Last Week Today: Harvard vs. Stanford
4/15/24 👀
This week’s newsletter is packed with juicy insights. I am really proud of this week’s newsletter and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. At the bottom there is an action item for you to complete to live a richer life.
Welcome to my Substack where I share the best of my week. Think of this as a catch-up between friends with life hacks & advice sprinkled in. Grab your beverage of choice and let's get started ☕️
Highlight of the Week🔥
My sister came to visit Stanford! She attended my classes with me (Private Equity, Winning Writing, Reputation Management, and Formation of New Ventures) and cosplayed as a GSB student this week. Jean graduated from Harvard Business School and we had some conversations on comparing business school institutions and experiences. One of her most astute observations about Stanford is that everyone has something “going on” – and I agree with this.
My peers are extremely entrepreneurial and it feels that most GSB students have a “thing.” What do I mean by this? Most everyone pushes themselves to create a startup, lead a club, organize events on campus, intern for a company, etc. It’s hard to find people who are here just sitting still, going to class, and focusing on the partying aspect of school. AND, I find that so refreshing. The conversations we have at the GSB are interest, industry, and topic related. My classmates are excited to hear about the latest ideas of our peers and projects everyone is working on. People are open to brainstorming and helping out. I think this is unique to the *je ne sais quoi* of Stanford. People are do-ers here. And I love that.
What’s Cooking 🥘👩🏻🍳
Latest podcast episode with Zach Boyette is fire. Zach built a successful 150 person company as a digital nomad before coming to business school and is dating one of my best friends here (Katherine Gruneisen -KG ). He and I are 2 out of 8 students giving TED talks at Stanford next week.
Right now, many companies, managers, and employees are still trying to figure out successful hybrid and remote work models, and Zach has some great insights in this podcast episode, especially since he’s been doing the nomad thing even before 2020. For context as a digital nomad, Zach worked from Chernobyl in a gas mask, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Kremlin, and Burning Man. I know…we can’t make this stuff up.
And even when he’s traveling, he is still hustling and making work his #1 priority. He lays out all of the precautions and planning he did so that he could work from wherever. And that wasn’t always glamorous. One day, he worked on the floor of a bathroom in Iceland for 8 hours because that was the only place he could find an outlet to charge his computer…ewwww.
But even if you’re not going to pack up all your stuff and become a nomad, remote work has lots of benefits and possibilities. Zach has built an entirely remote company before the pandemic and has thought clearly about the structures and incentives that help people succeed remotely.
You can catch the full episode on Spotify and YouTube.
What I’m Perplexed By: Private Equity Defined
I’m in a private equity class this quarter and *wow* I am surprised how much I’m enjoying it. Seriously. I actually told my professor “how surprised I am” and it might’ve been a backhanded compliment – oops. I’m not a finance girlie (yet) so I had really low expectations going in. This class is a broad overview of the private equity industry: what is it? How is it set up? Who are the key players? How does it differ from all the other finance structures like hedge funds, buyouts, investment banking, and venture capital?
💅🏻 In Case You Missed It: What I posted on IG
💥Harvard vs Stanford Business School
🎙️Scared of public speaking? Watch this.
Advice from Glenn Kramon, NYT Editor for 37 Years
One of my favorite classes that I’m in this quarter is Winning Writing: it’s taught by New York Times Editor, Glenn Kramon. He talks through the 12 principles of becoming a better email writer in our personal and professional lives.
Our latest assignment was to write a gratitude email to a person who has greatly impacted us. It should be written to a person who may not receive as much gratitude in their lives like an elementary or middle school teacher or a former boss who you haven’t spoken to in a while. Try to make them smile or remind them of a memory that they’ve long forgotten about but still holds deep meaning with you. I wrote to my former boss and he responded that this email made his week. Your assignment is to write an email to someone this week (doesn’t have to be long), expressing your gratitude for their impact in your life.
Meme Reminder
I hope you have the best week my friends.
Cherie