Deep Purpose

This is a special episode from Think Big, Buy Small, the chart-topping entrepreneurship podcast from our friends at Harvard Business School. Think Big, Buy Small explores an innovative approach to entrepreneurship -- acquisition entrepreneurship -- with conversations on how to buy your own business, be your own boss, and get the financial benefits of your efforts through the approach of entrepreneurship through acquisition. In this specific episode, HBS Professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff chat with graduating Harvard MBA students about their thoughts on becoming entrepreneurs. Listen to more episodes of Think Big, Buy Small and follow the podcast here: https://link.chtbl.com/B2cH36AX?sid=deeppurpose

Research has repeatedly shown that we are hard-wired to worry. Whether we worry about our own survival, our family and friends, or our future, it can seem like we spend much of our lives fixated on what could go wrong. In this episode, Helena Foulkes discusses how taking courage can be as simple as asking what could go right – a philosophy that has taken her from the helm of CVS Pharmacy and Hudson’s Bay Company to the campaign trail for governorship of Rhode Island.

In our increasingly virtual world, it can feel like many of our lives take place remotely. When Josh Silverman took the helm at Etsy in 2017, however, he went against this technological grain, helping to usher in a new, distinctly human-centered purpose at the e-commerce company: “Keep Commerce Human.” In this episode spanning the course of his career, Silverman recounts the difficult choices he has made in keeping people at the center of business – and what following that ethos has meant for his personal and professional life.

Despite the decades of progress women have made in the workplace, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions at companies across the globe. Leena Nair, CEO of Chanel, is working to change that. Reflecting on her journey from rural India to London, Leena discusses how she developed the confidence necessary to usher Chanel into the future – one led by (many more) women.

Few CEOs can claim that they started in entry-level positions at the companies they now lead. Penny Pennington is one of those few, rising from financial advisor to CEO and Managing Partner at Edward Jones. In this episode, Pennington reflects on how Edward Jones’ purpose – “to partner for positive impact” – motivated her personal and professional life and, nowadays, how she has been working to realize that sense of purpose for Edward Jones’ employees, clients, and the communities in which they live.