My First Assignment

I received my first assignment from Yale on the Class of 2008 website. There are two parts to it. First, I need to read three biographies and second, I need to set up an interview with a respected professional in my field of interest. I am really excited about these assignments because of the people I will be reading about and interviewing.

The required biographies are Made in America by Sam Walton, Roger Lowenstein's biography of Warren Buffett, Buffett, and Gandhi’s autobiography An Autobiography; The Story of My Experiments with Truth. The three people I am required to read about are a mix that confirms my choice to attend Yale. While I know all business students will study the celebrated corporate business moguls Sam Walton and Warren Buffett, not all students will be asked to reflect on the thoughts of Gandhi. I think this assignment reflects the goals Yale has while training business leaders, to not only make us great businesspeople, but to make us contributors to society.

For the interview portion of the assignment, I am hoping to interview Richard Stearns, the President of World Vision. I have been in contact with several World Vision associates in the Human Resources department and hope that those connections will help me get onto Mr. Stearns busy schedule. He received his MBA from Wharton (Penn) and worked corporately before taking over the Presidency at World Vision. Hopefully, I will write in a couple of weeks that the interview has been granted. Check out the link to World Vision on the side bar.