How to Change the World
by Howard H. Stevenson
Alan Wilson has several career options but only one ambition -- to make a difference.
After an exhilarating morning of skiing with his best friend Karl, Alan Wilson settled into a booth at the
noisy ski lodge. Over lunch, Karl had asked him how things were going.
“You mean at work?” Alan said.
“Well, yes, at work. And everything.”
“OK. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since my mom died.” He thought how unfair his mother’s
death was when she’d given so much to others,
especially by founding and running Help and Hope,
now a well-established charity. He remembered when
they’d been told her cancer had spread; she had taken
his hand. “Alan, you are my gift to the world,” she had
said. “You will make a bigger difference in it than I.”
At the time, he’d been working for the strategy
consulting firm he’d joined out of business school, in
its pharmaceutical industry practice. And although he
believed that work was the best therapy for grief, he
had also begun to regret the toll that extensive travel
was taking on his personal life. Not long after his
mother’s funeral, a headhunter had called on behalf of
Grepter, a multinational pharmaceutical firm, and
dangled a vice presidency. Alan had decided to take it.
“As for work, I can’t complain. Grepter has been very
good to me.”
“I’m glad,” Karl said. “But it’s so corporate, isn’t it? Are
you really happy there?”
Karl had gone a completely different route, forgoing an MBA, and now working at a New York hedge
fund, LSM Investments.
“Well, the thing about M&A is that every deal is different, so I’m still learning a lot,” he said. “I’ve been
working on some big possibilities. If half of them come through, I’ll probably be on track for a promotion.”
“Are they paying you what you’re worth?” Karl asked.
Alan shrugged.
“The reason I ask is there’s an opportunity at LSM that you would be perfect for.” He raised his hand
slightly so that Alan would let him continue. “In the first few years I was making close to half a million.
Now I’m making almost 10.”
The figure stunned Alan. “That’s amazing. But that’s you, and you’re really good at it. You love the risk.”
“Sure there’s risk, but it’s mainly about being smart. And talk about Help and Hope – if you earn this kind
of money, you’ll be in a position to really make a difference. At some point down the line you could even
cash in your chips and start the Jenny Wilson Memorial Foundation.”
Karl’s proposal was certainly something to consider. But it was also complicating things. During a
business trip to California the previous week, another friend had made Alan an offer.
+++
It was good to catch up with Shiori Masaki. They’d dated a little in business school, but she had moved
to California after graduation. She’d recently founded a company that focused on getting medical care to
patients in Third World countries. Every time Alan talked to her, she sounded more passionate about
what her company was achieving.
She described a plan for partnering with big pharmaceutical companies to get medications for cancer,
pain, and infectious diseases to people in Africa and Indonesia more quickly and cheaply. “It’s really
exciting. But have we made it appealing enough for an industry partner? That’s what I need you to tell
me.”
Alan looked over some materials Shiori had brought.
“We need a talented person with the right network to kick-start this thing – and you’d be perfect.”
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Shiori said. Alan could get his entrepreneurial hands dirty.
They would work together.
“But here’s the real hard sell.” Shiori said seriously. “You could help save a lot of people from dying of
cancer.”
+++
“Okay, let’s take a 10-minute break,” said Gary Dreisinger, Grepter’s longtime CEO.
Alone in the boardroom, Alan had a chance to review his position. This merger with Schweitzer was the
biggest deal he’d ever worked on, and the final decision would be made in just a few minutes. The deal
had been a nail-biter, and Alan had flown many
times to and from Zurich, putting hundreds of
hours into the negotiations. Soon Gary re-entered
the boardroom accompanied by the CFO and the
head of strategic planning.
“All right,” Gary said. “Let’s do it.”
The other two men left the room, but Gary stayed
behind while Alan gathered up his notes. “What
would you think about spending a little more time
in Zurich?”
Alan stared at Gary. “What do you have in mind?”
“The first order of business will be to integrate
Schweitzer,” Gary said. “That would give you an
opportunity to get some experience in operations.”
“Ah…,” Alan began.
“After that I’ll consider promoting you to senior vice
president in charge of global M&A. With a few
years of global experience, you’ll be as well positioned in the company as anyone could possibly be.”
+++
Alan felt a little light-headed as he drove to the house of his favorite cousin, Beth, for dinner. He wasn’t
sure whether he was hungry or reacting to the dizzying choi