An Ode to What The Harbus and HBS Have Taught Me

Chuck Isgar (MBA ‘25) reflects on his time as a student, Harbus editor, and student career coach over the past two years.

Listening as a Harbus Editor

Before I did anything at HBS, I started writing for The Harbus.

It was the summer of 2023, a few months before I matriculated, and then-Harbus Editor-in-Chief Rory Finnegan (MBA ‘24) and CEO Edgard Mejico Salinas (MBA ‘24) were soliciting applications for editorial roles. I hadn’t written in a journalistic fashion since high school, so I was excited about the opportunity. I was particularly looking forward to sharing stories with the broader Harvard community. What I didn’t know was how defining the experience would end up being for me.

To pull back the curtain on the stories I’ve written, the process typically follows a similar set of steps: reach out to the interviewee (this is probably the right time to say thank you to the many guests who have responded to my LinkedIn messages); hope for a response and, if I don’t get one, try to find another way to get in touch; coordinate the interview; do my research on the guest and their company; host the interview; go through my notes; review the recording for quoting accuracy; and determine the message I want the reader to take away.

However, what this description fails to capture is the most fun — and hardest — part of the process: listening carefully and pulling on different threads in an interview. When I hear something that could lend itself to an interesting, perhaps less obvious story, my brain lights up. In this way, I’ve learned that being a great listener means teasing someone’s story out even if they didn’t know there was one to tell.

Listening in the Classroom (Starting with Section J in Aldrich 107)

For those of whom I’ve had the privilege of sitting next to in class, you know that I’ve filled many notebooks over the past two years and have refused to go on my phone. There’s a reason for that: I wanted to hear everything you had to say. In a classroom rich with diverse perspectives and experiences, to not listen would be a wasted opportunity.

I’ve realized something through this classroom experience: as humans, we struggle to remember things. It’s hard to recall what stood out from the prior day, let alone 80 minutes into a class. I’ve come to believe that there’s no shame in taking notes if it helps you process what you’re hearing. Writing things down also helps quantify themes that emerge. A specific idea might come up three or four times in a discussion, but until you write it down, it can be hard to recognize that persistence. And usually, we repeat something because it matters.

If you think about the HBS classroom experience, it’s pretty fascinating. Even though participation can be worth roughly half your grade in many classes, you rarely talk for more than 1% of any given session unless, perhaps, you get a cold call. So what do you do for the other 99%? You listen.

But my time at HBS has taught me that you can do even more. If you hear something that resonates, tell that person. I think of the times I’ve received a message from a classmate later in the day after class, and it’s gone a long way. Even more gratifying, though, is when I’ve sent a message to a classmate to share appreciation for something they said. It’s a priceless act that can have a profound impact but costs nothing.

Why is this so important? The reality is, most of us wonder how our comments landed. Did it make sense? Was the tone right? Did people get what we were trying to say? Could the other side of the classroom even hear our voice? I used to think it was just me who wondered these questions until Oprah Winfrey sat down with Professor Arthur Brooks in the fall of 2023 to discuss their new book. In that conversation, Winfrey shared that many of her guests would ask similar questions during commercial breaks. The good news? This is a problem we can all help solve by simply sending a message of appreciation when something resonates.

Listening in the Field

I’m immensely grateful that the classroom experience extended beyond Boston. On every educational trip I’ve taken, I’ve been that nerd carrying an old-school notebook and pen everywhere I went. From my global immersion trip to Ghana to a field course in Italy, I’ve felt lucky to hear stories on the ground ranging from how to improve pharmacy delivery in West Africa to how luxury brands like Ferragamo and Prada are thinking about innovation.

A key takeaway emerged through these in-the-moment experiences: the best way to understand a business is to be in the field, listening to the people making it all happen: the customers, patients, and frontline workers.

This semester, I’ve found myself in the Authentic Leadership Development course, where our Leadership Development Group (shoutout to our incredible LDG!) meets weekly for two hours (and often longer) to listen to one another’s stories. I’ve learned that the best listening happens when you build trust, which comes not necessarily from sharing a background, but rather from being genuinely interested in each other’s stories and seeing the best in each other.

Listening as a Student Career Coach

Perhaps my greatest lesson in listening at HBS has come through serving as a Student Career Coach with the Career & Professional Development office. In this role, I sit down with students who want to talk about their goals, recruiting strategies, and how to piece it all together.

As I often tell my advisees, I’m happy to talk about tactics, but that’s rarely where we should spend most of our time. It’s usually more useful to begin at a strategic and personal level. I’ll ask what they’ve enjoyed doing — at work or not — what they read that excites them, and so on. But I’m less interested in the “what” than I am in the “why.”

The “why” tells all. From a coaching lens, the “what” can be misleading. When someone says they want to do VC investing, for example, I’ll ask why. In many cases, they realize the actual work of sourcing and analyzing startups is less exciting to them than building one. But it’s only through a series of questions that this clarity emerges.

As a listener, I’ve learned to ask questions that gently challenge the other person if the setting is appropriate. Whether it leads to reaffirmation or reevaluation, you’re helping them gain clarity without inserting your own opinion. Listening is often about observing. It’s more than just hearing words. After more than 75 coaching appointments this year, I’ve come to recognize that some of the best insights come from tone and facial expressions. To pick up on that, you need to be fully present.

On multiple occasions, advisees’ faces have lit up, and their voices have become vibrant when talking about something that doesn’t feel “career-relevant.” Almost immediately, they’ll backtrack: “But I know that’s not a real job.” I’ll usually say, “Let’s just talk about passions for now, and not worry about what’s realistic.”

Great listening helps someone break free from the box they feel they are in. And when that happens, their true perspective can finally emerge. It’s incredibly rewarding to see many of those advisees now pursuing internships or full-time roles that align with the passions I saw glimmers of months ago.

In a business school world full of choices, I often found myself at Spangler on Friday afternoons and evenings, meeting advisees by the coffee bar. I can’t think of a better way to have spent that time. While I hope I was helpful, I suspect hearing their stories changed how I see my own more than anything I gave in return.

A Final Series of Thank You’s

To those of you who allowed me to be part of your career journey, thank you. I’ve loved our meetings, and yes, even the late-night and early-morning texts about job offers and negotiations.

To my classmates (Section J and all my EC peers), thank you. You’ve challenged, inspired, taught, and supported me. Most importantly, you’ve become close friends.

To the three sets of Harbus Editors-in-Chief I’ve worked under, thank you. Rory, Tim, and Michelle, thank you for tightening my stories, patiently trimming my long-winded titles, and in the process, making me a better writer.

To the readers of my articles (especially my number one fan; hi, Dad), thank you. In a world full of content, I appreciate you taking the time.

To everyone who has let me feature them, thank you for trusting me to tell a part of your story. It’s a privilege I don’t take lightly.

Truth be told, even if no one read what I wrote, every article would still be worth it for what it taught me about what it means to listen.

And for that, I say one final thank you.

Chuck Isgar (MBA ’25) loves all things startups. He serves as a Scout for Costanoa Ventures and most recently, he was the Chief of Staff at Scenery, a Series A-stage startup backed by investors such as Greylock. Previously, he was a Schwarzman Scholar where he earned a Master in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Chuck co-founded and was the CEO of Intern From Home, a recruiting technology startup that served students from over 600 colleges and was featured in publications such as The New York Times. Chuck earned his bachelor’s from Brown University, where he served as the Co-President of the Brown Entrepreneurship Program. He loves to golf, cook, and go on long walks.