“It’s not about how many times you get knocked down; it’s about how many times you get back up.” – Richard Tait, co-creator of Cranium
What a healthcare PhD learned at McKinsey about “relationship capital” that helped him create a new career as a Ruby on Rails software developer
“Part of job satisfaction is knowing that you’re doing a really good job.” – Adarsh Pandit, thoughtbot
How a college grad without programming experience started a Y Combinator company and created a blog with hundreds of thousands of readers
Paul Graham was like, “This could be the Altair Basic.” – Jason Shen, Ridejoy
How this White House intern landed a job in the West Wing as Deputy Associate Director of the National Economic Council, and then founded a venture-backed company worth millions
“If you make a line from the Oval Office to people’s offices in the West Wing, and you measure that distance, there is definitely a correlation with IQ.” – Jonathan Swanson, former White House staffer
Why this engineer and beauty pageant winner left McKinsey to pursue acting and modeling (and how she got her foot in the door while working full-time at McKinsey)
“Acting for me is the craft of self-exploration, and it’s the study of human nature.” – Melanie Kannokada, actress and model
The biggest entrepreneurship lessons this science major learned in two failed attempts starting a company, before nailing it the third time with a multi-million dollar venture-backed food startup
“In a startup, there are many situations where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to do because you’ve never seen it before. But it’s also really exciting because you get experience you may never get in a traditional job.” – Kevin Yang, EAT Club
Why this entrepreneur started a non-profit to provide mothers in developing countries with an innovative infant warmer he designed after selling his startup for millions
“The idea wasn’t to start a company. The idea was to get this product out to everyone who needed it.” – Linus Liang, co-founder of Embrace
How an engineer and McKinsey alum found his career passion in global health at the Gates Foundation
“I’ve realized how important it is in interviews to craft a story that conveys how your career transitions fit into a larger plan.” – Wilson Mok, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
How a high school dropout and massage therapist became an MIT robotics engineer working at McKinsey and Pixar
“Pixar is unique in the way it balances the need for the artist to explore with the need to get things done.” – Naomi Davidson, Pixar Animation Studios
How a McKinsey alum volunteered her way to becoming the Chief of Staff at Khan Academy
“I spend a lot of time thinking about scaling our organization and figuring out how to preserve the culture.” – Jessica Yuen, Khan Academy