Ch 7: Diversity and Drinking (do mix)

I met up with Mike and a few other SBS students (many actually) for their weekly MBA friday night happy hours. Free wine and beer. Makes for a good start for any MBAs weekend. I also met up with Roy Kuo an SBS 2005 grad who was working in the area part time for a Hedge Fund while studying for his CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) level 3s. Roy is a friend of Eric Wang, a buddy of mine from my days at the University of Chicago. This meeting was expected however as Roy had been answering my MBA questions over email the last couple of days. Roy was cool guy and you could tell he enjoyed spending time with current MBA class. It's always good to have happy alumni regardless of where your coming from.
The event itself was great as I got to witness how truly diverse the student body was. I met students from over a dozen countries (the school claims 40+ nationalities on their 2006 roster) all pursuing their MBA dreams. I think diversity is important and not just for sake of differences. It's important to truly gain an undertanding and appreciation of cultures outside of your own.
As I mentioned before it's a small world and it's flat. The business world is same way. Businesses are created and run by people. Businesses now draw talent from every area of the globe. Teams will always outperform individuals and most work is now done in teams. These teams are more diverse then ever. In my opinion you need to get along with others and understand them as people to get the most out of your personal and professional relationships. With rosters that read off like a meeting at the U.N., Business Schools are a great place to do this. You may not work with 40 nationalities when you come out but its always good to know where people are coming from. It's a personal effort really but if the karaoke and "team drinking" are any indication, the students here really get along just fine.

P.S. Had dinner and more drinks afterwards. Still zero winks in over 30 hours. When will this catch up to me?