to Brazil: The good news is that you learned more than you thought you did in Accounting when you were still terrified that grades mattered! Applies to all disciplines and courses.
• Download all of the readings that you never looked at: You’ll actually want to read them once you’re attempting to work again. Coerce your Siebel Scholar task force to create a class Dropbox with all course materials.
• Elevate your classmates’ incredible voices and work: Co-create, #closedeals, and share advice. You will frequently encounter classmates in the professional world. I was just on an EdTech investor call with two of my badass classmates…and 10 old white men. We built up one another’s contributions and shot encouraging looks across Zoom (as well as stifled laughs). These relationships make work far more fun.
• Phone a friend: People constantly asked for help during internships, yet now seem worried that they need to have it all figured out. You don’t. Reach out. You attended the GSB for a reason!

Stay Friends 4Ever

• After graduation, WhatsApp > Slack: Cultivating WhatsApp groups is key to keeping in touch with international friend crews, affinity groups, Southeast Asia backpackers, FOAM transition day heathens, etc. If you’re not staying in SF, lodge yourself into the capped “Baes in the Bay” group asap so that you can live vicariously through the meetups happening without you as you live a “cool” life in NYC.
• Your friends will always be just a call and a charged-to-your-consulting-firm flight away: You will bump into each other more than expected in airports, weddings, and conferences, but be intentional about friendships. Like any P-grade financial model, it’s a mix of art and science. The GSB taught me the power of calling without hesitation when I randomly think of someone or have a life question. Keep planning crazy weekend trips. Organize GSB nights when you visit cities for work. And always celebrate the big life moments of your 420 closest friends like it’s their TALK night.

Y’all got this.

With love and Levin,

Tess