Celibacy, Sermon-Dowloads and "Problems" with Minorities - Cardinal Marx at Stanford

One thing I will for sure miss being back in the working world will be the constant flow of decision-makers, thought leaders and influencers that I get to listen to while here at Stanford. Today I had the honor to join a discussion with Cardinal Reinhard Marx. Cardinal Marx is one of the most influential figures of the Catholic church as he was selected by Pope Francis as one of nine Cardinals to help the Pope reform the Catholic church. Cardinal Marx is also leading the German Bishops Conference and oversees the Secretariat for the Economy for the church.

I asked the Cardinal how three things he would want to change about the church:

(1) Involve formerly excluded people (homosexuals, divorcees, women)
(2) Make senior members of the church more forward-looking
(3) Improve the quality of the sermons

He gave the example that for point (3) many priests print out sermons they find online and just give those instead of writing their own. To be honest, I found it quite charming that even members of the church seem to sometimes take shortcuts. It's kind of like: "Reinhard can you send me this slide, I don't want to build it myself". Also the fact that a lot of priests know how to use the internet is promising to me.

Regarding point (1) I was somewhat offended when the Cardinal mentioned that not only the Western World has "those problems" (and with that meaning homosexuals and women), but also developing countries. I hope his phrasing is due to is imperfect English. I am not sure though.

Besides the content of his arguments I found it interesting that he very rarely evoked emotion or spirituality, but was very statesmen-like. The CEO of Mastercard or Christine Lagarde sounded pretty similar. A Catholic classmate was actually disappointed about the lack of faith-related messages. I, on the other hand, found the Cardinal fairly easy to follow and not too up-in-the-air.

Unintentionally the Cardinal actually got some laughs. When talking about the universal application of rules he said:

"We have to have celibacy everywhere. Imagine we don't have it in Africa for example. Then every priest would go there."

Interesting.

Especially at the end I felt rather uneasy though. He placed his hands on some students and blessed them murmuring Latin phrases. It is just so far away from the things we are exposed here. So far away from technology companies, so far away from search funds and so far away from financial modeling. I am amazed by the fact that a group oddly dressed up men who repeat certain phrases in Latin can have such power. A group of men that calls minorities "problems", that cannot have sex and that clearly does not promote gender equality in their organization.

Taking a picture he sat down next to me and we had a quick chat for five minutes. He asked about my studies and what I want to do afterwards. We also talked about the self-selection of people from strong socio-economic backgrounds at places like Stanford and how different this is from Germany. It was like talking to any German politician or business-man and not like talking to one of the most influential members of that add group describes above
.

A lot to think about.

Cheers + bis bald,
TIM

Week Zero, Hummus and German Fashion

Week Zero, or the week before classes start, is over. Observations so far:
- I have not been fully transformed by B-School yet. Do I have to worry?
- I will have to learn to live with less than 6hr of sleep
- No one noticed that I have been wearing the same clothes since I got here from Colombia

Content-wise we learned how to effectively lead teams. Our American professor with the very strange Dutch accent made us solve a murder mystery, survive in the dessert, create a large scale painting and fight over plastic coins. Though some of the learnings felt repetitive I have to admit that the unconventional teaching style engaging the entire class is something I really enjoy. The same feelings I had 8 years ago while doing my high school exchange in the US came up again: You guys simply know how to make class interesting. Maybe sometimes a little too funny and fancy, but interesting for sure.

Oh, and I love the constant positive feedback:
"I love your comment"
"Great, thanks for bringing this up."
"You are diving right into the subject."
"I love it. Great story."
"This is a really interesting approach. Thanks for sharing that."
"Right on!"
"You guys bring everything up without me."
"I love this atmosphere here."

I just hope this is to encourage everyone to speak up in class in the beginning and not a constant in all classes.

Free Food:
Well, not particularly "free", because we technically paid $300 week zero expenses... People seem to be really excited about food around here. Especially when we are told it is free. Friendships and other plans are pushed aside in exchange for a cold slice of pizza or some hummus and pita chips (a looooot of hummus around here). I can see why that is though. People enjoy being full. Especially before classes or presentations.

That actually proves my theory that people should be fed before important events. Ever since I have told people that I will have snacks for the guests before my wedding so that people actually listen to the  ceremony without constantly envisioning the buffet or debating whether it is socially acceptable to go for a quick burger after church before the banquet (remember Dad, we did that once... good times).

People:
Are really cool. At least the ones I have met, which sadly has not yet been the entire class. Well, there are two more years to go. As I know that a lot of my classmates read the blog I thought it'd be nice to have a little competition:
The first five MBA1's to like the post about this blog entry on Facebook and post their favorite free food from week zero will get a dinner invitation from me! 

Alright I need to make Stanford business cards now so that I can hand them out and boost my ego if I need confirmation about how great I am :-)

Cheers + bis bald,
Tim

PS: Clothes. Yes, I actually own more than 2 pairs of pants (One is actually not in my room. Scott needed them.) and 4 T-Shirts. All my stuff is still in Germany and will come in 4 days. GSBers watch out for some hot German fashion to be observed on campus.

Twerk Hard, Play Hard!

In case I forget my name!

Learning about teams.

Losing my beer pong virginity.