As we head into March, watercooler discussions naturally turn to the NCAA basketball championship and who's going to win the office bracket pool. The popular statistics site FiveThirtyEight has generated win likelihoods for all teams as they have in the past, but this year predictions are less certain than ever.

Even the top-ranked Villanova is given only a 15% chance of winning. As you may recall, last fall FiveThirtyEight garnered a lot of attention by being relatively uncertain about a Clinton win in the general election – this skepticism proved to be well-founded.

To make datasets more comprehensible, statistics summarize datasets with one or two numbers; this can obscure patterns. In college basketball, the entire complexity of a team's season performance can be reduced to the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a ratio based on the team's wins and losses, and the strength of the teams played (based on those teams' wins and losses, and the wins and losses of the teams they played). Interested readers can find a fuller explanation, including the computational formula here.

Last year, Michigan State's impressive RPI of .6272 led to a No. 2 seed position. Middle Tennessee State on the other hand, with an RPI of .5562, was seeded at No. 15. And yet, on March 18, Middle Tennessee won 90-81 against Michigan State. Middle Tennessee turned out to be a Cinderella team; while it looked like they might end up as the belle of the ball, at the last moment, they choked and their carriage turned back into a pumpkin.

This year, Middle Tennessee is seeded as the underdog in the 12 spot, with a somewhat stronger RPI of .5960. Many pundits (though not FiveThirtyEight) are looking at them to do better than expected in the postseason, which would not be too unusual for a No. 12 Seed.

However, just looking at RPI (and last year's performance), may not provide enough information. While looking at all the specifics of a sports season, a national election, or a data distribution can be daunting, it is often necessary to do so if you want a full understanding of what's going on.

In 1973, the English statistician Francis Anscombe came up with an elegant way of demonstrating this. He created four data sets, each containing 11 data points with two values. In all sets the means and sample variances for the two variables are identical, as are the correlation between the two and the regression line predicting y from x:

You'd think these four distributions would be pretty similar, with only minor differences due to random variability. You might also think that linear regression would be an effective model to help make predictions based on the data, in all cases.

But you'd be wrong. These are the four data sets:

The upper left graph shows a distribution which is about what we'd expect from the statistics, and the linear regression model is a good fit for this data set. The upper right graph clearly has a curvature. There's likely to be a great model for prediction, but it's NOT linear (the best model probably includes x²).

The two bottom models are more problematic. The one on the left shows a linear relationship – but that one outlier near the top is pulling the regression line away from the rest of the data. And the one on the bottom right is a real challenge. It looks as though, in general, x is a poor predictor for y. That is, almost all cases have an x-value of 8 and the y-values vary quite a bit, untethered to x. And one strange case, all by itself, is driving the entire model. 

A similar situation exists in sports. Looking at summary stats for the season might make for a good model, or might overlook a non-linear relationship, or might be slightly (or greatly) misleading, due to a few unusual games, players, or plays, which may not translate to the post-season. That's why creating a bracket is so much fun!

We recently had the chance to sit down with Liz Hess, the Senior Managing Director of Product Engineering and Development at HBX. Liz is a self-described serial intrapreneuer, technocrat, and ed-tech enthusiast who has been with HBX since day one.

What do you do at HBX?

I oversee how our learning platforms and course experiences are designed, built, and delivered. I work across several streams of work including course development and delivery, user experience architecture, software development, quality assurance (QA), and synchronous course production (HBX Live) to facilitate learning using technology.

What does a normal day look like for you?

Solving problems, coaching people, talking to customers, reviewing content, and tuning operational resources — I am constantly working across many teams to help people make connections and leverage each others' expertise, creativity, and energy.

Where did you go to school and what did you study?

I attended the University of Pennsylvania where I studied Art History. I later went on to earn a Masters of Higher Education from The Harvard Graduate School of Education. I have also had the opportunity to participate in technology-specific training as well as executive education programs on business, finance, and innovation.

How did you become interested in education and technology?

My first job out of college was working at an auction house where I was responsible for managing a gigantic paper-based general ledger documenting daily sales. I had heard about IBM’s software called LOTUS 1-2-3 and wanted to implement it. Lotus 1-2-3 was a spreadsheet program, and I was convinced it would be a more efficient and effective way to manage and track our sales.

I asked the company’s treasurer if we could try using the software and she said no — so on my own time, I built out the ledger in LOTUS and quickly thereafter won the support of the treasurer to replace the paper ledgers across the company. I really believe that technology has the power to dramatically change the way we work and live for the better, so I was determined to have a career around it.

Several years later I started working at Harvard University in the intellectual property office and began to see the power of technology in academic research, teaching, and learning. Over time I was able to shift my focus at Harvard to working full time in this area.

How did you become involved in HBX?

I’ve worked at Harvard for 24 years and across six different roles — all of them involving faculty and their interaction with technology.

In 2014, while leading HBS’s effort to leverage educational technology, I was asked to staff a small group of HBS faculty who were asked by the Dean to make recommendations on how HBS should be thinking about distance learning. Those recommendations turned into HBX, and my special assignment soon turned into a full-time role at HBX.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

Working with the HBS faculty and HBX team to continue to innovate. We have done a lot to leverage technology to facilitate new learning models, but there is more we can do to improve teaching and learning, increase student engagement, and build community. Technology moves so fast that there is always some new challenge or some approach we can leverage.

What’s the coolest things you’ve done at HBX?

Where do I start? It is difficult to name one thing. Pushing the button to turn on the HBX course platform at the initial launch of Disruptive Strategy, walking into the HBX Live studio to see the technology working for the first time, working with the team, faculty, and school leadership to grow the organization... if I had to pick one thing, maybe it is a simple as coming to work every day.

Favorite book?

River of Doubt by Candice Millard.

What are your hobbies?

Extreme gardening, ocean conservation and exploration, shark advocate.

What else should we know?

I was the 5,067^th person to have a Facebook profile. Kind of cool considering there are over a billion users.

What’s your personal motto?

It changes from time to time but in the past few years some comments from Diane Nyad, a long-distance swimmer, have stuck in my mind; "never give up,"  "you are never too old to chase your dreams," and “it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team."

When HBX was launched, there was a need to be fast and agile, which was a perfect match for the cloud-based technology infrastructure services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

When HBX went live, it was one of the largest production implementations of AWS in Higher Education. At that time, I was working in central IT at Harvard, where we developed a number of innovative programs to make it easier for groups across the University—such as HBX—to use services from AWS. Little did I know that I’d eventually work for HBX in supporting their Amazon implementation! All of this work has given me a great opportunity to learn and work closely with AWS as it has rapidly grown.

1. AWS adds as much computing capacity DAILY as Amazon the company had to run its entire operations as an $8.5 billion dollar enterprise in 2005.

This capacity is distributed across a huge global portfolio of datacenters. Each geographical cluster of datacenters is considered a region, and each region is comprised of multiple availability zones, which are themselves at least one—and sometimes more than one—distinct datacenters. In total there are 16 regions consisting of 42 availability zones, with another 2 regions announced and under construction.

2. AWS engineers much of their own equipment.

Given their huge scale of operations, Amazon has taken to engineering and even building many of their own components in order to optimize them for their specific needs. This has included things like hiring power engineers to rewrite how utility-sized power transformers operate, building out their own high-dentisty disk storage design, and now even manufacturing chips. For a fascinating view, watch some of the entertaining presentations from AWS Vice President James Hamilton:

• AWS Re:Invent 2016
• AWS Innovation at Scale

3. AWS has a strong focus on rapid innovation and is frequently releasing new services and upgrades to existing services.

In order to keep this high level of development velocity, AWS services are typically owned by many small teams who are largely independent of each other. And while Amazon teams may get access to features earlier, they make use of internal services in the same way as their customers when the services are public. This ensures a high level of stability and consistency, and has been a key factor in their ability to both innovate and scale.

4. AWS runs a version of their cloud for the CIA.

While one of the early concerns about the cloud was how secure it is, this is rarely a concern anymore—even for the CIA. Running services in the cloud is often more secure than running them in your own datacenters. In fact, many AWS services are certified to comply with some of the federal government’s most stringent security requirements, and have achieved a broad range of other security certifications for health care, criminal justice, financial services data.

5. AWS is working to source 100% of its power from renewable sources.

As of the end of 2016, 45% of their power comes from renewable energy, including from four wind farms averaging over 160 Megawatts of generating capacity each. Including projects currently underway, they soon expect to have over 900 Megawatts of renewably sourced generating. One of their regions, located in Oregon, is supplied entirely by renewable sources.

6. It can still break (but it's usually less painful when it does).

As many people who were using the internet last week know—including everyone in HBX courses—even AWS can have outages that take down your services. But from having spent many years working with on-premise data centers, the frequency and severity of outages tends to be much lower.

While it is still stressful to anxiously await updates from a vendor on a cause of an outage, it is far less stressful than scrambling your own team to identify and fix a complex problem. It is also comparatively easier to build services which can operate out of multiple regions that further insulate you from down time—though it is still a large effort (and something we have yet to tackle for HBX).

In honor of International Women's Day, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate some of the diverse, inspiring women in the HBX learning community who are pursuing their dreams, excelling in their careers, and empowering others. 

"When I’m in a room with other professionals, now I feel like I have the language that matches my passion, that matches my work ethic, my goals and dreams... 

I hope that as my kids look back on the many pursuits that I’ve embarked on, in particular, HBX CORe, to be brave. Because then that means that they will pursue opportunities that seem challenging, that seem out of reach, that seem hard. And, so I hope that from this experience that they felt mom was just a little bit more brave than I was before I started."

– Sheneka Balogun
CORe Participant

"I firmly believe that balanced gender diversity in business is crucial to innovation, success, and a higher collective intelligence. When the decisions of a woman positioned in the corporate world make significant impacts fiscally or culturally, then you begin to see the tangible value of a diverse enterprise. HBX has given me the foundation to exemplify this in the services I offer my corporate clientele."

– Leslie Pico
CORe Participant

“One of my biggest passions is bringing opportunities to minorities, to women, in subjects like science, technology, engineering, math, making you change your mind about who it is that looks like an engineer.” 

– Daniella Patrick
Disruptive Strategy Participant

"I'm a mom. I work full time. Like others, I have a demanding schedule and struggle with balancing life with work. I'm interested in pursuing a Master's degree, but haven't convinced myself to commit to a three year timeline.

I saw CORe as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn from the brightest and interact with global community who shared a commitment to learning as I did without the long-term time commitment. CORe not only gave me the confidence that I can tackle more, it inspired me to be more and continue my education."

– Kalie Work
CORe Participant

"I am working as part of a project team in India that is working to set up the world's first rural-based social network usable by non-literate persons. A key part of my job is to understand the needs on the ground, and convey the insights to the technology and design teams who are making the product - an activity that CORe greatly helped me with via the Economics for Managers and Business Analytics courses. Both these courses help you to better understand the people you are working to serve as an enterprise and learn how to draw insights from the data in front of you."

– Anindita Ravikumar
CORe Participant

"My strategy and message for my team and how we communicate with our customers has begun to shift. The biggest takeaway is looking at my product on the shelf and always trying to gauge 'what is the job to be done here?'

I have also started to pay a lot more attention to what the other vendors within my stores are doing. I can truthfully say this has already made me a much better listener. When we all have things to say, listening is one of the first things that can get lost, so I have not only found a stronger voice but a much better and tuned set of ears."

–Paige Peterson
Disruptive Strategy Participant

"Within 5 days of finishing the course I had a plan of action for a major part of our business and presented it to our corporate executive. It applied the theories of the Customer Job To Be Done and caused us to rethink our strategy to get the customer to “hire” us over the competition."

–Robbee Minicola
Disruptive Strategy Participant

"Having a better base for business terminology that is used every day in my work as a business analyst is invaluable. I am also able to offer new ideas for business metrics to our company's leadership and relate to real world examples of how other businesses have implemented improvements thanks to the case studies that were presented as part of the program."

–Michelle Headrick
CORe Participant

"I applied it to both my teaching and research. For teaching, after summarizing what I learned from this program, I introduced finance in a 90-minute class to junior and senior college students in order to show them different ways of doing business plans in the leisure and sport domains." 

–Jingning Ao
Leading With Finance Participant

 

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Learn more at www.internationalwomensday.com

#IWD2017 #BeBoldForChange

Participating in the pilot cohort of Managing Your Career Development was a whole new experience for me. When I got selected, I was enthusiastic about the topics we'd be covering and excited to take part in a course held entirely in the HBX Live virtual studio, but the course far exceeded my expectations.

Here are four ways the course prepared me to navigate my career more effectively:

1. It Moves You!

This is not just a class where you show up to just sit and listen. It spurs you into action. You are asked to work together with other students and to reflect on your own life experiences. You come across many familiar situations in the cases you study, but also new ones that encourage you to problem solve in an intelligent way.

2. The Real Class Experience

Despite being held in a virtual classroom, Managing Your Career Development gives you a real classroom experience and face-to-face interaction with a number of top-notch Harvard Business School faculty members.

From absorbing insights from different professors, to interacting with your fellow students in discussions and always being prepared for the possibility of a cold call, it is an exciting and engrossing way to learn! It's important to give the class session your full attention, because it's easy to miss valuable information otherwise.

3. Diversity in a Nutshell

Each session is taught by a different professor with their own style of teaching and topic of expertise. This diversity in a short time span makes the experience unique. It also forces you to broaden your mindset and to take all different aspects of each class with you to the next one.

4. A Network to Build Upon

Most students from my cohort who participated in Managing Your Career Development are at a certain point in their career where they want a change or are ready to take the next steps. This is a powerful network. Not only do you interact live with each other in class, but there are also discussions outside of class to prepare for the next session. You learn a lot from the others and also about yourself. It's challenging but fulfilling.

This was a valuable experience, and I'm so glad to have had it. I apply all that I learned time and time again, and the course has enabled me to take the next steps in my career.

Many first time HBX participants are surprised to learn that often, the professor is not at the center of their HBX learning experience. Instead of long faculty lectures, the HBX learning model centers on smaller, more digestible pieces of content that require participants to interact with each other, try out the concepts they are learning, and learn from real-world examples. The professor fades into the background a bit and lets the focus shift to interviews with executives, industry leaders, and small business owners. Some students might be left thinking, "Wait, where did that professor go? Why am I learning about a grocery store in Harvard Square?"

In the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, “don’t panic.” These interviews, or cases, feature leaders at companies of all sizes and provide valuable examples of business concepts in action. This case study method forms the backbone of the Harvard Business School curriculum.

Back in the 1920s, HBS professors decided to develop and experiment with innovative and unique business instruction methods. As the first school in the world to design a signature, distinctive program in business, later to be called the MBA, there was a need for a teaching method that would benefit this novel approach.

HBS professors selected and took a few pages to summarize recent events, momentous challenges, strategic planning, and important decisions undertaken by major companies and organizations. The idea was, and remains to this day, that through direct contact with a real-world case, students will think independently about those facts, discuss and compare their perspectives and findings with their peers, and eventually discover a new concept on their own.

Central to the case method is the idea that students are not provided the "answer" or resolution to the problem at hand. Instead, just like a board member, CEO, or manager, the student is forced to analyze a situation and find solutions without full knowledge of all methods and facts. Without excluding more traditional aspects, such as interaction with professors and textbooks, the case method provides the student with the opportunity to think and act like managers. 

Since 1924, the case method has been the most widely applied and successful teaching instrument to come out of HBS, and it is used today in almost all MBA and Executive Education courses there, as well as in hundreds of other top business schools around the world. The application of the case method is so extensive that HBS students will often choose to rely on cases, instead of textbooks or other material, for their research. Large corporations use the case method as well to approach their own challenges, while competing universities create their own versions for their students.

According to Mallory Stark, curriculum services specialist at Baker Library, all this is not a surprise to anyone at the school. For her, what makes the case method truly unique is that it fulfills everyone’s desire for a good story. Mallory recalls how, as an HBS Executive Education student, she encountered a case that focused on the efforts of a hospital CEO in New Orleans and the organization's efforts to respond to the challenges of Hurricane Katrina.

Not only did she end up meeting the CEO in person during the class discussion, but she came to the realization that solid management can mean both saving a company and, sometimes, saving human lives. This is what the case method does—it puts students straight into the game, and ensures they acquire not just skills and abstract knowledge, but also a solid understanding of the outside world. 

Doug Kinsey is a Partner at Artifex Financial Group and an HBX aficionado. We sat down with him to learn more about his experiences in some of our HBX programs, most valuable takeaways, and advice for others.

What drew you to HBX?

Although I've spent most of my career in the financial services industry, and have had the opportunity to be associated with some great companies in the field, I've never grown tired of learning more. A career in finance is at once very demanding and very rewarding, if you apply yourself and seek knowledge. My personal path has led me to the area of personal financial planning and investment consulting. I started my own firm with a partner 10 years ago and we've been fortunate to grow at a pretty rapid pace. Along the way, I've earned various industry certifications and taken tons of continuing education.

When I learned of Harvard's new educational initiative, HBX, I signed up right away. So far I've completed Disruptive Strategy, CORe, and am almost finished with Leading With Finance. All have been taught by world-class professors and an innovative technology platform that encourages participation as you progress through each course.

Why did you decide to sign up for Leading with Finance?

I want to regularly sharpen my skills in the area of finance and financial analysis, as I am responsible for managing client investment portfolios at my firm (in addition to other duties). Given my recent experience with other HBX programs, I am confident that this one will add value to my skills and perspective.

I recently participated in an HBX Live session with professor Desai and we not only discussed some of the key course concepts in a brief case study, but Dr. Desai gave us a sneak peak at his upcoming book, which incorporates finance concepts into everyday life. This hits home for me, as a lot of my work involves making finance work for everyday people, who may not have much of an interest in my chosen field of endeavor.  

What was your favorite part of the program?

My favorite part of all of the HBX programs is the case study approach and seeing the concepts as described by people in the real world.  I learn best when applying and observing the concepts the professors are teaching.

I've worked on case studies with classmates as far away as Russia and the Netherlands. I've met others in my cohort online and at the Harvard Business School campus in Cambridge. I've communicated with professors and colleagues during the live sessions, and I feel that I've gained an immense amount by interacting with people from all over the world, not only in the classroom, but through dedicated Facebook pages and offline conversations.

How are you applying what you've learned in Leading with Finance?

I've already found that my perspective has changed on several of the principles, like Weighted Average Cost of Capital, and that I am viewing valuation a bit differently.

I can honestly say that no other post-graduate program that I've been a part of has been as enlightening for me. I've even been able to put new concepts to use almost immediately, and the coursework has helped me see things from a different perspective. The way HBX weaves case studies and real-world applications into the concepts is truly a game-changer for those of us who haven't been exposed to it before.

Any advice for people who will be taking Leading with Finance?

Go for it! Dr. Desai has a great teaching style and the course is extraordinarily valuable for experienced practitioners and people new to finance. 

I tell everyone I know about this program, as it is an undiscovered value, and one that will return to you tenfold what you put into it.

Accounting is the system that companies use to record and present information. It is a language of sorts that businesses use to communicate to internal and external parties. While the debits and credits of accounting are the same in every country, the set of rules and standards that companies use to record and report specific transactions vary across the globe.

The most prominent set of global accounting standards is the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). There are 120 countries that either require or permit companies to use IFRS or have a national equivalent to IFRS that is different only in name[1]. In the United States, companies are required to use US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). There are significant differences between IFRS and US GAAP.

Why is this such a big deal? As business dealings become more globalized, it is imperative for users of the financial statements to be able to compare companies across countries. Put simply, companies that report under US GAAP are not speaking the same language as companies that report under IFRS. Since US companies account for a great deal of economic activity, this only makes international business and investment decisions more difficult.

Recognizing this problem, in 2002 the US standard setting body (the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB) and its international counterpart (the International Accounting Standards board, or IASB) issued a joint Memorandum of Understanding that marked the formalization of their commitment to converge the US GAAP and IFRS standards. This began the process of ‘convergence’.

The goal of convergence has been to maintain two separate sets of standards, but to make them the same in principal. In areas with differences, the Boards agreed to adopt the standard they deemed as preferable, whether that was the US GAAP or IFRS standard, or some sort of combination of the two. However, this goal was not achievable in every case. In some cases, the new published standards still have significant differences, and in other cases the boards dropped convergence efforts because they simply could not come to an agreement. While both Boards are still working towards convergence, many think that true convergence will ultimately never be achieved.  

If you are interested in learning more about the convergence timetable and progress, you can visit either the FASB’s or IASB’s convergence project webpages.

[1] http://www.ifrs.com/ifrs_faqs.html#q3

About the Author

Jackie is a member of the HBX Course Delivery Team and currently works on the Financial Accounting course for the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program. She also works on the Leading with Finance Course, and is working to design and develop courses in Entrepreneurship for the HBX Platform. Jackie holds a BSB in Accounting in Finance, and a Master’s of Accountancy, all from the University of Minnesota. In her free time she enjoys cheering on her favorite Minnesota sports teams and baking.

What drives you? As part of our #DrivenToSucceed campaign, we asked this question of our followers. Past HBX CORe participant Emily Ashtiani shared her personal story highlighting the transformative power of education.

We awoke in the middle of the night to the roar of thunder. After touching my face and feeling the water, I turned to my mom and little brother on the bed we shared.

“The roof is leaking again.”

It was pouring rain that night and the ceiling had given way.

“Go back to sleep. It’s a school night,” my mom said. So, I turned over and drifted back to sleep.

I grew up in a shipping container on the island of Guam. My mom, an immigrant from Palau, was a flight attendant, and my dad, an Iranian immigrant, was a mechanic. We lived a simple life, and looking back, I never understood how they managed to put me through private school. Today, I see that education was revered above all else and they were determined to provide me with opportunities they did not have.

We moved to the US when I was ten years old. As they built a new business and a new life for our family, their work ethic continued to inspire me. I knew, just as they did, that I would have to work hard for what I wanted, but in a country that welcomed our enterprise.

Fast forward to today. I am joining a specialized group within Deloitte Consulting that helps shape technology strategy in mergers and acquisitions. HBX helped me get there.

I studied economics at George Mason University in Virginia. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes at GMU, but wanted more—I knew that to be successful I'd need to learn from the world too. This meant taking advantage of GMU's flexible schedule and accepting an internship at a local credit union. After my first year at the credit union, I was promoted to a full-time analyst, typically a position requiring a bachelor's degree, and became the youngest analyst in company's history. This meant undertaking a full schedule of night classes so I could work full-time during the week.

My work at the credit union inspired me to get closer to the action and sparked my passion for finance. I hoped the tools I was learning in my economics classes at GMU would prove useful in my career, but knew how competitive full-time opportunities in finance could be. If I wanted to enter the finance world, I knew I had to take a risk—so I did.

I left my salaried job at the credit union, right before I was to receive a promotion, and started an internship in private equity. I also decided to enroll in HBX CORe at the suggestion of a friend who had an incredible experience in the program. CORe was another risk, another thing to manage to juggle during an already busy final semester, but I knew that I wanted to experience something new and challenging, and would be forced out of my comfort zone.

HBX helped me rebrand myself. The four-month program exposed me to the fundamentals of business through three courses: Business Analytics, Financial Accounting, and Economics for Managers. We learned by analyzing case studies, which were a refreshing approach for me. I was able to take the concepts I’d learned and use them to improve our family business, explain what were once hard-to-grasp concepts to my peers, and excel in my final undergraduate semester by referencing HBX case studies to support points I made in presentations and classwork.

As I worked together with my CORe cohort online, I met people from places as near as Connecticut and as far as India and Italy. Our group was supportive and close-knit – like family. I would never have believed we would form such strong connections online, but many of us organized in-person meet ups to collaborate and study for the final exam—and a group of us will also be attending the second annual HBX ConneXt event in Boston this May!

I came into HBX with a desire to solidify what I had learned through my undergraduate economics degree. However, I left with much more. I now possess a refined understanding of critical business concepts that has proved useful at my private equity internship and will continue to help me as I transition into my new role at Deloitte.

When I received the offer from Deloitte, I realized that HBX helped me use my life experiences, work accomplishments, and undergraduate knowledge to become an independent woman, offering my skills to both my clients and my family. Today, I am able to help them make impactful managerial decisions for their small businesses, and, moreover, understand the global economy through differing lenses and perspectives.

I'm a first-generation American with years of sleepless nights and hard work under my belt. I have earned my place the hard way, as my parents did, in a country that took us with open arms. I am not a stranger in a strange land as they were, but opportunities are what we make of them. In the future, I plan to make it possible for immigrants and future generations to have the chance to succeed in a welcoming country. And I hope that I can start by inspiring people simply with my story.

In her Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning asked "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." Here at HBX, we thought we'd celebrate Valentine's Day by applying - in a playful, lighthearted, and altogether not-terribly-scientific manner - some of the lenses on innovation from our Disruptive Strategy course to see how two different personality types would go about expressing their love on this day.

Relationship stage: Early

The job-to-be-done: Impress a new love interest by putting your best foot forward.

A sustainer's approach: Looking to spare no expense in the quest for maximum primping and pampering, the sustainer will seek out the snazziest of the full-service salons. A service menu a mile long? Custom options to address every grooming concern he knew he had... and many more he didn't? The sustainer wants all of these bells and whistles at his disposal.

A disruptor's approach: Unconvinced that she really needs all that's on offer at the pricey full-service salon, the disruptor is willing to take a chance on a blow dry bar like Drybar or its smaller local analogues. With stylists well-trained on a pared-down list of options for blow drying her unruly locks into submission, she can come away with a polished date night look quickly and affordably.

Relationship stage: Mid

The job-to-be-done: Set the stage for that serious conversation... and maybe even pop the question!

A sustainer's approach: For a momentous occasion such as this, the sustainer turns to the restaurant that's pulling out all the stops to ratchet up the romance. The 6-course, 560-euro-per-person Valentine's Day Dinner overlooking Paris from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower? Just the thing!

A disruptor's approach: With all due respect to Paris, the disruptor sees an opportunity to capture some of that magic with pluck and ingenuity. Armed with a well-chosen soundtrack, a decent bottle of Syrah, and Blue Apron's meal kit for Flank Steak au Jus - complete with pre-apportioned ingredients and a photo-illustrated recipe card - that arrived on his doorstep this morning, he can whip up a French-inspired evening with a personalized feel that is more than "good enough" in the eyes of his beloved.

Relationship stage: Well-Established

The job-to-be-done: Affirm that long-standing commitment.

A sustainer's approach: Not willing to rest on her laurels no matter how long she's known her beloved, the sustainer looks to commemorate this holiday with the latest in ever-more-exclusive offerings from travel consultants. "A private tour of the Hermitage and access to the countryside palaces of the czars?" How about an audience with the Dalai Lama? These offerings continue to improve over time, and the sustainer is ready and waiting for what's next!

A disruptor's approach: Unconvinced that the offerings arm race of the sustainer's travel consultants are really what she's looking for, the disruptor takes a different approach: With the robust technology of flight and hotel aggregators like Momondo at her disposal, she's able to capitalize on many of the same advantages and tricks of the trade that used to only be the province of travel agents - at her convenience and tailored to her budget. She may wind up piecing together a flight that lands outside the city center in Rome's secondary airport, or viewing the Sistine Chapel not in private but with 1,999 of her closest friends, but she'll have experienced Rome with her sweetheart, and that will have made all the difference (apologies to Robert Frost).

Want to learn more about disruption and other theories from Professor Christensen? Disruptive Strategy will equip you with the tools, frameworks, and intuition to make a difference.