There are some things you just can’t learn in an HBS classroom—what it takes to jump out of an airplane, for instance, or the experience of playing at the World Series of Poker. Yet those kinds of out-of-office pursuits are important, says HBS assistant professor Jon Jachimowicz, who studies passion. “Work is one arena where passions can be pursued but far from the only one. There’s a lot of research showing that people who pursue their passion outside work actually end up being more satisfied with their jobs.” (Jachimowicz’s passion? Salsa dancing.) We’re going back to school to learn from alumni who throw pots, drink wine, tell jokes, and collect baseball cards—for fun. (And, yes, some have turned their passions into their professions.)

Our instructor: Alejandro Montagna (MBA 1996), skydiver

I never thought about skydiving until a friend suggested it. I was 24 and an extremely reckless person, especially when it came to driving. Skydiving became a way to channel that recklessness into a much more structured and regulated sport. I’m one of the few people who didn’t start their skydiving career with a tandem jump, but I tell other people to do a tandem jump. You feel the speed—120 miles per hour—and the rush, but you are attached to an instructor, so you have zero responsibilities. I’ve thrown my kids, my siblings, and my father, who was 70 at the time, out of airplanes, so obviously I don’t think it’s too dangerous; I’ve jumped close to 4,500 times now.

In the beginning, everyone looks at the ground on the way down, but when you trust yourself—jump number 10 or 20—you look up and you see the enormity and emptiness and hugeness of the sky. You don’t see limits. I tell everyone: You cannot go through this life without experiencing this, because there is absolutely no other thing that compares. And believe me, I’ve tried it all.

Our instructor: Ming Chen (MBA 1998), Chief Culture Officer, Education First (EF)

When I was in school in New Jersey, the senior class raised money for its prom by building the world’s longest banana split. That really stuck with me. So, in 2005, when EF was opening its first adult professional English-language school in Shanghai, I suggested we try to break the record for the longest continuous English class. We had to set up cameras so the class could be monitored. Someone actually checked to make sure the students weren’t falling asleep! The previous record was 66 hours; ours was 72.

Setting a record was really fun, so we did it again 10 years later, for our 50th anniversary: Most nationalities in an online video album of people performing a choreographed dance. We filmed in 52 countries. Setting a record can be a lot of work. If you are going to go for it, consider an individual record—fewer logistics—and know what your mission is, why you are doing it. I’m not trying to break a personal Guinness record, but I have run 80 marathons. My goal is to get to 100.

Our instructor: John Goldman (MBA 1980), long-distance cyclist

It started with my doctor saying, “You have a choice: You can follow your parents’ path—hypertension, diabetes—or you can make some changes.” I needed a way to exercise, and I had always liked bicycling. The first overnight I did, I pedaled my bike 10 miles and set up my tent, just to see what it was like. Then I did a three-day tour, then a three-week tour, and eventually I decided it’d be cool to start in New York City, ride to St. Louis, and then take Route 66 all the way to Los Angeles and the Pacific Coast Highway. It was 4,151 miles over 82 days.

The biggest challenge isn’t physical; it’s mental. You are going to have tough days, and you are going to face things that scare you. You just have to be prepared: Get yourself in basic shape, buy good equipment, and make a plan. If you can ride a mile, you can ride three miles. If you can ride three miles, you can ride 30 miles. If you can ride 30 miles, you can ride 300 miles…

Our instructor: Amrita Sen (MBA 1999), professional singer-songwriter

I’ve been singing since I was a kid—I trained in Indian classical music, Bengali folk music, and Italian opera—but I didn’t come to songwriting until about 10 years ago. I realized I didn’t always want to be singing other people’s material. I wanted to use music as a voice. Music is a great way to talk to yourself and talk to the world. You can tell a story in a song that might take 20 pages on paper. Sometimes I just sit at a piano, working out chords, coming up with a concept. Sometimes I’m in my studio in LA with a producer, building a track and writing at the same time. And sometimes I’m writing to a ready-made track.

The tough part is figuring out what you want to say. I’ve found there are certain melodies that are innate to you—my melodies are relatively dramatic—and I love lyrics about transformation. If you are new to songwriting, the piano and the guitar are your best friends in the process; they can carry a melody, a chord structure, and a rhythm.

Our instructor: Zibby Owens (MBA 2003), bestselling author of Blank; host of the podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books; bookstore and publishing house founder

I fell in love with reading when I read Charlotte’s Web as a little girl and it made me cry. I realized then that books can really make you feel. But it can be hard to make time for books in a busy life. I have four kids, two of whom are young, so I make a habit of reading while I’m putting them to bed and waiting for all those requests for another cup of water. That consistency helps. Finding the right book can get you hooked back into reading, too. When I was a young mom, I found Anna Quindlen, Erma Bombeck, and Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, authors who had a sense of humor about motherhood. During the pandemic, I sought out stories about people who had survived challenging things. You can discover books through podcasts like mine, newsletters, social media, or just by asking everyone you meet, “What are you reading these days?”

Our instructor: Bridget Lane (MBA 1980), potter

I was an unusual HBS student because I had a fine arts degree. On my application, I wrote that one of my accomplishments was throwing a 24-inch cylinder. That’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of practice and strength. When things would get really crazy at school, there was a studio in Somerville [Massachusetts] I would go to and spend two or three hours throwing pottery. It’s been a form of relaxation for me for 50 years. I’m retired now, so I have a lot more time to devote to it. I probably use 100 pounds of clay a month making mugs, teapots, cheese boards, things people use.

To be a potter, you have to be comfortable getting dirty—clay is messy—and you need to like fire. You heat a piece to 2,200 degrees. You also need to manage your expectations. Most people don’t know how long it takes to get good. You are always learning. I love it when somebody says to me, “I saw this on TikTok. Can you make it?” I love the new challenge.

Our instructor: Sanjeev Sehgal (AMP 201, 2022), Level 2 sommelier

My go-to drink used to be a single-malt scotch. That changed about six years ago when, while visiting family in California, a friend introduced me to a remarkable red wine. Delving into wine suits my personality—I’m a naturally curious person and enjoy diving into the nitty-gritty of things. Wines offer endless layers of intrigue: from the terroir (soil, climate, topography) to grape varieties to regional viticulture practices, and more. As I began my sommelier journey, I realized that tasting poorly produced wines (generally under $10) is an integral part of the learning. As a sommelier, I would typically consider four aspects in a wine: color (light, dark), smell (fruity, floral, chocolate, leather), touch (tannins, heavy, light bodied), and taste (sweet, acidic, sour, bitter, dry).

I am currently learning about food pairing, and as I progress further in level 3, I will start blind tasting, which is fascinating and exhilarating, but also deeply humbling. Although becoming a master is a distant goal, it fuels my ambition.

A good wine does not need to be expensive. Many fantastic wines are available for under $50 retail. I enjoy nicer, special vintages at home as the restaurant prices are typically up to three times higher.

Our instructor: Dan Singer (MBA 1993), semiprofessional poker player

The first time I played no-limit Hold’em was with some colleagues in 2008. Now I play three or four tournaments at the World Series of Poker each summer, and I teach a class at Yale called Game Theory in Action: From Poker to Business Negotiations. Playing poker is amazing preparation for other endeavors. You have to make educated guesses and inferences, and you get used to losing—a lot. You also learn how to read people. It’s not like some guy twists an Oreo, like John Malkovich’s character in the movie Rounders, but there’s valuable information if you are paying attention.

My goal is to play 500 hours a year—about 15,000 hands. But you should study as much as you play. There are podcasts and videos by poker coaches; then there are poker solvers and software where you can analyze what you would do in every single situation. There are so many permutations of what can happen that the human brain can’t memorize them all. When do you call? When do you fold? When do you bluff? Even the computers are not perfect. That’s the beauty of poker.

Our instructor: David Moore (MBA 1980), part-time comedian

When I get up there, my opening line is “I want to get something straight. Originally, I didn’t even want to be a businessman. I had to be. Look at me.” I didn’t do that when I first started out, but some comedians told me you have to be who you are. I was good at public speaking, and I loved stand-up, so I entered a contest for the funniest amateur Jewish comedian in New York. I came in second place. That’s how I got into it. It’s a chance to exercise my creative side and, I always say, there’s no quarterly performance reviews in comedy: You are either funny or you’re not.

I do what people call smart humor. I mean, I have a joke where the punch line is the Louisiana Purchase. Jokes evolve slowly for me. I’ll read something that strikes me as funny and go from there. The cadence makes a difference; certain words are just funnier than others, and it’s very important that the punch line be at the end. Like, “Lemme tell you a little about myself. I went to Harvard Business School. I only mention that because as Harvard alumni we’re required to work that into the first two minutes of any conversation.”

How to:

Collect Anything

Classic Cars

“If you are in the hobby, you pretty much have to have some mechanical ability,” says Vince O’Brien (MBA 1969), who has 10 classic cars, including a 1925 Durant Star like the one his dad once drove. “These cars weren’t that reliable when they were new, and now…well, things break on them that don’t normally break on a car.”

Glass

“The best way to learn more about glass is to go on an organized trip. You’ll go to the top studios and meet the artists,” says Eve Benton (MBA 1971), who has been collecting glass since the 1990s when she and her husband realized it was the only art form they could agree on. “The artists express something wonderful in each piece. They have a story behind them.”

Sports Cards

“You have to be a sports fan first,” says John Schwarz (MBA 1963), who began his card collection as a kid in the 1940s and recently wrote Time to Sell Those Sports Cards. “If you’re in it for money, it’s a little bit like playing the lottery. But if you just enjoy being able to try to test your acumen in predicting who will become a star, then sports cards are a good challenge.”

 

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