BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
HBS Tech Conference 2022
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Startup Corner: A Centuries-Old w Winery Startup
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From the Editor’s Desk The Power of Perspective - page 02
THE HARBUS
Winter Semester, 2022 Bringing news to Harvard Business School since 1937
February Edition
Are You Living the Life You Are Meant To? The Spiritual Lives of Leaders takes you on a transcendental journey of self-reflection and humility. Daniel Tong, Contributor
Quarantine Is Not That Bad Felipe Cerón (MBA ’22) reports on his holiday encounter with Covid-19. Felipe Cerón, Entertainment Editor I thought I was immune. I liked to believe so. I had had several close encounters from which I emerged unscathed, and each one gave me more confidence. Well destiny (I believe we can now call it Covid-19) has a funny way of smacking your privates when you least expect it. It happened when I arrived home for Christmas and New Years. I had plans to reunite with my family, see friends I hadn’t seen in years, and go to the beach to celebrate NYE. I wonder what is the average number of times a person checks and re-checks a positive result. Ten hours after the fact, I was still doing it, and in an attempt to stop this mania I did some research (as if that would change anything). In simple words, PCR tests extract RNA, turn it into DNA, and then tiny segments are amplified. With fluorescent
dye, the determination of positivity comes based on the brightness of the fluorescence of these segments. There are a number of reasons for having a false positive, ranging from cross-reactions (dye turning bright with something other than SARS) to incompetence (grabbing another sample). At the end, my positivity was determined by someone gauging how bright a vial looked. What if they had cataracts? Or turned a bit colorblind? See, I did have a lot of time. Nevertheless, the odds were not in my favor, and there was nothing I could do about the test, except squirm and complain. I had stayed over with a Colombian friend for three days, and he had tested positive. A quick aerobic workout showed that I was a bit out of shape, when just a few days ago I had been ok. Way below my capacity, I got the feeling you get when you run really fast on a really cold day. Maybe all the drinking and junk food? This would not be my first rodeo in quarantine-
land, but it was going to be my longest (240 hours) and the first time I dragged people along with me (my parents were contact traced). My initial reaction was to be positive and be thankful for the small things—not really, my first impulse was to break my computer and scream. My reaction was to think about all the things I would miss and about what ten days in the same place might feel like. When would I start to lose my sanity? I had never wanted time to pass by quicker than then, but I hate to waste time. I realized that it was not really the worst possible moment. The worst possible moment would have been just before boarding, left stranded in Colombia, alone. Maybe there were a ton of other worst possible moments. I guess I will never know for sure. Ironically, I had my health. I didn’t feel any worse than usual. I had Covid-19 but no symptoms. Actually, I felt great. This Continued on page 06
The Spiritual Lives of Leaders, SLL, is a masterpiece of a course brought by a collective effort between Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It approaches a conversation that seldom happens at HBS on the fundamental beliefs and practices that drive the
world’s leaders. What gives leaders purpose and guides them in making their most challenging decisions? What are the commitments that rest in the very heart of their moral, ethical, or religious identity? In a rare and rich multidisciplinary combination of faculty and students from different schools, and world-class leaders that include Harvard University President Larry Bacow, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan, and Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, this short intensive program Continued on page 03
IN THIS ISSUE
The MBA Fund page - page 05
Startup Corner: Carbon Storage - page 09
Startup Corner: Fall Funding Update - page 07
Deep Purpose - page 11
What Would Art Should Frederick Be a Habit Bastiat Say? - page 14
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F E B RUA RY 2 0 2 2 THE H A RBUS NEWS CORPOR ATION Harvard Business School Gallatin House Basement Boston, MA 02163 phone: 617-495-6528 fax: 617-495-8619 general@harbus.org www.harbus.org
Editor-in-Chief ALEX SMITH asmith@mba2023.hbs.edu Chief Executive Officer ZEYNEP SELAMET zselamet@mba2023.hbs.edu Chief Operations Officer NATASHA LARSEN natasha@harbus.org Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer VAUGHN KURTENBACH vaughn@harbus.org Chief Design Officer GARRETT TONGE garretttonge@me.com Campus News Editors ERIKA MIONIS KATHERINE RICHARDSON Community Editor SAPAN SHAH Entertainment Editor FELIPE CERÓN Entrepreneurship Editor MIKE KELLY Women Leadership Editors TEMI OJUADE ZIANA KOTADIA Marketing and Communications VALENTINA BULAVA Contributors KEITH BENDER KATALINA BOCK ARTHUR BROOKS RANJAY GULATI ARPIT GUPTA TJ OLOJEDE MARTÍN RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ DANIEL SCHMID DIEGO SALAS DANIEL TONG Board of Directors STAN CHANG UPOMA DUTTA GABRIEL ELLSWORTH RASEEM FAROOK NATASHA LARSEN SUMIT MALIK HARSHA MULCHANDANI RYO TAKAHASHI ASHA TANWAR
The Harbus is a publication of the Harbus News Corporation, a nonprofit, independent corporation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Harbus is published monthly throughout the academic year, distributed free of charge to members of the Harvard Business School community, and updated continually on harbus.org. Email the editor if you would like to contribute. Off-campus subscriptions are available. Copyright © 2019, the Harbus News Corporation. The Harbus is committed to diversity, and we strive to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas. As a result, the opinions reflected in articles, editorials, photographs, and cartoons are those of the authors and artists and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Harbus, explicitly or implied, regardless of author or artist. Submissions Policy The Harbus welcomes your opinions, letters to the editor, and other contributions. All submissions must include your name, section, and a telephone number. Please email submissions to eic@harbus.org. The editors reserve the right to edit all submissions and will print submissions at their discretion. All submissions become the property of the Harbus. Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …
©Harvard Business School
From the Editor’s Desk From the Editor’s Desk The Power of Perspective Alex Smith, Editor-in-Chief
Last month, HBS students left campus for winter break and traveled to all parts of the globe. Many were visiting family or vacationing with friends. What strikes me is how vast this community becomes once we leave campus, how we built friendships that can endure thousands of miles, and how lucky we are to get to spend this brief time together. This is my first issue as Editor-in-Chief of The Harbus. I am excited to take on the new role, and I am thankful for the leaders that came before me and built this engaging and contemplative newspaper. The caliber of work brought this month by this impressive team of editors and collaborators is inspiring, thought
provoking, and often evokes a bit of laughter. To start, our talented Entertainment Editor, Felipe Cerón, shares his brush with Covid-19 and how he did not let it keep him down over the holidays. Daniel Tong, an RC, writes about his experience and takeaways from The Spiritual Lives of Leaders short intensive program, inspiring us all to self-reflect and reframe what it means to be a leader. We also learn of a few announcements for the HBS community. TJ Olojede and Katalina Bock highlight the upcoming HBS Tech Conference, a platform to understand the complexities and challenges faced by digital-native leaders. Arpit Gupta, an EC and Lead Investment Partner, provides an overview of activity of The MBA Fund, a venture fund dedicated to early-stage ideas within the
MBA community. Further emphasizing the successes of the HBS startup community, alumni Keith Bender, an investor at Pear VC, details the impressive $3.4B in venture capital funding that has gone to HBS alumni since September. Two exhilarating examples of purpose-driven innovation are shared in the Entrepreneurship section this month. HBS RC Karan Khimji is tackling climate change with his startup, 44.01, a company making strides in progressing permanent carbon storage. Mike Kelly, the Entrepreneurship Editor, speaks with Daniel Schmid, an EC, about his family’s winery and his goal of sustainably scaling through a program called “CEO for a Year.” We also hear from Professor Ranjay Gulati on his new book Deep Purpose, giving us an opportunity to learn about the hearts of
high-performance companies. To spark a dialogue, Martín Rodríguez Rodríguez engages in a debate about Don’t Look Up and its hidden message. Finally, as a reminder to see the world around us, Professor Arthur Brooks shares why “Art Should Be a Habit, Not a Luxury.” Reading these articles and being a part of this team is a gift. It has reminded me to take a break from the case preparation and the career search to appreciate this incredible community. I hope you will join me.
Alex Smith (MBA ’23) is a dog mom from Texas. She previously worked for Chevron Technology Ventures helping startups to scale. Skiing with friends, listening to podcasts on long walks, and singing Billy Joel on road trips are some of her favorite pastimes.
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Are You Living the Life You Are Meant To? Continued front front page
(SIP) was life changing. This was not your usual HBS case study class, and each session had a curated selection of guests to explore meaning in the workplace, faith in business, transgenerational change, morality, the civil rights movement, religion— Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity—and many other themes. What I found surprising was how hard it was, especially for b-school students, to enter the discussions. These conversations were so different from what we are used to and from what we have learned our entire lives that you just need time to reflect on what is going on. You can feel the whole process of deconstruction of preconceived ideas and notions flowing through your intrigued mind. While writing this article, I am still trying to organize all aspects of this unique experience. The definition of spirituality is very personal, but it could be described as a sense or belief in a connection to something bigger than ourselves, which may involve deep values, religion, or even personal growth. I have never been spiritual or religious but have been struggling the last years with finding meaning in my work and wanted to explore how leaders approached this. In our very first class, students were confronted with the following statement: “You can win the rat race, but in the end, you are still a rat”. This was directed at us, who have always blindly pursued the best grades, the big bonus, the next promotion, the next shining star in our CV—in the end, we are chasing what society values and defines as success and often overlook what we are truly feeling, thinking, and wondering. In this sense, I have distilled three main threads throughout the week: identity, connection, and leadership. Identity: understanding who you are and who you want to be. v “Most of us sleepwalk through life and do not understand the difference between making a living and making a life,” said our guest Gurcharan Das, Indian author and former P&G India CEO. His message was to live with intent and fulfillment, being conscious about the experiences, relationships, values, imperfections, and roots that shaped us. It made me reflect
on my own upbringing in Brazil as the son of Chinese immigrants and what it means to have privilege in an unjust society. What are my moral responsibilities towards such a country that warmly welcomed my family sixty years ago and that today I call home? As I try to find purpose, it is interesting to notice how our guests and great leaders have a deep sense of self and are strongly grounded in spiritual practices—may they be ancient wisdom, religion, or just raw principles. These leaders know very much who they are and how they are meant to live, but also rely on a strong support system called community, something that has been lacking in younger generations. Connection: belonging and humanizing the whole. “Community is a place where a joy shared is twice the joy and a sorrow shared is half the sorrow.” In modern times
of polarization, social media, and economic inequality, people are disconnected from reality, and we are losing forms of community and empathy. We urgently need to rebuild community in our lives, may it be in our family, friends, work, neighbors, or religion. This is when we met Angie Thurston, CoFounder of Sacred Design Labs, who helps companies personally and authentically connect with employees and acknowledge their whole and complete lives. As Millennials and Gen Zers strongly look for meaning in the workplace, Angie teaches companies to extend their purpose and embrace people for who they are. As leaders, we need to understand that we need to take care of the people we have the privilege to lead. Leadership: it has never been about choosing a career, it’s about answering a call for service. The world is going
through a time of shifting paradigms—Covid-19, climate change, resurgence of populism and distrust in our political systems, rethinking capitalism, race disparities—and our humanity is being called upon. Throughout the week, guests and lecturers explored how servant leadership and the politics of gesture, not words, are important during difficult times. Hope comes from serious ethical, moral thinking, and solutions embrace plurality and open dialogue. In a study of civil rights movement leaders, we could take in how they find inner strength from their deep-rooted spirituality and are committed to impact lives in the right direction. The ultimate question for HBS students is how are we going to use our power and privilege to make the world a better place? This week has been marvelous, and I would like to thank the teaching team composed of Professors
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Derek van Bever, John P. Brown, Howard Koh, Nienhê Hsieh, Laura Tuach, and Arthur Segel. A special thanks to Christopher Diak, the maestro that made all this possible. The spiritual journey is personal and of individual discovery—I welcome you to question your own assumptions and live life with intent. My eyes are now wide open. I can certainly say my spiritual life has begun.
Daniel Tong (MBA ’23) is originally from Brazil and graduated from the University of São Paulo in 2015. Prior to HBS, he worked in a Brazilian energy & infrastructure conglomerate, helping tackle climate change in his country. He spends most of his time with family, friends, and playing tennis.
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Hbs Tech Conference 2022: Stepping into Our Role as DigitalNative Leaders
The HBS Tech conference is happening in-person! Tickets on sale now. TJ Olojede, Contributor
Katalina Bock, Contributor
The first HBS Tech Conference was convened 30 years ago in 1992. In the three decades since, we have witnessed an unprecedented explosion of new technologies that have reshaped how people live, interact and thrive. In frontier technology, we have seen rapid advances in robotics and autonomous vehicles, the rise of the metaverse with augmented and virtual reality and NFTs, and the implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in our dayto-day lives. With the rise of Big Tech companies, we are coming to terms with how much influence said companies have on shaping business and society and what implications that has on antitrust and privacy legislation. And these trends are not just domestic—tech in emerging markets increasingly allows developing countries to leapfrog existing innovation, bolster their economies, and create new markets—with multiple unicorns arising in fintech and crypto—that will have implications for billions in the emerging world. Today’s HBS students are digital-natives, who grew up under the ubiquitous influence of the internet and these modern technologies. So, we set out to create the 30th Annual HBS Tech Conference to help HBS students understand their role as digital-native leaders and grapple with the opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities that we will face with technological advances in the coming
decades. The theme of this year’s conference is stepping into our role as digital-native leaders. The conference will convene industry-leading keynote speakers, panelists, and Harvard professors across three tracks—frontier tech, tech in emerging markets, and Big Tech. Speakers currently include the following: Tom Rosamilia, who leads IBM’s efforts in hybrid
cloud, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity; Roland Cloutier, TikTok’s global Chief Security Officer; Daniel Vogel, CEO and cofounder of Bitso; and Sarah Bianchi, the Deputy US Trade Representative. We would like to give a huge thank you to the conference planning team: Vivek Agrawal, Katalina Bock, Eric Park, Claudia Garivini, Yoshita Agrawal,
and TJ Olojede. The HBS Tech conference is happening inperson! Tickets on sale now. TJ Olojede (MBA ’23) is leading planning for the Frontier Tech track of the HBS Tech Conference. Prior to HBS, he was at Facebook conducting research on advertising effectiveness and before that, at Microsoft as a data scientist.
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Katalina Bock (MBA ’23) is leading the marketing, advertising, and communications of the 30th Annual HBS Tech Conference. Prior to HBS, she worked in brand management, digital marketing, and new product innovation at Johnson & Johnson in Los Angeles.
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The MBA Fund: Fall ’21 Roundup Arpit Gupta (MBA ’22) shares exciting updates for the early stage fund spurring innovation. Arpit Gupta, Contributor
for hardware engineers, allowing hardware teams to collaborate on design reviews and iterations similar to software teams. ChipBrain designs communicationassistance AI that empowers sales professionals with augmented empathy and persuasion in conversations. Condor Health helps life sciences companies manage their clinical trials and research and development spend. GameFi is a gamified banking solution to help users build their finances. Last semester in Fall 2021, we welcomed new campus investment partners—CIPs—to our team from HBS. They are Ashutosh (Ash) Panchang (Section K), Inez Wihardjo (Section I), Layla Behrouzian (Section D) and Danny Eck (Section F). Together they bring experience as operators and investors in industries ranging from consumer internet, healthcare, fintech and many more. For the first time, The MBA Fund organized a retreat. We are very excited about the Spring semester, especially about The MBA Fund Pitch Competition, where every year winning startups receive funding in the form of uncapped SAFEs. Last year, 5 Harvard startups won $500k from prominent VC funds who judged the competition including Contour Venture Partners, Switch Ventures, Brightlane and NFX. Apart from the pitch competition, we will also organize meetups and founder events. The MBA Fund CIPs and GPs are committed towards helping the Harvard founder community in any way possible. Please feel free to ping any of the CIP with your ideas.
The MBA Fund is an early-stage fund that backs student and alumni founders from Harvard, Stanford, and UPenn. We are a community of investors and operators who are not afraid to take the riskiest leaps with founders who are just getting started. Our mentors and backers are co-founders, partners, and presidents at top-tier VC firms and Fortune 500 companies. The MBA Fund was started in 2018 with a $2M fund by four MBA students: Josh Hoffman-Senn (HBS), Hiro Tien (GSB), Sieva Kozinsky (Wharton), and Hansae Catlett (GSB). Julia Maltby (Wharton), a prior campus investment partner who led the Wharton investing team, has also recently been announced as a fifth General Partner. Since our launch, we have invested in over 70 early stage startups. In this limited time, two MBA Fund portfolio companies have become unicorns, several have exceeded $100M+ valuations, and many others have seen uprounds from prominent VCs. In 2021, we raised our second fund which is a $6M fund. MBA Fund likes to partner with founders early on in their journeys, at the earliest signals of product market fit or initial customers, by investing $50k-$75k. In 2021, The MBA Fund invested in 8 startups from the Harvard community, including Hue Beauty, BoldVoice, Nix, AllSpice, ChipBrian, Condor Health, GameFi and an additional startup that is in stealth. Hue Beauty is a digital platform that helps consumers find their perfect makeup shade match and helps brands efficiently distribute samples. BoldVoice is an accent coaching app that helps non-native English speakers be as well-understood in English as in their own language. Nix is a consumer diagnostic company with a wearable hydration sensor that empowers athletes to manage their hydration status in real-time. AllSpice has prepared a git platform
Arpit Gupta (MBA ’22) is Lead Investment Partner at The MBA Fund. He is a big believer in entrepreneurs and is usually interested in discussing startup ideas with Harvard teams. Before coming to HBS, Arpit founded Loktra.
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Quarantine Is Not That Bad
Continued front front page
was ironic, but good news. You know the feeling you get when you are caught up with work and you feel you don’t have time to do all the things you want to do? Those high personal value things you should do? So I subscribed to online guitar lessons. Also, lockdown is a good moment to solve all those painful proceedings that you never want to do, so I spent a lot of time in call centers. It’s important for all of us to think about, why the hell does call center background music exist? Why do we need to hear the same snippet over and over and over? Do they want us to
hate them even more? Getting dressed is critical. You can stay all day in your pajamas, but I feel that bends reality a little. Time loses meaning. So I would get dressed. Everyday. Oh I had bad thoughts, but I crushed them the moment they appeared. Covid-19 was aggressive with me so I was aggressive with it. I would work out every single day. I would push it out. I didn’t want it to feel welcome. I thought about how much fun people were having on NYE—I worked out for two hours in my miniscule room. I longed to sit on a beach with a beer—I worked on my short stories. In addition, electronics had to be limited otherwise
social networks would suck the time I thought I had and quite possibly my soul. Midpoints are great. There is probably a psychological effect. If I am doing something I do not like and I pass the midpoint, everything becomes seamless. Before midpoint I am offline, just going through the motions, not allowing myself to think about time. After the midpoint is when you can look at the clock. Right after that we got some news. Someone tested positive on my family’s Christmas (the one I was supposed to be in along with my parents) and several attendants were testing positive. Did I just save my parents? I like to believe I did. I needed a win, some
meaning for my quarantine, because that’s the worst part, the meaninglessness of it all, especially being asymptomatic. This voided the meaninglessness. I was a hero. I was ok after all, and my quarantine was more than halfway over! Also, I would be immune for a couple of months. Quarantining teaches gratitude. The longer the quarantine, the more value you will assign to your normal state of affairs. If I go into quarantine again, I will read this and try to hold myself accountable to all this annoying positivity. Positivity is annoying because it is hard to sustain. It takes conscious work, but it helped me make the best of my time.
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That is what I did in my quarantine—I took care of myself. I also watched The Beatles documentary and a ton of HBO and Netflix of course. Looking back to when I was positive always helps me, and I hope it does for you as well.
Felipe Cerón (MBA ’22) is a Chilean who worked in consulting and retail. He is a musician, and he is an avid fan of films. Getting in the ring, laughing over a beer and reading inspiring books are among his favorite pastimes. He thinks Pisco is the best beverage ever created.
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HBS Alumni Startup Corner: Fall Funding Update Alumni founders raised $3.4B+ in venture capital this autumn. Keith Bender (MBA ’20) reports. Keith Bender, Contributor
Startups led by HBS alumni received more than $3.4B in venture capital funding from the beginning of September—the time of our last alumni funding update—through press time for this issue (January 14, 2022). Here, I review the publicly disclosed funding rounds, categorized by industry: Consumer • Facily, a social commerce marketplace in LatAm,. co-founded by Diego Dzodan (MBA ’98), raised $135M from Goodwater, Prosus, Quona, and Rise Capital. • TRED, a pre-owned car marketplace cofounded by Grant Feek (MBA ’09), raised $25M from Westlake Financial Services, NowLake Technology, Genesee Capital, and CMFG Ventures. • FitOn, a fitness app cofounded by Lindsay Cook (MBA ’10), raised $18M from Accel, Maverick Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Delta-v Capital, and The Chainsmokers. • Mightier, a children’s gaming platform for emotional and behavioral training co-founded by Craig Lund (MBA ’08), raised $17M from Sony Innovation Fund, PBJ Capital, and DigiTx Partners. • Signos, a weight loss company co-founded by Sharam FouladgarMercer (MBA ’08), raised $13M from GV, Rashaun Williams, Courtside Ventures, 1984 Ventures, and Tau Ventures. • Wagr, a peer-to-peer sports betting company co-founded by Mario Malave (MBA ’20) and Eliana Eskinazi (MBA ’20), raised $12M from Seven Seven Six, Greycroft, The Kraft Group, BITKRAFT
Ventures, and Pear VC.* • Raena, an Indonesian social commerce startup founded by Sreejita Deb (MBA ’11), raised $10M from BEENEXT, AC Ventures, STRIVE, Alpha JWC Ventures, and Alpha Wave Incubation. • Maev,a wellness company for dogs co-founded by Katie Spies (MBA ’19) and Christine Busaba (MBA ’19), raised $9M from Bolt, Contrary, and Springdale Ventures. an on• Framework, demand business school co-founded by Asha Haji ’11 (MBA ’11), raised $2M from Ada Ventures and LearnStart. Enterprise a cloud • Lacework, security platform cofounded by Mike Speiser (MBA ’98), raised $1.3B from Altimeter, D1, Sutter Hill, and Tiger Global. • Sigma Computing, a cloud analytics and business intelligence company cofounded by Mike Speiser (MBA ’98)(again!), raised $300M from D1 Capital Partners, XN, and Sutter Hill Ventures. • Applied Intuition, an autonomous vehicle software company cofounded by Qasar Younis (MBA ’08), raised $175M from Andreessen Horowitz, Tribe Capital, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Addition.
Rafalin (MBA ’02), raised $26M from Khosla Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Zeev Ventures, and Engineering Capital. • At-Bay, a cybersecurity insurance company co-founded by Rotem Iram (MBA ’13) and Roman Iskovich (MBA ’12), raised $20M from Khosla Ventures, LocalGlobe, Acrew Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund). • Hedron, a satellite data company co-founded by Daniel Nevius (MBA ’17), raised $17.8M from Space Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Lime Street Ventures, and Flybridge. • 1build, a construction cost estimate company co-founded by Dmitry Alexin (MBA ’17), raised $14.5M from Greycroft and Foundamental. • Burro, an autonomous farming company cofounded by Charlie Andersen (MBA ’14), raised $10.9M from F-Prime Capital, Cibus Fund, S2G Ventures, ff Venture Capital, and Toyota Ventures. a • Sustaera, decarbonization company co-founded by Shantanu Agarwal (MBA ’10), raised $10M from Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
a travel • TravelPerk, booking and management platform co-founded by Ron Levin (MBA ’08), raised $115M from General Catalyst, Kinnevik AB, and Greyhound Capital.
an AI • WhyLabs, Observability company co-founded by Maria Karainova (MBA ’09), raised $10M from Madrona Venture Group, Defy.vc, Bezos Expeditions, and AI Fund.
Data Lab, • Domino an open data science platform co-founded by Matthew Granade (MBA ’04), raised $100M from NVIDIA, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, In-Q-Tel, and Dell Technologies Capital.
a privacy • Soveren, management company co-founded by Peter Fedchenkov (MBA ’14), raised $6.5M from LocalGlobe, Firstminute Capital, Northzone, Elad Gil, and Jack Altman.
a cloud • vFunction, transformation company co-founded by Moti
• Factor, a hardware supply chain management company co-founded by Doug Shultz (MBA
’18), raised $6M from Gradient Ventures and Afore Capital. a B2B • Exporta, marketplace connecting LatAm and the US cofounded by Pierre Thys (MBA ’18) and Rob Monaco (MBA ’18), raised $5M from Felicis Ventures, Pear VC, and Valor Equity Partners.*
Healthcare • Africa Health Holdings Ltd, a healthcare company founded by Sangu Delle (MBA ’16), raised $18M from Breyer Capital, M3, Kepple Africa Ventures, Sunu Capital, and Asia Pacific Land.
• Cargo Chief, a freight data company founded by Russell Jones (MBA ’89), raised $1.5M from Sand Hill Angels and BootstrapLabs.
a • IpiNovyx, biopharmaceutical company co-founded by Marc Appel (MBA ’13), raised $10M from Alexandria Venture Investments, Viva BioInnovator, and Lilly Ventures.
• Tenzo, a restaurant data company co-founded by Adam Taylor (MBA ’10), raised an undisclosed amount from Acequia Capital.
a wellness • Marvin, company founded by John Bracaglia (MBA ’20), raised $4.2M from Verily and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Fintech, Crypto, and Real Estate
• Medrhythms, a digital therapeutics company co-founded by Owen McCarthy (MBA ’15), raised $2M from Advantage Capital, Global Brain Corporation, Morningside Ventures, and Bose Ventures.
• Orchard (formerly known as Perch), a home-buying platform co-founded by Court Cunningham (MBA ’97), raised $100M from Gaingels, Sand Hill Angels, Moving Capital, FirstMark, Navitas Capital. • Merama, an e-commerce acquisition company in LatAm co-founded by Sujay Tyle (MBA ’21), Felipe Delgado (MBA ’18), Javier Blaustein (MBA ’18), and Manuel José León (MBA ’18), raised $60M from SoftBank, Balderton, Advent International, Valor Capital Group, and Monashees. Finance, • Unstoppable a crypto wallet cofounded by Maximilian von Wallenberg Pachaly (MBA ’12), raised $4.5M from Fabric Ventures, Cadenza Capital Management, BACKED VC, Speedinvest, and Rockaway Blockchain Fund. • Claim, a crypto wallet co-founded by Tap Stephneson (MBA ’20) and Sam Obletz (MBA ’22), raised an undisclosed amount from Susa Ventures and BoxGroup.
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Medical, a • nQ neurocognitive digital therapeutics company co-founded by Mark Pascarella (MBA ’99), raised an undisclosed amount from GSK NEXT. *The author is an investor at Pear VC, which is an investor in these companies. If you believe any HBS alumni startup fundings from this summer are missing, please reach out to me via the contact information below!
Keith Bender (MBA ’20) is an investor at Pear VC in Palo Alto, where he invests at preseed, seed, and Series A rounds across industries. He leads Baker Founders, a community dedicated to HBS alumni entrepreneurs. Previously, Keith worked at Bessemer Venture Partners and BCG. He is a graduate of Harvard College and is originally from Arizona. For comments and questions, please reach out to keith@pear.vc.
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A Centuries-Old Winery Startup Mike Kelly (MBA ’22) talks with Daniel Schmid (MBA ’22) about how the 1661 Schmid Family Vineyards is bringing new ideas to an old industry.
Daniel Schmid, Contributor
Mike Kelly, Entrepreneurship Editor Tell us more about your background and what inspired you to be an entrepreneur. Growing up on my family’s winery in Austria was full of entrepreneurial challenges. How do we price a bottle of wine? Which products are complementary to our wine? What do our customers want? I always enjoyed customer interactions and being hands-on while helping out with a farmer’s market or in our store. Beyond the winery, there are stories of me selling rocks to my relatives (don’t ask) or drawings to my neighbors as a kid (I really can’t draw very well). My first professional experience was working at a Fintech startup in Austria, and when I found myself in more corporate settings, I felt that starting and taking ownership of new initiatives was extremely rewarding. What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
I am trying to solve two problems. First, how do we transition our family’s generational winery from a family business to a selfsustaining, healthy business that can be run by a nonfamily team? Many smallscale wineries stay alive because of their owner’s effort rather than a healthy business model. Our challenge therefore is to preserve our passionate and unique approach to making wine while bringing in a professional team that can keep developing our winery. The second challenge that we are trying to address is that agriculture accounts for 19% of global CO2 emissions. A big part of those emissions stems from raising livestock as well as growing crops such as rice. However, I believe that wine as a differentiated product should serve as a lighthouse example that nature-based, agricultural products can preserve our planet and our climate rather than harm it. What is your solution? We have found an innovative approach to help us in the initial stage of managing the business transition and to put us in a position to onboard a team later on. In particular, we have created a flagship leadership training program for graduates and young
professionals on a gap year. The program is called “CEO for a Year”. Through ceoforayear. com, we are recruiting top business talent from some of the world’s best schools. In particular, we are enabling one applicant to take over responsibility of our winery for an entire year. They will learn what it means to lead a small business and will get to know all of its functions - from people leadership, to production and inventory management, to marketing and sales. All while spending a year living on a vineyard close to Vienna, Austria and becoming a wine expert in the process. We are also taking an uncompromising approach aimed at producing the highest-quality wines while protecting our planet. While sustainability has been a buzzword in the wine world for years, it is oftentimes not backed up by clear metrics and rarely focuses on CO2 emissions. Our winery’s long tradition of taking care of nature has led us to transform vineyards into biodiverse ecosystems and has been recognized with sustainability awards in the past. Now we have started a new effort with the aim of becoming the first truly CO2 negative winery and setting an example for other small businesses and the rest of our industry. We want to achieve
this through employing sustainable farming practices (e.g. no-till farming) and a continuous effort towards cutting lifecycle emissions (e.g. electrification of vehicles). What was the inspiration behind your company/ idea? We were able to trace our winery’s history all the way back to 1661. In that history, I was continuously inspired by the individual stories of some of our ancestors. The naming of our new wine— Wolfshuber’s Secret—pays tribute to some of these stories.
the initiatives I mentioned earlier. What’s next? I am currently looking for importers and distributors that will bring our wine to restaurants and shops in the US. We are recruiting for our “CEO for a Year,” and we are about to bottle the inaugural vintage of our Wolfshuber’s Secret Grüner Veltliner white wines. On top of that, we are just starting to build our social media presence—you can follow our journey on Instagram (@schmid.wine) and check out our website at schmid.wine.
Who is the team behind your startup? I am supported by my family—in particular my brother Josef, who has decades of experience as a winemaker. How did you get started? Last summer, I shipped 600 bottles of our wine to Boston, which was the first time my family has exported our wine on that scale. Even though the wine was mainly intended for friends here at HBS, in a sense, that was my start of taking over and relaunching the winery. It also inspired me to redesign our label and start
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Daniel Schmid (MBA ’22) is originally from the small town of Pillichsdorf near Vienna, Austria. Prior to HBS, he worked at McKinsey in cleantech consulting. Daniel’s goal is to help solve climate change. Mike Kelly (MBA ’22) grew up outside Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to HBS, he worked for five years in engineering, product strategy, and program management at Ford. In the last year, he co-founded Gaia AI, a robotics, AI, and carbon offset startup fighting climate change.
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The Details Matter for Carbon Storage Alex Smith (MBA ’23) interviews Karan Khimji (MBA ’23) to gain insight into carbon capture plus storage as an instrumental tool for achieving net zero. Khimji is the co-founder of 44.01, which recently received a $5M round of funding for its innovative approach to permanent carbon storage. Karan Khimji, Contributor
Alex Smith, Editor-in-Chief
To start off, tell us about yourself. I grew up in Oman, and I went to undergrad in the US. I started at BC for a year and then transferred to NYU. I studied finance, leading to my consulting career. I started off consulting at EY in Dubai for oil and gas companies in the Middle East. I then moved to Paris, where I consulted for European utilities and infrastructure funds focused on the energy transition. I advised them on buying and selling companies, mainly disposing of fossil fuel assets like coal, gas plants, and acquiring or developing renewables. Can you provide some context for carbon storage? What problem is the industry trying to solve? The climate problem is very broad, and there are many layers to tackling this problem. There are a lot of industries that are going to be very difficult to decarbonize, like steel or cement production. Because we will never be able to zero out all emissions, we will be using oil and gas in the future. I think it’s naive to think that it’s going to completely disappear. As countries, institutions, and companies set net zero targets, there are two ways to think about this. First of all, how do we zero out existing emissions? That is things like, let’s say, the energy sector building renewables instead of gas plants. The other, complementary way is carbon removal. We need to figure out a way to remove emissions from the atmosphere that cannot be removed from the point of emission. How do we build carbon removal solutions?
That’s where point source capture and direct air capture combined with storage comes into play. Direct air capture— DAC—targets the atmosphere. It is going to be a significant tool in our arsenal to fight climate change, because it tackles legacy emissions over present emissions, or occurring emissions, like point source capture does. The scale required of
carbon removal is really going to depend on how much we can zero out the rest. We’re already at the point of 1.5 degrees warming. So we need to build out the technology to both reduce and remove emissions. What is 44.01? 44.01 was an idea that was actually brought by my co-founder. 44.01 is the molecular mass of
carbon dioxide. It was based on established scientific research by two leading professors in the field, Peter Kelemen and Juerg Matter, both of whom sit on 44.01’s scientific committee. In 2018 they contributed to a New York Times article about how a specific rock in Oman can be used to store CO2 and have an impact on a global scale towards reversing climate change. My co-founder and I picked
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up on that idea and worked with them to implement this concept. What are the different types of carbon storage and where does 44.01 fit in this landscape? Carbon storage comes in many forms. Currently you inject into a well, and it’s held in Continued on page 10
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The Details Matter for Carbon Storage What are the challenges to scaling carbon storage? There are different scaling challenges for each technology. The main one is heavy capex. There’s a lot of upfront capital that goes into scaling drilling operations. Sourcing carbon dioxide is also a major challenge that we face, but the resources that are required actually exist already in the oil and gas industry. We can almost plug and play equipment, skills, and technology from the oil and gas industry for our technology. In the end, instead of taking the hydrocarbons out, we’re putting them back in. The infrastructure largely remains the same. It’s the technology of injection that we’re innovating on. What resources can people reference if they want to learn more about DAC or carbon storage?
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gaseous or semi-gaseous form under an impermeable layer of caprock that prevents the CO2 from leaking out. That’s what most of the oil and gas companies are doing, and that’s actually what nearly every carbon storage project currently operational is doing. What we’re doing at 44.01 is entirely different. We are not storing CO2 in gaseous form. We are injecting CO2 into a very porous rock formation found in Oman. The rock itself is called peridotite. It’s a rock that is normally found several miles below the ocean crust, but because of millions of years of tectonic activity in Oman and the UAE in particular, it’s actually present on the surface. We can access it much easier than anywhere else in the world. What we do is inject [the CO2], and the CO2 reacts with the rock to
form a carbonate mineral. That mineral is a form of solid carbon dioxide permanently removed from the atmosphere, forever. Industries in every sector are working to decarbonize. Some are using carbon credits. What is the relationship between carbon storage and carbon credits? Credits themselves are a very complex and fragmented topic at the moment. To measure, verify, and record exactly how much you’re removing is very difficult. At the moment, the most recognized carbon offsets are afforestation credits— building or protecting forests. I don’t see that as an enduring form of carbon removal because forests can burn down and the carbon stored in the trees is released back into the atmosphere. We are witnessing it right now, in California, or I believe in Washington state,
there are literally forests that were set aside for offsets that are burning down. So, it’s not permanent. As companies look to decarbonize, they need to seek out higher quality credits. At the moment that’s not so easy because you literally need to go find it yourself. Stripe has done this. Stripe has built out a climate team looking at how they can decarbonize. Most companies can’t do that, especially small businesses, they can’t commit those resources. So as the market becomes more efficient, more high-quality carbon removal will be recognized in terms of higher prices. Afforestation credits can be sold for a dollar per ton removed of CO2, whereas the carbon removal I’m talking about, which is DAC plus storage, is currently priced at $700-$1000 a ton. That illustrates how people value the durability of CO2 storage.
There are resources in the public domain for people that are interested in carbon dioxide removal or CDR technology. One is the cdrprimer.org blog written by two renowned scientists in the field that talk about scalable solutions to tackling the climate problem. There are also climate focused NGOs that are publishing more and more information as the climate problem is increasingly recognized in the world. One I’d like to mention is Carbon 180. They are a US based, climate focused NGO that publishes a lot of technical and policy information on CDR technology. The third are playbooks that are published by purchasers of high-quality carbon removal credits in the world today. So, companies like Stripe, Microsoft, and Shopify who are probably the leaders in the field in purchasing high quality carbon removal, which includes DAC plus mineralization. They publish their own procurement guidelines for these highquality credits. What advice do you have for incoming HBS students who are interested in hard tech or high capex industries? I think in starting any high capex company, the one thing to keep in mind is to be innovative with funding. So, funding doesn’t necessarily have to be equity investment. You can source different types of funding that can feed that heavy capex. Things like non-
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dilutive capital, grants, that’s extremely important. For 44.01 we are trying to innovate in the climate space, so there’s a lot more funding from governments and global institutions that is going towards developing and scaling these technologies. So, lookout for grant funding programs or incubators that don’t dilute your cap table. Another one is advanced purchases. There are companies that will front the capital to finance your projects as long as you can deliver that service in the longer term. Companies like Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify are actually buying carbon credits in advance, therefore fronting your capital, and then you deliver your service over the next several years, after you build out your project. 44.01 just secured an advance carbon removal purchase commitment from Stripe, a significant milestone through which Stripe has effectively validated our commercial model and our technology as a high-quality carbon removal offering. If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why? I think I’d be a cat. The reason I’d be a cat is well, first of all, they are curious and tenacious, but more importantly they have nine lives. The thing about being an entrepreneur is that your plan will never pan out as you planned it in the first place. You’re constantly going to have to pivot. There’s going to be situations or uncertainties that are going to knock you down. You’re going to feel like the business is dead. But you have to keep picking back up, you have to keep pivoting, weather that storm, and fighting to find that success.
Karan Khimji (MBA ’23) is an RC who grew up in Oman and began his career in consulting for EY throughout the Middle East and Paris. He is now the cofounder of 44.01, an innovative permanent carbon storage company. Alex Smith (MBA ’23) is a dog mom from Texas. She previously worked for Chevron Technology Ventures helping startups to scale. Skiing with friends, listening to the Energy Gang podcast on long walks, and singing Billy Joel on road trips are some of her favorite pastimes.
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Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of HighPerformance Companies HBS Professor Ranjay Gulati provides a sneak peak into his new book about the revolutionary impact deep purpose can have on company performance. Ranjay Gulati, Contributor
Why did you decide to write this book—and why is its message so important right now? Efforts to tackle pressing problems such as climate change and inequality have stalled, leaving society at a crossroads. In this context, advocates of corporate purpose have lauded it as a silver bullet, while cynics regard it as a cloak behind which companies can hide their true selfish intentions. In reality, some companies have indeed used the idea of “purpose” to mask nefarious conduct. Others, however, have pursued purpose in more authentic ways. By assessing companies that truly embrace purpose as an organizing principle, I hope to showcase how the vast majority of businesses today might better employ purpose to serve society while also achieving economic success. What is purpose, really? Psychologist William Damon has described purpose as “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self.” It’s not just individuals who harbor intent—scholars have applied this notion to businesses as well. In the deep purpose companies I studied, I found that leaders tended to regard purpose not simply as a tool to be used, but as an expression of heartfelt intent. Purpose was deeply meaningful, a unifying statement of the commercial and social problems that leaders wanted to profitably solve for all stakeholders. A typical purpose encompasses 3 elements: (1) ambitious (“goals”) (2) has an idealistic cast (“duties”) (3) envisions the creation of
long-term value. You suggest that the term “purpose” has been hijacked over the years. Why do you think that is, and why should we be thinking differently about it now? In our increasingly polarized environment, extremist notions of purpose tend to prevail. On the one hand, some continue to believe that the purpose of business is to serve shareholders, since it is they who put their capital at risk. Government, these individuals argue, should handle social issues. On the other hand, others believe that the purpose of business is anything but profit—or at the very least, that profit should be a low priority. Observers and practitioners seeking a middle ground regard all social actors as “stakeholders” and then struggle to discern who ranks first among equals. As the companies I studied show, business leaders can serve the interests of multiple stakeholders, but they must think long-term and look beyond the win-win options that, while alluring, also often prove elusive. How can purpose transform business? As Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Former CEO of LEGO told me, “If you want to transform—not just turn around—a company you need to find the essence of the brand, your unique identity…finding that identity is just like finding out your purpose in life.” Similarly, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, described the role of purpose in his transformation of Microsoft as follows: “We must rediscover our soul— our unique core…We must all understand and embrace what only Microsoft can contribute to the world and how we can once again change the world… In our context, technologies will come and go. Strategies will come and go. But how
you invent and anchor yourself—you need this strap [holding you in place] which is a sense of purpose.” The deep purpose companies I studied understood the transformational potential of purpose, and they perceived it as akin to changing the organization’s operating system. Such foundational changes don’t come easily, and they take considerable time and effort. But as these cases and others show, it is very much worth the effort! You use the term “purpose washing” in the book to discuss companies—like Theranos and Facebook— who utilize purpose superficially to make themselves look good to society. Why is it time to go deep on purpose? For many companies like Purdue Pharma, Theranos, and Facebook, purpose is or was a platform for “virtue signaling”—trying to convey you have good intentions but actually hiding self-serving behavior behind the scenes. Such double-dealing has given organizational purpose a bad rap. This is unfortunate, as it discourages leaders who might be genuinely interested in exploring and utilizing deep purpose. You write that in our polarized times, moral neutrality is no longer an option. Can you explain? Increasingly, members of the public expect businesses and individual leaders to take a position on politically sensitive issues. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an acceptable option. As I found, purpose-driven leaders had an easier time speaking up because stakeholders already expected that these firms would behave in ways compatible with their purpose—leaders were grounding every decision they made with deep purpose. While you may draw greater scrutiny when you publicly state a purpose, it also gives you a framework within which you want to operate and not get pulled beyond
it. As Thomas Andersen, the former CEO of Orsted, a green energy firm in Europe, explained to me, “Purpose gives you a license on what you can demand from your stakeholders.” We’ve heard a lot about “win wins” or “conscious capitalism” but you say that “practical idealism” is superior to that. Why? I make an important distinction between “shallow” and “deep” purpose. Shallow purpose comes in three distinct flavors. The first is “purpose in disguise”—companies that use purpose as a cloak to hide bad intentions. The second is “purpose on the periphery”—companies that treat purpose as CSR or a form of charity work that they do on the side while continuing to run their core business as a shareholder value maximizing, economic engine. The third is “purpose as exclusively win-win”— those who embrace the notion of “win-win,” committing to embracing socially oriented projects as long as they are economically viable as well. A number of prior researchers have talked about the pursuit of winwin as synonymous with purpose-driven enterprises. My research shows that this paints purpose-driven companies as operating in a very narrow space in which no tradeoffs occur. I found that deep purpose companies operate in a larger space where tradeoffs are widespread. Instead of shying away from tradeoffs, they lean into them. Of course they look for novel winwin solutions that bypass tradeoffs, but even when those options aren’t visible, they are still willing to take action and make calculated and tough tradeoffs. I call this “practical idealism” because these firms are at once practical about making difficult choices, but they also keep their eye firmly fixed on an ideal way of being. You talk about how purpose
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can actually help to boost company performance. How? A key insight in my book is that purpose is not a tax on business. Rather it is a generative force that allows the enterprise to simultaneously perform better on its commercial and social objectives. But purpose only becomes generative when companies pursue it deeply and view it as something very fundamental to their being. In that case, the organization becomes transformed from one in which employees and other stakeholders connect with it in a transactional way into one in which they feel personally committed to the organization and its objectives. A number of studies have suggested a correlation between purpose and long-term performance (as measured by total shareholder return, growth, and achievement of measurable social objectives). But few have tried to pin down the specific levers by which this performance materializes. My in-depth fieldwork allowed me to identify the specific levers by which the pursuit of deep purpose translates into superior financial and social performance. How does purpose create trust, autonomy and collaboration? As Satya Nadella told me, “Writing a purpose statement is easy, what comes next is much harder.” The bulk of my book is devoted to exploring how deep purpose companies make purpose an integral part of their organization. I looked carefully at how such firms modify their organizational architecture to allow themselves to operate with purpose. I found that deep purpose companies are extremely attentive to their culture and bring it into close alignment with their purpose. Culture is the translation of purpose Continued on page 12 and 13
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into a set of behavioral anchors and principles by which the firm operates. There are some common themes in the cultures of deep purpose companies. First, they encourage individuals to discover and live their personal purposes. They also provide guidance and support that helps individuals connect their personal purpose with that of the organization. Second, instead of attempting to shackle or control behavior, these cultures tend to encourage autonomy and individual expression. Together, these shifts help transform the connection between employees and the organization into one of trust and commitment rather than transactions and contracts. In the book you discuss the idea of “purpose drift.” What is it, and how can leaders avoid it? As part of this research I looked at some iconic and decades-old deep purpose companies, detailing how some of them faced a
progressive decay in their lived purpose over time. Some, such as Johnson & Johnson and Boeing, only recognized this decay once a crisis had already materialized. Others took proactive action to ensure that their purpose stayed deep across time. Looking across several such cases, I document some of the key factors that lead to this decay, such as the departure of a founder, while also examining how firms sustain their purpose-orientation. How can we measure purpose and the effectiveness of our purpose driven work? Measuring progress in embracing purpose remains one of the most thorny issues for deep purpose companies. It’s easy to measure outputs of an organization, but how does one measure intentions? To examine this issue, I looked at a number of organizations, including Ernst & Young. I documented the objective and subjective measures such organizations put into place to track their progress in becoming and staying deep
purpose organizations. What are the skills leaders need to develop in order to lead purposefully? Leaders must function as both “plumbers” and “poets.” Plumbers assess market conditions, set strategies, and focus on outstanding execution. Poets inspire people around a shared purpose. If you lack a purpose, you must first find one, plumbing the depths of your heritage for inspiration. Then you must disseminate it, in part by crafting a big story about who you are, what your firm is about, and what it is there to do. Beyond storytelling you must ensure that all of your corporate systems, structures, and processes align with your purpose. And ultimately, you must embody the purpose. Your actions and words must mirror and echo your organizational purpose. In many ways, leaders expect more of themselves when they purport to lead deep purpose organizations. What is your prediction for the future of capitalism?
I remain hopeful that capitalism will continue to serve as a dynamic economic system, one that will become more inclusive and embrace other social issues while continuing to generate prosperity. The last several years served as a wakeup call for many CEOs, prompting them to take public positions on social and civic issues. At the same time, the pressure to perform is not going away and indeed will continue to intensify. The business community will continue to redefine business performance to encompass not only shareholder return but the company’s impact on employees, customers, community, and the planet. As leaders begin to pursue this broader notion of performance, they will have to learn to make hard tradeoffs and become more transparent about them. Hiding behind the idea of “purpose” or behind dressedup ESG scores is no longer an option. Organizations that don’t get serious about purpose risk public censure and a quick demise. What advice would you give young leaders just starting out? The rising generation of young leaders is more purposeful in their lives than prior generations and cares deeply not just about the bottom line, but fulfilling an organizational purpose. A range of fast-growth startups operating today didn’t launch with big ideas only, but also with big ideals. As I’ve written in a recent HBR, “Startups typically operate with the mentality that growth and profit come first, higher calling comes second. This strategy, however, is misguided. Increasingly, entrepreneurs are imbuing their ventures with a grand ideal in addition to a great idea. This ideal not only serves as a moral purpose, but also has three strategic
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and operational advantages. First, it can help expand entrepreneurial ambition. Second, it can attract fellow travelers. And third, it can help align a winning team.” And if you are not necessarily part of a startup and early in your career, think hard about your own life purpose and use it as a filter to make important life decisions including where you might want to work. You will find that you perform best in purposeful organizations where its purpose is resonant with your own purpose. To learn more about Deep Purpose, see deeppurpose. net. Professor Gulati’s next exciting project is an upcoming speaker series titled What They’re Made Of: Secrets and Stories of Leaders on the Edge. Through the series, Professor Gulati will interview CEO’s from around the world to understand how they operate amidst unprecedented instability. Included in the series are the following: Roz Brewer, CEO of Walgreens; Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever; Sim Tshabala, CEO of Standard Bank, the largest pan-african bank; and Mona Ataya, CEO of Mumzworld, the largest online mother’s accessories and baby toys seller in the middle east. Alumni and current students are welcome to attend. For more information on the series and additional speakers, please visit the website.
Ranjay Gulati is a professor at Harvard Business School and an expert on leadership, strategy and organizational growth. Until recently, he chaired the Advanced Management Program, the school’s flagship senior leader executive program. He has authored seven books, including “Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of HighPerformance Companies,” which will appear in February 2022.
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What Would Frederic Bastiat Say about Don’t Look Up and the State of Climate Change Policy? The works of the 19th century French economist offer much needed clarity when it comes to tackling climate change, Martin Rodriguez Rodriguez reports. Martin Rodriguez Rodriguez, Contributor I watched the film Don’t Look Up and could not avoid thinking about what 19thcentury French economist Frederic Bastiat would think about it. In terms of the current state of the climate policy debate, I presume that he would have a few things to say. The movie starts when two scientists, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, discover that a comet, “a planet-killer,” is heading to the earth. Unless political leaders act decisively, the consequences would be the extinction of the human species and life on earth as we know it. Voilà, the climate change analogy that drives the movie’s narrative and morale is set within the first ten minutes. I instantly thought about Bastiat because while governments and the private sector must act to avoid the worst effects of man-made climate change, too often the debate about the policies and strategies is woefully inadequate. Regrettably, it has become increasingly challenging to dispassionately consider the trade-offs of available policy choices to tackle this global problem. A representative case of this heightened environment of intolerance was the $10 million defamation lawsuit, later dropped, that a prominent Stanford University professor filed in 2017 against the lead author of a paper critical of his work on the viability of 100 percent renewable energy. While it might seem like an outlier case, there is little doubt that in some circles, questioning any part of the policy orthodoxy to deal with climate change has become grounds for challenging
one’s character or motives. This intellectual environment has prevented discussion on the nuances of policy choices, many of which are being adopted without proper scrutiny. Rigorous cost-benefit analyses, standard in other policy spheres, are sometimes stranded beyond credulity to justify regressive policies in the present, many of which voters in democratic societies have rejected when asked explicitly. In this sense, I think the movie does a superb job at catering to this camp of the policy debate, the one demanding bold action but with little interest in the details and consequences of their preferred policies. Spoiler alert! In the movie, we all perish because the financial interest of powerful billionaires and corporations prevailed over the good of humanity and saving the planet. Sound familiar? H o w e v e r , notwithstanding the simplistic appeal of this narrative of bad guys and good guys, the reality is that the energy systems that we rely on everyday are a lot more complex than you often hear. Despite how much we would like for it to be a switch to reduce carbon emissions, the policy choices that we have available today to combat climate change involve significant trade-offs. If these are not objectively considered and addressed, policymakers would be acting incurring what Bastiat said were bad economics—they will pursue a small current benefit that is followed by a considerable disadvantage in the future. In his essay “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen,” Bastiat masterfully explains that economic actions, which we can substitute here for climate policy, have not just one effect but a series of effects. The first and immediate impacts are those that are seen, the others that
occur successively into the future are those that are not seen. I worry that wellintended policymakers and advocates are pursuing policies without exploring the unintended, diffuse, and long-run consequences. Perhaps more worrisome is that even bringing this framework to bear can land you in hot water. Last December, at a Harvard Center for the Environment event, your columnist was scolded by a professor for bringing up the Energy Information Administration figures on energy poverty in America. The professor all but dismissed my concerns about the effects of some policies on lower-income households, calling it a “fossil fuel talking point.” I found that episode disconcerting, but at least it confirmed my experience that questioning the wisdom of some of the policy choices to fight climate change is often not acceptable. It appears that society would be better served if policymakers and advocates acknowledge, as Daniel Yergin has explained, the energy transitions of the past have taken a very long time. This one is no different, and it is perhaps an even more significant undertaking.
That said, I have no qualms about the policy direction that the world has embarked to reach net-zero by 2050. My misgivings are about how governments will manage the transition away from fossil fuels in a way that is affordable and does not reduce economic growth. If not careful, government overreach in the form of mandates and standards that cost too much could negatively affect human progress and prosperity. In other words, if climate policy interventions substantially reduce economic growth, it is possible to imagine a scenario where the cure is worse than the disease. For all the laughs I got watching the movie, I ought to think the straightforward climate catastrophism reflected in it is a disservice to human ingenuity and technological innovation. I’m inclined to believe that the engineers, scientists, and researchers working tirelessly to come up with the next set of breakthrough technologies would have a different take on the future of humanity and the planet. As a society, we would do a better job at averting the worst effects of climate change if we were willing to engage with others who might disagree with our preferred set of policies and look for
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common ground. Hubristic attitudes of some developed nations in their dealings with the developing world, which will largely determine the future trajectory of global emissions, are unconstructive. Those who think they can dictate or coerce development models of other nations from foreign capitals have not been paying attention. Removing our blinders to carefully evaluate the costs and benefits of different climate policy choices with more humility can give policymakers and advocates the necessary foresight to see what is “unseen.” If alive today, I posit Bastiat would say as much about the current state of climate policy debates. If you would like to continue the conversation, reach out to Martín Rodriguez Rodriguez for further discussion. If you would like to provide your perspective and contribute to the Harbus, reach out to Editor-in-Chief Alex Smith at asmith@mba2023.hbs. edu.
Martin Rodriguez Rodriguez is a Venezuelan policy entrepreneur, always keen on creating good and necessary trouble. He is a section D partner.
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COMMENTARY
Art Should Be a Habit, Not a Luxury Just like exercise and sleep, engaging with the arts is a necessity for a full and happy life. Arthur Brooks, Contributor
[Editor’s note: This article was first published in the January 27, 2022 edition of the Atlantic. © 2022, Arthur Brooks.] If someone asked whether you like the arts, you’d probably say you do—at least in theory. According to the advocacy group Americans for the Arts, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults say the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences.” Still, only 30 percent attended a concert of any type in 2017; 23 percent went to an art museum; 6 percent attended a literary event. Fewer than half actively created art of any kind. The No. 1 reason for this mismatch between values and behaviors is, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, that we don’t have time for art—we are weighed down by our day-today responsibilities. Maybe you play a little background music while you work or do chores, but even before the pandemic, you rarely saw a live performance, let alone visited a gallery or watched a play. And reading poetry? Perhaps not since high school. Too often, we let the humdrum reality of life get in the way of the arts, which can feel frivolous by comparison. But this is a mistake. The arts are the opposite of a diversion from reality; they might just be the most realistic glimpse we ever get into the nature and meaning of life. And if you make time for consuming and producing art—the same way you make time for work and exercise and family commitments— you’ll find your life getting fuller and happier. “The world is too much with us; late and soon, / Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” William Wordsworth wrote in an 1807 poem. “Little we see in Nature that is ours; / We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” Wordsworth’s point was that, left to their own devices, many people allow life to become a numbing routine of working, earning, and struggling for
more, in search of fulfillment that never seems to come. In 1818, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer took up this problem. What we might today call the “hamster wheel” he more grandiosely dubbed the “wheel of Ixion,” named after the king in Greek mythology who tried to seduce Zeus’s wife, Hera, and was punished by being bound to a great fiery wheel, spinning for eternity. This wheel was, for Schopenhauer, a metaphor for the worldly rat race, which was governed by an attribute he called Wille, or “will”—our mindless drive for worldly success. Will subjugates us, turning us into Homo economicus, and condemns our days and years to drudgery. In some respects, will is a capitulation to reality, a response to the fact that each of us must meet our basic needs. But Schopenhauer argued that will in fact leads to a form of delusion, in which our focus becomes so narrow that we no longer perceive objective reality. We obsess over our everyday experiences, which are small and subjective, swinging thoughtlessly between desire and boredom. Art, by contrast, forces us to stop looking through the soda straw of our workaday lives and see the world as it truly is. In experiencing art, we contemplate and absorb universal ideas, instead of fixating on the stultifying
minutiae of me, me, me. Engaging with art after worrying over the minutiae of your routine is like looking at the horizon after you’ve spent too long staring intently at a particular object: Your perception of the outside world expands. This refocusing enables what the Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman calls panoramic vision, widening our perspective of true reality by allowing us to see more. In addition to increasing awareness of the broader world, Huberman shows that narrow vision heightens our fear response, but widening our perspective lowers stress. Art opens our mental aperture and provides relief from the narrow tedium of will. “The true work of art leads us … [to] that which exists perpetually and time and time again in innumerable manifestations,” Schopenhauer wrote in 1851. Think of a time when you heard a piece of music and wanted to cry. Or recall the flutter of your heart as you stared at a delicate, uncannily lifelike sculpture. Or maybe your dizziness as you emerged from a narrow side street in an unfamiliar city and found yourself in a beautiful town square; for me, it was the Piazza San Marco in Venice, with its exquisitely preserved Renaissance architecture. Odds are, you didn’t feel as if the object of beauty was a narcotic, deadening
you. Instead, it probably precipitated a visceral awakening, much like the shock from a lungful of pure oxygen after breathing smoggy air. Art transcends mere good feelings. It can provoke in us the full range of experience and emotion. A melancholy song may inspire sadness, which can be a strangely ecstatic experience. Even the experience of fear can make art seem all the more sublime. None of this would be the slightest bit paradoxical to Schopenhauer: The truth can be sad or scary, but it is always a source of intense satisfaction. If you are among the 73 percent of Americans who feel that art is “pure pleasure to experience and participate in,” you might see it the same way you see eating out, or skydiving: as a luxury item in your limited budgets of time and money. As such, it probably gets the same sort of treatment as any minor hobby. Don’t make this error. Treat art less like a diversionary pleasure and more like exercise or sleep or loving relationships: a necessity for a life full of deep satisfaction. I’m not saying you need to quit your job and become a poet. But you should make a daily effort to get off the wheel of Ixion. Start by programming art into your schedule, beginning with 15 minutes before or after lunch if you
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can. Make a list of music, poetry, literature, and visual art you want to enjoy and learn more about. Day by day, make your way down your list. You will be amazed by how much you can cover in just a short window, and even more amazed at the transformative effect it will have on your appreciation for life, seemingly even in areas unrelated to the arts. Next, dabble in art yourself. Take a class in pottery or watercolor, or write a little poetry. Though no empirical studies exist measuring the amount of existential awareness one derives from making art, a few studies suggest profound psychic benefits. Try not to focus too much on your performance. The point isn’t that everyone needs to be a great artist; it is that we all could benefit from opening our consciousness to the crystalline awareness that exists in the creative realm. Teachings about the moral and emotional benefits of art are arguably as old as humankind’s ancient sacred scriptures. For example, the souldeadening drudgery of will is expressed concisely in the Book of Genesis; it is Adam’s penance for eating the forbidden fruit: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” But nowhere does God tell Adam that he cannot find any relief from this drudgery. Christians believe that people are made in God’s image; God is a creator of a world “pleasing to the eye and good for food.” It is no biblical stretch for a believer to think that art is a reminder of the bliss lost in the fall of mankind. Adding more art into your life may not transport you to the Garden of Eden, but the idea is surely worth putting to the test nonetheless. You have nothing to lose but a few turns on the wheel of Ixion.
Arthur C. Brooks is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, the William Henry Bloomberg professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School. He’s the host of the podcast series How to Build a Happy Life.
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