Continuing on the take-aways on the GSB Class 2011 - Last Lecture Series.
Disclaimer: most of what i wrote here was what were presented to us during our last lectures, and I dont plan to re-organize any of the ideas. So you might find it a bit unstructured/unorganized
Our 2nd last lecture was presented to us by Prof. Charles Lee, who in my opinion is a genius in Behavior Finance, or anything investment-related. I did not have a chance to take his class (simply just because his class is too advanced for me to understand...). Yet my few interactions with him on a personal basis left me with superior impression about him - a great person with the brightest brain, yet a very very humble personality. Lots of life wisdom (nothing finance-related, as again i would hardly understand anything finance-related) I had got from him by knowing him, and I thanked him for that.
Here come the take-aways from his last lecture (and I must admit he has gone a bit too far to give us so many philosophical advice, that I havent fully understood it all). Yet I hope at some point in my life, I can fully embrace these wisdom...
Quote (from my note)
1. What does success look like?
- Success is something that doesnt need any external validation
- Is success a good thing? Most likely the answer is Yes.
- But how about, "Is being a successful thief a good thing then"?
- In other words, success might be just contextual depending on your goal.
2. Remember you are not your resume.
- Think what is there in you that is beyond a resume
- Understand the difference between Wisdom (meta knowledge) vs Knowledge, of Moral Reasoning vs Moral Conduct
3. "The pursuit of happiness cannot be without the pursuit of virtue"
4. Prof. Lee's very dear advice to us before we embark on our new journey:
- Hold things lightly - if you know what you are called to do, just do it but hold things lightly (and my understand from his example is that so you dont just have to achieve what you set out by any mean, or learn how to let go when things dont happen the way you expected/planned. Bear in mind how i interpreted what he meant can be completely off - but this is how i resonated with his advice when hearing him talk)
- Mind the gap/the difference between Moral Reasoning and Moral Conduct. Also be aware of the gap of what we want to do and what we actually do
- "If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked" (Epictetus)
- Regardless of what happened in life, what you will eventually face is YOURSELF
- "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)
- A blessed man is someone who found something in life more important than himself ---> this is one of my most favorite quotes from his lecture.
- We are lucky if we can find a job that we wake up every morning wanting to go to work
Unquote (from my note)
Link to Prof. Lee's bio: http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/facultyprofiles/biomain.asp?id=07921309
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
First last lecture - Dont Play Small by Frank Flynn
Here comes a series of my takeaways from each of the last lecture that I mentioned in the previous post.
Starting with the 1st lecture by Prof Frank Flynn, I must embarrassedly admit that while this was my MOST favorite lecture of all (for various reasons), I did not take any note during this first session.
Some reasons why I really liked this first lecture:
- Prof Frank Flynn is an amazing amazing professor, with great sense of humor, fantastic charisma, a hard-to-beat presentation skill, and most important of all - a great inspiration for us (and for me).
- This is the very first last lecture that is organized for us, the outgoing class of 2011. Thus, we all came with very excited feeling - excited to hear what our beloved prof has to offer before we leave school, excited to see what else he can inspire us (after so much brainwash we got during the 2 years here). Needless to say, Prof Flynn succeeded beyond our expectation. This is again an embarrassing moment to admit, but I even got a tiny shed of tear walking out of the session - as i realized how much more I would miss this place, missing my amazing professors and a group of friends that have impacted me so much
Yet I didnt take any note... Reason was because, i didnt come in expecting there's any much more that I need to write down, and that I can remember it all. Proved me wrong apparently...
These are a few things I still remember on top of my head:
- The lecture theme is "Dont play small" - and this captures it all the essence of what Frank wants to leave us with. He reminded us why we all came to GSB, what matters to us, and how much we will lose and fail if we dont follow our heart to pursue our passion and do what matters most.
- There's no better time to take the risk than now when we have the least to lose (or so he said):
The risk of doing non-traditional things that we know we would love doing.
The risk of detrailing from the easy trek that most of our friends will do.
The risk of telling ourselves "let me just do this high-pay job for a couple of years, and I will follow my passion when I am successful", or "let me use this job as a stepping stone to the next thing I am passionate about". That doesnt sound like a bad plan, with the only one caveat - we never know when we are successful...
And yet, he then asked what is the biggest risk if we do fail? He said "there's not much... but the gain is plenty".
"DONT PLAY SMALL" is what he left us all with.
Here is a picture from his lecture (and if you look hard enough, you might notice it's me sitting on the floor in the front lol)
Link to Prof. Frank Flynn's profile:
http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/facultyprofiles/biomain.asp?id=78010309
Starting with the 1st lecture by Prof Frank Flynn, I must embarrassedly admit that while this was my MOST favorite lecture of all (for various reasons), I did not take any note during this first session.
Some reasons why I really liked this first lecture:
- Prof Frank Flynn is an amazing amazing professor, with great sense of humor, fantastic charisma, a hard-to-beat presentation skill, and most important of all - a great inspiration for us (and for me).
- This is the very first last lecture that is organized for us, the outgoing class of 2011. Thus, we all came with very excited feeling - excited to hear what our beloved prof has to offer before we leave school, excited to see what else he can inspire us (after so much brainwash we got during the 2 years here). Needless to say, Prof Flynn succeeded beyond our expectation. This is again an embarrassing moment to admit, but I even got a tiny shed of tear walking out of the session - as i realized how much more I would miss this place, missing my amazing professors and a group of friends that have impacted me so much
Yet I didnt take any note... Reason was because, i didnt come in expecting there's any much more that I need to write down, and that I can remember it all. Proved me wrong apparently...
These are a few things I still remember on top of my head:
- The lecture theme is "Dont play small" - and this captures it all the essence of what Frank wants to leave us with. He reminded us why we all came to GSB, what matters to us, and how much we will lose and fail if we dont follow our heart to pursue our passion and do what matters most.
- There's no better time to take the risk than now when we have the least to lose (or so he said):
The risk of doing non-traditional things that we know we would love doing.
The risk of detrailing from the easy trek that most of our friends will do.
The risk of telling ourselves "let me just do this high-pay job for a couple of years, and I will follow my passion when I am successful", or "let me use this job as a stepping stone to the next thing I am passionate about". That doesnt sound like a bad plan, with the only one caveat - we never know when we are successful...
And yet, he then asked what is the biggest risk if we do fail? He said "there's not much... but the gain is plenty".
"DONT PLAY SMALL" is what he left us all with.
Here is a picture from his lecture (and if you look hard enough, you might notice it's me sitting on the floor in the front lol)
Link to Prof. Frank Flynn's profile:
http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/facultyprofiles/biomain.asp?id=78010309
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The Last Lecture Series @ GSB
The last month at the GSB still left me with so many emotional memories. So many things happened, yet we had so little time to do everything.
Just like any other GSB classmates, I still had the FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) even at this last month, which meant despite my calendar being full (indeed it was double-booked, or triple-booked so many times), I still could not say No to many events that my friends organized. Among which, the Last Lecture Series for me were among the "must-do" (in retrospect, what else is not "must-do" anyway ^-^). So I did go to all the last lectures offered by our most favorite professors during our 2 years here. Below is the list of all 5 last lectures that I kept it here for my memories...
Frank Flynn - Prof from OB (Organizational behavior) class
(Thursday, May 12 at 6:30pm)
Charles Lee - Prof from Behavioral Finance class
(Wednesday, May 18 at 6:00pm)
Carole Robin - Prof from our most well-known GSB Touchy Feely Class (official class name is Interpersonal Dynamics)
(Thursday, May 26 at 6:30pm)
Joel Peterson - Prof from our MGE (Managing Growing Enterprise) class
(Thursday, June 2 at 6:00pm)
Irv Grousbeck - Prof from our MGE class
(Monday, June 6 at 7:00pm)
Lots of wisdom and advices for us before we all embark on the new journey and get out to the real world. Lots of encouragement for us to now follow our passion and go "move the mountains", to live the motto of the school to "change lives, change organization, change the world". Yes, it does sound very big and catchy now i reflect back, but in those emotional moments, it was still very needed for us (at least for me) to be constantly reminded of why we went to GSB, and why we are here.
This blog is the intro to all my important take-aways from each of the Last Lecture that I attended. Not all, but most of them will be part of my guiding principles in life as I lead my life forward, and I love to share with you all here, hoping that some of those takeaways will also reasonate with you.
What are the Last Lectures?
For those who are unfamiliar with the Last Lecture concept, below is a short sweet description of what it means.
Quote
Every year, the outgoing co-chairs of the Academic Committee organize the “Last Lecture” series – a compilation of lectures throughout the Spring Quarter from our favorite professors and lecturers at the GSB, exclusively for the graduating class. Often remembered as a highlight of the GSB experience, the Last Lectures feature a handful of invited speakers weekly who each leave the class with their final remarks, ranging from the most important takeaways from their classes to personal advice on how to lead a life of meaning beyond the GSB.
Unquote
Ps: Thanks so much to Moudy (our class Arbuckle Fellow) and Solomon for making this amazing last lecture series happen!
Just like any other GSB classmates, I still had the FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) even at this last month, which meant despite my calendar being full (indeed it was double-booked, or triple-booked so many times), I still could not say No to many events that my friends organized. Among which, the Last Lecture Series for me were among the "must-do" (in retrospect, what else is not "must-do" anyway ^-^). So I did go to all the last lectures offered by our most favorite professors during our 2 years here. Below is the list of all 5 last lectures that I kept it here for my memories...
Frank Flynn - Prof from OB (Organizational behavior) class
(Thursday, May 12 at 6:30pm)
Charles Lee - Prof from Behavioral Finance class
(Wednesday, May 18 at 6:00pm)
Carole Robin - Prof from our most well-known GSB Touchy Feely Class (official class name is Interpersonal Dynamics)
(Thursday, May 26 at 6:30pm)
Joel Peterson - Prof from our MGE (Managing Growing Enterprise) class
(Thursday, June 2 at 6:00pm)
Irv Grousbeck - Prof from our MGE class
(Monday, June 6 at 7:00pm)
Lots of wisdom and advices for us before we all embark on the new journey and get out to the real world. Lots of encouragement for us to now follow our passion and go "move the mountains", to live the motto of the school to "change lives, change organization, change the world". Yes, it does sound very big and catchy now i reflect back, but in those emotional moments, it was still very needed for us (at least for me) to be constantly reminded of why we went to GSB, and why we are here.
This blog is the intro to all my important take-aways from each of the Last Lecture that I attended. Not all, but most of them will be part of my guiding principles in life as I lead my life forward, and I love to share with you all here, hoping that some of those takeaways will also reasonate with you.
What are the Last Lectures?
For those who are unfamiliar with the Last Lecture concept, below is a short sweet description of what it means.
Quote
Every year, the outgoing co-chairs of the Academic Committee organize the “Last Lecture” series – a compilation of lectures throughout the Spring Quarter from our favorite professors and lecturers at the GSB, exclusively for the graduating class. Often remembered as a highlight of the GSB experience, the Last Lectures feature a handful of invited speakers weekly who each leave the class with their final remarks, ranging from the most important takeaways from their classes to personal advice on how to lead a life of meaning beyond the GSB.
Unquote
Ps: Thanks so much to Moudy (our class Arbuckle Fellow) and Solomon for making this amazing last lecture series happen!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Exercise...
So for those who know me really well, the concept of "working out" or "going to the gym" is very far from reality. It's one of the things that is always on my to-do list, and it's also one of the things that got de-prioritized very quickly. I know by heart it's such a bad thing to do, but I hardly made any progress on it...
The summer (if nothing else i achieved, then this is it!) marks a significant change for me. Believe it or not, I have finally made it to the gym starting last week. And I have also determined I will do more of that for the next 3 months when i'm here in Houston (it's always nice to make a bigger promise to continue that for the next year, or 10 years - but I also try to be realistic)!
Couple of reasons why it took me so long to finally do the simple thing that almost everybody else do without even thinking about it:
- I have so much free time here, and going to the gym makes me feel my time has been used more productively (or so I assume)
- My sister is going there everyday, and she is "forcing" me to go - or put it other way, she's a big inspiration for me to follow.
- I hope to gain some weight before I get back to the real job, which I know will consume a lot of my energy. So this extra-weight i can gain during my summer is super critical in case I have to lose weight when I start working.
- And of course, that gives me a great excuse to write my blog, and brag about this with all my friends who have never put faith in me that I can do this!
Now many more people know I have started doing this - a more reason for me to keep stay committed :).
Wish me luck!!
The summer (if nothing else i achieved, then this is it!) marks a significant change for me. Believe it or not, I have finally made it to the gym starting last week. And I have also determined I will do more of that for the next 3 months when i'm here in Houston (it's always nice to make a bigger promise to continue that for the next year, or 10 years - but I also try to be realistic)!
Couple of reasons why it took me so long to finally do the simple thing that almost everybody else do without even thinking about it:
- I have so much free time here, and going to the gym makes me feel my time has been used more productively (or so I assume)
- My sister is going there everyday, and she is "forcing" me to go - or put it other way, she's a big inspiration for me to follow.
- I hope to gain some weight before I get back to the real job, which I know will consume a lot of my energy. So this extra-weight i can gain during my summer is super critical in case I have to lose weight when I start working.
- And of course, that gives me a great excuse to write my blog, and brag about this with all my friends who have never put faith in me that I can do this!
Now many more people know I have started doing this - a more reason for me to keep stay committed :).
Wish me luck!!
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