Blueprint Change: Deciding to enter consulting rather than the public/social sector after undergrad

An Interview with Jen Zwilling

The Basics:

Age: 23

Location: New York        

Current occupation: Customer Experience Strategy Senior Consultant in IBM Interactive

Last school attended: Duke University

Biggest and/or most recent Blueprint Change*: Deciding to enter consulting rather than the public/social sector after undergrad

*A decision you made or something that happened largely or completely out of your control

Past:

Could you describe your biggest and/or most recent Blueprint Change?

I have always been very interested and involved in the public and social sector, particularly with the Tourette Syndrome Association; I’ve been lobbying on Capitol Hill since I was 12. So when I got to Duke, it was kind of a no-brainer that I was interested in majoring in something related to that. I ended up majoring in Public Policy Studies with a minor in Education and I thought that I would probably go into some sort of policy or advocacy work, perhaps education policy, or something non-profit related.

When I was entering my senior year though, I realized that – while those were areas that I was very very passionate about – there were a ton of causes that I cared a lot about and the one thing that all those causes had in common was [that they all needed funding]. So I started to learn a lot about venture philanthropy and corporate social responsibility and I became really interested in the idea of social impact and community outreach work that large corporations and very successful individuals do. I realized that – while I felt much more competent in my non-profit experience and understanding that world – I had very very little business experience and that was something I wanted to gain. So I decided that I would look into management consulting.

I wanted to better understand how Corporate America works – what sort of business development and strategy skills I could learn so that, one day, when I’m ready to come back into the social/public sector, I’d have those skills and a toolbox to leverage. You can have the most incredible people doing grassroots work, but at some point, you are going to hit a ceiling if you don’t have the funding to support it or the funding to make it applicable on a really large scale. I think there is at least some shift in thinking about how to manage non-profits, and a lot of that is a move towards what people call “venture philanthropy” – basically, running non-profits like a business venture. More and more we see past CEOs or people with very high-up roles in large corporations make the move to the social sector and help non-profit organizations operate as if they were businesses.

Obviously you’re not dealing with profit; you are dealing with budget and raising funds, but in some ways, it’s still revenue… the amount that you can raise for your cause. So in order to have a successful organization – whether that’s a corporate organization or a non-profit organization – there are certain principles that can applied and having the ability to understand the connection and the similarities between those principles in all different types of settings is really useful and important.

What motivated this change?

There was a shift in thinking when I was looking for a first job from “What am I going to do with my life?” to “What is my first job going to be?” And I think that, sometimes, you can still have a long-term plan, but the steps you need to get there may seem to deviate from that path. I know that I want to be able to give back and I think public policy is so interesting. But, right now, I think that I need to learn more about how this world works. If I want to go into corporate social responsibility, it’s not enough to have the social sector experience. I also need to understand how corporate budgets are managed, the inner workings of corporations, the politics of work at a large company. That was a huge realization for me…to understand that what I see myself doing down the road, what my dream is, what my dream looks like 15, 20 years from now doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s where I should be now. I might need to do some things along the way to make me a better candidate to get there.

I was in a leadership development program [at Duke] and we went on a retreat at the end of the program senior year and I got into a debate with some of my peers and, you know, there is a whole school of thought that this is the time where we should be doing the things that we are passionate about. Like, if I’m so passionate about a certain cause – for example, if I think that one day I want to join the Peace Corps – what’s a better time than now to do it? I am young, I am single, there’s no one depending on me. I don’t have a family that I need to provide for or is depending on me to be there every day. Now is the perfect time to do it.

Then, there’s the other school of thought – which I guess I fall into more – that now is the time that I should be doing everything I can to set myself up for [what I’m passionate about and might want to do in the future]. I should be making sure that I am starting to establish myself financially and not stopping my education. I might not be in the classroom anymore, but there are skills that I need to get in order to get to where I want to. And the thought is that I should be selfish in that way to prepare myself. So that, one day, I can better provide for the people who will depend on me. My thinking is that I have the rest of my life to figure out what exactly I am most passionate about and how exactly I can involve myself in that area and, right now, I want to just work hard and make sure that I am leaving all my opportunities open, not closing any doors, and just setting myself up for the greatest possible future.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either those viewpoints and I think it’s great that people have goals, because that’s what keeps the world going around. That’s what makes a diverse population of people. People from my graduation class went into all different areas, for example. Some people decided to explore passions, some people dove right into grad school, some people joined a large corporation like IBM. I think that it’s really interesting to take into account everyone’s perspectives and different ideas on what these really special years right after college are for and what we can achieve in them and how we measure that success.

What was the most challenging part of this change and how did you adapt?

I think the biggest challenge was the internal struggle. Also, my family and friends who know me very well were very surprised that I was going to go work for a very large corporation and jump into true corporate America. I think that the way that I’ve been able to deal with it has been realizing that what I do for a living – my work and primary job – doesn’t have to be what defines me.

This past week, for the perfect example, I took some vacation time and I’ve been at the semi-annual conference sponsored by the National Tourette Syndrome Association. It’s an organization that I’ve been involved with my whole life. I started an advocacy curriculum for them and I’ve been coming here to train these peers to be advocates for themselves and others with this disorder. Just as I used to miss a few days of school each year to do this training, I can take a vacation day or two and come down to DC to do this training and lead a group of incredible teens to Capitol Hill and help them lobby for an issue they are really passionate about and affects their lives. I think realizing that this first job doesn’t have to define all of who I am has been a good way to deal with that and not lose sight of the things that I was and still am passionate about.

And also, celebrating and being really open to the new interests I’ve found – things that I had no idea would interest me and I would become passionate about. It’s really cool to see my interests evolve. It’s just a reminder that you really don’t know what you do like and what you don’t like until you try it. The unexpected tasks have actually been really enjoyable. It’s strange transitioning from the past how many years of our lives…our whole lives…in a classroom learning what is forced upon us. Now it’s a very different kind of learning. It’s learning on the job, seeking out your own opportunities.

I’ve gotten really interested in this whole world of human centered design and design thinking. I’m reading a book called Creative Confidence written by the founders of Ideo. It’s all about this human centered design and it’s so interesting to see how the concepts – not only apply to some of the work that I am doing when I’m doing customer strategy work and journey maps – but really, in many ways, how they apply to the Tourette Syndrome Association. I look back now and see how design thinking has been a process that has been ingrained in me, sort of how my brain works. And, if I hadn’t fallen down this path and ended up with IBM Interactive Experience, I don’t know that I would have ever have known the term ‘design thinking’ and now that has helped me bridge my interests together.

Life just takes unexpected turns and I think that if you have a high level of awareness…and by no means do I think that mine is perfect…I think it’s something that I’ll work towards attaining…it’ll be interesting to see how unexpected fields can overlap. That helps me feel confident in what I’m doing. That I’m not going down a road that is going in such a separate direction of where I’ve always hoped to end up. It’s just a matter of finding those paths that connect the two and making sure that I recognize that.

Present

How do you feel about your Blueprint Change now?

“If I made the right decision?” is a really scary question. When I graduated, I was given two offers: one for Teach for America and one for IBM. Those were the two offers I was debating between and I knew that it was a huge decision. It wasn’t like choosing one consulting firm over another or one teaching fellowship over another. It was really a huge difference of what I would be doing on a day-to-day basis. I guess I have no way of knowing if I made the right decision, because I don’t know how happy I would have been doing the other. I’d like to think that I enjoy learning and new experiences and I would have found more than the silver lining in whatever path I took.

…But I feel good about where I am. I feel like I learned so so much in the past year and a half. I feel like I learned a lot about what I do like and what tasks I didn’t know interest me. I’ve also learned a ton about what I don’t like and what things really are important to me. And that goes in terms of career, but also [in terms of my personal values]. When you are really busy, you learn a lot about what’s important to you, because you see what you make time for. And that has been eye-opening to reflect on.

No matter how busy I am, the two things that I always make time for is family and close friends. That’s something that I’ve always done and hoped, but realizing that it’s true was a good validation for me. I think that it would worry me if that wasn’t the case. And, like I’ve said, I’ve learned so much – new things that I didn’t expect to like. Sometimes, I hear myself talking about more tech things and I have to take a step a back and be like, “Was that just me? Who just said that?” Because I never imagined that I would have learned so much in that sense.

I think that I’ll always be curious. I’ll always be looking and thinking about the next opportunity and keep my eyes and ears open to what’s out there. I don’t think I’m ever going to be 100% confident, 100% satisfied in any career-related decision that I make. And I sort of hope that I never am. Because then there’s hope that there’s something even better still to come. I guess sometimes that is scary if you’re not able to be 100% satisfied, but I also think that, in some ways, it’s what keeps me going. Who’s to say that I couldn’t be even more passionate about something totally unrelated?

I hope that I get the opportunity to try new things. I hope that I figure out some more things that I don’t like, because I do think that’s important, but I also hope that I find unexpected things that I really enjoy.

And in the realm of changes in general - what are some Blueprint Changes you are most proud of?

I think the Blueprint Change that I am most proud of is switching from this CbD program at IBM to IBM Interactive Experience as a Customer Experience Strategy Senior Consultant. I feel like that was a really good example of the true first time that I was able to try something completely new, figure out what parts I liked, what parts interested me…set my sights on something…set a goal….and sought out resources around me to get me there. That’s something I’m really proud of, because it was something I really did on my own; it wasn’t something I always planned for.

I mean, consulting wasn’t something that I always planned for by any means, but it’s not like I took a huge risk right out of college. A lot of people surrounding me were interviewing for consulting and it was more the norm than the exception. But figuring out [my specialty] on my own…realizing what I like and then finding the group at IBM that was doing it…trying to learn how to network and speak with the right people…seek the right courses, seek out all the opportunities….and then seeing that pay off and put me in a place where I’m really really excited about the work…that’s been really cool. It has given me confirmation that I’m happy with my Big Blueprint Change to go into consulting. Because I’ve already been able to narrow it down and find a smaller field that I’m passionate about.

If you feel overwhelmed with change(s) now, how do you adapt?

I think change is always really overwhelming; I feel like even really small changes are really scary. Sort of bringing it full circle to what I said in the beginning though – we are so so young, we have our whole lives ahead of us, so trying to focus on the exciting aspects of the unknown instead of the scary aspects [is a good way of adapting].

I’m totally someone whose first inclination is to think of the scary parts of it. I really think that I remind myself all the time of how young we are, how much time we still have to make any changes that we may want. And that very very very few decisions in life are permanent. With every decision and every big change, there’s a trial period and there are consequences…there are certainly consequences to decisions…and it’s not always easy to bounce back from a change, but almost nothing is permanent and something not so great might lead you to something really great. Those are my defense mechanisms. That’s what keeps me going when things are too scary.

Future

What sorts of Blueprint Changes would like to see happen in the future and why?

I guess most of the Blueprint Changes that I would be most happy with in the future is going to have to do more with my personal life than my professional life. Looking really into the future, I want to have a family, I want to be a mom.

…but I don’t know, because when I joined IBM, I had no idea that I could have hoped to end up with IBM Interactive. And I certainly never would have said the phrase ‘customer experience strategy’. I sort of always had a plan, always thought I had a vision of where my life would take me. I knew the end goal for my future. Now, I really have learned that I know what I like, but who’s to say that there’s something I haven’t tried that I might like even more? That I might be even more passionate about?

…so maybe in the first time in my life, I feel like my future blueprint is really open. There are some things that I know for sure – I know that I want to have a family, I know that I want to travel more, I want to see more of the world, and all of those things. But in terms of my career and where I hope it takes me, I hope that I experience a few different things. My biggest hope is that I never settle. That I keep learning, finding new things to try, and figuring out where those things can take me. And sometimes they might take me to a point where I don’t want to be, but I think that can be really useful too.

I guess I do really hope that I eventually have a Blueprint Change that leads me back to the non-profit world. I think that I will at some point need to make that my full-time job. That’s at the core of who I am. In order to really feel fulfilled, I’ll need to go back to that eventually. But, I feel like the more I enjoy what I’m doing now, the more in the future I see that happening. And that’s okay.

What are you most looking forward to in the time between now and year end?

I am looking forward to new and more opportunities with the Customer Experience Strategy group. I feel like I’m still sort of in transition, so I hope to get more involved with that sort of work and really just focus on that. I’m starting to help out with some bid and proposal work, which I’m excited about, but I’d like to work more with more people in the group and immerse myself there.

Could you share a piece of advice from your experiences (e.g. something that you thought about a lot during changes)?

I think that my biggest piece of advice – I don’t know that I’m qualified to give advice, but – to just remember that really no change has to be permanent if you don’t want it to be. And every new job, every new experience…it’s not forever. There’s not a quota of Blueprint Changes we can make. There’s no one who is going to say, “Stop, you’ve tried too many things.” I think that’s really important to keep in mind.

Even when, down the line, I decide to transition to something else, it doesn’t have to be what defines me. When I graduated college, for instance, it wasn’t like, “What do I want to do for the rest of my life?”, but “What do I want to do for my first job?” Thinking of it all that way can keep you grounded and make your decisions a little easier, a little less scary.

Thank you, Jen!