Lunch with Warren Buffett (1/2)

This year I was lucky enough to have been selected to represent Haas to have lunch with Warren Buffett. To be honest I am not an enthusiast when it comes to investing. Yes I have invested in several mutual funds, get pretty damn good grades on my finance classes and developed strategy for several investment banks and brokerage firms while I was at consulting, I am still not that into investing. So you might ask what's my motivation for paying around $400 USD to see Warren Buffett, my honest answer is vain...yes I think it's cool to tell people I had lunch with Warren Buffett ( even thought it was with other 50+ Haas students)

Before the trip the investing club held an info session on Warren Buffett to prep us for the trip. I've also done some research of my own to know about this legendary investor. Here are some highlights:

• With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world, behind only Microsoft chairman Bill Gates
  
• After graduating from University of Nebraska at age 19, Buffett applied to Harvard Business School but was rejected. He later quotes "To tell you the truth, I was kind of snowed when I got rejected from Harvard."
  
• He believes in value investing. "If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes. "

Jibjab and >play conference

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free! was involved in promoting this new start-up located in LA during one of the largest digital media conference in the west coast here at Haas. It was one of the most fun thing I have done in years. I suggest all my readers to

1. Hit the above >play button above

2. visit www.jibjab.com and have fun making your own JibJab video

My platform for HTC’s VP of communications

One of my three goals at Haas was to take a leadership position. The first step is to get elected to one. I decided to run for the VP of communication for the high-tech club and here is my platform-

Dear HTC club members,

Whether you are interested in pursuing a career at tech or just a geek-at-heart, have or haven't worked in the high-tech sector prior to Haas, I believe it's the responsibility of the VP communication to get you connected so you can achieve your own career or learning goal at HTC. It's not only about just forwarding job/event/career information, it's about providing a good platform and network for you get the information that is relevant to you timely.
I am running for the VP of communications because I am passionate about understanding your goal and provide you with a customized HTC experience through 3 main communication initiatives:

• Launch the HTC "interest groups": The Interest Groups will bring together HTC members with an interest in a particular aspect of the technology industry through dinner/lunch events and targeted TECH 101 sessions in coordination with other clubs. The groups I plan to launch are Digital media (in coordination with DEMC), Consumer Internet, Network/Telecom, Internet applications, tech entrepreneurship (in coordination with EA), and Consumer Electronics.
• Launch the HTC "buddy paring program": Have the technical expertise but don't know much about marketing? Know the industry but need someone to practice tech interviews ? The buddy paring program aims to pair you up with another HTC member or other graduate students from other schools to enhance your learning experience. The paring will be updated regularity as your interest/needs evolves.
• Strengthen the HTC website: I propose to add features to our current website such as a forum to allow club members share their experience and exchange information, calendar of HTC's events by category and club member feedback survey .
  

The HTC consists lot of members with different levels of experience, expertise and interests in the club. My vision is to bring the greatest synergy within the club and leverage external resources to meet your personal goal. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you.

Being a leader

Leadership is definitely one of the most overly used word at any MBA program (Perhaps next to innovation and teamwork here at Haas..)Having grown up in a rather traditional, conservative, middle-class Chinese family, this word is by far the least word I would hear during my young adulthood. It wasn't until I begin working at McKinsey, an aggressive, merit-based, highly team oriented, yet competitive environment, Igradually learned and had to step up in many occasions to be a leader in three areas:

Thought leadership: Can you always stay ahead of problem-solving, Can you always think a couple steps ahead of others?

People leadership: Can you get your team to help you? Do you inspire or motivate your team members to work with you? Can you get buys-ins from your superiors?

Client leadership: Can you build credibility in front of your client? Do they buy-in your advice? Can you establish relationship that is well beyond the scope of the work with them?

Through these experiences, I gradually came to realize there are prerequisites in becoming a leader. It's not about knowing more nor being smarter than anyone, it's about the desire, the passion and the drive to see and make something happen. This internal desire is so overwhelming that you have the courage to take some risk and endure the hardship. But more than that, I define leadership as someone who can inspire others to act and you can NEVER EVER inspire others if you are always worried about not being perfect and making mistakes.

Like all other MBAs, there is so much opportunity at Haas to take on leadership position. Think what you are passionate about, challenge yourself to be a leader in the area and make an impact

Innovation and Apple case competition

Everything at Haas is about innovation. Not only do we speak about it, we live and experience it everyday through interacting with classmates, joining club activities, sitting in speaker series speeches and participating case competitions.

This Monday in my "Life as an Entreprenuer" speaker series class, I was deeply inspired by the speaker Judy Estrin. Before the speech I was struggling to figure out if I can ever be innovative. After the speech I became much more clear where I was lacking and what I should do in order to motivate others to be innovative.
So innovation, in essense, can be broken down into 5 core values.

• Questioning: inquisitive but not judegmental
• Risk-taking: A positive attitude towards failure
• Openess: Share with others
• Patience: but not passive
• Trust: but not blind faith

Innovation can only be nurtured not managed. It needs to be cultivated and free from measures.

To challenge myself, I entered the Apple case competition with my three other classmates. The case is about what Apple should do to with iPhone to repeat this success of ipod in a very different industry where the players are decades old, well entrenched and unaccustomed to rapid change? and How should Apple measure success with iPhone and its ecosystem? I have to say I really love the aethestic design and user-friendly aspect of iphone. Above all, it's just VERY cool to have one.

I am learning so much about this industry and having a lot of fun working with my classmates. Although sometimes it kills me when I work with people who goes off tangent without a clear structure, I know I have to learn to deal with it and be more patient in understanding other people's perspective. I understand in order to froster innovation, I need to be more patient and more willing to open my mind to accept different communication styles

Social alert

Every week, the social rep of the MBAA , Newton, would send out an email reminding everyone all the important seocial event for that week. What I absolutely love about these emails is it not only the fact that it makes it much easier for us to keep track of the social events, Newton would write an anecdote which highlights the true spirit of Haas. Below is my favoriate one:


9/11
First year cohort elections are in progress, and first years are probably learning how ridiculously collaborative a school this really is. Last year, I basically negotiated with Emily Walling and then ran unopposed for Axe social rep. The negotiation went something like this:

Me: Emily, we’re both running for social rep, but I think you should take the position.
Emily: Oh no, I could never do that. You be social rep. I’ll run for communications rep.
Me: Awwww, you’re such a sweetie.
Emily: Stop, you’re making me blush!
Me: Oh you. Have you gotten your textbooks yet? Here, take mine until yours arrive from Amazon.
Emily: You look tired, let me carry you to your next class.

As you can see, Haas is not quite a shark tank. We don’t just hug trees, we live in them.

This is clearly one aspect of Haas that exceeded my expectation

*This photo was posted on the 10/1 social alert