Steven Kish

When Steven Kish was applying to Stanford GSB, some people advised him to say his goal was to become a CEO, rather than say what he really wants to become: a Chief People Officer.

“I thought about their advice and decided that’s not what’s true to me,” says Kish, who most recently worked in the office of the Chief People Officer at McKinsey. “I’d like to think that staying true to myself and my real goal — not contorting myself into something I thought the GSB would want to see from me — helped the admissions office to get to know me better and understand what I was really going to bring.”

He offers the same advice to new students arriving on campus: “Walk your path. That’s the best way to get the most out of the MBA experience and achieve your goals.”

You led a team at McKinsey focused on improving the company’s feedback and development culture. What role do you think feedback should play in a corporate setting?

For a consulting firm, client feedback is absolutely critical to what we do. McKinsey is not trying to do a quick project here or there, but trying to be a partner to an organization over a long period of time to help them achieve their greatest aspirations. We need to understand if we’re helping our partner organizations in a way that’s impactful for them and their stakeholders.

On a professional level, seeking feedback from everyone around you, including people who are senior, junior, and at the peer level is important to your growth as a leader. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about feedback at McKinsey and in GSB classes. It can be scary to open yourself up to feedback and criticism, but if you wait until performance reviews to ask for feedback, you’ve lost out on 11 months of important growth. We want everyone to ask for feedback regularly, and decoupling feedback from performance evaluations is important for that reason.

While working on the Chief People Officer leadership team at McKinsey, you were involved with the company’s diversity efforts. Why were you interested in this initiative?

We want people to succeed regardless of who they are, or what their background is, or how much money they had growing up, or their race or gender or religion or sexual orientation. It’s about recognizing the unique context that everyone comes from, the unique challenges they face, and improving the support systems we have to help people succeed.

You say you were attracted to Stanford GSB’s focus on values-based leadership. What do you consider the most important values in a business leader?

Integrity is the biggest one for me. Having the clarity to do the right thing, regardless of what you’re incentivized to do, regardless of who is watching. The GSB has taught me that great communication, transparency, and honesty are really, really important.

Which Stanford GSB courses have taught you the most?

Corporate Financial Modeling taught me technical skills that were essential to my skill set. It’s a challenging course because of the work involved. I spent 20 hours a week working on that class alone, but it was totally worth it.

I also thought that the I’m Just a Bill and Freedom, Democracy, and Capitalism courses were fantastic. Keith Hennessey fosters an environment of dialogue and debate in a respectful way. You learn critical skills for engaged citizens and business leaders.

How else has Stanford GSB helped you figure out what matters most?

I’ve learned about my professional values and what I want out of my career, but I’ve also learned what I value as a person. Family is greatly important to me. My time in the MBA Program has given me time to figure out how I comport myself to achieve my goals, what balance I seek in life, and what makes me happy before I go back into the business world.

You mentioned that your experience at Stanford GSB has taught you to say “no” more often. Why is that?

The GSB opens the aperture on learning. You could not possibly do everything that’s available to you on campus. I took time to find clarity about how I wanted to spend my time and what I want to get out of this experience. It’s important to be crystal clear and constantly rethink and reset priorities, and say “no” ruthlessly to things that don’t serve them.

What’s your go-to advice to prospective students considering applying to Stanford GSB?

Walk your path. When you’re applying to the GSB, people will tell you what they believe you need on your resume. I want prospective students to realize that in a class of a little over 400 students, the school is looking for 400-plus unique, high-potential leaders. The more you manipulate yourself to look like somebody you’re not, the less information the GSB has to understand the unique perspective you’ll add to this special community.

Along with road biking, hiking, and pickleball, you list Holocaust history among your interests. You also worked with the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. What drives that interest for you?

My Jewish identity fuels a lot of my values and the importance I place on community, and the Holocaust is something I took an interest in from an early age. When I got to college, I did a yearlong seminar on Holocaust history, memory, and representation. With the two professors who taught the seminar, we traveled to Germany, Poland, and Lithuania to visit museums, memorials, and sites. This experience, among others, fostered a belief in me in the power of history as a tool to educate young people to create a better future.

Photos by Elena Zhukova