Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Education: Princeton
Before Wharton: Consulting at Bain & Company and The Bridgespan Group
After Wharton: Consulting at Bain & Company
Sarah Hershey
My Story About Me
I knew it was a place where I could learn all the tools I was missing, across all disciplines, thanks to its rigorous curriculum.
Building a business skill set
Prior to Wharton, I worked in both for-profit and nonprofit consulting, where I received a lot of on-the-job training. With a background in the liberal arts though, I felt like I was lacking an underlying skill set that would better inform the decisions and recommendations I was making to clients.
That’s what drew me to Wharton — I knew it was a place where I could learn all the tools I was missing, across all disciplines, thanks to its rigorous curriculum. In particular, I loved the idea of the core. There were plenty of classes in the core that, given my choice, I wouldn’t want to take, so I really needed the extra push to take those classes. A class like Operations, which I may or may not have taken, ended up being the class that I loved the most.
Leadership lessons on the battlefield
The emphasis on leadership was another factor in my decision to come to Wharton. One of my favorite leadership activities was a day at Gettysburg with Professor Useem, where we focused on leadership lessons from battle that could be translated into the boardroom. We went with a renowned historian and walked the battlefield discussing the hundreds of leadership moments that occurred during the battle. Professor Useem would then follow up by asking, “When your CFO, COO are telling you different things, how do you sort through that information and make a decision.” The day drew all of these clear parallels between the battlefield and what goes on every day in business.
… and on the seas
The sailing leadership venture in the British Virgin Isles taught me more about myself than anything in the classroom. Being on a boat with six strangers for eight days, where you forced to learn a skill, shows you exactly what kind of leader you are. After my first time leading, a lot of people said that I should trust the team more and delegate more. I was a little too controlling, too direct. Ironically, the second day I was a leader, we weren’t allowed to talk on the boat, which meant that delegation became important. That was a clear lesson to me that often times letting go and giving people that power to make their own choices will help the team as a whole succeed.
Growth of social impact
One of the activities I am most passionate about is Wharton Social Impact, the Net Impact chapter at Wharton. At this year’s Welcome Weekend, the most heavily attended career panel was ours. Going forward you can see it in the admitted students, and you can see the passion that the administration has for it. It’s really exciting to see it all come together and take off.
It’s a movement that has made significant gains over the past two or three years, especially with the recent Net Impact Conference at Wharton. I was in charge of running all of the inventory for conference. I used a lot of what I learned in classes, and I’ve found that placing myself in situations where organization is valued is great for me.
Work on your strengths, not just your weaknesses
Often I’ve been told to work on my weaknesses. But what we learn at Wharton is you also have to work on strengths. If there are weaknesses you can shore up, you should do it. But never strengthen a weakness at the expense of doing what you are good at.
