College Advice and Business Reflections

I had the pleasure of hosting a virtual event for my college alumni club today. Every summer, at about this time, Joel and I host a pizza party inviting all of the Houston-area freshmen preparing to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to meet one another as they get ready to head for campus. It also gives them a chance to meet local alumni group officers to ask questions in preparation for their upcoming experience. Given that we are living in the world of COVID-19, this year’s event was held in the Zoom Room, of course. Of the 18 new students attending UIUC this year from the Houston area, we had only three who could join us, but with 5 alums also on the call, it was a wonderful conversation we shared for about an hour.

After the requisite brief introduction by all participants, we opened up for questions from the students. Every year when this event occurs, I find myself mentally wandering back in time, thinking about how scared I was heading out of state to a university of about 40,000, where I wouldn’t know a single undergraduate student, and starting a new chapter of my life. And every year during the conversation, I find a yearning to return to campus and having a chance to relive that wonderful chapter all over again!

The students’ questions this year covered a broad range of topics: What electives did you take? Where did you study? What do you think of study abroad programs? How many years did you live in the dorms? What meal plan do you recommend? How heavy of a coat should I take (extremely important when you are from Houston!)? Where did you hang out in your free time? It was enjoyable for the alumni on the call to spend some time reminiscing as our time away from campus life ranged from single digits to over 40 years!

In the final minutes of the call, I asked each of the alumni to give one bit of advice – with the advantage of having 20/20 hindsight – based on anything they wish they had done more of (or less!) during their time on campus. I found the reflections poignant and sensible, and definitely advice I wish I had received when I first ventured away from home for college. Not surprisingly, I realized much of the advice can be equally relevant to how leaders at any stage in our careers think about opportunities and circumstances as we move through our different life chapters.

Be prepared to work hard to stay on top

  • The advice to the students was to realize that even though they might have been one of the smartest kids in high school, they need to understand that the definition of excellence was about to be reset. The difficulty of acceptance into UIUC’s Grainger College of Engineering (they are all engineering majors), means they are about be surrounded by some of the brightest minds from all over the US and abroad. The importance of being prepared and diligent, staying ahead on coursework is key to excelling in college.

  • The parallels of this advice for leaders are great. Leaders who fail to recognize the importance of continued learning and improving skills are sure to far behind. The work only begins when you land a new job. Particularly in the environment of constant change that we find as the new normal, the importance of this advice cannot be underestimated. Staying still today means falling behind – quickly.

Trust your intuition, but don’t rely solely on it

  • The advice to students was that although being good at thinking on your feet and figuring things out on the fly might have worked in high school, not being organized in your daily college life will backfire. You can’t rely on just figuring things out – you need to be deliberate about applying discipline to everything you do.

  • The importance of balancing intuition and disciplined information-gathering is key for any good leader. Instincts are important – especially when it comes to reading a room, sensing a challenge emerging, or even in problem-solving when something just “doesn't seem right”, but great leaders understand the importance of being disciplined in gathering data, learning the facts, and preparing thoughtful steps in executing strategy.

Study (travel) abroad

  • The question of whether study abroad programs are worthwhile always seems to come up when speaking to rising college students. It’s wonderful that many universities are encouraging undergraduate students to have this experience as such programs grow the student in both a professional and personal capacity. The advice given was to definitely pursue an opportunity, consider appropriate timing (in the context of requisite coursework), and to start planning for it early.

  • The importance of business leaders having a global perspective is paramount – whether or not you run a business that goes beyond your country’s borders. The impact of global events and disruption plays a huge part in managing everything from supply chain to reputation management. Geopolitical imbalances, unexpected natural disasters or pandemics, and military insurrections can quickly change an organization’s ability to operate successfully. Increasingly diverse workforces call for leaders who are enlightened about ethnic and cultural differences. With the rise of the importance of ESG and in the world of instant communication, naiveté about global issues can have irreparable consequences.

Find opportunities for experience beyond just classes

  • At a university as large and diverse as UIUC, the experiences that await incoming freshmen are almost more than one can imagine. We recommended that in this unique time of life – when you have a sole purpose of learning – that students take full advantage of resources and opportunities available. Taking a diversity of elective courses, meeting different kinds of people, and allowing yourself to be truly “who you are” and not living up to a set of artificial expectations are important during the college years.

  • For too many leaders, intellectual exploration ceases when they begin a professional career. It becomes far too easy for executives to be comfortable in their habitat and surround themselves only with the “job at hand”. They fail to venture outside where there is more to learn, and where the options for solutions are far greater. Leaders who fail to grow beyond their job descriptions suffocate innovative thinking and weaken both peripheral vision and the ability to see a future that might be different from where they stand.

Be aware and take advantage of brilliant people who surround you

  • Recognizing the importance of relationships and networking, my one regret was not taking advantage (perhaps not truly valuing) the tremendous amount of brainpower that surrounded me during my time at UIUC. Failure to seek wisdom of professors during their office hours and not having more conversations with advisors (other than figuring out how many more credits I needed for graduation) are my greatest regrets from my college days. As I look back now, I realize that at any given time at UIUC, there are more than a handful of Nobel laureates or Pulitzer Prize winners teaching on faculty, and brilliant adjunct professors who have extensive experience running businesses. Too many students go through their college years without tapping into perhaps the greatest resources that universities can offer.

  • In the business world, we know that it’s all about relationships and tapping into expert knowledge. The amount of thought leadership that is available today through publications, podcasts, and video recordings is endless. With the convenience of the internet, it is virtually impossible to find the answer to a business challenge that someone hasn’t at least thought about or actually experienced first-hand. Similarly, great business leaders understand the importance of capitalizing on their personal networks. Nothing can easily be accessed without someone opening a door. The better you know an individual, and the more you have invested in that relationship, the quicker someone is willing to reach for that door handle to help you out. I find that the common expression of it being a “small world” is due to someone who has invested in their network over many decades.

As the Zoom call ended today, I’m sure the alumni on the call felt as I did; that they would like to take some time to return to the life of a university student, knowing what we know now. Upon reflection, however, I realize that we always have the ability to take the advice we gave to the 18-year old rising freshmen and apply those lessons to our everyday lives. Go Illini!

Anna Catalano