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Public Management Program

 

25th Anniversary

Through the Revolving Door Session

Moderator
Larry Bram, Director of Marketing, Teaching Strategies, Inc.

Panelists
Nancy Glaser, Founder and President, The Glaser Group
Eric Olson, Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer, Mid-Peninsula Housing
Ed Zschau, Professor, Harvard Business School

Student Organizer of the Panel
Greg Widmyer

Larry Bram
Director of Marketing, Teaching Strategies, Inc.
Framework for cross-sector careers (factors for choosing a career). Skills. Passion—passion for doing what you do gets you jobs and makes you enjoy your job. Impact. Money. Life events. The biggest difference between for-profits and nonprofits is the cash flow. In for-profits, there's no need to fundraise all the time.

Ed Zschau
Professor, Harvard Business School
Still figuring out what he wants to do, but wants to live a life that leaves a footprint. He wants to make a difference. He looks at "life endeavors," not a career path.

Do what you enjoy doing and do it in the best way you know so that you'll never have to look back unsatisfied. When you find yourself wishing you were doing something different, it's time for a change. He's worked on reducing capital gains tax and took his experience from hi-tech to Congress.

A lesson he's learned from going from business to politics: if you don't know about something, hire the best people who do. Give yourself a sense of time/urgency.

There's a commonality in all the jobs he's held. Entrepreneurs and builders are people who make things happen (in any context). They fantasize about the future and make it happen. To be a leader you have to be willing to share credit and take blame. Usually people do it the other way around.

Quotation in Ronald Reagan's oval office: "There's nothing you can't achieve in politics as long as you don't care who gets credit." Live your life as an entrepreneur. That doesn't mean you have to start a company, necessarily. Create value.

"Shower test": When, in the shower, he finds himself fantasizing about doing something other than his job, he moves on. Have balance in your life, rather than a serial life. Don't wait until the end to do great things.

Nancy Glaser
Founder and President, The Glaser Group
Started in for-profit. During a summer internship (MBAid!) in Thailand, she got nonprofit experience. She joined a VC after getting her MBA. To get involved in community. Stanford ACT (helped at the tech museum).

Global context: Started a nonprofit in St. Petersburg, Russia. The biggest challenge was the difference between for-profit and nonprofit, not the difference between Russia and the US.

Cites Ben and Jerry's recent success in combining profit and mission objectives. It's an example of a company bridging the gap between for-profit and nonprofit visions.

Money, rewards, and impact: Non-monetary rewards outweigh the financial benefits. Sector lines have deeply blurred. There's a great sense of fulfillment in having achieved something significant in life.

It's not a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world issue. It's fast-paced versus slow-paced countries. It's the responsibility of the 1st world to help the 2nd speed up.

Eric Olson
Deputy Director and Chief Financial Officer, Mid-Peninsula Housing
There are great opportunities out there in all areas - and a big vacuum for leadership. Current issues: Purpose of life search. Lots of money coming in - even into nonprofits. There's a new interest in professionalism in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

This opens opportunities to MBA's. Opportunities out there: Start-ups in government. For-profit businesses in issues that the public sector is currently trying to deal with. Privatization of public services

Why keep delaying gratification till the later part of life? You always have your MBA to rely on if you need to get more money or if things don't work out in the nonprofit.

Questions

Q. How true is it that you need to build skills in the private sector?

A. from Larry Bram:
In nonprofits you need to continually build skills.

A. from Ed Zschau:
Being in a nonprofit lets you know you've been there, you can do it, and you've chosen not to be there. The only skill you need is common sense.

A. from Nancy Glaser:
Don't build a resume for others. The experiences and skills are for yourself and what you want to do with them.

A. from Eric Olson:
A resume in nonprofit signals more of a sense of adventure, risk-taking. Story telling is the key, translating things in such a way that they make sense to others.

Q. Where do you search for opportunities to help turtle NGO's?

A. Nancy Glaser:
Through Stanford grads (Stanford ACT and other similar organizations).