United States - Publications - Faculty & Research

Portrait Project

Ryan Fennerty

Every day, as the first rays of light bathed the rooftops of Islamabad, the imam's call would shatter the silence of dawn. And I would awaken. I remember lying in bed, a young child transplanted from Arlington, Virginia, to a foreign land, haunted by the beauty of that... View Details

Profile

Roy Ben-Dor

From an early age, Roy Ben-Dor knew two things about himself: "I always wanted to go to law school out of intellectual curiosity," he says. "And since I was thirteen, I've been excited about developing businesses." Roy's first experience was with... View Details

Portrait Project

Rye Barcott

I quoted a military general in my high school yearbook. I wanted to be a Marine. I sensed how fortunate I was to be born where I was, when I was. I felt a calling. "Duty is the sublimest word in the English language." One of the things I most enjoy about HBS... View Details

Portrait Project

Peggy Yu

I will close my eyes. Take a deep breath. And leap. Conscious. Deliberate. Aware. And yes... maybe scared. You see, I am tired of being safe; I am weary of doing what I should; I am exhausted from trying to be what I'm not. So, here I am... ready... To love fiercely... View Details

Portrait Project

Polina Yampolska

Ten years ago, sitting in a cramped, unheated kitchen in my family's apartment on the outskirts of Kiev, I wrote the closing paragraph of my college application essay: "I like to be a small part in a huge machine that is called human civilization, a part with a... View Details

Portrait Project

Paul Tranter

Never-ending challenge is the secret to a successful and satisfying life. My Grandmother has been consistently quoting Tennyson's Ulysses to me since I was a child - it's one of my greatest inspirations. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not... View Details

Portrait Project

Patrick MacKenzie

Mikaylah was getting paddled. Not yet 5 feet tall or 80 pounds, she winced in pain, took a breath, brushed away tears, and walked back into her classroom. Paddled for failing a test. A line of students stood against the wall, their eyes fixed on the wooden paddle in... View Details

Profile

Paul Lenehan

In high school, Paul Lenehan was impressed by the way economics "explained events behind the news. It gave me a lens for understanding how the world works." An attraction to business plans led to an interest in consulting. Between his junior and senior years... View Details

Profile

Prita Kumar

Prita Kumar grew up with the desire to start a business. From her childhood, she experimented with a number of ideas, from lemonade stands to e-commerce. Prita moved to New York to pursue an undergraduate education in business. After graduating with an actuarial... View Details

Alumni WDYDWYD

Patricia Barron

Bad knees and growing boredom teaching dance led to a career shift. A friend suggested HBS – I was "at least as smart as the bottom half of his class." Hence my adventure from dancer to Board Vice Chair of a major corporation. I relish risk and change –... View Details

Portrait Project

Olivia vonNieda

I’ve lived the life people dream of for their children. I grew up in the town of Paradise, PA to parents who were brought up into stable, privileged homes. The name of my hometown accurately describes my idyllic childhood – full of love and support with a dash of... View Details

Portrait Project

Nelya Nikonova

"I want to live... I want to live... A chance to live my life, I want to search far and wide and have a reason to wonder why... " When I was in high school, this song from "Peace Child", a musical created by Soviet and American children, became... View Details

Portrait Project

Ningfeng Hu

I still remember how depressed I was when studying China Modern History in the middle school. If history is a drama, the past +100 years in China before the reform must be a tragedy, filled with invasions, wars, mass poverty, chaos, and disasters of humanity. It's at... View Details

Alumni WDYDWYD

Melissa Weiksnar

I'm still inspired by an unattributed quote that I clipped in high school, "Success isn't the money or the privileges. It isn't the might and the mighty. It's being able to do the things you deeply care about." I do what I do for the future, further propelled... View Details

Portrait Project

Mathew Turner

"...to whom much is given, much will be required..." Luke 12:48 I will give back... to my family, my country and our world... .because I have been blessed with a lot: parents that instilled the values in me to beat the harsh streets that stole friends' lives;... View Details

Portrait Project

Meg Stern

When I graduated from high school, I made a list of the things I wanted to do before I turned thirty. The list looked like this: Learn languages: French, Spanish, Hebrew. Live in Europe. Be the boss. Learn sports: skiing, tennis, running five miles (without stopping).... View Details

Portrait Project

Monica Sharma

It began with a pack of Legos from a McDonald's Happy Meal. A few plastic blocks were meant to be a helicopter, but I quickly transformed them into a multipurpose vehicle — a boat and time machine. To me, Legos were not inconsequential 1x2 inch plastic blocks; they... View Details

Portrait Project

Masood Razaq

I have always thought of myself as a Man with a Plan. It's as if I were speeding down the Autobahn, with a clear destination in mind and an obsession with getting there as quickly as possible. Yet the further along I race into the Future, the more I realize that my... View Details

Portrait Project

Monica Lee

Throw out the five-year plan. Toss out the day planner. Turn my back on the could-ofs, should-ofs, and would-ofs constantly swirling through my head. Free myself from the CAGE of my own expectations... to graduate from the top schools, secure the most prestigious jobs,... View Details

Portrait Project

Michael Murphy

"I'm going to be an Olympic diver", I confidently declared as a knock-kneed, chubby 10 year-old. "Sure Mike - go for it", responded my supportive but somewhat sceptical family. "Off to the Olympics hey", quipped highly dubious school... View Details

Publications