I am so jaded I would probably yawn at my own funerals. Personally, I blame Hollywood movies and video games for murdering my awe, but every now and then something makes me go “Wow!” Of course, I am too blasé to actually say it out loud, but nonetheless… Thus, imagine my surprise when I had two such moments this week only, and this is only my second week as an Anderson MBA student.
My first “Wow!” popped out on Wednesday during a presentation by Kent Thiry, Chairman and CEO of DaVita Inc. I will not bore you with details depicting how Mr. Thiry brought the company back from the dead over the last ten years, although the end-results are impressive. Instead, I want to mention why I think Mr. Thiry has been so successful; he understands that happy employees have no incentive to leave or work poorly. Big deal? I think so, considering DaVita Inc. has over 15,000 employees. How Mr. Thiry does it on such a big scale completely mystifies me, but it might have something to do with the fact that DaVita actually seems to take its values seriously.
My second “Wow!” moment was triggered by Pr. Al Osborne, Senior Associate Dean at Anderson, and entertainer (from what I can tell!). I will not bore you with his accolades, for they are numerous, but I’ll attempt to recount an especially interesting part of his story. Early in his career, Pr. Osborne decided that he wanted to promote entrepreneurial businesses, but was told that it was just a stupid idea that would kill his career. Unsatisfied, he left his job for a position at UCLA, where he eventually founded the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The Price center oversees teaching, research, extracurricular, and community activities related to entrepreneurship. How’s that for seeing one’s vision come to fruition?
–Simon
