“It’s an honor to come here,” said Jim Cramer, host of the popular CNBC finance show “Mad Money,” (www.madmoney.com) on his visit to the Darden School of Business (www.darden.edu) last week as the first stop on his second annual Back to School Tour. The financier-turned-TV-personality arrived in town on Tuesday, February 6, and spent the afternoon speaking to Professor James Rubin’s Corporate Communications class.
“This is why I do the tour,” Cramer says of the intimate setting. “I demand to be in the classes, and I demand to hang out.” Cramer’s fiery personality and wacky antics have made “Mad Money” into CNBC’s most popular show. Famous for such on-air stunts as wearing diapers and stabbing breast implants, Cramer said he uses this behavior as a cover for something more substantial. “I educate the most I can. I do whatever is necessary to get people in and make them understand.”
 Jim Cramer, shooting for his CNBC show "Mad Money," says his on-air antics are to help educate investors. He taped an episode at Darden last week. |
Clearly thrilled to have such a prominent speaker in their midst, Darden students pounced on the opportunity to pepper Cramer with questions ranging from technical to personal, and he shot back with advice for both the investor and the future CEO in each of them. Calling the future of finance an “ESPN world,” Cramer explained that investors no longer follow blindly behind CEOs. “If you don’t make the playoffs, you’ll get fired,” he said. “Now is a great time for investors. You have to insist on the truth.”
Comfortable, friendly and (relatively) calm, it was obvious Cramer was at ease among the students. “I know you’re smart,” he told Rubin’s class. “I’ve never seen the level of sophistication that I witness on my tours—that I witness in this room.”
As students filed out of Darden after Cramer’s visit, one soon-to-be MBA graduate probed him for his No. 1 piece of advice. The response? “Sleep less than you do!”
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