BCMBA Sept 2011 Students Always

8/4/2019 BCMBA Sept 2011 Students Always

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Copyright Ezra Roizen 1

Students Always?

Feasibility Assessment(and a few thoughts on how)


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Ezra Roizen ([email protected])

Advisor to new ventures in areas of strategy, finance

and M&A

Co-Host of Vator Box on Vator.tv, a show about startups

BC MBA 04/05 and BA UC Davis

Chair Emeritus, Haas Alumni Network


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Definitions

Student: an attentive and systematic observer(Merriam-Webster)

Always: all the time; continuously; uninterruptedly(Dictionary.com)

Be a continuously attentive and systematic observer.


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Can we fit it in?

Sought to understand

the conventional wisdomthat our lives are hectic,

overloaded and were

just barely keeping up if thats true then theres

little room to be a

student always


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Lines of inquiry

How busy are we?

Are we under control or in chaos?

Do we have it all figured out?

Can we fit this in?


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Berkeley Columbia sample

Sample size:

Total pool: ~550

Respondents: 79

Roughly: 14%

Profile of 2010 Entering Class (adjust ~5 years for alumni pool)

Size of entering class: 70

Average age: 36

Age range: 2757

Median years of work experience: 12

Middle 80% range of years of work experience: 817

Women: 21%

Students with advanced degrees: 37%

Students from outside San Francisco Bay Area: 33%


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How busy are we?

85% Yes - 15% No

The majority of us commute

to work

Roughly half of us pretty much never

get to take a nap

Range: 0 to 30 per monthAverage: 3 per month

Median: 2 per month

0 or 1 was 47%

70% have fewer than 4 naps per month

(less than one per week)

We dont veg out in front of the TV

very often (67% Rarely or Never)



Were busy, but thats not the entire story



Our lives are not out of control

We typically get our oil changed on

time (85% in a reasonable timeframe)

Were good at keeping our social

appointments (91% generally show up

for scheduled social events)

We dont get many tickets and citations

(95% less than once a month)



We plan ahead

We tend to eat in (68% 2 or fewer nights

dining out)We have a significant portion of our

clothing professionally cleaned

Average: 41%

Median: 37%

Greater or equal to 20%: 75%

We plan social activities (71% at least

every month or two)



But, we dont have it all figured out

Over half of us are not exactly sure what

wed do with a $1mm windfall

54% of us dont have a will

41% of us, if we had to do it all over again,

would have chosen a different career path



Theres capacity

There seems to be the room (and

maybe even need) in our lives to take astep back and be a disciplined

observerwe can be

StudentsAlways!



Yes, but how?

Some comments which got me thinking

(paraphrased)

Elon Musk: I just wanted access to the lab

(@ Cal / Economist Conference on getting

into Stanford)

Peter Thiel: It should be about the

knowledge not the degree

(@ Vators Venture Shift on being smart)

Vinod Khosla: Vision is bumbling around

(in talk on Vator.tv on innovation)

Shunryu Suzuki Walk like an elephant

Beginners mind vs. experts mind



Example

Asked to moderate a panel on super

angels at Vators Venture Shift Event

Took a step back and wrote a piece on

my initial thoughts on the topic and

asked for comments

Began a conversation which carried

through the panel

I learned and internalized a great deal

more than I would have had I just

showed up and thrown out a few

questions



Another example

Ask a question even if its

seemingly pointless

Our son lost his retainer so he

had to earn the money to pay

for a new one so we created

an analysis project for him

How many people go left and

how many go right on the path

behind our house?

Data is collected still beingprocessed what to do about

the ferry?


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Flotsam and jetsam

Innovation is often the product of nonlinear thinking

Its about realizing something new not cramming

information get more out of less

Be interested as well as interesting

Be an active learner engage with the world around you

Write a blog, post a tweet, leave a comment get in theconversation!

BCMBA Sept 2011 Students Always

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