Introduction
I first went to the Wharton School (where I now am!) as a PhD student, but left after one semester. I had an epiphany then—unfortunately only after I enrolled at Wharton—that my PhD dissertation would be much more impactful if I had first-hand business experience. In a sense, I wanted to embark upon an ethnographic study, by "going native" into the business world.
The best place to do that is at McKinsey & Company, since it provides a close-up view of top management issues across many industries.
Of course, the going got so good—I was in the bustling Hong Kong office, which also served China at that time—I stayed on and on.
I got married five years later and wanted to return to Singapore, where McKinsey didn't have an office. So I went to Bain, and had another good run, co-leading the financial services practice in Asia.
Then, together with a few others (some ex-Goldman Sachs, others ex-McKinsey, including my wife Elizabeth), we started and ran a firm to manage the wealth of the middle class in Asia. We sourced products from over 300 banks, insurers, and fund managers from around the world, and distributed these to wealthy individuals.
In 5 years, we ran to over $1 billion in assets under management, and were approached by a global financial institution to buy us out. It was a good time to sell (in retrospect), and with that sale, I decided to return to academia.
I had toyed with the option of earning a second bachelors degree in marine biology at Santa Barbara or San Diego and then work at Sea World…I was sure my 4-year-old would be thrilled with that! But the other option, of going back to get a business PhD, seemed more impactful as a second career. And among all the business schools, I thought HBS would be best for me, since it placed enormous emphasis on contact with actual business phenomena.
My Research Interests
I study operations management from an investor's perspective. For example, it's important to understand how firms' operations are run with a view toward the financial markets (e.g., because managers with equity holdings have private interests to enhance the short term valuation of a company, sometimes even at the expense of long term valuation). Conversely, financial markets (analysts, equity investors, etc.) find it difficult to gain penetrating insights into firms' operations, and as a consequence, they have to make reasonable guesses about how to value firms.
Among some of the findings in my dissertation is one that I think could open up an entirely new field of study that could be called "forensic operations." Some operational behaviors are intriguing and hard to explain, or perverse but are notoriously hard to detect. The idea is to empirically ascertain such behavior.
The TOM Program
For me, the particular strength of the program was the help and support I received. For example, my dissertation committee was chaired by Professor Ananth Raman, but others were from various disciplines (including, Cornell Professor Vishal Gaur, empirical operations management; Harvard Professor Dale Jorgenson, econometrics; and HBS Professor Josh Lerner, finance and entrepreneurship), adding to the quality of advice I got.
The HBS Experience
I think HBS is supremely adept in getting its students to their full potential. It is flexible, and in many cases, it's most suited to students who are ambitious but meticulous scholars.
And I can't emphasize enough the idyllic setting for my family. We lived on campus and took part in a rich social life while at HBS.
My "tween" daughter loved living among the squirrels, bunnies, turkeys, and the occasional lizard. It's also where she learned to fence, play tennis, swim, and bike.
After HBS
I'm now an assistant professor at Wharton.
Advice for prospective students
Apply!