This week has been full of highlights for me. Securing a place in Tuck’s ABI restructuring case competition team, having dinner with Paul Volcker, being asked to co-author a case study, speaking with a bunch of cool firms, playing in a rugby tournament hosted by Columbia, attending a suprise birthday party for a classmate’s wife last night, and looking forward to boeuf Bourguignon at a French classmate’s house tonight, the Tuck Board of Overseers dinner tomorrow, and rugby, pumpkin carving and pong tournaments all on Saturday. I could craft prose ad nauseum about the amazing opportunities, large and small, that have come my way over the past week, but here is a little insight into just two of them:
ABI
The American Bankruptcy Institute runs an annual case competition. Top business schools are invited to enter one team each. This year, the competition is being hosted by Wharton and I was lucky enough to make the cut for Tuck’s team. The other three members of my team are exceptionally smart, switched-on guys – hopefully, we can go one better than last year’s second place finish. I can’t wait to get started!
Paul Volcker dinner
Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship hosted around 100 alums, faculty and students for a dinner at New York’s Union Club. Paul Volcker was guest speaker, and his key messages were as follows:
1)The US public’s degree of anger at the current administration’s handling of the economy is unjustified, because of the scale of the problem it inherited – the culmination of at least a decade of excessive consumption and ignorance to the importance of a balanced economy with a strong manufacturing sector. (I agree, but it is worth noting his position in that administration.)
2) The US must demonstrate the qualities that Harold MacMillan attributed to JFK: “keep our eyes on the horizon and our feet on the ground”. The issues facing the country are of immense scale and there can be no quick fix. Historically, the US has run with tax revenues equal to around 18.5% of GDP and government spending around 20%. The 1.5% gap is currently far wider (up to 10% by some estimates), a troubling position. Low interest rates may encourage unattractive behavior, but are probably justifiable in the short term. In the medium-to-long term, the US must return balance to its economy.
Volcker is clearly an economic and political titan of the past 50 years. He is of a generation that values deliberation and deep thought over hyper-communication and instant gratification. Hearing him talk in an intimate setting, and debating these and other points with a table of seriously impressive alums was a true privilege.
We finished in second place in the Columbia rugby tournament, behind our hosts. Hopefully, we get to play them again at the MBA World Cup at Duke in the spring and show them who’s boss.
A visitor to class this morning said, “I feel like I’m walking around in a postcard.” I agree. It’s easy to take my environment for granted, to become desensitized to the magnitude of the wonderful opportunities that fall into my lap every day. I need to find more time to appreciate the great fortune I have to be living this life.
Read the full article: Another top week at Tuck