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Jose Shabot Cherem was running a Mexico City construction firm with his brother when he decided to tackle the debilitating problem caused by low construction worker morale and resulting high turnover.
Jose identified an underlying cause. "A large percentage of workers were illiterate, and 90% had never finished free compulsory education. I knew I had to start educating workers to give them other opportunities."
Jose, who was still completing his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Iberoamericana University, hired a professor to spend two hours a day instructing workers ranging in age from 15 to 70, holding graduation ceremonies as the student employees completed their acquisition of basic skills. "People were crying," says Jose of the ceremonies "Some of them had never had the opportunity to study."
His innovations and their success earned him Expansion Magazine's "undergraduate of the year" award.
Although it was tough to leave the thriving business in his brother's hands for two years, Jose knew he needed the GSB experience to achieve his overarching goal of transforming the Mexican construction industry. "I wanted the soft skills, and the leadership training," says Jose.
"At the GSB, I am challenged by my peers, and am learning a huge amount inside and outside class." Among the benefits: the knowledge that he no longer needs to reinvent the proverbial wheel. "Some of the issues that I had to work out on my own in Mexico, I realize that others have already solved."
Not only will Jose's company benefit from his experience, Jose revels in his new and much enlarged perspective.
"The GSB has opened doors that were closed to me," says Jose, who is beginning to reap the benefits of the business school's global emphasis.
"My scope was Mexican, but now it is international. I now have friends all around the world." Most importantly, he says, "I am sharing my experiences with my classmates...and learning from them."
Jose Shabot Cherem, MBA 2009
Mexico City, Mexico
Leading Employers
Your Stanford MBA will give you many options
More than 1,000 organizations recruit Stanford Graduate School of Business students through on-campus interviews, career fairs, job postings, and online resume books.
The following list of employers represents just a fraction of the organizations that recruit and hire Stanford MBA graduates:
Amazon.com Dell |
Johnson & Johnson |
