Wednesday April 21st was my self-declared CEO day. In a single day, I was fortunate enough to sit in on sessions featuring Bill Gates (no explanation needed) and Jim McNerny (CEO of the Boeing Company, the company sponsor of my internship).
I won tickets through a campus lottery to hear Bill Gates speak about giving back to the world through service. While his speech was not as profound or thought provoking as I would have liked, it was still a privilege to hear Bill Gates speak. I was truly impressed during the question and answer session as he demonstrated his immense depth and breadth of knowledge from light water nuclear reactor to health care. Truly a day I won’t forget, and if I for some reason do forget, I’ve got pictures (maybe a little fuzzy due to low light and now flash, but pictures non-the-less).
In the same afternoon, being a future Boeing inter, I was invited to the CEO Perspectives Class where a different CEO visits and speaks each week. This week, as mentioned was Jim McNerny, the CEO of Boeing. He commanded the room with presence, humor, and candidness. He walked us through his current day to day activities ranging from China and India to W
ashington DC, answered questions about the future of the competitive airplane market, and discussed his past experiences at GE and 3M.
While these talks severely cut into my limited school work time this week, they were very interesting and enjoyable.
