MBA Program

Student Voices

Allen Breed, MBA ’11

Developing new tools

For the past two years I have been working in commercial real estate development in Washington D.C. with a company that focuses on high end mixed use transit oriented projects. The thing I like about real estate development, especially on the commercial scale is that you never do the same thing twice. One day you might be on site in a hardhat and the next you might be in a suit meeting with lawyers. You direct the contractors, the architects, the financing and everything in between, so it is very important to be able to step back and see the big picture.

One of the things that really intrigued me about MIT Sloan is that the School fosters individuals who really have a desire to improve themselves on a broad scale and to develop a unique way of thinking as opposed to honing specific skills that they already have. In the twenty-minute lecture held during the AdMiT weekend I was already inspired to think about things I never had before. It opened a whole new way of approaching ideas and challenges, and that is what I am hoping I will learn: the tools to think creatively and to problem solve.

Learning from teaching

I studied undergrad at Vanderbilt University and majored in Civil Engineering. When I graduated I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do, so I took an opportunity to teach elementary school for two years in Connecticut. I have always been inspired by teaching and I feel the experience has had a number of positive effects on the way I approach problems in the business world as well. When you are teaching kids, you have a wide range of abilities in the classroom, and you have to develop a system to teach the same topic to everyone. The same is true at a board meeting, where you might be standing in front of a variety of consultants and investors and contractors who all have their own agenda, yet they all need to understand exactly what you are saying or the project won't be successful. The skills I developed in the classroom allowed me to better communicate in the corporate world.

I feel my teaching experience has given me a unique approach to what I do and am looking forward to becoming part of the culture of MIT Sloan. One of the great things about MIT Sloan is that it draws people who have shown excellence or mastery in a wide range of industries and with a lot of unique experiences. It isn't just consultants and bankers. It is people who have done a lot of unique things and, in general, could potentially work in any field and be successful.

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