Paulson Sees World of Opportunity
Paulson
Photo by Stuart Cahill
Class Day Distinguished Speaker Henry (“Hank”) Paulson (MBA ’70), who only a week earlier had been nominated to be U.S. Treasury Secretary, told the 900 members of the MBA Class of 2006 that they were graduating into the best global economy he had ever seen. But Paulson, who once had aspirations of being a forest ranger before he became an English major and All-East football player at Dartmouth, cautioned that increased global interconnectedness also brings heightened risk. “There will be few if any islands of stability,” he declared. In this climate of uncertainty, he observed, “the most successful of you will embrace change.”
A 32-year veteran of Goldman Sachs who was named the firm’s chairman and CEO in 1999, Paulson urged his audience to pursue careers in areas that may not be trendy but that best conform to their skills and interests. Take the long view, beware of “groupthink,” and maintain a moral compass, he counseled. And perhaps most importantly, Paulson said, establish work-life balance. He concluded that the challenges of his new government job would offer him ample opportunity to take that advice to heart.
Preceding Paulson at the podium was student speaker PJ Kim (MBA ’06), who humorously deemed himself an unworthy spokesman for his high-achieving classmates, confessing that “grade disclosure may be an idea whose time has come, but thankfully it is just my time to go.” In a more serious vein, Kim said, “It is easy to see ourselves inheriting a dysfunctional world, but we can actually do something about it. And not only that, people will demand and expect it.”
The event also featured the annual presentation of student-selected awards for teaching excellence to faculty members Bharat Anand (Corporate Strategy), Nabil El-Hage (Finance), Frances Frei (Managing Service Operations), David Moss (BGIE), Felix Oberholzer-Gee (Strategy), and Jan Rivkin (Advanced Competitive Strategy).
