Post by Stanford University Graduate School of Business

“People come first, then ideas.” Neo Zhang, MS ’26, has spent much of his career viewing knowledge and expertise as the key drivers of success. But in the MSx program, his perspective has shifted from the cognitive to the communal. “Before the GSB, I believed that if you’re smart enough, if you have expertise, you can own the room,” Zhang says. And while that approach has taken him to the C-suite of Zhihu, a Chinese social media company, he’s come to realize that relying on smarts only goes so far. Instead of having the right concepts, Zhang now sees the value of having the right collaborators. “If your ideas don’t work out, then you can work with fellow collaborators to create new ideas,” he says. “After meeting so many brilliant people at the GSB, I realize interpersonal skills and the willingness to collaborate are essential skills.” That collaboration is reciprocal. “Before coming to the GSB, I had imposter syndrome,” Zhang says. But by opening up to classmates — sharing not just what he knows, but what he doesn’t — he’s discovered what he brings to the collective. “When you share your story with classmates and even make people laugh at your past, you stop hiding from it.” Zhang came to Stanford GSB “to explore what AI can do for business and society.” As he considers where that could lead him, he’s confident innovation comes not from expertise alone, but from what people create together. “There’s so much to learn and share with each other.” Photos by Elena Zhukova https://brnw.ch/21x1B7E