More Harvard MBAs Are Turning to Politics
There’s no doubt that politics and public service have been hot topics since the November 2016 election. These subjects have dominated news stories and talk shows across the country. And, according to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, politics and public service are also moving up as career choices for graduates from Harvard Business School (HBS).
Around 40 Class of ’17 HBS MBA graduates launched careers in government and nonprofits—twice as many as the previous year. Even though this represents just 4 percent of the program’s 900 graduates, it still suggests a growing interest in policy-making for business students.
Of course, business and government have always been closely connected, and it’s common for MBA students to aspire to public service and nonprofit involvement as part of their long-term career plans. The difference is that MBA graduates are starting to head into public service careers immediately after graduation. At least that’s what Matthew M. Segneri, an HBS MBA Class of 2004 alumnus, has witnessed.
Segneri, the director of the Social Enterprise Initiative at HBS, has noticed that graduates are increasingly considering careers in politics. In an article in the Harvard Crimson, he said: “Over the last 12 to 18 months, I’ve had a number of conversations with folks and seen a real uptick in the number of people who are thinking about local, state, and federal office.”
He went on to observe a change in the timing of these plans. “When you look at the prior generations of alumni there is more the tradition of learn, earn, and return—folks would go to school, have a successful traditional business career, and then later in life they would pursue public office or get deeply engaged in nonprofits and their communities,” Segneri said. “Today, there’s both an urgency and an understanding that it doesn’t have to be that way.”
There are many factors driving the surge in interest in politics. One is the simple fact that the United States elected a prominent businessman as president in the last election. Another is a trend of prominent business leaders being very vocal about politics in recent months, reinforcing the connection between the business and political realms.
For example, during the 2016 November election, Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., threw her support behind the Democratic candidate in New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District race. And Carlos Diaz, a French entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, told the Financial Times that the tech industry has some responsibility for the 2016 election outcome.
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“The America that voted for Trump does not own a Tesla, nor an iPhone, and when it needs money, it does not ask business angels for help: it relies on bad credit,” Diaz said. “It is time to recognize that we need to develop technologies and businesses that will benefit the widest range of people possible, algorithms that do not divide but that bring together.”
So, it’s not a surprise that MBA graduates are heading into politics. In fact, more than a dozen Harvard MBA graduates have recently announced campaigns to run for local, state, or federal government.
Democrat Tim Keller, HBS MBA ’05, was elected mayor of Albuquerque, NM, last month while Republican Margaret Busse, HBS MBA ’01, recently announced her candidacy for the Massachusetts state senate. In addition, HBS MBA ’03 Sarah Amico is expected to announce her run for lieutenant governor in Georgia.
While Keller didn’t enter politics straight out of graduate business school, he understands why new MBA graduates are doing so. “In business school, what a lot of people do is say, ‘Oh, my second career is gonna be in public service. I’m gonna go into business, be successful, and then do public service,’” he told the Crimson. “What’s different all of a sudden is that people are opting out early, and they’re like ‘I’m gonna do this right now’ because they’re upset about something or fired up and want to make a difference.”
Adem T. Bunkeddeko, MBA Class of ’17, is currently running for Congress in New York’s Ninth Congressional District in Brooklyn—making him a perfect example of this phenomenon. Throughout his career at Harvard, Bunkeddeko maintained his connection to his local community and decided to use his business skills to better serve through politics. “At HBS we’re trained as general managers,” he said. “Understanding aspects of an organization, whether it be from the finance front or human capital, are important and useful skills that are actually quite lacking in public service today.”
And many other MBA graduates feel the same way. For Busse, who is running for the Massachusetts State Senate, the many case studies she read during her HBS coursework informed her desire to go into politics. “It’s really that ability to solve real-world problems that is needed in government today, that is needed in nonprofits today, and anywhere where people are trying to make a difference,” she said.
In addition, Busse sees widespread dissatisfaction with the current political climate as another reason MBA graduates are entering this arena. “I’m guessing a lot of people are feeling like me, frustrated with the current situation we have in politics today and feeling their skillset gives them a unique ability to help solve the problems we have right now,” Busse said.
In fact, that dissatisfaction led HBS MBA ’01 Daniella Ballou-Aares to recruit more HBS graduates into politics by forming the nonprofit Leadership Now with some of her fellow alumni. Developed after the 2016 election, Leadership Now recruits Harvard alumni and business leaders to run for office and helps to raise funds for their campaigns. After just a few months, the nonprofit already has the support of about 300 high-level business leaders.
Another example of HBS graduates encouraging public service is With Honor, which was developed by ’09 MBA Rye Barcott to support veterans running for office. In 2018, the organization plans to spend $30 million supporting campaigns for 25 to 35 congressional candidates.
In the end, Keller notes that the biggest motivation for MBAs to get into politics may be President Donald Trump. “Whether you like him or not, he is motivating. You’re either motivated against him or you’re motivated for him,” Keller said. “I also do think there’s just something about the millennial group that they’re not going to wait around.”
To learn more about how Harvard Business School facilitates students’ careers in politics, visit the school website.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
MBA Alumni Spotlight: HP CEO Meg Whitman
Meg Whitman has been slaying the business world one corporation at a time. She’s the true definition of a businesswoman who doesn’t play when it comes to her money—and success. She’s currently reigning over Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, but she’s been building her empire for more than 20 years.
And she’s not done.
The CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise set her expectations high from the start. Raised in the wealthy suburbs of Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island, Whitman has ties to Boston’s elite, reports Business Insider. She eventually left the nest to study at Princeton University. While she initially had interests in medicine, Whitman changed her major to economics, eventually going on to receive her MBA at Harvard Business School.
Her first major gig landed her in Cincinnati in the late ’70s when she joined P&G, a consumer goods corporation. That’s where her feminist leanings truly began to reveal themselves. Whitman learned that the company refused to give female employees company credit cards because it didn’t find it safe for women to travel alone, as Business Insider describes. The lady boss got the company to change that policy. She continues to influence the corporation through its board, on which she sits.
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From there, it was a wrap. Whitman went on to work for major toy company Hasbro, where she was in charge of the famous Mr. Potato Head, as well as bringing Teletubbies to U.S television. Where Whitman left one of her greatest marks, however, was online retailer eBay. In 10 years, she helped increase the company’s revenue from $4 million to $8 billion, and its employee numbers grew from 30 to 15,000, creating one of the most massive and quick corporate turnarounds in recent memory.
Her hard work there paid off. She moved on to become CEO of Hewlett-Packard in 2011, where she’s transformed the company and even separated it into two entities: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. That’s where she plans to stay—even amid offers from places like like hyper-valued ride sharing startup Uber. The company was seeking a new CEO, preferably a woman, but she wasn’t interested.
Her time at Hewlett-Packard hasn’t been all sunshine though. She took her role as CEO during turbulent times and was forced to do massive layoffs to salvage the company. The layoffs began in 2012 and continued well into 2015. But making tough decisions is part of what makes Whitman a great leader—at least, in the business world.
Whitman ran for governor of California as a Republican in 2010. Though current politics might show that some people value a leader with a business background Whitman ultimately lost to current Governor Jerry Brown.
Politics may not be her game, but her place in business is abundantly secure. In 2015, she was named 7th overall on Fortune‘s list of highest paid women and 7th on its list of most powerful women. She kept the latter title last year too—and moved up the list when it came to her income. Whitman’s success highlights how far an MBA can take someone, especially women, who aren’t always as welcome in the business world as some of their male colleagues.
