Testing their Limits - Cistercian Preparatory School

with Windows 2000
Professional on them,”
Roberts said, “and point their
infrared ports at each other.
They should make a funny
noise and ask if you want to
send any files to the other
guy.”
This project helped Roberts
catch the eye of Steve Ballmer,
president of Microsoft.
“A month before Windows 2000 shipped he found a security
problem: the guy next to him in the airplane sent him a file
without his knowing it. I had to fix it in a hurry.”
Contemplating on the future of Microsoft, Roberts is cautiously
optimistic.
“Microsoft used to be a company full of brash, slightly
neurotic young geniuses, and that was reflected in its corporate
demeanor as well: ignorance of politics, harsh negotiating
“[Tough] interviews reflect our need
for smart people ... Okay, they also
reflect the fact that many of us are
nerds who hate doing interviews.”
— Jeff Roberts ’86
style, etc. All those people are
still smart, but many of them
now have a life,” he admitted.
“It’s hard to organize a Nerf
fight in the hallway when you’re
late to pick up your kids from
kindergarten. [Roberts and wife
Tamara have two children,
Miranda (8) and Nicole (6).]
That said, in meetings we still
argue passionately about design questions that would seem
pretty arcane to the layman,” Roberts explained.
“The April Fools issue of the company newsletter included a
handy card with our core corporate values. One was, ‘I will do
whatever it takes to achieve my review goals, even if it means
stepping over the vanquished bodies of my weaker co-workers.’”
“If everyone started treating the company as a clock-in,
clock-out kind of place,” said Roberts, “I’d worry about our
future.”
From Cistercian Prep
to the “belly of the beast”
Standing on the cyber frontier of the new economy, our
three “softies” have a unique perspective on the value of a
Cistercian education.
Kauffman, seen here in his office, occasionally invokes Mr. Rodney
Walter when he reminds his Microsoft team members, “You’re entitled
to your opinion, even if it is wrong.”
“Cistercian requires you to prioritize between multiple
disparate tasks with little hope of actually completing all of
them to your 100 percent personal satisfaction,” explained
Tico Lopez. “This directly helped me with the Microsoft
corporate culture. Similarly, because we always had to ‘go
deep’ on a variety of subjects in parallel, Cistercian helped
teach me how to be flexible and quick-thinking.”
Cistercian and Microsoft share a similar atmosphere,
said Lopez. “In terms of how a class interacts,” he said,
“Cistercian embodies the same ‘competition with fellowship’
culture that pervades Microsoft.”
“Cistercian also taught me a bit about failure ...
Photo by Catherine Juna
and understanding failure is actually a key attribute
here at Microsoft,” Lopez added.
Kauffman cited Cistercian’s size as important.
“Cistercian’s small size helped me understand
that everything needs to get done by somebody,
and that it doesn’t pay to see the world in terms of
‘my job’ vs. ‘not my job.’ This insight is key to
succeeding in a fast-moving technology company,”
Kauffman said.
“The CPS folks I invoke regularly at work are:
Coach Hillary, when I exhort folks to be like a
bunch of bouncing B.B.s scrambling over issues
that would keep us from shipping; Coach Bulger,
when I explain to engineers the difference
between pain and injury; Mr. Walter, when I tell
folks they’re entitled to their own opinion, even if
it is wrong.”
“I’m also grateful that I learned to write coherently
at Cistercian — in a culture that is so driven
by e-mail, clear writing skills are an absolute
necessity.”
“Coach Aubry (cross country) and J.T. Sutcliffe
(math team) enkindled a competitive spirit that I
hadn’t noticed before, and gave me a part of school
to look forward to even though I never really
enjoyed being in class,” Jeff Roberts said.
“Our physics and computer science teacher
(Mr. Martin) had enough faith in Jon and me
that he gave us keys to the computer room. It gave us an
opportunity to do a lot of independent work and made us
feel important,” he added.
— David Stewart
8 The CONTINUUM