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n the top floor of a Manhattan apartment building, Viet Nguyen reclines in a chic metallic armchair. My gaze is drawn to the panoramic view of Manhattan’s skyline behind. “Your mentees will all be invited here for lunch?” I asked a little incredulously. Viet, a passionate food enthusiast, smiles and wonders aloud about what he’s going to feed the mentees.
Viet is one of the many alumni mentors who have offered their time to guide current undergraduates in BAP. For a person with a busy schedule, he is surprisingly adamant about contributing to the mentorship program. When I ask him what made him decide to commit to helping us BAP Littles, Viet responds that “The alumni are the lifeblood of BAP.” It is with this sense of purpose that he spends so much of his free time on mentoring younger BAP members.
For Viet, this is a great way to stay in contact with his BAP friends from college while helping the organization that he has benefited so much from. From his first analyst role at Goldman Sachs to his current role as Principal of Riverstone Holdings today, Viet credits it all to the mentorship he received from the leaders and alumni of BAP that helped him navigate his career after he graduated Stern almost a decade ago. One of the most important skills that Viet learned to focus on from his mentors when he was in BAP was the development of “people skills.” As Viet describes it, people skills are all about making that personal
connection. Even today, these skills remain incredibly important for him. But that personal connection can only be achieved through sincerity. And that means making these people skills a way of life rather than a mask that is worn only on occasion. Some weeks ago, Viet chanced upon a great Japanese restaurant while out with friends. Out of curiosity, he asked to speak with the chef and learned a great deal from that conversation. Intrigued by what he discovered, he made an effort to jot down the chef’s name and the new information he had heard. A week later, he went back to that restaurant and again asked for the same chef by name. At that time, the chef could only vaguely remember Viet and was very pleasantly surprised that Viet still remembered their conversation from weeks ago. By his third visit to that restaurant though, Viet and the chef had become good friends. Today, Viet still enjoys the best food recommendations and reservation privileges at that restaurant.
Networking should be about making personal connections and genuine friends—that is the advice that Viet has for every aspiring business student. Don’t think of networking tips as tools in a handbook because that is an approach which would come across as extremely insincere. In fact, Viet shies away from the word “networking” altogether. To him, each interaction with people around him at work or otherwise is no different. He is always his friendly and approachable self.
I ask Viet what he thinks of the criticism that BAP is too large an organization for members to form close relationships. He pauses for a moment before explaining: “But BAP’s strength comes from our size!” While Viet acknowledges that the size of our organization can make it difficult for each member to share a personal relationship, that very size translates into the immense diversity of our alumni. With a current class size of about 200 members each year, a quick back-of-theenvelope calculation easily confirms this. BAP could easily fill an auditorium with alumni just by inviting a few classes of recent graduates! These alumni span the full gamut of business professions, from consulting to finance and accounting and beyond.
This means that BAP members like us get access to a diverse group of alumni who are all willing to share their wealth of experiences with us. Regardless of our chosen career paths, there will almost certainly be someone whom we can speak to. The key is to make an effort to interact with alumni at BAP events to find the right person to seek advice from. “What you put into BAP is what you will get out of BAP,” Viet reminds me with a smile.
Viet Q. Nguyen, class of 2008, is currently working as a Principal at Riverstone, the world’s largest energy-focused private equity firm. He is also an Alumni Mentor at BAP. He was President of BAP for the 2007-2008 year.
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