Money and morals clash
Of all the world's problems, the existential crises of Harvard Business School students must rank pretty low. But let me present one all the same. Last month, several business schools released the average compensation of their most recent graduating classes. HBS announced that its MBA class of 2005 earned, on average, $174,580 (￡98,700) the most of any business school and roughly double the average for graduating MBAs across the US.
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While my family and friends e-mailed me reports of this news with accompanying exclamation marks and smiley faces, I was not so sure what to make of it.
Two things immediately struck me. First, $174,580 is both a satisfyingly large number in itself and pregnant with the promise of even larger numbers to come. Second, it gives you a pretty clear idea of the market value of a Harvard MBA. It is, curiously enough, almost exactly the amount these two years at Harvard will have cost in tuition and living expenses for me and my family, which leads me to suspect some hidden economic hand at work.
The existential crisis, if you can call it that, comes when you consider that one of the great privileges of having a Harvard MBA is supposedly the ability to look at a first year salary of $174,580 with something like indifference.
Even from the rank pit of graduate school loans, you should be able to take that number, weigh it coldly against the kind of work it will require and decide whether that is really what you want. How easy is this in practice?
If, like me, your material appetites and short-term personal ambitions are yanking you in different directions, then late autumn in the second year of business school is a testing time. As the leaves fall, classmates who I have grown used to seeing turning up at classes with bed hair and the same fleece jacket day after day are suddenly parading around in dark suits with leather portfolios clutched under their arms. The campus swarms with representatives of the world's great corporations fishing for recruits with some very tasty looking financial bait.
News of the big signings soon gets around. The leading private equity firms are handing out first year compensation packages of more than $400,000. The banks and consulting firms are on a feeding frenzy. Anyone with Chinese on their CV is in hot demand. Next to private equity, the most coveted sector appears to be real estate.
There are now a good number of people who know what they will be doing once they graduate in June. Some are delighted, others simply relieved. From those entering consulting you often hear the line: "I'll do it for a couple of years and then I'll be able to do what I really want to do." From the private equity folks, you hear: "I'll do it for 10 years and then retire."
The pressure of the loans students have taken on to study at HBS seems to be driving many decisions. International students especially seem impelled to find a job in the US in order to repay large dollar debts. The sum of $174,580 sounds even more enticing when set against what they might earn in Argentina or France.
But what if the last thing you want to do is be sucked into a big corporation? What if you wake up with chills at the thought of becoming one of dozens of other MBAs pounding away on spreadsheets or hauling your suitcase through an airport on Sunday nights?
Fortunately, there are plenty of voices at Harvard urging students to heed these nagging voices and do something they know and enjoy rather than chasing the short-term pay cheque.
In his graduation day address last year, Jeff Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, encouraged the class to look at what the majority of people were doing and run in the opposite direction.
Joe Lassiter, entrepreneurship professor, recommends picking a location first then trying to become part of what he calls "world class tribes", groups of people in your chosen place who really know the business they are in. Over time you will gain experience and build relationships so that if you choose to start your own company or develop the one you are in, you will have most of the resources to hand.
A programme of Social Enterprise Fellowships, which allows students to spend their first year out of HBS working at high levels in non-profit organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or Save the Children, seems to be drawing a lot of interest. And the environmentalists on campus are a growing voice in both academic and student life.
Some students have joined one of the many international "treks" that take place every holiday - mixing tourism with meetings with local businesses - and found their ambitions and perspectives knocked sideways; and there are those who arrived at HBS funded by their Wall Street employer, only to return the money and pursue a different career.
All this uncertainty and re-evaluation is what can make business school such a stimulating place to pass a couple of years. But resisting the urge to grab wildly at one of the rich plums dangled before our eyes at this time of year requires some self-control.
When I graduated from university in England, people used to ask each other "do you have a job yet?" At HBS, the question has somehow escalated to "have you decided what to do with your life yet?"
Somehow a job is no longer a job. It is supposed to be your passion and your life, which is setting the bar pretty high even for a $400,000-a-year associate's position with a global investment group.
I am still deciding what kind of business I am likely to find most rewarding and how I can tally that with the kind of life I would like to lead. It is an incredible luxury to have the time, resources and people around to think deeply about all of this and stare $174,580 in the eye and say "you don't impress me".
哈佛MBA毕业生的抉择
在世界各种问题中，哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)学生所面临的存在主义危机恐怕不值一提，不过我还是把它提出来。上个月，几家商学院公布了最近毕业生的平均年薪。哈佛商学院称，其2005届MBA毕业生平均年薪达174580美元(合98700英镑)，位列各商学院榜首，几乎是当年全美MBA毕业生平均工资的两倍。
我的亲友纷纷向我发来电子邮件，笑盈盈地惊叹这一消息。但我却不知道该怎么看待此事。
这马上让我想到两件事。首先，174580美元既是一个令人满意的巨额数目，也意味着今后将有更大的数字可以期待。其次，这让你对哈佛MBA的市场价值有了一个清晰的概念。奇怪的是，这个数目与在哈佛求学两年累计的学费和生活费几乎一摸一样，这令我怀疑背后是否存在无形的经济之手。
拥有一个哈佛MBA学位最大的特权之一就是，能冷眼看待174580美元的首年年薪。这样一来，就出现存在主义危机了――如果我们能这么称的话。
即使从研究生院贷款的排名来看，你也应该能够冷静地将这个数字比照它所对应的工作，从而决定这是否真是你想要的。实践中有那么容易吗？
如果你像我一样，物质欲望和短期个人理想把你拉向不同的方向，那么商学院第二年的秋末就会成为一个考验期。随着秋风落叶的到来，一向蓬头垢面、套着同一件平绒衫来上课的同学忽然变得西装笔挺，手夹皮制公文包行色匆匆。校园中，世界各大知名公司代表云集，为招募新人纷纷甩出看来十分可观的诱饵。
待遇优厚的签约消息会很快流传。著名私人股本投资公司抛出40多万美元的首年年薪计划，银行和咨询公司你争我夺。凡简历上写着懂中文的人都炙手可热。在私人股本投资公司之后，房地产似乎已成为最热门的行业。
如今，许多人早就知道自己在6月份毕业后将会从事什么工作。有些人很高兴，有些人只是松了口气。从那些进入咨询业的人那里，你经常会听到这样的说法：“我会先干两年，然后就做自己真正想做的事。”而跨入私人股本投资领域的人则会说：“我将会干10年，然后退休。”
对很多人来说，为了在哈佛商学院学习而背上的贷款压力似乎成为影响决定的主要因素。特别是国际学生，为了还清巨额美元债务，似乎迫切需要在美国找到工作。如果对比他们回阿根廷或法国所能挣到的钱，174580美元这个数目就更具诱惑力了。
但如果你最不愿意的事就是被吸入一家大公司怎么办？如果你因为想到自己像一大群MBA学生一样，整天俯首于财务表格、或星期天晚上还拖着旅行箱在机场穿行而从睡梦中惊醒怎么办？
幸运的是，哈佛有许多声音在敦促学生：不要对这些唠叨置之不理；应做那些他们懂得而又喜欢的事情，而不是追逐短期的报酬。
在去年的毕业典礼讲话中，通用电气(General Electric)首席执行官杰夫伊梅尔特(Jeff Immelt)鼓励MBA学生观察大多数人在干什么，然后为自己选择相反的方向。
企业精神教授乔拉斯特(Joe Lassiter)建议，应首先选择地点，然后努力成为他所说的“世界级部落”(world class tribes)的一份子。所谓“世界级部落”，就是在你选择的地区中真正懂得商业的那群人。随着时间的推移，你会积累经验并建立起关系网，因此，当你选择自己开公司或发展你所在的公司时，你就掌握了足够的资源。
“社会企业家”(Social Enterprise Fellowships)项目让学生有机会在毕业后第一年担任非营利组织的高级职务，例如比尔和梅林达＃盖茨基金会(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)和拯救儿童基金会(Save the Children)。许多人似乎对这一项目很感兴趣。此外，校园内的环保主义者无论在学术上还是在学生生活中都有越来越高的呼声。
一些学生加入了多种多样的国际“跋涉”项目，这种将旅游结合造访当地企业的活动在每个假期都会开展，学生们会发现，他们原先的理想和观念因此而受到冲击。还有一些由华尔街雇主资助来哈佛商学院学习的人，他们将钱还给公司，开始另一种职业生涯。
正是这种不确定性和重新评估，让商学院的两年时间成为一个发人深思的好机会。但在这种时候，面对在你眼前晃来晃去的诱惑而能克制住一把将它抓牢的冲动，则需要一点自制力。
当我从英国大学毕业时，人们经常互相问：“你找到工作了吗？”然而在哈佛商学院，这个问题不知怎的已经升格为：“你决定今后过怎样的生活了吗？”
工作不再仅仅是工作。它应成为你的激情和生活，这使门槛变得相当高――即使给你一个全球投资集团的职位、每年给你40万美元。
我仍在尝试决定，什么样的业务会让我觉得最有收益，并且最能符合我想过的生活。能够一方面有时间、资源、人脉来仔细考虑这些问题，一方面瞪着174580美元说：“你不吸引我”，真是莫大的财富。
