When Yale SOM student Sean Condon ’26 talks with classmates about management and leadership, he has a lot to contribute: The Wisconsin native served for seven years in the U.S. Navy, including as an officer on the USS San Juan, a nuclear-powered submarine.
But he’s learning, too.
“In the submarine force, we think very deeply about how we make decisions and who’s involved, but it’s a very hierarchical structure,” he says. “My peers, especially people who worked on more nimble teams, have introduced me to other decision-making methods.”
After leaving the Navy, Condon considered taking a full-time job right away, but he wasn’t sure how his specialized skills—like reading sonar screens—would translate in the civilian workforce. “People were talking about operations or finance roles, and I felt that I was a little less than perfectly equipped,” he says.
For Condon, who studied mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota on an ROTC scholarship, SOM’s MBA program provided exposure to new career paths and a chance to strategize his next steps. He says he would not have been able to attend without support from the GI Bill, SOM’s Yellow Ribbon Program for veterans, and a Conley Brooks ’44 BA Family Scholarship.
“The money made being here possible,” he said.
One of the courses that has made the biggest impact on Condon is the core curriculum course State & Society—not, he says, a class he expected to find at a business school.
“It’s all about the intersection of governments and business, including an in-depth examination of policy issues: whether higher education is working in America; the gender and racial pay gaps. It was really eye opening.”
Among other options, Condon is considering a career in energy—drawing on his nuclear power background—or consulting; he’ll be spending his summer at Boston Consulting Group in an internship he landed after connecting with both SOM alumni and submarine veterans at the firm.
Through SOM’s integrated core curriculum, Condon says, he’s learned how powerful a multi-stakeholder approach can be. Now, he’s prepared to apply that approach in his summer internship.
“By ensuring that I am assessing the position of each stakeholder from the beginning, I have found that I can come up with far more creative solutions,” he says.
