5 years, 5 lessons: Reflections upon my 5-year Harvard reunion

Every three years, Harvard Business School holds a reunion for all of its graduates. Periodically, my Owner/President Management entering (OPM40) and graduating (OPM39) classes hold class reunions. This year, all three reunions came together in a fabulous multi-city extravaganza of meeting friends, visiting spectacular locations, and gaining new inspiration from HBS professors and fellow alums.

For three days at Harvard, the energy and fellowship were amazing, among about 2000 MBA grads and 600 OPM grads. (OPM39 had the highest attendance of all OPM classes, and we were celebrating our fifth anniversary since graduation in 2010!) We attended classes throughout the weekend, an outstanding class dinner at Italian restaurant De Vince, and a memorable gala at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Before and after the weekend in Cambridge, I attended class reunions: OPM40 in New York City and OPM39 in Newport, Rhode Island. In New York, I stayed at the beautiful Lotus Club on the Upper East Side, visited the Whitney Museum of American Art, ate lunch at One World Observatory, walked the High Line, and met at The Plaza. In Newport, we enjoyed a mini-reunion surrounded by the seaside luxury of America’s Golden Age, before saying our goodbyes and heading home.

Back home in Chicago, I couldn’t help reflecting on how my Harvard experience has impacted my perspective. In honor of my fifth anniversary of graduation, here are five lessons I learned in my studies at Harvard and in the five wonderful years since.

Strategy

One of the most beloved professors at HBS, Cynthia Montgomery taught each of us to focus on strategy in very real terms. Her pearls of wisdom flowed so steadily that we wanted to write down everything she said. She taught us through case studies as well as strategy competitions, which involved hours beyond class time of listening to and critiquing each other’s work. One of our most remarkable assignments was to write our own business obituaries to answer questions such as, “Who would miss your company if it were gone? What void would no longer be filled?” Professor Montgomery’s lessons led me back to the roots of my business – its reason for existence and the difference it can make in the world. Writing the obituary led directly to my work on rewriting Russian Pointe’s vision and mission. We want to be irreplaceable in people’s lives, and the first step is to define ourselves with precision and create goals and strategies based on that definition.

Innovation

This word has become a bit overused lately – every company wants to be considered innovative and sometimes we see the label applied to the simplest everyday changes to products or processes. At Harvard, Professor Linda Applegate taught us to see innovation as a part of our corporate culture, so that it’s part of everything we do. In the five years since graduation, I’ve thought about this lesson constantly as we rebranded Russian Pointe with a distinctive purple color, created new products that are unique in our market, expanded our marketing and distribution into Europe, and developed our practices in social media and client outreach. Professor Applegate also taught us that innovation sometimes takes us in directions we hadn’t anticipated. We usually can’t see our road to the end, she explained, using Amazon as an example of a company that started out aiming for a smaller goal than what it has become. Innovation means moving toward new things, and we have to be open to changing goals and strategies to reach our most exciting results.

Marketing & Branding

When I started at Harvard, I already had significant studies in marketing and over a decade of business ownership under my belt. Professor Rohit Deshpande taught me that there was always something new to learn. He helped us to understand marketing and branding in very concrete terms, and he used case studies of companies such as Kikoman and Revlon to illustrate how important it is to adapt to different markets. I’ve kept these lessons in mind especially as I expanded Russian Pointe into Europe.

Leadership

The amazing Robert S. Kaplan brought us all down to earth regarding company leadership. He taught us that strong leaders know how to take a stand, to make decisions, to insist on the bottom line. We learned the importance of clearly defining the company’s vision and mission and developing priorities and measurable goals to match, and of over-communicating goals and deadlines to staff. With this inspiration, I’ve become a better leader as both Russian Pointe president and chair or vice president of several non-profits. I’m very proud of the mission statement we’ve developed for Russian Pointe, and the ecosystem we’ve built in which all staff members understand the purpose and value of their jobs and how they are part of the company’s success.

Networking

We all know that networking is important, but OPM alums give new meaning to the word. My classmates, representing many different spheres and nationalities, are all experienced business leaders. The outstanding diversity among us means that for every question there is likely to be at least one brilliant answer! We stay connected regularly and cement those connections with every reunion. For each of us, having our classmates just a phone call away is truly priceless.
 

Gallery: Harvard

Gallery: New York and Rhode Island