Aaron Patzer, CEO of Mint, came to the business school this morning. Loved it. In the hour that I was listening to him, I learned more than what I learned in the 2 hours of my economics lecture. It’s one of those classes where, when you take a moment to look left and right, everyone is either knocked out or slouching so hard they’re nearly horizontal. But when Aaron Patzer was speaking, people were engaged. Stuff he talked about - I could use.
Next quarter, I’m changing my class-picking strategy entirely. I used to just take whatever econ classes I needed to take next to finish the major. I want to start taking classes on innovation and product design in addition to economics. Classes that Stanford can teach well. Classes where you get to do things.
I’m looking forward to running soon. I’m thinking of training for a marathon, like Big Sur, but I’m hesitant to start anything intense until my right knee heals entirely. It can handle 30+ minute runs on the treadmill and track but I’m having difficulty on roads. Big Sur is in April. We shall see. Come January I’ll probably feel up for it.
For kicks, here’s a transcript of the speech Steve Jobs gave to Stanford at Commencement in 2005. Did you know he once got fired from Apple? My favorite line: “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
