MBA

Profiles

Jaime Mendez, MBA 2009

Jaime Mendez' high school choir director was such a powerfully positive influence in his life that at one point, he seriously considered becoming a music teacher himself. After Harvard, he went to Goldman Sachs instead, but his initial passion still played an important role. "With a singing group, you arrange music," Jaime says. "At Goldman Sachs, I played a director's role by training new analysts."

Although his Goldman Sachs experience "was great," Jaime felt he was developing too narrow a skill set. "I wanted to throw myself in an environment where I could be exposed to broader issues," says Jaime. "I knew HBS had a reputation for producing general managers. Here, I could brush up on hard skills while rounding out my leadership skill set."

Seven teams, seven minutes, and one rewarding competition

When Jaime returned to California after his first semester at HBS, his family pressed him on his experience. "I said that it completely surpassed my expectations. In just seven months, I had a completely different sense of myself as a leader. I had never been as intellectually stimulated by classes before."

"The case method prepares you for the global economy by pushing diverse backgrounds into the foreground," Jaime says. "Our interactions with different cultures, interests, and backgrounds prepare us to be better managers of both people and ideas."

In fact, Jaime put his enthusiasm for the case method to the test by entering a business case competition sponsored by Columbia University and American Express. Despite being two members short of the standard four-person team size, Jaime and his colleague, Liz Montano, made the finals in New York City. There, they wrapped up their presentation in just seven minutes and managed to place second out of seven. "All the other teams presented variations on the same idea," Jaime says. "We took a risk by planning something entirely different."

"After the contest, the judges congratulated us by saying we competed in the 'classic HBS fashion': succinct, carefully focused, and well able to defend ourselves in the Q&A portion of the contest." Jaime did not take first place – but he did get a summer internship offer from American Express.

Open to options

Next year, Jaime will become the musician he's always wanted to be as music director of Heard on the Street Singers (HOTS), an HBS a capella singing group. As for the future, he remains open to the unexpected. "I came to HBS because I wanted to experience something different. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have all these different companies seek you out. I see myself in marketing or consulting, but I'm still exploring the possibilities."