"If each of us hires people that are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants."
David Ogilvey (Ogilvey and Mather Advertising)
"Only the paranoid survive."
Lou Gertsner
I had two jam packed days, but outstanding learning opportunities. My classes have been in marketing, strategy, ethics, innovation, decision making, of course, finance and organizational development. Well-known author and Harvard professor, Michael Porter spoke to us yesterday and Lou Gertsner, former CEO of IBM, Nabisco and American Express spoke this afternoon. Hema Hattangady taught innovation class today. She is CEO of an Indian company called Conzerve. She has a fascinating story how she was chosen to be the CEO of her father-in-law's company, which you can imagine would be a very odd thing to happen in India. I may have told you that I am one of 22 women in the entire program and there are 152 men. We are in two sections, so there are 11 women to 75 men in my class. When she answered questions, some of the Indian and Middle-Eastern men took that as an opportunity to be condescending and insulting to her, but she responded as a seasoned executive with more grace and poise than I have publicly ever witnessed in such a situation.
The work load is still averaging about a 100 pages a night plus presentation preparation, but I am starting to get the hang of it, and I am learning so much! I would love to tell you a funny story, but there has not been anything too funny to happen. If I could tell you of all the drama that goes on around here, you would probably laugh. It's amazing to see very high level executives, from all around the world and in some of the top companies in the world acting in the ways that they do sometimes. Again, I am so grateful for my team at CFA, who are the best people to work with on the planet!
I finally realized that the barrier I am experiencing has more to do with me being an American than anything else. The rest of the world is really mad at us "for crashing the global economy." Their perception is that all Americans fly on private jets, bail on their mortgages and over leverage their credit. I have done my best to let them know that ALL Americans are not that way.
I am working very hard on teaching please, thank you and my pleasure -- I miss hearing those words that are ordinarily part of my daily life.
The weather has been beautiful all week -- still cold, but tomorrow is supposed to be 70! It gets cold again after that, but I plan to enjoy a walk by the river tomorrow afternoon. Mom is worried about me walking, but I only walk in safe places in the daytime. The HBS campus is a walking only campus, so everybody walks. It's a very healthy place. And the Harvard Police Department is very good. I checked the crime statistics -- no violent crimes -- just bicycle theft and such.
Melissa, thank you for the awesome snack package. Lisa, I don't know how long I am supposed to keep those Chocolate Chip cookies, but they are the best ever -- there have been days I lived off them (isn't that a healthy thing to do!) and Kelsey, thanks for all your encouraging comments, texts and e-mails!
Please continue to remember me in prayer. I have told you the surface stuff, but there is so much going on behind the scenes. I am definitely on the front line of Spiritual Warfare. God gives me just enough to keep in the game, but not so much that I am not dependent on Him.
More scenery attached -- same stuff, different time of day and different weather ~~ The building is my a picture of the outside of "my home."
Love you all,
Dee Ann
