What Will You Do With Your One Wild & Precious Life? Harvard MBAs Answer

THE PORTRAITS AND ESSAYS DEFY THE MBA STEREOTYPE

Neda Navab, the HBS student who led this year’s project, says she was first exposed to the idea on her second day at Harvard Business School before classes began. “It was an interesting and poignant way to introduce a new group of MBAs,” she says. “We were asked which ones made us nervous and which ones caught our eye. We were complete strangers and we had to open our hearts to each other to say which portraits moved us the most.”

Then, at the end of the first semester, a professor read aloud the Mary Oliver poem in a leadership class. “There is something challenging about the question Mary Oliver poses,” says Navab. ” I wanted to tackle that at some point, even if it was for myself.” Navab writes about the arranged marriage of her Iranian grandparents and the sacrifices they made to built a meaningful and enduring relationship. “It definitely opens your eyes to a different side of the student body because the topics are so outside the pages of The Wall Street Journal,” she adds. “On a higher order, it’s a fantastic reminder that this experience is not just about a business education. It’s about leadership and making an impact on the world.”

In all, the portraits and the essays represent time capsules of the aspirations of several generations of MBAs. They are almost always surprising, in part because they make a myth of the common stereotype of MBAs as elbow-sharp, money-grubbing Masters of the Universe with little concern for society or community. This year, says Deifell, some 147 second-year students submitted essays for this year’s project.

For McGregor, the loss of her hands taught her a life-changing lesson. “I was raised believing that hard work could get me anywhere – but for the first time, it couldn’t,” writes McGregor.  “I was raised believing in self-reliance as the greatest virtue – but now, I needed help with almost everything.”

Eventually, it took multiple surgeries to cure the illness but the lessons from her experience linger. “I gained a newfound determination to help people overcome the obstacles they cannot tackle alone, to give others the benefit of the doubt, and to understand that asking for help can be a strength, not a weakness.  Now, I feel privileged when someone asks me to lend a hand.”

HOW LIVING IN A BODY BRACE FOR TWO YEARS LIBERATED A SPIRIT AND SOUL

For Metin, her body brace oddly liberated her. “I could not hide my condition from friends,” Metin explains. “I had to explain it and ask for help. What surprised me was how deeply these conversations connected me with others. My friends accepted my imperfection and helped me cope with it. One of them wrote about me in an essay on role models.”

Today, the brace she wore for two years is her most valued keepsake. It sits on a shelf at home next to her books. “It reminds me to accept my imperfections and share my story to build trusting relationships,” says Metin.

Yet another HBS graduate generously shares one of the most painful and tragic moments of her young life: the death of her mother. “I knelt over my mom, my right hand clasping hers and my left hand supporting her head, desperate to keep her with me just a moment longer,” writes Kara Scarbrough. “I was terrified. Searching for strength and comfort, I looked at her and said, ‘Mom, it’s going to be ok.’ Her warm green eyes looked into mine with conviction and certainty as she smiled and replied, ‘I know.’ I wasn’t sure I believed it, but it was clear that she did. Seconds later she was gone.”