Memories of the GSB

Gregg Daugherty

When David sent his email requesting me to share a story, I was not interested. I am not sure that I have any great success or terrible tragedy to write about. But the more I thought about the idea, the more I decided to try just to write a reflective note on my time at the GSB. I think not only do we all have our own memories, but also have shared memories of things like “the core,” or finding a job, or being nervous, and then overcoming nervousness. Except for mentioning three people from my first day at school I have tried to write about memories that might be common to all of us. After re-reading this I am slightly embarrassed by the choppy style; years of using email has likely dulled my ability to write as well as I would like to, but I think these vignettes are worth sharing.

Day one at the GSB surely was special for all of us. I am sure like many of you, the people you met at the beginning are some of the people you know the best today. I met a few of my roommates that day along with many others, including some who became my dearest friends. The first two GSB people I chatted with were at the Oasis. I thought that was a fun way to begin this daunting graduate school program. Of course, as I think about the day-one people I met and grew to hang out with, I also think of the opportunities to get to know others that I missed. That is, after a while you sort of have a good circle of friends and never spend time with another set of friends you could have made. I think about the serendipity of that (which I guess is common to all college experiences).

I also firmly remember the panic of trying to find housing. After my first (free) night at Rinconada dorm I began the hunt for a roommate. I did not go to Dartmouth or Stanford as an undergrad; both schools as I recall had the largest base in our class. I did not know anyone prior to arriving. I recall going to a Student Union phone bank where I ended up sitting next to classmates trying to figure out what was available. I think I found my apartment before finding my roommate–which worked out fine.

Then the next year I spent most weekends in the summer (I worked in the area that summer) looking for the perfect second-year house. I always found the housing thing puzzling and bizarre, considering the status of the program. We all attended when the school was ranked #1 or #2, yet we had to fend for ourselves despite the campus being in a suburban setting.

Speaking of that other school, I was amazed sitting in class listening to several people who had started at HBS and changed their minds and joined us at the GSB. I was impressed; they were playing at a very high level to pull off that maneuver.

That fall had other surprises for me:

• I had never lived in the area and so always assumed Northern California was cold and wet. I was spoiled by the perfect climate (and then moved to less perfect Seattle).
• The “trailers” that people actually lived in, on campus, real-life mobile homes as housing.
• The whole“farm”vibe with horses and stables on campus, ort he whole concept of L.S.J.U. – going to a “Junior” University.
• Football games where the RVs would roll in under the eucalyptus trees. I always assumed RVs rolling in for football Saturdays was characteristic only of big state schools in the Midwest and South, not tony Stanford.

The pace of school was a bit intimidating. Not the classwork or keeping up in class. But rather we had barely learned names of people in their section (I was in section 2), but the interviews we suddenly had to prepare for. People started asking me if I preferred Bain to McKinsey and of course I did not know one from the other at that point. I was disappointed that I could not coast after being admitted and being there, but instead already had to start preparing for the summer. Then to add to that pressure you would have people saying how the summer job decision determined your career choice and that of course determined your entire future.

School and interviews were less intimidating because of our “Don’t share the GPS or class rank” info thing. While I worked hard as an undergrad to get the right numbers, I was thrilled not to have that pressure here. As a result, I took some courses that were beyond my normal skillset and really loved stretching my learning without worrying about the numerical impact of the grade on my class standing.

Who could forget the interview trailers and Uta Kremer? Again, the travel trailers. That was odd – trying to impress a partner at Goldman Sachs while the floor was shaking from someone walking down the hallway. And on that topic, how did we ever arrange appointments without email or cell phones? I know we had an answering machine at home but not many of us went home until late in the day.

I also recall buying the parking permit. I am frugal but I think the nearby A permit was $100 and the faraway B permit was barely cheaper. That was funny to me. I splurged on the A, since in comparison to the tuition it was nothing.

And the library. I think we all fondly remember Dick the Librarian. And upstairs we had the first generation of easy-to-use Apple PCs – the Lisa. I do not recall doing serious work on it, but it was great fun to play with. I think I took quite a few naps in the library since going home was always a twenty-minute drive, and usually we had study groups back at school in the evening.

Of course we all recall our computer days–the old DEC20 in the basement with terminals. You used to be assigned a free terminal. We were all a bit mean to A “dot” Sandy and she showed us up by co-founding Cisco on the side. I do not know what happened to A “dot” Joel, but he was a good guy. I remember being most impressed by being introduced to spreadsheets. That was amazing to me. While NCPCalc never went anywhere, the basics still exist today. I guess I should also share a story (out of school as it were) about the classmate who had huge tech stripes and his better use of the computer lab. When we started doing our resumes on dot matrix printers and later somehow using the laser printer, he was far ahead of us. He would sit at one of our regular terminals, but output his work on the Faculty DEC20 and its fancy laser printer. I think it drove Sandy and Joel a bit nuts, but I admired his skill.

Among the many fine attributes of the GSB, one that I especially enjoyed was the approachability of the faculty. They never felt like superiors, though of course many/all were at the top of their game and were wonderful academics and teachers.

I think we all remember the students who came from countries other than the USA. I certainly enjoyed and learned from their presence. My undergraduate college had very few non-U.S. students. While I was not ignorant about other countries, I was fascinated to sit and learn along with them. It was different from today. I think in ’83–’85 we called them International students. They were welcomed guests. Today it is different (in a good way): the non-U.S. students make up more than 40% of the current classes and the U.S. students are in a sense from just one more of all the world’s nations. I hope their memory of our time together was positive.

While I usually studied at home or in the GSB library I recall sitting in what was then the undergraduate library and it started shaking violently. I grew up in California, so I knew what was going on. I wonder how others found their first earthquake. I had to look it up; that one was not trivial – it registered 6.2, happened 4/25/1984 and occurred 31 miles away.

After writing about the interviews and how we communicated I found myself remembering one classmate who in 1985 started describing this very arcane mobile phone auction process. He was well ahead of us in seeing the money that was being made in acquiring cellular licenses. I do not know if he jumped in, but I still remember being only half convinced there really was an auction.

I believe by the second year we had the option to take other classes “across the street.” I loved having that option, especially when all that mattered was passing the course. And as for grades inside the GSB I was thrilled by the de-emphasis on grades. I congratulate those who achieved Arjay Miller honors, but I knew early on that for most of us it would require exceptional intelligence and an exceptional work ethic. I did not think I had the right combination of those two to pull it off and I was quite comfortable in my classes and grades.

I still cannot recall where I ate most of the time. While I am sure we all remember getting bagels and coffee downstairs at “Fast Gas,” I really do not remember what else I ate. And while I did not eat at the bars a lot, they all seemed the same to me. Other than location, all those places (Zots, Oasis, Dutch Goose) seemed to have greasy burgers and beer. I do not think they suffered by lacking the distinct brands we likely would have advised (smile).

I can remember the larger-than-life personalities in the class ahead of us. They seemed smarter and more reckless. Maybe because as second-years they already had the great houses and thus enjoyed a status as party personas. I also doubt we had the same reputation with the class that followed us. The class of 1984 just seemed unique. I especially remember Arthur Hartfelt because he was part of a David Halberstam book on the NBA, owing to Arthur’s friendship with Bill Walton.

I do not remember many of the topics of all the LPFs and after-class lectures. But I do remember one chance encounter that still impresses me. At one of the patio beer functions I ended up talking to two different alumni from Lebanon. I remember finding it interesting that they came all the way back to school and were willing to chat with me. They impressed upon me the importance of learning about managing people and they regretted not learning and practicing their people/leadership/ HR skills. I did not do anything about their advice at the time (not even taking Touchy Feely), but I certainly agree with it today. I think all of us would agree the marginal value of honing our people skills likely is or was more useful than our nth class of Econ or StratMan.

As graduation approached, I worked hard to find and start a job. I do recall in the summer and likely in the fall after starting work thinking, “Now why didn’t I try to string out some more time at Stanford?” I know at the time and for many years afterward, ambition guided most of us, but I sometimes wonder if a good life on campus might have been equally fulfilling.

I did not take a job in the conventional MBA careers of banking or consulting. I joined a real estate firm with three other classmates. I took the job partly to focus on what I called real work. I sure got a dose of that. I can recall after my second or third day my new boss assigning me to guide our landscaping crew in swapping out various plants and trees. I knew nothing about the topic, nor did I care about it but I quickly learned to rely on others for advice on that and other pretty mundane things. But I also reveled in the power that knowing details gave me. I learned to appreciate the value of the nitty gritty while on the job. It does not come naturally to me.

I think we all had a few classes outside of the core academic disciplines that we relied upon later. For many it was Touchy Feely. For me it was our negotiations course. And related to all that I look back on our coursework and wonder if we could have learned more about managing people and the businesses we went into. I learned 100% of whatever management skills I have from my jobs after the GSB. I do not fault Stanford for that; certainly pushing the envelope on research meant you could not do everything. But now I find myself reading what Stanford Engineering professor Bob Sutton says about management.

Stanford did not lie when they said some of best and dearest friends would come from our time there. I see or talk to some on a frequent basis. That is an important part of my life. And for those of you I do not see as frequently, I am similarly enriched by our time together.