do the hard things

I met an amazing professor at Fuqua.
Professor Bill Mayew
He teaches accounting, but at the same time, he teaches me to be brave.

I’ve had the opportunity to take two classes with him. The first was the core Financial Accounting course, which my section was assigned to be with him (so he was the first person to introduce me to the accounting world). The second was Detecting Earnings Management, which I chose to take myself.

It was a tough decision to sign up for Detecting Earnings Management because everyone kept telling me it was the hardest class at Fuqua.
And personally, I felt that for someone like me, who comes from a non-business background, accounting isn’t exactly my thing (Actually, anything quant-related)

However, I also felt that I needed to challenge myself (a bit lol).
Now or never.
So I signed up, feeling a little brave and a little scared.

After six weeks, I can say that I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION!!
Even though it was just as tough as people said, it was worth every single minute I spent on it (around 8–10 hours/week outside the classroom).
We learned what high-quality earnings look like and how to scrutinize financial statements firms might manipulate to report performance.

I really enjoyed the content itself because it was so useful.
Now that I know what to look for and where to look more carefully, I feel more confident making decisions as a communication team.
So, I’d call this six-week class a “HAPPY PROBLEM”
And here’s why

1. Prof. believes we can do it!
In the first class, he told us that the course was hard and that students spent a lot of time on it each week.
But he also said that if we committed to it, he knew we could do it. Let’s do it together.
I think he is like a sports coach at some point haha (he was a basketball player)

As someone who wasn’t so confident in own capabilities, that felt meaningful and kept me motivated.

But things could have been very different if he had assumed we wouldn’t enjoy the class or would struggle to understand the material.
Everything starts with trust, I would say.

2. A strong support system.
Being in this class felt like running along the edge of my comfort zone every week.
At that edge, we can choose to turn back or move forward. If we move forward, we expand our comfort zone. But taking that step is much easier with a strong support system.

Our prof. answered every question. What I appreciated most was how much effort he put into making the concepts understandable. His initial explanations were already simple, but whenever someone still had a question, he would find another way to explain like using different examples or analogies.

One time, a student raised his hand and said “I have a question, and this might be the dumbest question.”
Before he could finish, our prof. immediately replied “Not dumb”
You know, that kind of energy is really beautiful.

He also offered office hours and prep sessions. That might sound pretty standard, right? But I’d never seen a professor so passionate about encouraging us to make the most of those opportunities. Almost every class, he reminded us of the support available.

Also, kudos to my friend who helped explain the concepts to me. This supportive community makes even the toughest challenges feel beatable.

3. The spirit of the class
As I said, he was so passionate. His presence in the classroom was incredible.
It’s hard to put into words, but I could feel how much he enjoyed teaching and how much he wanted us to succeed. What a cool spirit! His passion made me want to engage more with the class.

Let me give you another example.
Learning to scrutinize a firm’s performance in just 6 weeks can be challenging, especially when students come from different backgrounds.
To help us, he created extra short videos so we could learn the concepts on our own before class. For me, this was really helpful and showed his dedication.

I think preparing for a class is hard, but what’s even more challenging is putting yourself in your students’ shoes, thinking about how they might feel and what they might struggle with during the class (sometimes before they feel it themselves). And then create the solutions.
Prof. Bill absolutely nails it!

That’s the spirit that AI simply can’t bring to a classroom.

Throughout the course, I could see how he was trying to adapt the class to a world with AI.
He said “We need to do things with the right context” and I agree.
I really admire how he keeps making what we learn relevant!

For me, taking this challenging class with him at Fuqua meant learning in the right context as well—a supportive community and a passionate professor who really wants his students to succeed.

I felt pushed to learn and step outside my comfort zone, but at the same time, I felt safe being on that edge.
So, I ended up learning a ton!!!
Thanks Bill for keep pushing us to do the hard things!! Thanks class for making it a safe place to learn!!

Accounting has never been easy for me (really), but it makes more and more sense with every class he teaches. I’m still far from being an expert at financial statements. VERY FAR

Skill-wise? I need more time
Mentally? Yes
This experience has shown me that I can do it.

I used to plan that after all the core classes, I would focus on the marketing track, where I feel more comfortable, and quit all the quant-heavy classes.
However, after this class, I feel like, “What about being braver and stepping out of my comfort zone”

so I won’t quit.

One day, when I become a leader, I hope to carry Prof. Bill’s spirit with me and inspire others the way he inspired us.