Reflections on Harvard

I have now had time to process, time to reflect and time to recover.

It really was the most stunning experience for a number of reasons –

Beauty

It is a very beautiful place, the proportions and scale, the landscaping, the exteriors and the interiors are all just right.

Boston itself is perfect in autumn, in fact on Halloween, so not just the gorgeous colours of the trees but all the kids dressed up and every doorway decorated.

Environment –

It is a place that demands hard work, everything is structured to inspire you to work. The bedrooms are small, a leather chair in which to read, a computer on which to research, and a small, very single bed in which to sleep, for a few precious hours, only to dream about the case study you have just put down. The lectures are high energy, the professors often run around the theatre to grab opinions from the class and chalk them up on the multi panelled sliding blackboards, and there is applause at the end of each session, a very new experience for me.

Learning –

It has been a long time since I have felt so inspired to learn. There is so much new knowledge to glean from so many places on a subject I am fascinated by. If you want to learn, then you can just keep going, so many new things unlocked from each person and each moment. It has sparked so many new areas of research and thinking for me.

People –

Different cultures are always fascinating, and new people with different views always stimulating. I had half expected a room full of 22 year old uber geeks, obsessed by spreadsheets and business plans. What I have found is people not unlike myself. Highly motivated to make a difference to the world, hugely informed about their own sectors but fascinated by others, relaxed with risk and intrigued by money and how it drives growth. They are in fact obsessed by people, and how they operate, how they think, what motivates them and how to get the best from everything. It's a world that I thought would be a million miles from my own, but is in fact, at the end of the journey, comfortably similar.

Growth –

To go so far out of a comfort zone yet end up comfortable, to travel so far yet feel like coming home, to delve into the intricate detail of a new discipline yet find universal truths in each discussion. To hold ones own. To be completely oneself and fully accepted by strangers. All adds up to a pretty extraordinary leap and a real sense of personal growth.

So I have learnt a huge amount of detail that will be eternally useful. I have a whole new toolset to utilise. I have found a new discipline that I enjoy and a new way of working that I want to pursue. I have stretched myself much further than I have done before and gained real benefit and insight from doing so. I have changed my opinion of education. I have met 100 new brilliant people many of whom I will keep in touch with. And I feel hugely privileged to have been able to benefit from such an extraordinary experience.

Thank you Sue for suggesting it. And thank you Clore for making it possible.