What the World Needs Now

WHAT

THE

WORLDNEEDS

NOW

Alums on hiring and what students will need in order to play an effective role in the workplace.

W hat do our graduates really need to thrive in the roles their futures hold for them? There are many ways to answer this question, one that informs every decision made about the Thacher program, but we thought it would be interesting to hear from members of the Thacher community who are involved in recruiting young people to work in their organizations. So, we asked a few Toads who think about this sort of thing to tell us what knowledge, skills, and attributes they find most necessary in today’s world and workplace.

“ We look for people who have the ability to be productive and thrive amongst ambiguity and rapid, constant change.”

Two qualities that can be hard to find in job candidates: humility and patience.

As an early-stage, venture-backed company, adaptability and risk tolerance are also important criteria for success. Along those lines, we look for people who have the ability to be productive and thrive amongst ambiguity and rapid, constant change.

Empowering students with tools to ask the critical questions of those they interview and of teachers and mentors can help them find a good match for their own character and personal goals.

Also, networking and relationship building are such key skills to succeed in the workforce. We need to be offering students the opportunity to learn how to build meaningful, genuine connections with others.

Brooke LeVasseur, MD CdeP 1996, P ’24

Brooke is CEO of AristaMD, a rapidly growing telehealth company in search of talented employees who can collaborate effectively across many disciplines.

24 Fall 2021

Like many community-based nonprofits, we are trying to solve huge systemic problems, so we need people who come from different disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate together to make a difference. We look for people who have strong critical thinking skills, people who are extremely collaborative, people who collaborate across functions, or can themselves work across functional areas. Of course, depending on the role, we have needs for very specific technical skills.

It’s not enough, though, just to have the requisite technical skills. We must also find people who are deeply aligned with our mission, people who have a connection to the work, and can develop a connection to the communities we serve. In other words, there has to be some kind of a passion for the work, because it is hard work and it demands an emotional investment.

We look for applicants who approach us with an attitude of “how can I help?” … people who are respectful, empathetic, humble, and looking to be of service. We look for signs of flexibility and curiosity.

It’s important to our mission, and also valuable for any organizational culture today. Most workplaces have become more inclusive and welcoming than they have ever been. More workers feel comfortable bringing more of their full selves into the workplace. And organizations have to adapt to that. Meanwhile, those of us who think about staff composition need

to be sure that we bring employees on board who are willing and able to work within and support this kind of a culture. People who are willing to put in the work of becoming better people and better organizations. You see this reflected in the Para Los Niños core values of excellence, constant learning, teamwork, community, inclusion, and trust. Recently, I’ve been making a more deliberate effort to highlight and celebrate these core values so that our staff is on the same page. That’s part of what it takes to be mission-aligned. We continue to formalize this aspect of our culture to better align our values with our performance metrics. The same metrics come to play in hiring as we seek applicants who can join us in this work of becoming a better organization. At the end of the day, what we seek is people who love their work—our work—and can bring joy to it. Are you looking to be of service? To be of joyful service? Those are the people we want and need.

Deena Williams Mangrum CdeP 1987

Deena is the director of talent strategy and human resources at Para Los Niños. Founded on LA’s Skid Row in the 1980s, Para Los Niños supports the city’s underserved youth by fostering pathways to success through powerful families, strong communities, and excellence in education.

“ There has to be some kind of a connection and a passion for the work.”

“ One of the most critical skills is being self-directed and able to learn. Fast.”

The qualities we seek in recruits are curiosity, empathy, intelligence, a knack for teamwork, creativity, and a desire to solve problems. Of course there are special requirements for different job types, but since tech changes so fast, one of the most critical skills is being self-directed and able to learn. Fast.

Over the past few years I’ve really come to appreciate the power of diverse viewpoints in solving novel and complex problems. This insight has been well documented since the turn of the century, but as workplaces have evolved to be more inclusive, to be more diverse, and more meritocratic and less hierarchical—I’ve really come to a visceral appreciation of it. The other big idea that changed my thinking is the importance of a growth mindset and the openness to feedback. Sounds about right for someone working at a feedback company!

I have a tremendous amount of respect for the students that come out of Thacher. It’s obvious to say that the Horse Program teaches confidence and humility and that camping improves teamwork and empathy and the ability to collaborate and problem solve with a diverse group of people. Those are really valuable and practical skills that can be put to use in a wide range of settings. If there was one to call out among the many, many positive lessons I took away from Thacher it’s this: Work hard and don’t be afraid to try something new.

Tom Hale CdeP 1986, P ’21

Tom is CEO of Survey Monkey and considers himself “lucky to have been in the right place at the right time and to work with some of the most creative and innovative people in the world.”

The Thacher School 25

W

ith so much change in the workplace right now, people who are adaptable and able to question their own assumptions are best set up to thrive. Any part of the Thacher curriculum that can challenge students to question their own assumptions and build the skill of adaptability will prepare graduates for the needs of today’s workplace.

If we take the last two years, leaders have faced an unprecedented demand for change. Increasingly, I’ve seen leaders approaching change with a lens of opportunity, not merely as an environmental constraint. The executives I coach are shifting from “Why do we have to do this?” to “What is the opportunity this brings us? What does this offer us that we haven’t been able to do before?” Successful leaders are are able to quickly grasp that change brings opportunities to question our own assumptions.

In this moment, Thacher has an opportunity to embrace a comfort with change, not just as a cultural element for the institution, but also as a programmatic part of the classroom and the various experiences we give students. It could be stretching students outside of their comfort zones, asking them to assume roles they have never played, encouraging them to do things they may not think they have a lot of interest in, or simply providing opportunities to fail and try a new approach. Giving students experience navigating change and challenging their own assumptions is a critical way Thacher can prepare students to lead in today’s environment.

Alex Herbert van Helden CdeP 2002

Alex is an executive coach who helps leaders around the world identify and strengthen their authentic leadership styles in a diverse and changing landscape.

“ The solutions are already here; I just need to be ready to listen well enough to hear them.”

As an American expat living in Ecuador, I’m constantly aware that I’m stepping into somebody else’s community. As an outsider, I can never assume that I have a complete understanding of the problems the community faces, or how best to solve them. In many cases the solutions are already here; I just need to be ready to listen well enough to hear them.

People from a privileged country who travel often think that we know what is right. We have a restaurant at our hotel and I used to help with serving dishes, because I’m not a good cook. I would often visit tables to make sure everybody had what they needed. After a week or so of this, some of my colleagues on the staff asked why I was always bothering the diners. When Americans come down to Ecuador, they often complain that the service is terrible: Nobody pays attention to you, they don’t bring meals at the same time, they don’t check on your drinks.

If you want them, you have to call them. But my staff had to explain it to me and it came down to a cultural difference. Our guests at the restaurant are there for time together, my colleagues explained, it’s rude to interrupt them. The truth is, this is a time our guests have to sit at a table and not be bothered. Finally, it occurred to me that it was not about good service; my efforts to make sure they had what they wanted were interfering with what they wanted, which was time together, uninterrupted. The whole idea of sitting down for a meal in Latino culture— there’s even a word for it, “sobremesa,” upon the table, time at the table—was informed by ideas that were very culturally different than the ones I was bringing to it. This was a learning point for me; it wasn’t that the serving staff didn’t know how or didn’t care to give good service, which had been my initial outsider’s take. It was that they did care, and my understanding was off.

It’s important for Thacher graduates to recognize as they go out into the world that they have been given a huge privilege, having had that education, but it doesn’t mean they have all the answers.

Max Reniers CdeP 1992

“Change brings opportunities to question your own assumptions.”

Max is a Thacher Board member, ESL teacher, exhotelier, and director of the Latitude Foundation, based in Otavalo, Ecuador. Co-founded by Max and his wife, Latitude offers financial support to help families in the community overcome barriers to education.

26 Fall 2021

My current project with the Chicago Police Department is the creation of a 10-year strategy for organizational wellness (aka Officer Wellness). If a police officer is not doing well internally, if things aren’t going well at home, if they don't have a good support network, how are they going to manage the stress and repeated trauma they encounter on the street every day for 20-plus years?

As a trained anthropologist, I see this effort to support officers as connected to the department's overall commitment to improving police work by evolving our organization, both through fostering cultural values and through recruiting capable candidates. As we look for recruits who are able to join that effort, we’ve branded our recruitment strategy as “Be The Change”—a strategy to identify candidates who are proactive, dependable, courageous, loyal people of integrity and sound judgment—in other words, people who embody attributes essential to successful policing today.

I also hear experienced officers tell me they wish they saw more “autonomy” in our new recruits. By this, they mean an ability to make decisions—often split-second decisions—that are guided by objective morality rather than personal feelings of the moment. That objective morality fits into what our department looks for and what our legal system looks for, whether we are engaging with a member of the public or an offender.

I can’t help but note how all of these ideas resonate with Thacher’s core values. I reflect on my daughter's Thacher experience. She arrived at Thacher with a strong sense of her own autonomy, and Thacher has allowed her to shine by celebrating, encouraging, and developing that autonomy. Some people say to me, you had this great private school education, and now you are a cop. Why? And to that I say we’re trying to

“The sense of autonomy that Thacher fostered in me … is a lot like the autonomy, integrity, courage, and professionalism we seek in our recruits.”

reform a system that has suffered from decades and decades of divestment—that takes courage. The sense of autonomy that Thacher fostered in me, and that I see developing in my daughter, is a lot like the autonomy, integrity, courage, and professionalism we seek in our recruits so that they too may “Be the Change.” Just as Thacher taught me to “do the best work in the world that [I] can,” Thacher continues to teach my daughter to do just that “until the best she can do is all done.”

Mariposa Widdoes CdeP 2000, P ’25

In her 4 years working for the Chicago Police Department, Mariposa is applying what she learned responding to 911 calls to her current work supporting Officer Wellness. Her current project is the development and implementation of a 10-year strategy for organizational wellness to ensure that officers have the training and support they need to build resilience and manage traumarelated stress. She will complete her masters in jurisprudence in the spring.

The Thacher School 27