Day one

The first day was fairly filled with activities, and in a good way. The introductory speeches this morning were substantive, and the speakers came across as people who had done this many times before. That's one of the things that is most striking about HBS: the entire campus exudes an aura of competence and solidity, with a fair dose of privilege and its attendant lavishness. The grounds are immaculate and the campus proves to be a surprisingly rural idyll not far from the heart of Boston. When you have this much money you can buy the best, and Harvard has. There is a tiny fraction of people in the world who have received post-secondary education of any kind, and fewer still who are able to pursue graduate study, and even fewer who are able to attend this particular school. This is a rarefied group in a rarefied place. The people here have worked fairly hard, but most also benefit from the results of accidents of birth or geography or economics. Something for me to think about, and I hope my classmates do too, because the overwhelming majority of the world's people will never enjoy such blessings.