OneHaas

Chris chatted with David Siap, Associate at McKinsey & Company. David is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in energy, climate, and consulting. At Haas, David was part of many programs, including several MBA challenges and Berkeley StEP, the Student Entrepreneurship Program.

David grew up in an undocumented immigrant Filipino family, which helped shape his relationship with change and challenges. It made him good and comfortable with rolling with the punches, dealing with ambiguity, and challenging himself.

In this episode, he talked about his experiences taking up different majors in his undergrad, early professional career, and grad school at UC Davis.

He then shared his time at a prestigious place after grad school, Berkeley Lab, going to business school right after, and eventually joining McKinsey.

Pivoting from wind energy to climate tech

"I want to understand why things are the way they are and how can I impact people. And I thought that, at that time, it seemed clear to me that climate change would be one of the biggest challenges of our generation. And I wanted to be there. I was already working on a climate-adjacent automotive product, but I wanted to be at the bleeding edge of the tech. And so, that's why I ended up pivoting."

During his time at The Berkeley Lab

"It was a really great time. I landed there and felt like, wow, everybody is so crazy smart, so much more than me. There's a Ph.D. from MIT sitting next to me. On the other side, there's a Harvard Ph.D. in physics. There's a Nobel Prize winner down the hall. It was a really crazy place to be. And it was great to be surrounded by folks who were so smart and focused on something that was a net positive for society. Everybody there was working on climate change when presumably a lot of these folks could have been out conquering the world and making so much more money than you make at a national lab. But they were there, I think, because they wanted to make the world a better place."

On pivoting into consulting

"I was starting to see this common thread. These people are in leadership positions, and they have X, Y, and Z skills that they're good at. And those are things that I want to be good at, essentially. And so, that's when McKinsey or the consulting space became more and more real to me. I realized the skills that you can develop in the space. And I was coming initially from a growth mindset as well. And so, it felt natural to extend the MBA. I've heard other people put it by going to a place like McKinsey, I can extend the MBA work on these skills that I want to develop. And I would actually get paid for it."

David's piece of advice for everyone

"Trust the process and follow your passion."

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• Berkeley Lab

Our guest is Stanley Lam, Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon. Stanley is an experienced business and technology professional with experience in engineering and product management. At Haas, Stanley was a Dean's Fellow and the VP of Careers for the Haas Technology Club.

Stanley was born in Hong Kong and moved to the US alone when he was only 15 to study high school in a boarding school in Missouri. Here, he learned how to be independent, and he considers this experience one of his life's pivotal moments.

In this episode, Stanley shares his journey of moving from a small town to a big city, his experiences studying in every major college in California, and his career pivots.

Stanley also tells us why he decided to pursue an MBA, commuting experience, the importance of networking, and the value of jumping out of comfort zones and challenging the status quo.

Join the community for this podcast at clever.fm/haas. Here you can ask the guest a question, connect with other listeners, and leave your thoughts.

On moving from a small town to a big city for college

“That was challenging for me actually, just getting myself out there. Although I have everything that I learned from college, you just have to throw yourself out there, knowing that you probably don't know what you're getting yourself into, but you just have to believe in your gut feeling that this is what you want to do and where you want to be and just do it. Just that experience of jumping out of my comfort zone is something I'd take with me.”

Transitioning from being a student to a professional right after grad school

“It's definitely different. There's a lot of responsibility that, as a student, you don't have to deal with. Getting yourself situated with all the financial stuff, just one thing, and then just getting to be responsible. It's not late for homework anymore, or late for an exam. This is actual business. There's actually a business impact for you not living up to your expectations or doing what you're supposed to do. So, that's a big change. But I think, again, going back to my high school experience, just being independent, that helped me a lot in transitioning to the real world pretty quickly. Especially, getting exposed to very diverse people really early in my life helped me. It's just easy for me to get along with a lot of other people. That helped me a lot at work, honestly. Just to understand different cultures really quickly in my life is pretty good.”

A piece of advice for everyone

"Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. You only have a finite amount of time. And everyone dies. You just got to get out of your comfort zone. You will always remember when you get out of your comfort zone. You probably won't remember when you are in the comfort zone."

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• clever.fm/haas

Our guest on this episode is Priya Bajaj, currently Head of Engagement Management at Google Cloud for US West. She is an experienced business and technology professional with extensive career experience with tech giants.

Priya is originally from India, but she grew up in Doha, finishing high school there. She then came to the US to pursue her undergrad.

In this episode, Priya shares what it was like growing up in the Middle East, where the culture is so diverse. She also talks about going to college in the US and how she literally Googled the top schools to find the right one, ultimately ending up in Georgia Tech, where she spent most of her formative years. 

Priya also tells us why she still pursued an MBA even after accomplishing so much in her career and how she uses what she has learned in B-school in her current leadership role.

Along with engaging executive leaders in her work, Priya is also passionate about creativity and giving back to the community.

On her experiences at Georgia Tech

"Most transformative years of my life, for sure. I think my mindset, my values, everything was challenged in those four years. I had the privilege to be meeting people from all walks of life, meet some great friends there, and learn a lot from people. It was a journey. At Georgia Tech, there were people who challenged my belief system, created awareness with respect to what's a different way of thinking about certain scenarios. And I appreciate that. I learned so much during those four years, not necessarily academically, but personally, about my hopes for life, what are the things that I like, what is the kind of life that I want to live? All of that reflection happened in those four years."

Why she pursued an MBA

"The first one, again, student always. Truly, for me, that constant learning was very important. So, getting an MBA fulfilled that part of me that wanted to learn more. The second was imposter syndrome. At Google, there are so many amazing people that I always felt, am I playing catch-up with their brilliance and their expertise? And do they know something more that I don't know? And since I knew I'm going to be in the business side of things for the rest of my journey, at least how I see it now, I wanted to make sure I, at least, understand at a one-on-one level, what are the different aspects of running a business as a leader? And what better way than to learn it in a structured manner at this school?

And the third reason was to learn from other people. I think we as human beings are meant to be social beings. We are not meant to just be put in one place. And the best learnings and reflections that I get are from conversations and idea exchange and conversations with other people. And I really felt that, at Haas, meeting people from different backgrounds, bringing different perspectives, just like how it was at Georgia Tech, helped me think through the way I'm thinking about certain things. Opened my mind to different concepts, different ways of approaching, and grew myself professionally."

On giving back to the community through mentorship

"One of the things that keeps me grounded is giving back. Every six months, I mentor two women who are either at Google or outside. And I do this in a six-month rotation to allow for me to scale my impact, but also to allow them to take the learnings and go be successful. The reason it is so important for me is because I am acutely aware of how privileged we are to be here in the Bay Area working for the best firms. I would not be where I am today without the help of other mentors who coached me and guided me, either in a formal or informal capacity. The best thing I can do is pay that forward. And mentorship is one of the best ways I find of doing that."

One piece of advice for MBA students

"The biggest thing I would say is to not get pressured by the concept of networking. I have always done what I term as selective networking, because there often are going to be people in the room who are not there at every bar, who are not there at every party, but they still manage to get a lot out of the program. And I think I am one of them. And I would still like to think I'm friends with many people in my cohort because I took out the time to do those one-on-one relationships and create those bonds that were outside of the traditional networking avenues. So, for those who are unable to participate in those traditional avenues, I would say, don't be afraid of selective networking."

• Priya Bajaj LinkedIn

We brought Lance Barnard to the show today to talk about his unique journey into entrepreneurship. Lance is CEO at Ward Road Pharmacy, a pharmaceuticals company that provides the convenience of a "one-stop-shop" for prescriptions and homecare supplies, expert advice, friendly service, and individualized solutions. He acquired it through a self-funded search, where an entrepreneur embarks on the journey of searching for a company without funding or an installed base of investors, opting instead to secure their funding once they've found their company.

Lance grew up in New Jersey but wanted something different when it was time to go to college. So, he went to Southern Methodist University in Texas for his undergrad and studied business, which had always been his interest.

In this episode, Lance shared his career experiences at Goldman-Sachs and Samsung Electronics, how he adapted to different company cultures, and coming to the Bay area to pursue his MBA at Haas, which has its own set of cultures.

Lance also talked about how he was introduced to search funds, why self-funded search appeals to him more than traditional search, and his journey into acquiring Ward Road Pharmacy.

On the time he spent in Texas

“Overall, I enjoyed my time there. I think I got a really good education, learned a lot more just about the energy industry, which I never would have if I had gone elsewhere, got to experience a different perspective, and live in a different part of the country. I think that it did a good job exposing me to a lot of new things.”

On starting with a finance career as a young professional

“I was straddling between do I want to go do a career in finance, maybe go into banking and go into private equity, or did I want to do something more entrepreneurial? In the back of my mind, I probably knew the answer to that, but I thought, at the very least, starting my career in finance would be the best way to gain the core set of skills to be successful in business later in life.”

Why he got into search funds

“It's a bigger version of what I had previously done, buying my Amazon business, but stepping in. And it resonated with me because I don't think I've ever—unfortunately, just never had that spark to bring something from zero to one. I like to tell people I think I'm better suited to bring something from one to 10 than zero to one. I'm just really good at optimizing processes, improving things, efficiency, and having the resources to do big implementations or take some risks. And that's not something I necessarily get to do if I was starting from the ground up with limited resources. So, that model just resonated with me.”

One piece of advice that had a positive impact on his life

“Just not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. And always be comfortable being uncomfortable. I think that's probably a borrowed phrase. I don't know who to attribute it to, but my previous manager told me that. It's something that stuck with me. If you're totally comfortable, you're probably not pushing yourself harder enough.”

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• Ward Road Pharmacy

Today, we have Alijah Talley, West Coast Growth Relationship Manager at Zimba Technologies and Founder and Executive Director at The Qonnection. Alijah is an experienced leader and executive with an extensive background that includes serving as a captain in the US Army, founding The Qonnection with the mission to advocate for African-American students pursuing higher education, and as a Consortium Fellow and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) Professional Development Fellow here at Haas. 

Alijah was born in Panama but didn't experience the country and culture because his family moved to the US when he was just a baby. He spent his formidable years and adult life in Texas. Alijah applied to West Point, but going there wasn't a smooth path. The admissions officer assigned to him said he wasn't West Point material. However, he didn't let it stop him. It motivated him to try harder and earned admission to the academy. 

In this episode, Alijah shares his experiences at West Point Academy and as an army leader. During this time, he also became the Diversity Outreach Admissions Officer, and his experiences in this position led him to found The Qonnection. He didn't want anyone to experience what he did, and he wanted the African-American youth to get a competitive advantage.

Lastly, Alijah talks about his reasons for pursuing an MBA, why he chose Haas, internships, his job at Zimba Technologies, and plans post-MBA.

On being told he wasn't a “West Point material”

“I decided that no one's going to tell me what I can't do. I'm going to leave that up to the academy. And thank goodness that that was the information that I got at the time, because the only thing that that did was motivate me to try harder, to go faster. Pride is something else, because I was dead set on proving this guy wrong. And thank God I was, because I ended up earning admission to the academy. And I was really excited to go there and embark on a new opportunity.”

On his experience at the Academy

“It's definitely tough. But one thing I will say about the academy is it really forced me to grow up extremely fast. And the good thing about West Point is that everybody at the academy is just as motivated as you are. It's almost like an incubator. When you get into a room with 1,000 of your classmates and everybody's motivated, you just continue to push yourself and push yourself and push yourself.

But in full transparency, I struggled with imposter syndrome very, very, very heavy at the academy. There were some days where I just felt like the dumbest guy in the room. These kids are just so smart. But that feeling that I didn't belong in the same space and that I was not as smart as my classmates served as a motivator for me to try much harder and to push myself as hard as I can go and get the best experience out of the academy that I possibly could. I think that everybody goes through that in some form or fashion at the academy. It has a very special way of testing you mentally and physically but definitely keen on the mentally.”

On pursuing an MBA at Haas

"The more research I did, it just started to make more and more sense that that was a time to transition, and specifically, Haas. And I started to notice this arc throughout my story that Haasies always made time for me. And I would say even in my experience here as a current student, that has continued to be a consistent long line. And it doesn't even just have to be Haasies, but Haasies just make time for people. Haasies care about humans. And I just loved that so much.

During my exploratory phase when I was in a different MBA program, I was really concerned about the culture. I work best in collaborative environments. And I'm not a huge fan of the doggy dog mentality, we're all competing for a very small set of slots, billets, positions, whatever you want to call it. And every time I got on the room with a Haasie, it was just a great conversation. It was for sure the culture that got me."

A piece of advice to somebody, either personal or professional

"Don't close any doors, for whatever reason. We set deadlines arbitrarily. We get on this one track sometimes. So many things in this Haas experience and the army, just serendipitous conversations, something that may not look like an opportunity or something that just starts off as a very small conversation. It may turn into a whole non-profit. So, always keep your options open. I try to say yes to as many things as I can, just because of new opportunities and new experiences. And just keeping the doors open, truly being open to where life may take you for your next experience."

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• The Qonnection

We welcome Eric Sassano to the podcast today. Eric earned his B.S. in Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley and currently finishing his MBA at Haas. He works in Investment Strategy at Compound. Before joining Compound, he was with Caprock Group as Manager of Private Investments. Eric began his career at Hall Capital Partners, a multi-family office based in San Francisco. He initially spent his time advising clients on portfolio allocation decisions. Subsequently, he focused on research and due diligence for the firm's Private Equity and Venture Capital fund investments. 

Eric grew up close to Berkeley, so it's no surprise that he is a Double Bear. In this episode, we get to know a little about his upbringing, growing up within the Berkeley ecosystem, his experiences both in undergrad and graduate school, and why going to business school is one of the best personal investments he has ever made.

Eric also shares what got him in the investment space, how portfolio management works, and the future of investing.

On growing up within the Berkeley ecosystem, getting his undergrad, and coming back for graduate school

“I was pretty awestruck by that experience. And such a beautiful campus. I never really appreciated that growing up, but as I've come back to Berkeley again, some of my best memories are taking walks throughout the campus. And so, that's been an important part of just being immersed in this, again, just long-tenured history.

I'm fortunate to have that younger perspective and now a little bit older perspective. And I've certainly tried not to take it for granted because I think life is happening fast at 18, 19 years old. And you miss out on certain things just because things are moving so quickly. So, as I've come back, it's really trying to take the time and appreciate the experience for whatever it is.”

Transitioning from being a collegiate athlete to a hardcore student 

“It was hard. I felt steps behind, Imposter Syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Still, I'm certainly out of my league. And certainly, I have overcome some of those things. But when I came back to Haas, it was another feeling of that again because such impressive people around you have done so many awesome and interesting things, like, whoa, how do I even deserve to be in this cohort of people?

But I wouldn't lie that I certainly struggled for a period of time before I found my footing and that internal drive and belief to say, you know what? I do deserve to be right here. I can work at this level.”

On his experiences at Haas 

“You're making an investment in yourself. And ultimately, it's been one of the best personal investments that I've made in myself, both from a financial return and non-financial return perspective. I think the relationships between professors, colleagues, and alumni have been unbelievable. I think you can't put a price on this professionalization and self-confidence-building exercise that I think a lot of people go through when they go through an MBA program. You get to a point where, perhaps, before it was a little bit fake it till you make it. And then, after, you're like, ‘No, I can do this. I can learn something totally new and thrive and succeed in that.’ So, I think that's been incredibly invaluable.”

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Today is another episode in celebration of Pride Month. Our guest, Michelle MiJung Kim (she/her), is a queer immigrant Korean American woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the author of "The Wake Up," where she shares foundational principles often missing in today’s mainstream conversations around “diversity and inclusion” and urges readers to go beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world. 

Michelle is also CEO and co-founder of Awaken, a leading provider of interactive equity and inclusion education programs facilitated by majority BIPOC educators, where she has consulted hundreds of organizations and top executives from Fortune 500, tech giants, nonprofits, and government agencies to spark meaningful change. 

In this episode, Michelle shares her immigrant story, coming out as queer in high school, and how it began her political activism journey. 

Michelle also tells us who and what inspired her to become an activist, why she is passionate about DEI and social justice, and what led her to write her book.

Finally, we'll hear Michelle's insights on how we can be a part of the solidarity movement in more ways that are more than just changing profile photos, dealing with trade-offs and contradictions, and how we can truly incorporate racial equity and social justice in the workplace and the community.

How people can participate authentically in social justice movements

"The most sustaining why that I talk about in the book is the one in which we can see ourselves in it. So, I don't want to see white people wanting to dismantle racism or white supremacy just because they have people of color friends in their lives. I want white people to understand that white supremacy isn't just killing people of color. It's also robbing them of their humanity. I want men to not want to dismantle misogyny or sexism or the patriarchy just because they have women in their lives that they care about. I also want men to want to do this because they understand that the same forces that are killing and hurting women in their lives are the same forces that are robbing men of their ability to be vulnerable, their ability to stay at home with their children, their ability to talk about mental health openly. So, these issues aren't just about helping marginalized people. All of these issues are connected in such a way that, if we don't dismantle all of them, they're eventually going to come for us, too.

So, I think the why question is such a fundamental way for us to begin this work in a more authentic way that puts us on the map, that sometimes we like to think of as totally unrelated to our lives. So, I want more people to feel invested in this because it's about all of us. It's about reclaiming our humanity as much as it is about supporting those who are marginalized, and therefore, that this work must be considered important and urgent for all of us."

Defining performative allyship

"Performative allyship, to me, is similar to virtue signaling, when people are so quick to claim that they are in solidarity with certain movements or certain marginalized people and groups that they are quick to claim that identity before actually having done the work or before they are actually committed to doing the work in a sustainable way. 

And so, for me, that quick, urgent desire to claim that you are a good person, that you are an ally to a certain community, can sometimes be the very barrier between you actually living the values that you want to live, because you desiring to do something but without actually having sat with the necessary introspection can sometimes lead to unintended harm that could burden more marginalized people rather than being supportive or being seen as true solidarity."

What does "The Wake Up" mean

"When I titled the work "The Wake Up," it wasn't just about us waking up to other people's struggles and the injustices that are around us in the world. It was also about our waking up to ourselves, our waking up to our capacity to change and transform, but also our capacity to wake up to our complicity in some of the systems of oppression that we're so quick to denounce.

What I want to see is all of us taking the work of self-transformation seriously even before we claim that we are out there ready to march alongside other people. So, starting with ourselves begins with our questioning the why. Why are we doing this work? Why do I feel compelled to be a part of this social justice movement? "

On trade-offs and living in contradictions

"We will all have to, at some point, be willing to give up something in order to move the movement forward, whether it is our resources, our positions of power, our privilege. So, when it comes to actually doing the things that are in alignment with our set values, what are we actually willing to trade off? 

When it comes to doing this work, there will be some trade-offs that we have to be honest about making. Or when we're not ready to or willing to make those trade-offs, then let's be honest about why and interrogate where that fear is coming from. And they could be very valid reasons.

So, these are some real decisions, real trade-offs and sacrifices sometimes that we are needing to make in order to stay in alignment with our values. We're not shooting for perfection, but we are trying to be honest throughout this process. So, I don't ask people to ever be perfect in their decision-making because I'm certainly not. And I live in contradictions all the time. But in these moments of contradictions, can we be courageous enough to be honest with ourselves and be willing to do the work in order for us to be closer in alignment with our values every single day?"

On holding onto hope and not giving in to cynicism

"I think holding onto hope is such a powerful and courageous thing for us to do, and to remember that change is indeed possible, and it's not only possible but that it's happening every single day all around us. And I think of Mariame Kaba, black abolitionist, somebody who I really admire and look up to and learn from. Her quote is, hope is a discipline. And that's the thought that I want to leave folks with because I think we need a lot of hope these days, and to remember that a better world, a more just, inclusive, safe, equitable world is possible and that it is being built right now by so many people with the same vision. So, don't lose hope. Don't give in to cynicism. Claim the corner of your life and the world that you're in charge of. And make that your frontline where you do the work to create change that you want to see."

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• LinkedIn
• The Wake Up
• Awaken

Happy Pride Month! In celebration, we chatted with Mikhail Shneyder, President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as an owner of Nightingale College, an accredited, proprietary, post-secondary institution that specializes in nursing education, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is an experienced, visionary leader with a successful career of over 20 years of progressive management experience in health care services and post-secondary education for health professions. Through a generous gift to Haas, Mikhail and his husband also recently named the new Shneyder & Kirk MBA Commons on campus.

Mikhail is originally from Belarus. His family immigrated to the US when he was 19. Coming to the US was an eye-opener. All his childhood imagination dreams about America vanished immediately. Mikhail went on to do odd jobs for a few years, including dressing up as Barney in Times Square. However, after passing the RN licensure exam, he started to practice nursing.

In this episode, Mikhail shares the unique story behind their move to the US, his early experiences after moving, fully realizing he’s gay, and the dark part of his journey into finding and accepting himself and overcoming the challenges along the way.

We also get to hear why Mikhail is passionate about healthcare, his reasons for going to business school, and how he got into education. He also talks about the mission and goals of Nightingale and its plans for the future.

On realizing that he's gay

“I really didn't understand. It wasn't spoken at all. Growing up, I didn't know the LGBT community even existed. It's an interesting thing of identity with me finding that eventually. But I didn't fully realize that I was gay until we moved to the States. And all of a sudden, it was like something smacking you in the face. I went like, ‘Wow. Oh, wow! Oh, it makes sense.’ All of this that I've been experiencing.”

Overcoming the darkness of finding his true self

“Climbing back out of what I described as darkness, really, took a long time. And as a human being, I think the biggest fear that one might have is fear of being in your own skin, fear of yourself. And so, for me, reconciling and journeying to self-acceptance and to my humanity, essentially, and recognizing it and learning about it and doing all of that. But it was many years of hard work, and everything from just becoming much healthier—from movement to meditation to all sorts of things—and then eventually arriving at this place of just peace.”

Why he is passionate about nursing

“I ended up being one of the caregivers to mom and learning through it all, started to understand what health really is and what health brings to an individual, a family, or a community, and the opposite of health, what illness does. And so, I became very passionate about it. It became absolutely clear that nursing is what I loved and nursing is what I have passion for, because of the care that it has at the heart of it because of what nurses can do for somebody who is on their worst day and supporting them, and nurturing them and allowing them and giving them the resources and tools and everything else and the support that's needed for somebody to get better and to flourish.”

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• Nightingale College

Our guest is Ryan Drake Lee, a Senior Principal at Keystone Strategy. He is an experienced leader and problem solver focusing on Technology Strategy, Digital Transformation, and Operational Excellence.

A native San Franciscan, Ryan was influenced early on by his father towards business and economics and was exposed to a diverse student body and international experiences and cultures. Some of those experiences shaped his youth and outlook on the world. 

In this episode, Ryan shares what it was like going to one of the most prestigious historically Black colleges, why he pursued an MBA, and his extensive professional career. 

Ryan also talks about his passion for environmental sustainability, climate change, and social justice and how those areas of interest have come into play with what he is currently doing at Keystone Strategy.

On the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the lives of Black Americans

"I think HBCU has played a pivotal role in the landscape of academic institutions and what they provide to different populations of people, that intense focus on the Black American experience, and refining their academic and campus life, programs, and how they create opportunities and make partnerships with businesses for employment and others institutions for cross-disciplinary learning, and how they're trying to create different channels and pipelines to getting access to diverse talent, specifically black Americans. So, I think the role that HBCUs play is immensely important and I’m happy and privileged to have been a part of it."

On pursuing an MBA even when he already had a successful professional career

"What I observed as a young professional joining McKinsey was pretty much almost a formula. And the formula was, do a few years as an analyst, go to a prestigious graduate program, right? Probably an MBA, maybe a public policy degree program or a law degree, and essentially, come back to McKinsey, and in a few years, you'll be a partner and you'll essentially be rich and be able to ride off into the sunset. I know now that life is not that simple and lots of things have changed, but quite frankly, I was convinced that was the formula and the path to success or at least part of what I aspire to have in terms of a career. The way people would look up to partners and admire their ideas and the power that they had and how people would automatically be quiet as soon as they spoke - that looked attractive to me. I also knew that as I was leaving my analyst time after two years at McKinsey, I felt like I would have been in the ivory tower. I'm pushing paper, I'm making slides and Excel. And it was like, let me go see what it's like, you know, get your hands dirty at the ground level. Which is what drew me to be a volunteer consultant at TechnoServe and go work at the ground level, literally, in developing countries. I really enjoyed that but then also, let's be honest. I wanted to have a good living and make a good living and earn some money. So, it was clear that I wanted to go get an MBA."

Thoughts on climate change

"From an economic standpoint, I feel like climate change is really a resource allocation challenge, right? We're not allocating the right resources to the right technologies. We have solutions to lots of the polluting challenges that we have. They're just not economic enough to deploy at scale. So, it's an economic challenge to solve many of the challenges and problems we face."

On managing his professional career and tying it with the things he is passionate about

"What comes to mind for me is, I continue to think of the double and triple bottom lines. I learned about that at Haas. First bottom line being your business bottom line, right? What's your dollar profit? Your second bottom line being your kind of social impact, right? What is the impact of the business that you do in the communities where you do it? And then your third bottom line is around the environment, right? What is the impact to the environment? I often think about how can we try to aspire to more of this circular loop economy where we don't have this linear economy where you kind of extract natural resources out of the ground, turn them into something consumable, that is then consumed and then sits in a landfill forever. How do we make this more of a circular loop so that things are sustainable perpetually?"

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• Morehouse College
• TechnoServe

We invited Ian Shea to the podcast in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Ian is the Founder and CEO of I M Human, an organization that works with companies advising on how to think through the variety of creative ways to culturally support the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being needs of their employees and implements initiatives that are relevant for them. 

Ian shares his Life Moments™, such as going to different countries for a youth exchange program, finally getting accepted at Cornell after several rejections, going to investment banking, coming out of restructuring twice, and eventually going to business school.

Ian then founded a company, Maestro Market, but that business did not work out through a series of twists and turns. And it was a traumatic and very stressful experience for him. However, that particular Life Moments™ started Ian's journey to launching I M Human. Ian shares how he shifted a potentially disastrous moment into one of tremendous growth in this episode. 

Passionate about entrepreneurship ever since he was young

Ever since I was little, I always had started small companies, nothing major. But I was just interested in seeing what I could create on my own. And I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that Rubik's cube. Instead of getting "normal jobs" like a camp counselor, I would be doing other things. 

On having different executive positions to gain knowledge about running a business

My original goal was to learn the plumbing, if you will, of the business. Or, if you think of your little learnings as a clock, I was able to go around the whole clock, get some proficiency. I had some great guidance along the way. I had some great mentors. And all along the way, mentors would drop me into particular positions because they said, if you want to go where you say you want to go, these are all valuable skill sets. You don't have to be an expert in all these areas. But you need to know just enough. So, when you're eventually managing or running a company, you have better preview on the holistic elements of the company.

On building I M Human, a “non-traditional’ business

It took many years for me to get my own voice in it to understand, and ultimately, to get confidence that, after a traditional background that I had business-wise, that I could actually be just as successful and "non-traditional." What looks very traditional now was not 10 years ago. You're trying to build a business around emotional and wellbeing was not something that was mainstream nor is talking about mental health as it relates to business. None of that was in the dialogue. And so, the benefits of that was that really forced me to come up with my own words, because if you were to read an article and you have an idea similar to that, that validates you and you can take snippets of that to make you sound better. But if there's nothing of that there, you really have to hone in. And I had a lot of support in that “hone in”. I had support from my family, my friends. I'll never forget this, I was building this, I didn't have any clue what I was doing, but I knew inside where I was going.

And so, people would say, "How are you doing? What are you doing?" I couldn't really articulate it in a confident way, which doesn't make your loved ones feel that confident in what you're doing. But they still supported me throughout.

What is I M Human

We are a trusted advisor for organizations that are at a point where they want to grow their culture to be more supportive of the mental, emotional, and spiritual being their employees. And what that entails is it really boils down to culture transformation and culture growth. 

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