OneHaas

Today, in celebration of Black History Month, we chat with Jason Atwater from EMBA class of 2019. He is the Head of Inclusion & Diversity in Ancestry and co-founder of Black Roots, an employee resource group that champions black employees and customers to enhance Ancestry’s business. He also became the VP of Diversity and Inclusion for Berkeley Haas Executive MBA Program.

Jason walks us through his career from being a sales engineer to digital marketing before pivoting into inclusion and diversity, which is his true passion.

He lets us on the challenges he met while building Black Roots in Ancestry and offers advice on how other people can create a similar group within their companies. 

Jason also shares where to find helpful resources when starting a resource group and effectively position similar initiatives within a company.

On why he chose to go to Haas - "The positioning of the Haas program, the focus on leadership, the focus on ethical responsibility, and the pillars, all of that just really spoke to me. I think this is where I think I'm supposed to be to take me to the next level of where my journey is supposed to go. And I was right."

His advice on people who want to create a similar resource group like Black Roots - "Be clear about your mission statement and goals, what you want to do and who you are as a group. Find like-minded individuals who believe in your mission and willing to help. Finally, find at least one senior leadership person who can act as your guide or your sponsor."

On why he pivoted from marketing to diversion and inclusion - "I will always love marketing, but I had been doing it for a long time. I really wanted to help make the world a better place, and working in inclusion and diversity is my way of acting change in a positive way."

On being successful as a marketer - "I think my brief career in sales and the success I had were because I was good at relationship building. I was good at being genuine with my customers and really talking to them, trying to understand where they came from and what they needed, and not just trying to slam in a sale. It was the right thing to do."

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In this episode, we chat with Henry Chesbrough, who coined the term "open innovation." He is the educational director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at Berkeley Haas. He earned his BA in economics from Yale University, an MBA from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in business administration from Berkeley Haas. His research focuses on technology management and innovation strategy. 

Henry talks a little bit about his background from Michigan to Yale, then Harvard to Haas. 

He then explains the term "open innovation," a distributed innovation process that involves flows of knowledge into and out of organizations. He shares the three cycles that can lead open innovation to closed innovation and its risks and limitations.

"Open innovation is an entry point into the domain of corporate innovation. The idea is that not all the smart people work for you. In fact, most smart people work somewhere else. No matter how big you are, no matter how good you are, you can't do it all alone. It's better to be open, to collaborate, to share. It can involve bringing in knowledge from the outside for your innovation activities, the outside in, or allowing things you're not using to go outside for others to use in their innovation. And that would be the inside out."

"Corporate venture capital can be a very effective tool to innovate. You've got to still have a culture inside your own organization because once you find and acquire these things to bring them in, you got to keep the people, and you got to get them to do the new things that extend beyond what they've done before. And without that, you get the form but not the substance."

"Open innovation can be a mechanism to allow you to be more agile, to move more quickly. And you don't have to do it all yourself, or rather, you seek out collaborations with startups, universities, and other sources. As long as you can move relatively fast, you could get an edge in the marketplace."

• Faculty Profile
• LinkedIn
• Open Innovation Results: Going Beyond the Hype and Getting Down to Business

Today, we chat with Marco Gottini, a Berkeley Columbia Executive MBA class of 2011. He is an IT executive with more than years of international experience in IT strategy, IT operations, and management consulting. He is currently a Managing Partner at Bizal, portmanteau for Business (Biz) Alignment. He is also a board member of the Berkeley Haas Los Angeles chapter.

In this episode, Marco shares his younger years growing up in an Italian family who owns a winery, packing his belongings and moving to LA, his career in the IT industry, and deciding to go to business school as a challenge.

He also narrates starting Bizal, explains what business alignment is all about, and the importance of having a business framework and clear business goals.

On alumni engagement - "It was just so amazing to see happy people having great experiences. So, it wasn't just about the school. It wasn't just about allegiance. It was about having a good time with people that are technically your family."

On having clear business goals - "When you know where you're going, you can figure it out better, and you can put KPIs in place that are significant and meaningful."

The importance of human factor in technology and business - "People forget about people more than anybody else. They think that technology solves everything. There are phenomenal technologies out there. And then where everything fails most of the time is people using them. People not following the rules, people doing other things, people breaking what technology was. So, you also have to consider the human factor. It's absolutely important. It's probably the most important enabler out of all of that in a company."

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• Bizal
• Berkeley Haas Los Angeles

In today's episode, our new host Kenny Vaughn chats with Stephanie Fujii, former Assistant Dean of the Berkeley Haas School of Business and former Executive Director of Admissions. She has spent her career in human capital and leadership development, with more than 12 years of experience in nonprofits and higher education, selecting and developing future leaders. 

First, Stephanie shares the impact of COVID, professionally and personally. She talks about the most significant things she learned about herself and how stepping away from her previous life led her to have faith in herself.

She also talks about her time as the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Admissions for the MBA program, the Haas culture and why it's essential to embody all four defining principles, and why investing in culture is vital in any organization.

Steph then shares where her passion for people and their stories came from, her dream of becoming an actor, and acting in theatres in her college days.

Finally, she offers some words of wisdom and encouragement to the Haas community.

Lessons learned during the past year - "I'm still learning a lot, but this one, in particular, is the beauty of surrender. I think it's given us a time and a space to reflect on what's most important and how we want to show up in the world, and how we want to show up for each other. And for me to do that in a way that feels aligned with mind, body, spirit has meant I've had to let go of a lot of things. It was just about that surrender. So, I think I've learned that I have the ability to do that, that there's a beauty in it."

On walking away from her previous life - "The way that I described it at the time was leap of faith. It was opening up and trusting in the universe. And I think what this past year has taught me is it's absolutely a leap of faith, but a leap of faith in myself and trusting in myself. And man, that is something that I would love to bring to as many people as possible because I feel like it has changed everything for me. Liberation is coming through so clearly for me."

"The core of the work that I do now is that I think there is a need for us to see each other and be seen. That was such a kind of a guiding light for that work. And it was possible because of the strong culture at Haas. Culture matters because culture is a reflection of how we see the world, right? It's how we see the world around us. It's how we see our place in the world. And it provides these guidelines for how we behave and how we treat each other."

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In this episode of OneHaas alumni podcast, we chat with Rhonda Shrader. She is the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for the Bay Area Node. Her previous experiences include founding and being an early stage member of startups in biotech, behavioral health, retail, non-profit, and AI.

Rhonda shared her story from Harvard to startups and then eventually to MBA. She also narrated her consulting career in healthcare.

Next, we talked about Lean Transfer, the class she teaches at Haas, her role as the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the I-Corps program, and how these programs can help startups.

Finally, she shared her advice on how to build and work with school or business partners.

On the importance of spending time with the school community - "It's important. It's not scalable, but people need to know that you care, and that's the way to build a community."

"As an entrepreneur, you need skills. You need someone to hold your feet to the fire. You need someone to hold you accountable so that you do not fall victim to confirmation bias. As entrepreneurs, the worst sin we can commit is believing what we want to believe and hearing what we hear."

"Don't feel like you have to start a company as a student. This is not the only chance you have for the rest your life. So, learn what you need to learn. And when the problem comes for you to solve it, you'll be ready."

"You want to have someone who is obsessed about the problem as you are but has a completely different skillset. Not completely different, but someone who makes up for the skills that you don't have. Those are the best kind of partnerships."

• LinkedIn
• Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship
• National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program 

In this OneHaas Undergrad episode, we are joined by Patrick Pan, a Fortune-100-bred and startup-tested leader in global strategy and consumer marketing. He is currently the Vice President of Stealth Venture, online education and media platform, and serves as the President of the Berkeley-Haas Alumni Network of Los Angeles.

Besides being a frequent speaker on international growth, e-commerce profitability, customer intelligence, and brand narratives, he is also a certified rescue diver who occasionally surveys coral reefs around the world on marine conservation projects.

Patrick talks about his MBA experience at London Business School, his passion for traveling, and his experience with early-stage start-ups and adapting to market shifts and trends. 

He also shares some of the most pivotal moments in his life that greatly impacted his career and what he loves about Berkeley.

"As globalized as we can become, it doesn't necessarily take away the uniqueness of each market. People don't behave the same way across the world. People do not think about things the same way. Any successful company right now that's looking to be globally-minded would need to be able to localize and think in that way."

"What I love about traveling really, and how it leads me to what I do in my career, is if I'm talking to somebody or contacts or even a prospect in some way, in a different market, from a different background, I can try to relate pretty quickly. And if not relate, at least understand because I've just been exposed to so many different types of people from different walks of life. And that, for me, is a blessing."

"I always feared not being able to meet and experience as many things as I can while I still can. I travel that much because it helps me expand myself and understand that my perspective is definitely not the only one. In fact, it's not even one out of a thousand; it's probably one out of millions."

"Whenever I give talks and discuss things in any level of exploration with people of different environments, it tends to center around the theme of just being open and understanding that the perspectives out there are equally as valid. And we should be able to consider different options even if sometimes data suggests otherwise."

• LinkedIn
• Berkeley-Haas Alumni Network - Los Angeles

On our third episode of the OneHaas Alumni High Impact Teaming (HIT) Series with Dr. Brandi Pearce, we have a conversation with Haas alumni Amy Fan. Amy completed the dual degree program with an MBA and MPH in 2019.

During her time at Haas, she also launched her start-up, TwentyEight Health, a women’s health platform to provide reproductive and sexual health care, with a focus on providing access to underserved communities.  

Amy’s experience growing up in Canada with public healthcare and her professional experience years working as a management consultant and for a start-up team providing direct consumer skincare, fostered a client centered and equity lens that she has brought to the design of TwentyEight Health.  

Listen to how she has leveraged her experiences to design and build her team with intention and lead during this challenging time.

Disclaimer: The views shared in this episode are Amy’s personal opinions and reflections and not necessarily those of her employer.

"Haas has created this ecosystem where there's a lot of a sense of psychological safety, even from a relationship perspective."

"We want to make sure that everyone feels supported and even though we might be working on different things, at the end of the day, we're working towards a bigger goal."

"Giving people that sense of ownership over their projects makes it a lot easier for them to also think through."

• LinkedIn
• TwentyEight Health
• Forbes article about TwentyEight Health 

In today's episode of OneHaas Undergrad series, we chat with Trae Guinn, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at Sandler Partners. He is also the Chief Financial Officer at Shortstop Management, an organization geared towards professional baseball and fitness instruction. While here at Haas, he served as the VP of Human Resources and the president of the Haas Undergrad Black Business Association.

Trae talks about his family, which is heavily involved in sports, how he developed his interest in finance and his career path after Haas, and some of the defining moments that impacted his life.

He also shares his experience of being frequently stereotyped as an athlete and how he addressed stereotype issues when he became the Haas Undergrad Black Business Association president.

Lastly, he shares his professional experiences and some of the valuable skills and qualities to move up in an organization, his passion for music, and his favorite thing about Haas/Berkeley.

On breaking stereotypes - "Be present and be unapologetically you to show versatility and that you can be confident in your interest. You can pursue whatever you want to pursue. You don't have to conform to the standards that have been set for you."

On innovating within a company or organization - "You want to make sure that you can set yourself apart from your peers. Everyone's going to try to produce high-quality work, and it's really important. But the ability to innovate and bring something new to the table will set you apart and help you establish yourself from the rest."

What Trae likes about Haas/Berkeley - "There's more of a free speech mentality at Berkeley than there are at some other schools. And people are encouraged to express themselves in a lot of different ways. It was cool to be a part of that type of environment."

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• Shortstop Management, LLC

Today, we have Robert Chatwani on our show. Robert was EWMBA student at Haas, class of '07. He was chief executive at eBay and Teespring before becoming the CMO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company that aims to unleash teams' power.

Robert started his career in management consulting before going into performance marketing and consumer branding. He is passionate about international trade economics and for building early-stage and large-scale consumer platforms.

He shares with us how he started Monkey Bin, an online marketplace that became a multi-party trading system for B2B barter, and how he eventually landed an entrepreneurial role at eBay where he stayed for 12 years.

Roberts narrates his time at Haas, including his personal story with his best friend and co-founder, Sameer Bhatia, who was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. It paved the way for them to launch a national marrow registration drive. He also shares the impact of this project on his life and how it brought him clarity around the power of purpose and discovering his true North.

Finally, Robert tells us how to build more resilience into our lives, especially during these turbulent times that we're all in right now.

"I'm a big believer that the first few years of your career, or really anytime you make a pivot, it's really important to treat those as learning years because you're still in discovery mode of trying to understand what path you might go down or how you might harness your personal interests and connect that to things that you care about."

"I believe that the greatest careers are discovered, not planned. So, buckle up and embrace some of the uncertainty that comes with that. Open yourself up to the most growth opportunity."

"When I'm stuck in a decision, I catch myself to say, hold on, is this aligned with my why? There's no separation between your why and who you are and why you do it, what you do after a certain point. And I think that's when it becomes really powerful."

"Doing what you love, surrounding yourself with the right people and the right energy, and staying in good health, physically, mentally, and spiritually, help build resilience."

• LinkedIn
• The Golden Circle by Simon Sinek
• True North by Bill George
• The Pause Principle by Kevin Cashman
• Alchemist by Paulo Paolo

Today, we have Brandon White on the podcast. He's a full-time MBA, class of 2018. Brandon was assigned to the second infantry division in South Korea and served as a platoon leader and communications officer. He has also served the 11th signal brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, including two deployments to Afghanistan as an Executive Officer, Logistics Officer, and Company Commander. 

Brandon talks about his time in the army and all the leadership positions he had when he was there, what led him to Haas, and the impact of all the current global issues on his family and how they deal with it.

He also talks about the core values he shares with his children and how the pandemic didn't stop him from venturing into entrepreneurship. Lastly, he shares some parting words to the Haas community on fighting racism and other -isms and leaving this world a better place.

"You're not going to love everyone you meet. You're not going to love everyone you work with. Obviously, there are going to be challenges, but generally, this is an environment where people want to see what your limit is, what's the sky for you, and try to support you in getting there with wherever you struggle."

"I like to try to help people see a different perspective or think about their lives in the future. When I feel like I can provide insights, I can always try. I like to think about it, and I think it's challenging."

"Everything is founded on honesty and truth. If you want to be someone that provides value, is respected, is looked up to, is thought of in a positive light, it starts with honesty and truth." 

"Whatever you do, you have to sow a good seed to reap the harvest. And if you're not willing to do that, then don't expect it."

"If you're at Haas or you're associated with Haas, you have lots of privileges that others do not. And I feel like if we don't continue to try to use that privilege for good, to fight racism, to fight - there's a million -isms I could throw out there - find the -ism that you're passionate about and do use your privilege to fight that, to leave this world a better place."

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