Michael Bervell (MBA 2024) is from Snohomish, Washington and graduated from Harvard with a BA in Philosophy and the University of Washington with a MA in communications. Prior to HBS, Michael worked as an investor at M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund. He was the president of Section G and has been building a disability-tech startup (TestParty) since graduation.
As an undergraduate, I studied philosophy. My days were filled with Emmanual Kant’s reflections on the categorial imperative, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s views of friendship, and Lao Tzu’s ruminations on the Tao. But one of my favorite philosophers and concepts was Baruch Spinoza who wrote, “Nothing in Nature is random. A thing appears random only through the incompleteness of our knowledge.”
At first glance, HBS’s section experience seems almost random. Put 94 people in a classroom together and see what happens. “You’ll sit next to each other every day for a year! You’ll give comments for professors from the same seats! You’ll be part of section for life!” For all of us in the Class of 2024 Section G, it was truly a transformative experience both as individuals and as a section.
Here are 7 lessons from my section experience that I’ll remember forever.
Lesson 1: Make Your House a Home
Our section experience was defined by Aldrich 008. It was the classroom we were assigned to sit in every day of the first year. When we first entered the room, it was just a classroom – chalkboards, projectors, a podium, and 95 seats. But after 400 cases and many vulnerable moments, walking into that carpeted room with its distinctive wood-glossed tables felt safe. Comfortable. Like a home.
It taught me that no matter what space I occupy, I should strive to make my house into a home. Whether we were decorating our classroom with our section mascot (goat) plushies, flags from the home countries of section mates, or using our chalkboard for art and announcements, Section G turned “Aldrich 008” into a repository of memories.
Lesson 2: Build Traditions
Informally our section called ourselves the GOATs (Greatest of All Time) and had a bunch of unique traditions. Once a month, we would host “All Hands” meetings over bagels to share section updates. We hosted “lock-ins” at the end of each year where we’d spend the night together in Aldrich 008. And most fun for us, we created “Section BinGo” – a game we played during class to spice up our comments.
Every section has traditions like these too and they’re so special. From flag day, to section retreats, to MyTakes, to Valentine’s Day pitches. As a leader, I hope that every team I join has the same depth of community. Even post-HBS we’re building traditions like a birthday letter to the section on your birthday and bi-annual ski trips or lake trips.
Lesson 3: Create a Culture of Inclusion
As Section president, it was my job to help create the social glue for our section. Rather than dictating what I wanted done, we settled on a framework and culture for our section: “co-create the most meaningful section experience for every person, every year.” In the early days, this meant hosting dress-up days on Halloween. Later in the year this meant individuals sharing their personal stories through MyTakes. In the end, culture was created by every individual putting their unique spin on what it meant to be in Section G.
Lesson 4: Build One-on-one Connection
Something unique that I did for section was to meet one-on-one with every other member of Section G. While it started with me, by the end of our section experience nearly everyone in section had personal relationships with each other. Through joint birthday celebrations, small group trips, baby showers, and more, these individual connections brought our community closer together.
Even within our section, we had extremely meaningful small group interactions. For many, these small groups were the biggest memories. From dinners organized by Bee to connect our section in 6-8 person dinners to affinity groups that helped people be themselves. My impression was that some of our most deeply connected groups were the Veterans of G, SAG (South Asians of G), and L[G]BTQ+.
Lesson 5: Go Beyond the Campus
One of the best benefits from being in section with such a diverse group of people is the ability to travel to the hometowns of your section mates. For Section G, that meant personalized trips to amazing countries hosted by section mates. In the two years of our section experience, Section G hosted trips to Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Dominican Republic, Cuba, South Africa, Slovenia, and more.
The lesson? Travel with the people you love. Even after the experience is over, the memories will live on forever.
Lesson 7: Always Be Grateful
In the end, I can't give enough thanks to the amazing leadership team who's supported me: social chairs, treasurers, senator, community values rep, Ed reps, family rep, and more and more.
At the end of the day, our section was co-created by everyone who is part of it. Not just those named above as formal members of the leadership team, but informal members such as trek organizers, small group dinner members/leads, and culture champions through self-organized events.
I found myself extremely grateful and thankful for every day I had with my section.
Thank you, Section G.