MBA

Profiles

Behrad Mahdi, MBA 2010

Although Behrad Mahdi was raised in Columbus, Ohio, his could hardly be described as a typical Midwestern childhood. "My parents could not return to their home country after the 1979 Iranian Revolution," Behrad says. "Naturally, politics was a big part of growing up."

Indeed, through college and after graduation, Behrad became involved in a number of political campaigns, including Grey Davis' gubernatorial run in California and John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid. "I loved the life of an organization," says Behrad, "figuring out how to integrate multiple efforts and provide incentives." Seeking a more sustainable leadership experience, he became a special assistant to the founders of City Year.

Learning leadership through regular practice

"Working at the national level," Behrad says, "I got a birds-eye view on how to manage and grow an organization. But after a year, I didn't just want to watch and learn — I wanted to do and learn." Behrad set his sights on Columbia, South Carolina where the local City Year "struggled with fundraising and programmatic problems. What I thought would be a three-month project became a two-year commitment. At first I did everything from meeting with board members to cleaning the office at night. Eventually, I became director of development and external affairs." Within a year, the Columbia City Year moved into the black.

"At the end of two years," Behrad says, "the turnaround was done, and it was time for me to leave. That's when I began to think about going to business school. I had learned so much — unpacking my experiences would be very rewarding. I had strengths in political and nonprofit work. But now I needed private sector experience to really be able to have an impact."

HBS, says Behrad, "felt like the right fit." What's impressed him the most about HBS is the regular, sustained discipline of the case method. "Each day is different," Behrad says. "But whether the subject is finance, corporate accountability or the Nigerian economy, we're always building a kind of leadership intuition."

For Behrad, the experience is similar to his track and field exercises in high school. "Every day, the coaches would make us run slowly, really slowly, to learn our running form. It seemed crazy, but there was logic behind it — muscle builds memory. Without realizing it, we were learning to run, naturally. At HBS, it's the same thing. With the case method, we're building the muscle memory of leadership. We're exaggerating a process to build a habit of inquiry, analysis, diagnosis, and prescription that will be natural to us when we leave here."

Not just a solo effort

Yet Behrad also insists that the case method does more than encourage individual excellence. "When you're sitting in a class of 90 people, you're getting the benefit of the entire class' best attempt to arrive at an understanding of the case. In fact, the best classes are those in which your classmates offer perspectives entirely different from your own. That ability to exchange — and learn from — different points of view is more important than the content itself. It's a communications talent that will serve us well as leaders."

Behrad will apply his newfound skills as a summer intern at Censeo Consulting Group, a boutique operations consulting firm recognized for its emphasis on values and work/life balance. "After HBS," Behrad says, "I'd like to spend ten years or so in the private sector, learning how to solve business problems and create value at multiple levels: financial, social, and public. Then, perhaps, I'll be ready to be more involved in civic life or public office."