You are listening and
watching Bloomberg Businessweek.
So we've talked with the Dean of
the Graduate School
of Business here at Stanford.
We've talked to some faculty, and
now we've also talked to some
famous alum, but
we're going to talk to the student
body >> Now we've got a couple
of students here with us right now,
two current students at Stanford's
Graduate School of Business.
We've got
Charlotte Meerstadt joining us,
as well as Cengiz Cemaloglu.
Both here with us at Bloomberg's,
at our setup at Stanford's Graduate
School of Business.
You guys both have really
interesting paths to getting here.
Cengiz here from Turkey, Charlotte,
you're from the Netherlands.
Cengiz, I want to start
with you and
just getting into your journey and
why you ended up choosing Stanford.
Because when we do these rankings,
I don't want to say we,
because I actually have nothing to
do with it.
>> I have nothing to do with it.
>> Okay, but [LAUGH]- >> We have
a team at Business Week that does.
>> Yeah, and Stanford's one of
those schools that scores highest
when it comes to compensation,
networking, and entrepreneurship.
So how do you think about those
things when choosing a school?
>> Those are all quite important,
but for me, actually what was more
important was what was going to
grow me most as a person.
What institution was going to make
me the best version of myself
that I can be?
And make me more introspective and
be more attuned to what type of
person I want to be,
what type of leader I want to be?
So I did anthropology
in philosophy undergrad, actually,
and worked a couple of years as
an anthropologist, that kind of
similar to being a journalist
>> Worked here in the US?
>> In Denmark, actually,
the Danish consultancy firm.
So going around and helping
companies and governments and
nonprofits get to understand
the people around the world.
So I would go and
live with children or
consumers of a particular product,
or citizens of a particular country
and try to understand why they
do what they do.
And I did another year on venture
capital.
And coming out of that experience,
I felt, hey,
I don't really actually know why
would anyone follow me.
If I one day want to be a leader
and want to build something and
change something in the world,
I need to better understand what
are my strengths?
And how can I best use them so
that other people feel also
energized by the same causes that I
feel energized about?
So that's the reason I chose GSB,
because Graduate School of Business
at Stanford really has a big focus
on that introspection element and
teaching you the types of skill
sets that will make
you the best leader you can be.
>> I love that leadership.
Charlotte, what's your story that
got you here at Stanford?
>> Yes, so definitely a lot of what
Cengiz shared resonates with me
as well.
My background is in arts and
engineering, and
I was working as an engineer in
climate before business school,
first on hyperloop technology, and
then at the Netherlands Aerospace
Center on decarbonizing aviation.
And in those roles, I noticed that
even though I was enjoying
the challenge and content of
engineering, my brain just always
wanted to go one level higher.
Why would someone buy this?
Aren't we just shifting emissions
to another mode of transportation?
What would be
the policy implications
of doing something like this?
What policy would have to happen?
I actually discovered that with my
engineering background, I wasn't
able to answer those questions.
And at the same time, similar
to Cengiz, I was also thinking
a lot about would I want to start
a company, would I want to have
a leadership role in the company?
>> So the both of you want to start
companies?
>> I do, yeah.
Me, probably straight out of
business school, yeah.
>> And me, down the line.
>> Okay, so that's what's so
interesting, because I mentioned
this earlier when I was in
business school.
One thing that I noticed about my
classmates is that nobody goes to
business school for self-discovery,
to kind of search for
what they want to do.
It seems like in
order to be successful,
you have to know what you want to
do as soon as you get out and you
have to have your eye on the prize.
So Charlotte,
what did you want to do entering,
and has that changed?
And what are you going to do when
you leave?
>> I think for me coming in, I was
pretty focused on entrepreneurship.
And then at the beginning of first
year, just so much career options
are thrown at you that I think I
briefly expanded.
But then during the summer after I
was doing my internship reflecting,
I actually became very
sure again that I do really want
to start a company.
And that I'm very excited to just
bring something into the world, and
see whether I can build a team.
But yeah,
that just feels like a really great
way to both go for
environmental and human impacts.
Also because people spend so
much time at work, actually shaping
a culture is something that feels
like a very cool and challenging
and exciting responsibility for me.
And it's something we talk and
think a lot about here at
Stanford as well.
>> Cengiz, I want to go back
to something you said about why
getting your journey here, and
you talked about the importance of
leadership and
learning leadership skills.
When you think about leaders,
I mean, there's a lot coming out
at them.
Employees are looking at them for
direction.
There's pressure when it comes to
big issues like climate change, or
wars, or globalization.
What are the role models that you
kind of look up to in the business
community?
>> There is so many.
I think one role model that
I can look up to is Ray Dalio, for
example.
And the reason I would choose him
is because of the principled nature
of his leadership.
I think one thing that
Stanford Business School has shown
me is that what great leaders have
is a set of principles that they
really care about.
But at the same time, a flexible
mind on allowing yourself to change
those principles as you grow and
learn more about yourself and
more about the world.
So that kind of conviction and
firms that kind of conviction into
a set of principles, but
also willing to flex them and
change them as you grow, I think is
the type of value set that I aspire
to have and look up to.
>> That was such a good question.
I'm going to steal it and
send it on over to Charlotte.
What about you, who and
what do you look up to?
>> I think I've really changed my
view on leadership since coming to
Stanford.
I think I came in seeing leaders as
just having this one fixed style of
leadership.
And I've really come to appreciate
range in leadership.
That's something we work a lot on
in the so-called experiential
classes here at Stanford, where we
will experiment with behaviors and
leadership styles and get very
direct feedback, action-impact
focused from our classmates.
And what I think about as
leadership now is actually having
this toolkit, and Stanford has
expanded my toolkit really greatly,
and basically having this whole
range of different behaviors.
And to me, people who model that
very adequately, I'd say, for
example, both of the Obama showed
a spectrum between very
collaborative, warm leadership,
but also being able to
set a very firm boundary, yeah.
>> Well, I wish we could talk more.
We wish you good luck.
We've gotta run, but
really great to check in with you.
Really appreciate it, and
wish you both so
much luck going forward.
Cengiz and Charlotte,
thank you so much.
>> Let's get to world of national
news.