Sridhar Anand ’10

A Life-Altering Class

“Personal Leadership and Success with Professor Hitendra Wadhwa was my favorite class. He taught me that in order to deal with whatever comes your way, you have to look inward and find your inner compass. You have to find what gives you personal satisfaction. He also taught me that everything comes down to having a positive attitude. Understanding and, most important, internalizing that philosophy helped me out after some serious personal setbacks.”

Business School—Before and After

“When I got here, it just blew my mind. There’s such a big world out there, and you can learn so much—which I did. The single most important thing I learned at Columbia was how to deal with failure—how to use it as a positive rather than a negative.”

“I stay involved with Columbia Business School because I value surrounding myself with smart, genuine, hardworking people."

The World’s a Stage

“Almost all of my free time at School was devoted to Follies. I wanted to be involved, and I’m theatrical at heart. I’d been a student leader at university, so I wanted to contribute in a different way at Columbia. Some of my best friends from Business School are from Follies.”

Why He Gives Back

“I have a lot of respect for my peers from Columbia. I want to keep in touch, and it’s so easy to drift. I want to keep that network strong, for both business and personal reasons. When my father died, 15 of my classmates from Columbia flew in to India for the funeral. Some of them came from the US just to stay for a single day. I want to give back to the School community; I’m obliged to give back, and I love giving back.”

Leadership Participation

Anand is a valued School volunteer who is active with the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business and the Family Business Program. He is a co-chair of the alumni club in Mumbai and was class reunion chair for the 2015 reunion. Anand regularly travels from his home in India to attend Columbia Business School events.

To learn more about becoming involved and supporting the School, please visit www.gsb.columbia.edu/alumni/stay-involved or contact Isaac W. K. Thweatt, executive director of individual giving, at it2262@gsb.columbia.edu or 212-854-0719.