“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Business school is a means to an end. But what end? In our title-obsessed culture, it's easy to lose sight of – particularly if you're fortunate enough to attend an institution as mythical as Harvard Business School. Surrounded by the squash courts at Shad, black-tie balls in Newport, and Mahi-Mahi at Spangler, I know I've sometimes forgotten that the whole point of having a degree from this place is to apply the knowledge and network to a meaningful end.
My father is always reminding me of how fortunate we, as Americans and as Harvard students, are compared with most people in the world. My father's hometown in south India, even today, is complete with roaming cows, thatched roofs and no running water. I hope to devote the resources that others have invested in me to change that.
I have two dreams in life: To help make India become a first-world country in my lifetime and to make my father proud. Simply by focusing on the first goal I will satisfy the second.
— Anand Radhakrishnan