The GSB’s Year-Long ‘Boot Camp’: From Adversity to Opportunity
To the GSB class of 2021:
You came to the GSB seeking many things: business and leadership training, an entrepreneurial idea, a global network, maybe a climate far superior to Boston or Philadelphia. A poll of 420+ students would invariably yield 420+ different answers. I can, however, guarantee that none of your responses to “why Stanford?” would have included “a great place to weather a global pandemic!”
Over 80 percent of our experience has been or will be shaped by COVID. For all of us, the last year has been frustrating, exhausting, and at times downright terrifying in shared and unique ways. We have experienced widespread fear for the safety of loved ones, regret for the loss of MBA program elements that can’t be or are poorly replicated virtually, anxiety regarding the job market, uncertainty around leave of absence decisions, a yearning for international travel experiences, and profound Zoom fatigue. However, in some ways, it has been the best experience none of us ever wanted.
In addition to simply learning about crisis leadership in an academic setting, we have witnessed academics learning to lead, or maybe more accurately, attempting to lead through a real crisis. Their successes and failures have affected us in ways that most have yet to consider. We will take this crisis leadership experience with us.
We will learn from decisions that worked — like effectively using remote collaboration tools, opening up study rooms to those without a suitable place to work, and liberal leave options. We will aim to avoid the things that didn’t — like slow or incomplete communications and group punishment.
We have also observed valuable lessons in expectation management amongst stakeholders with varying values, experiential goals, and risk tolerances. For example, take the GSB’s risk mitigation approach. Fall quarter began with hybrid instruction for a few classes, where students attending in-person classes were incentivized to follow testing and health check requirements, while students who opted out of hybrid instruction were not. Two weeks later, all students were required to return to a fully virtual learning model. This wasn’t a data-driven decision informed by an increase in positive cases at Stanford, but rather by a perceived lack of compliance with risk mitigation measures.
This experience taught us that putting one-size-fits-all risk mitigation features in place for a heterogeneous group, without the ability to offer a corresponding and tangible increase in risk tolerance, is a recipe for disenchantment. When faced with a crisis in the future, we can hope to try other leadership actions not pursued in this setting such as providing multiple options to different groups with corresponding restrictions and requirements on behavior.
While the job market remains volatile, an unforeseen opportunity of COVID is the new entrepreneurial opportunities that have emerged. Previously untenable ideas and business models in the remote work, healthcare, and service delivery spaces, just to name a few, are now ripe for MBAs to disrupt. We have seen classmates create apps designed to make life easier for parents forced to stay at home with children, social learning platforms for adults, a telemedicine solution that connects patients to nurses for their home healthcare needs, and even an outdoor escape room concept.
While social distancing has made meeting in person onerous, in ways our class has bonded more tightly. Instead of trying to have a coffee chat with everyone, many people have focused on relationships and ideas that are most relevant to specific business endeavors or their own physical and mental wellbeing. This has given rise to concepts such as “Team Positivity Contagion,” a student-organized virtual community-building platform hosting hundreds of events with a variety of entertaining and educational topics taught by students, partners, and acquaintances across the GSB.
In a similar way, the GSB community stepped up with increased volunteering of time, talents, and money for those in need. The absence of an in-person Challenge for Charity didn’t stop our class from collecting donations for furloughed workers, delivering groceries to the elderly, sorting at local food banks, and advocating for Stanford to extend pay and benefits to many part-time and contract employees. Some classmates assisted imperiled small businesses with pro bono consulting services and the development of online ordering tools while others provided remote tutoring to children and young adults.
After almost 20 years of military experience, I can tell you that military cohesion is built on the principle of shared adversity. When the hammer of hardship meets the anvil of mutual experience, stalwart bonds are forged that transform strangers into family. This is why every service puts new recruits through a boot camp experience. Nobody likes boot camp, but it is unquestionably effective at building strong bonds and a common understanding. At the GSB, our boot camp has been COVID. Oh, and base accounting.
COVID has made me slow my pace. Instead of flitting from one thing to the next like a hummingbird in a field of flowers, I have been able to focus on the things that matter. I have spent more quality time with my wife and children, developed deeper relationships with classmates, and explored the stunning local outdoors. In a way, the adjustment should be celebrated, not mourned. We’ll have the rest of our lives to run ourselves ragged.
This GSB experience may not have been the one you dreamed of, but I hope you’ll recognize the alternate opportunity that has been created. In a time of changed lives, changed organizations, and a changed world, the GSB class of 2021 is better equipped to take the reins than any before.
