An Opportunity of a Lifetime

By: Sarah Kleinberg

The past week was a blur, and I’m relatively sure it’s only going to get worse. Perhaps the best part of life at the Graduate School of Management is the abundance of things to do, but with so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, how do you say no to anything?

One of the great opportunities at the GSM is the International Study Trip course. The class is taught by Professor Wil Agatstein, a former Intel executive and current Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, who has more global business experience than anyone I can imagine. We have spent the past ten weeks planning a business trip to Chile and Argentina to learn about the culture and what it takes to do effective business in the industries we’re interested in. Travel takes place during the week of finals and spring break (the next two weeks.)

Somewhere in the midst of all of the busy fun and learning that goes into the rest of the quarter, I found out that I had been selected to go to Omaha, Nebraska to visit Warren Buffett. Before coming to grad school, I had spent some time in biotech equity analysis, so I was well aware of the impact, importance, and legend of the Sage of Omaha. I have spent years hearing stories of Mr. Buffett’s focus on fundamentals, great business sense, and of course, his legendary thriftiness. Take the chance to meet him and ask questions? Absolutely! So I’d need to fit a quick trip to Omaha into the schedule before I could make it to South America…

So, where does that leave me now? Well, at this exact moment, I am sitting in the Phoenix airport, waiting to board a plane to Omaha. With the help of my extremely supportive (although extremely demanding) professors, I have managed to get all of my final work for the quarter done a week ahead of time, including one final exam, two papers, two presentations, and a business plan. After finishing my last class at 9:30 last night, I boarded my first flight today at 6:00 this morning.

Tired? Absolutely. But I cannot imagine being in a better position to take advantage of all that the GSM has to offer and create some memories of a lifetime along the way!