The Disruptors: ‘An Entire MBA In 1 Course’ — And More

Would you say you were disaffected with Wall Street? How long were you there? How long were you with Goldman Sachs?

I was there from ’98 until 2003. I mean, I love the people there. They’re great. And you know, not the smartest people get into Goldman because I got in there, but people that get along. It was cool. I have a lot of good friends there.

I found that the most depressing thing about Wall Street was Christmas bonus season: Everybody was so depressed because they were comparing themselves to somebody that made more. And I read a book that changed my life by the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness. And he said the problem with Western society is, we sacrifice our health our entire lives in order to make money. And then at the end of our lives, we sacrifice all of our money to maintain our health. And then we look back and we realize we never really lived to begin with.

But it got worse for me, man. Goldman wasn’t enough for me. I wanted more. It’s terrible. I’m embarrassed to say it. And so I went to a couple of hedge funds, Citadel, a big hedge fund, they recruited me to the left coast, West Coast. And it was great and everything, but I wasn’t happy there. And it was short-term focus. And so I started my own hedge fund and my own venture capital firm. And it was long-term focused and that was great. But there was something missing, man. There was something missing. You know, chasing money, it just didn’t … Something was missing. I thought I was depressed. I really did.

And so what would happen is, every company I’d work at, my bosses would sit down with me and it’d be uncomfortable for them because they’d say, “Chris, you’re doing a good job. Can you maybe spend a little bit less time mentoring other people?”

It’s just something I love to do. For me, I found that I’m happiest in life when I help people every day. And if I don’t, I feel depressed. You know, Mark Twain had that quote, he said, “The two most important days in your life are number one, the day you’re born, and number two, the day you find out why.” And for me, my passion, my purpose, my raison d’être, humbly, is that I want to teach. And I think every problem in the world gets solved by technology, education and acceptance, which is my TEDx Talk!

You’ve taught a lot of places, including Berkeley Haas and Stanford GSB, lecturing to MBA students. What were those experiences like?

They bring me in, it’s usually once a quarter. I haven’t gone since, I guess, late last year. They’re great. But I did a lot more teaching at other schools. And my favorite students on the planet are at San Francisco State. They’re great. A lot of them come from money, but some don’t. My favorite students are the ones that are poor, smart, and hungry, and they were dealt maybe a crappy set of cards in life, and I just want to help.

What do you think of the state of graduate business education right now?

I think it’s antiquated. It’s a ridiculous amount of money. We learn concepts that we can’t apply in the real world — a lot of it. And it’s a little bit too theoretical. And we don’t learn the most important aspects of what makes a successful business person, like how to sell, how to present, how to interview, how to manage your own money, that sort of thing.

And you’d think that once you graduate business school, if somebody asked you, “So do you know how to start a company?” No. People would be like, “Well, no — I kind of learned theoretical stuff.” You know, I’m very proud of the fact that I went to a decent school, but at the same time, it certainly is a lot of money. And I think you can learn a lot more stuff online from people that have done it, and save a lot of money, too.

Which brings us right back to you and what you’re doing. And are the shortcomings that you’re talking about the things that your courses will address better than other than B school?

Yes. I humbly think so. Yes. It’s like when you have your first child, you unlock an amount of happiness you never thought you could feel. It’s a great feeling. And with all three of my kids, it’s crazy but fun. That feeling you get when you hold your child for the first time, when you do something you love and you’re humbly helping others, you feel that. Not to the same extent, obviously having a kid is better, but you feel that little bit of lightning in a bottle that just makes you want to contribute and help.

And I really do believe every problem in the world will be solved with education and technology and acceptance. And now finally broadband is truly ubiquitous and everybody has access to very, very affordable business education online. Yeah. There’s no child left behind now. Everybody’s got access.