Yazeed Al-Rashed

Harvard Business School

“Someone with many interests but too little time to pursue them.”

Hometown:  Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Fun Fact About Yourself: I (try to) work on my screenplay ideas in my spare time.

Undergraduate School and Major: MIT – chemical engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Shell – Process Technologist

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Drive and humility. Everyone is driven to pursue their dreams and make the most out of the incredible resources at HBS. They’re also disarmingly humble, which makes it much easier for everyone to learn from each other.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  The school’s global footprint and diversity of industries represented – the sheer number of industries and countries HBS is involved with is breathtaking. I can quite literally explore any geography or business I am interested in, no matter how different it is from my previous experience.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m especially interested in the Investment Club, Entrepreneurship Club, Entertainment and Media Club, and the Energy and Environment Club.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I always knew that I wanted to pursue an MBA at some point, but I only went for it when I felt that I had enough years of work experience under my belt to make the most of the experience. After spending some time in energy policy and oil and gas operations, I felt it was the right time to augment my experience with a business education to put me in a position to help unlock untapped potential in various traditional industries.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? As I was thinking about whether to apply or not, I reached out to friends and mentors who had come from similar backgrounds and  pursued MBAs. While many undertook it at great financial cost, all were unequivocal about how the experience positively transformed them in ways they didn’t even expect. They emphasized that the key is to be open to experience everything the school has to offer.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? It’s too early to tell. I’ll see where the opportunities in the coming two years will take me.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Playing a role in the evolution of long-established industries.