B-School Bulletin: 10 Things I've Already Learned At HBS

Valentina Toll Villagra

News from Harvard Business School

“After receiving my degree in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University, I lived in Austin, Texas for 2 years while working at Amazon. I held a role as an engineering project manager launching new transportation warehouses. As an engineering undergrad, I felt the MBA would complement my technical skills with big-picture business vision. I chose Harvard’s MS/MBA to become a strong leader while also refining the skills I would need to succeed in deeply technical fields.

“I arrived in Boston on an unusually-hot Monday morning and was rushing to get settled in since I only had one week before classes started. On August 6th, I entered Pierce Hall on the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) campus to start the program. It’s been just over a month since my first day, but I feel like I’ve grown so much already.

“So, what did I learn this past month?”

The Bright Side Of Busyness

News from INSEAD

“Most people feel terribly busy every day. Work just keeps piling up, the kids need to be chauffeured to their after-school activities, inboxes are overflowing and your parents are coming over for the weekend. You wish that life would slow down, but what if there was a silver lining to all this busyness?

“The truth is, there is a good reason why so few people ever tame their busy lives. In many societies, busyness is a badge of honour worn with pride. Feeling in demand makes people feel good about themselves. It boosts self-image.”

Yale SOM

Y-RISE Initiative Enlists Faculty Expertise In Fight Against Poverty

News from Yale SOM

“A new Yale-based research initiative is developing the science needed to scale-up promising anti-poverty programs so that they can benefit the greatest number of people.

“The Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale, or Y-RISE, brings together leading researchers in economics and political science from Yale and institutions around the globe to tackle questions related to expanding programs that have proven effective in small-scale randomized-controlled trials.”

London Business School

Cleaning Up The Oceans

News from London Business School

“Paradise was how William Pearson imagined the Maldives before he set sail for the Indian Ocean in 2017. The reality didn’t quite match up. While working as a deckhand on a super-yacht, he spent weeks drifting along the crystal waters around some of the idyllic, white-sand coral islands. But this picture of serenity was suddenly distorted when Pearson encountered ‘Rubbish Island.’

“Thilafushi, an artificial island that has become a dumping ground for hotels to deposit their rubbish, left Pearson feeling aghast – and determined to make a difference. The experience in the Maldives has inspired him to launch The Ocean Bottle, a reusable water bottle that funds the collection of ocean-bound plastic in impoverished coastal communities around the world.”

New Study Contradicts Notion That Electronic Health Records Are Driving Doctors To Quit

News from Notre Dame University Mendoza College of Business

“Prominent journalists, including the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Krauthammer, have written that doctors are leaving the practice of medicine because adopting and using electronic health records (EHRs) is frustrating and debilitating.

“Not so, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame, which shows that basic EHRs actually have increased doctors’ tenure at hospitals, whereas advanced EHRs caused doctors to shift to other hospitals. The study found no evidence of retirements as a result of implementation.”