“It’s amazing how much an actual interpersonal interaction matters.” – Amrit Dhir, Google Partner Development Manager
An entrepreneur turns down McKinsey to start a tech company; now his startup has Hearst, Gannett, Time Warner Cable, and AOL as customers
It’s when you take that leave of absence or quit your job to focus on the startup full-time that it becomes real. – Roger Lee, president at PaperG
What a social entrepreneur learned about rejection early on that then helped him start a non-profit funded by Echoing Green
“I believe energy begets energy, positivity begets positivity. Small wins really lead to other things.” – Rey Faustino, One Degree
How a former Peace Corps volunteer addressed criticisms of “selling out” to Wall Street, and now leverages his finance and consulting experience to serve as a mayor
“One of the important messages Harvard imparted on all of its graduates was that you should focus on tri-sector competence.” – Yiaway Yeh, Palo Alto mayor
Why this cardiologist left medicine for the business world, and how one of his patients who died defined what matters most to him
“Just listening and communicating, even if it takes some extra time out of your day, is extraordinarily important.” – Tarun Mahajan, doctor and BCG consultant
The biggest entrepreneurship lessons this science major learned in two failed attempts starting a company, before nailing it the third time with a multi-million dollar venture-backed food startup
“In a startup, there are many situations where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to do because you’ve never seen it before. But it’s also really exciting because you get experience you may never get in a traditional job.” – Kevin Yang, EAT Club
How this professional re-invented her career from non-profit to marketing at a tech company (oh, she’s also a professional symphony cellist)
“You can re-invent yourself during a career transition. Don’t be confined to who you were or what others expect of you.” – Stephanie Lai, marketer at Smule
How a young law school grad won his first election in city politics (Hint: He knocked on every door in his district. Twice.)
“I knocked on 19,000 doors full-time for 15 months, and that’s how I won the election.” – Stanley Chang, Honolulu City Council, District 4
Why this Harvard lawyer left the Boston Consulting Group to start an online language learning company
“We help people learn Chinese through video content, like music videos, commercials, news, and inspiring talks.” – Alan Park, founder of FluentFlix
How a lawyer and Peace Corps volunteer started a China-focused media company followed by thousands (eventually acquired by the Washington Post)
“In any career transition, what you are gaining potentially in the future is never going to feel as concrete as what you’re giving up now.” – David Wertime, Tea Leaf Nation