Andrew Zhang '20 | Boston, MA Major | Finance
Minor | Music/Music Industry
I originally applied to Lehigh Silicon Valley because of the opportunities the program presented to learn about cases of different companies and perspectives. I had originally read a bunch of anecdotes from previous students’ blog posts about how the program changed the way they thought about companies, social impact, and the professional lifestyle. I went into the program curious to learn a little more about effective case studies and the way different companies operate. Afterwards, I realized that I can gain a lot of perspective through Entrepreneurship and through learning about the innovative approach that Silicon Valley inventors, VC firm’s and other key players of startups take to accomplish their goals and dreams. However, my most important takeaway from the trip was our day we spent at the Lehigh@NasdaqCenter in San Francisco discovering our inner why.
A person’s inner why is the inner motivation that drives them to do work meaningful to themselves and can be achieved by directing your core values. Personally, I love connecting with all kinds of different people and believe that music is a very powerful tool in bringing people together. I want to collaboratively bring creative music solutions to people to make a measurable impact in their lives and happiness because I believe the average person isn’t as happy in their daily lives as they should or can be. Discovering what my inner why was will help me anchor my professional mindset in the future from creating effective stories that highlight my core values, to picking what my ideal company culture would be. This is just one example of the many additional insights we got to see on the trip. From “bet on the jockey, not the horse” to “life after college isn’t a linear path” we’ve received insights, habits and tactics that have taught us how to be innovative, passionate, and socially responsible people in the modern world.