Bruce changed my life. He's been my #1 mentor (along with his wife Ava) since I met him ten years ago when I started my MBA at Columbia Business School. He not only taught me value investing (and he really had to start from scratch given my liberal arts background)—but also hired me on numerous occasions to give me more experience. What I value most though is how he has believed in me and empowered me, and how he makes value investing accessible to non-Wall Street types (who are genuinely interested) and takes extra care and encouragement with them. Like his teachings about seeing through the unreliability of information based on dubious assumptions in typical Wall Street discounted cash flow models, he cuts right through the nonsense to the heart of anything or anyone-- right to the value. I also remember sitting in his office in the summer of 2007 (between my 1st and 2nd year of my MBA), with two others in the room: his niece (who was in college and new to value investing), and another highly intelligent, experienced, and successful fund manager. The four of us were working together on investment screens and going through 10Ks. I obviously wondered how I got in that room, but Bruce led us all with complete equality, patience, and respect. I've never had an experience like that with anyone else and it was 180 degrees from my other working-in-finance experiences. That story also reminds me of how he often returns to simplicity and fundamentals.

I was also Bruce's teaching assistant for the Exec MBA Globalization class (co-taught by Joe Stiglitz) five times (2008-2013) and of the hundreds of student conversations I've seen him have during that time, he always had the perfect answer, presented with clarity, a Socratic style, and a wellspring of data and personal experience, no matter how random and precise the question. And students always lined up to talk to him between his lectures so he didn't even get a break for himself. He also has this sense of humor that lightens the room and keeps everyone amused when he lectures for hours in one day, and I often wonder protectively of him: "can he really say that here?" because he shares such raw quips and accounts no other professor or speaker touches. He gets so close to that line-- but he owns it and has the substance to back it up. You can't help but be filled with genuine appreciation and awe to be around him. There is no one like him. Thank you, Bruce.

Bruce has definitely been one of the reasons I have joined Columbia Business School to help run the Media and Technology Program with Professor Jonathan Knee. I have read his book, Competition Demystified while still working at INSEAD and I loved the thorough, yet simple framework it provides for industry analysis.
When I arrived to NYC, I was eager to meet Bruce (and also a little scared...). Little I knew that besides being one of the sharpest minds in academia, Bruce is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. He has been a tremendous support for me specifically and the Program in general. I am honored to be his colleague and am looking forward to many many years of interesting conversations.

In addition to his many other contributions to the life of the Business School, Bruce is the godfather of the relaunched Media and Technology Program. His invitation to co-teach Strategic Management of Media set off a chain reaction of events over the past decade: my taking over management of the Media Program, the publication of "Curse of the Mogul," the establishment of the Media Forum, our attracting Miklos Sarvary to the faculty as co-head of the Media Program, the expansion of the Center to encompass technology as well as media, and more. Today the Program is a clear thought leader in the sector and none of it would have happened without Bruce's initial and continuing support. It is a small example of the profound ripple effects of a rare combination of attributes: intellectual heft and intellectual generosity. I know of no one with more of either characteristic, and all of us in the CBS community are huge beneficiaries of the fact that Bruce embodies both simultaneously. I can't think of anyone more deserving of honor and am honored to call him a colleague, mentor and friend.

Jonathan A. Knee
Professor of Professional Practice
Co-Director of the Media and Technology Program