Stanford's business school uses an improv game where students rapidly list items in a category, prioritizing speed over accuracy. This exercise demonstrates that generating a high volume of ideas, even imperfect ones, is the most effective path to finding the best idea, as the best concepts often emerge late in the process.

Ambitious graduates shouldn't join the organization doing the most good in year one, but rather the one that best equips them with skills and networks. This builds "career capital" that prepares them to achieve far greater impact in years 10, 20, and 30 of their careers.

Professor Susan Athey highlights that the school's most significant academic breakthroughs, like Nobel Prize-winning work in market design, originated not from abstract theorizing but from engaging directly with industry challenges. This connection to real-world problems created a feedback loop that led to cutting-edge, field-defining theoretical research.

In siloed government environments, pushing for change fails. The effective strategy is to involve agency leaders directly in the process. By presenting data, establishing a common goal (serving the citizen), and giving them a voice in what gets built, they transition from roadblocks to champions.

The GSB enhances the traditional case study method by first having students analyze a case, like DoorDash. Then, the actual protagonist—the founder and key investors—are brought into the classroom. This allows students to directly challenge their assumptions and engage with the real-world complexities behind the decisions.

The GSB's enduring value lies in its resistance to offering 'one size fits all war stories.' Instead, it focuses on teaching analytical instrumentation and fundamental social science. This approach equips leaders to solve novel future problems, like harnessing AI, rather than just applying solutions from the past.

Herbert Hoover's primary motivation for creating the Stanford Graduate School of Business was to prevent the region's top business talent from leaving for East Coast institutions and never returning. The school was an explicit strategy for regional economic and talent development, countering a perceived 'brain drain.'

A study of companies in the U.S. and Denmark found that while MBA-led firms achieved better short-term shareholder returns, this came at the expense of employees through suppressed wages. Critically, these leaders showed no evidence of increasing sales, productivity, or investment. The resulting wage declines led to higher-skilled employees leaving, crippling long-term company health.

Stanford GSB's iconic "Change lives..." tagline wasn't created by executives or an agency. It was forged in a workshop with staff from admissions, fundraising, and marketing, ensuring authentic, organization-wide buy-in from its inception.