Gregory La Blanc, Professor, Strategist, & Podcast Host – How Curiosity Created a Generalist

Professor Gregory La Blanc chats with host, Paulina Lee on his journey to be a lecturer and distinguished teaching fellow at Haas. From attending Montessori school as a boy to studying in multiple subject areas on his way to Haas, Professor La Blanc is a specialist in being a generalist. Hear about his life and teaching philosophies and how MBAs can help change the world. Listen to the end to hear La Blanc’s three mistakes that MBA students most often make! 

Episode Links:

On staying curious:

“I think that curiosity is a natural human instinct, which is almost exterminated as you get older…we forget how to learn. And as we get older, we become routinized and so forth. And I think I’ve just been fighting that specialization; fighting that, urge to rinse wash, repeat, for my entire life.”

On MBAs as generalists:

“I like of teaching MBAs. Cause what MBAs want is to be like generalists. They want to be the PhDs of common sense. They want to be the integrators. They want to be the people who have the experts working for them. So that they can translate that expertise into something useful and practical. And I think you have to have curiosity if you’re going to be that type of person.”

Sharing some life philosophy:

“Are you living the way you want to live or are you kind of just living? You know, moment to moment without a plan. Are you making your decisions consciously or are you making them unconsciously? And how do you bring those decisions out into the surface and evaluate them in a responsible way.”

Show Links:

• La Blanc’s podcast: Unsiloed
• Beginners by Tom Vanderbilt
• Sensehacking by Charles Spence
• Gastrophysics by Charles Spence
• Adaptive Space by Michael Arena
• Software Engineering Education Company: Qwasar