What a week

This has been an incredible week. On Monday I had the opportunity to have lunch with one of my thought idols, C.K. Prahalad. As we went around the table and introduced ourselves, our backgrounds and our interests in emerging markets there were a lot of people that talked about non-profit work, eradicating poverty, BOP and micro finance and I have to say that when it was my turn I was feeling a little out of place. My interests lie more in working with large multinational corporations to find efficient ways to deliver goods and services to the emerging markets of the world. But when I introduced myself C.K.'s face lit up and throughout the lunch conversation he kept going back to my interests and mentioned that some of the most exciting research being done in emerging markets is happening in my area of interest. I felt such a rush of validation and a renewed sense of purpose. This has long been something I an interested in and it is exciting to know that someone that I have a lot of respect for is excited about it too. Beyond the lunch on Monday, I worked organize next week's penny wars, learned about McKinsey's Middle East office, watched the season premier of The Office, went to a section BBQ, and spent some time getting cozy with t distributions and the effects of trade barriers. All in all, a pretty great week.