I think many people at MIT had a similar experience with Don – direct, unassuming, brilliant. I had the privilege of co-advising 5 projects with Don at Pratt & Whitney, Dell, and Caterpillar, and in my first years of teaching at MIT, Don was very much a mentor to me. I ran into Don for the last time a couple months ago at the symphony, and he was as personable as ever – inquiring how work at MIT was going, how often we go to the BSO, and then jetting off. For someone as senior as Don, I always felt I had his undivided attention, and I suspect that’s part of what made him such a great leader and advisor to many at MIT. My favorite Don story is his cafeteria stock price predictions. We were on a trip to visit a partner company, and he wasn’t particularly happy with the food. He argued that you could predict a company’s stock price based on the quality of its cafeteria food, as a proxy for its investment in people. I never saw a spreadsheet, but I never doubted that the calculation existed somewhere on a yellow legal pad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I think many people at MIT had a similar experience with Don – direct, unassuming, brilliant. I had the privilege of co-advising 5 projects with Don at Pratt & Whitney, Dell, and Caterpillar, and in my first years of teaching at MIT, Don was very much a mentor to me. I ran into Don for … <\/p>\n