S6E9: Jacqueline Novogratz, MBA ’91, on The Role of Storytelling in Investing

06/29/23 • 54 min

"I've seen unbelievable change happen in places that the world sees as not investible. Part of storytelling is doing the work of investing so that people can tell their own stories because of the changes they've made."

In 1986 Jacqueline Novogratz quit her job on Wall Street and moved to Rwanda to help open the country's first microfinance institution. She then came to Stanford GSB in 1989, and, in 2001, founded Acumen, a nonprofit impact investing fund.

"We look at poverty always in terms of income, but poverty is so much more than income. Poverty is a lack of choice, it's a lack of opportunity, it's a lack of agency, it's a lack of feeling that you can contribute. Dignity is the opposite."

In this View From the Top interview, Novogratz sits down with Kathleen Schwind, MBA ’23, to talk about her journey into impact investing and how the industry has grown in the last decade.

"We are in this moment of just extraordinary technological acceleration. Our challenge is to ensure that our moral reasoning, our moral imagination, our moral courage keeps pace with that acceleration."

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In this View From the Top interview, Novogratz sits down with Kathleen Schwind, MBA ’23, to talk about her journey into impact investing and how the industry has grown in the last decade.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

S6E8: Jennifer Hyman On The Power of Relentless Optimism

"Now also in that meeting, I asked her, 'Could you introduce me to a few of your friends? I’d love to meet with them and talk about this idea.' Because every meeting has to get you to three other meetings. Never leave a meeting with someone without asking them for that introduction." In this View From The Top interview, Rent the Runway founder and CEO Jennifer Hyman shares stories from her first meeting with fashion-giant Diane Von Furstenberg and how she's worked to foster and maintain relationships with more than 1,000 retail brands.

"If you’re an entrepreneur, effectively you are a salesperson. That’s your number one skill that you need to have," Hyman says.

Interviewed by Cyerra Holmes, MBA ’23, Hyman talked about how growing up with a sibling with a disability helped her become relentlessly optimistic in the face of insurmountable odds. And, just twelve years after business school and those first meetings with fashion designers, Hyman took Rent The Runway public, becoming the 30th woman to complete an IPO in the history of U.S. markets.

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Next Episode

S7E1: Sarah Friar, MBA ’00, On How To Make Strategic Career Risks

“In companies, you don’t want just the product team thinking about the product; the finance team thinking about finance ... You want everyone all the time feeling like they’re an owner, and they can have a point of view on any part of the company.”

In this View From The Top interview, Sarah Friar, MBA ’00, CEO of Nextdoor, sits down with Zack Doherty, MBA ’24. During their conversation at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Friar shared her unique perspective on taking strategic career risks, how social media can effect positive change in society, and the value of bringing people together through human connection and community.

Stanford GSB’s View From The Top is the dean’s premier speaker series. It launched in 1978 and is supported in part by the F. Kirk Brennan Speaker Series Fund. During student-led interviews and before a live audience, leaders from around the world share insights on effective leadership, their personal core values, and lessons learned throughout their career.

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