It was the Tauber end-of-year banquet tonight, incredibly. Without the pressures of recruiting or networking or an upcoming summer project, the MBA2s felt free to sit at a "kids' table" and eat ribs for appetizers and talk about non-career stuff. Daryl offered some poignant remarks about what Tauber (known to some as 'the institute', but that is simply not an available title in my lexicon) has given us and what we have contributed and can give back as alumni. So often I think these remarks are a little trite, but I was an SAB member when, under Daryl's leadership, we were part of the change from TMI to Tauber Institute. It feels good to have been here and been part of that process, and I think the connections we have in Tauber will be among the strongest and most useful that we leave school with.
Earlier in the day Boeing's CEO Jim McNerney gave a talk about innovation and leadership. It was an interesting viewpoint, contrasting the eureka! invention and the incremental innovation. I largely agreed, but felt like Mr. McNerney painted the former as a proactive move and the latter as a reactive step. He was kind enough to stick around and talk with myriad students, but I wasn't eager enough to press the issue with somebody of his import. There's something humbling about knowing that somebody is waiting to get on a Citation and jet to Chicago - who cares about proactivity vs. reactivity when you can fly around on a bizjet and talk with other people who do the same?
Thursday, March 15, 2007