‘Savage’ is a trait that might get you into business school or retweeted 10,000 times. It’s what a kid might say after somebody does something awesome or gnarly or fierce: ‘Oh, that’s savage!’ It’s the skate park. It’s the high-school cafeteria. It’s the YouTube comments section.
I didn’t go to business school. I actually didn’t even graduate high school. I ended up with a GED. So everything that I’ve learned in business, I’ve learned through experience.
Which to this day is a source of enormous guilt, because I left with three classes to go in the business school to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox.
If you go into business school and suggest firing a customer, they’ll kick you out of the building. But it’s so true in my experience. It allows you to identify the customers you really want to work with.
One of the people who most influenced me was Ben Shapiro, a marketing professor at the business school. He used to rant and rave and pound his fist: ‘It’s all about the customers!’ And he was right. He was also right that, at that time, retailing was devoid of really talented people; he urged me to go in that direction.
At the Harvard Business School, I really felt I had gained the ability to resolve difficult issues. But I also felt that I wasn’t in the mainstream with my fellow students. During job-hunting season, for example, everybody shaved their beards for interviews. I thought, ‘This is crazy.’ So I grew a beard.
The main trouble with Hollywood is that the guys you have to pitch to, the guys who run the studios, are all business school grads.
I’m a very practical, pragmatic capitalist. I was trained at Goldman Sachs. I went to Harvard Business School. I was as hard-nosed a capitalist as you get. I specialized in media, in investing in media companies, and it’s a very, very tough environment.
Undergrad, for me, in college was really about, you know, how do I become a professional. But business school, for me, was how do I become the person that I’m meant to be.
I think many people go to business school and learn ways to play it safe, ensuring that they avoid some of the pain that entrepreneurs endure while taking less calculated risks.
I teach at the Stanford Business School, and about half of my students are foreign, many of whom, I hope, will stay and build businesses in U.S. But I must tell you that they also have opportunities to come back to India and start great companies and operations.
I remember, the first time it struck me is I was an econ major at Stanford as an undergrad, and it struck me how few women were econ majors back in the ’70s. And then in business school how few women… And even then, I thought, ‘Gosh, this is really unfortunate.’
I did film and television, not having worked in banking or consulting, a very different stream. So I said, ‘I’ll go to business school, and it will help me decide more on what I want to do.’
I did film and television, not having worked in banking or consulting, a very different stream. So I said, ‘I’ll go to business school, and it will help me decide more on what I want to do.’
I went to Huddersfield University Business School. That’s where I learned my trade.
In high school, I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch, and once I graduated from business school at USC, I started a company with my partner and had a nine-to-seven job.
I remember, the first time it struck me is I was an econ major at Stanford as an undergrad, and it struck me how few women were econ majors back in the ’70s. And then in business school how few women… And even then, I thought, ‘Gosh, this is really unfortunate.’
I did film and television, not having worked in banking or consulting, a very different stream. So I said, ‘I’ll go to business school, and it will help me decide more on what I want to do.’
I went to Huddersfield University Business School. That’s where I learned my trade.
In high school, I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch, and once I graduated from business school at USC, I started a company with my partner and had a nine-to-seven job.
When I came back to India after Harvard Business School, I started as a lawyer and as a trade union leader.
Let me tell you, very frankly, when I went to the Harvard Business School I was more or less a committed socialist.
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