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Wednesday I attended day one of a two-day career development seminar at Harvard Business School. The 48 participants were mostly female Harvard MBA’s that are in career transition.  Some had left the workforce and were in the re-entry process, others considering career changes, most were parents.  There was one transitioning entrepreneur who was a stay-at-home father. 

Day one of the conference included a case discussion by retired HBS Professor Myra Hart about the founding of Zipcar.  Mrya emphasized the challenges faced by the founders, one with three young children, one expecting her second child, and investor perceptions (given their family commitments and lack of experience directly related to their business idea) as they raised venture capital. Myra challenged the class to decide, “Would you invest your money, or your client’s money, in these two mothers and their fledgling business?”

Interestingly, Myra’s own career path resonated well beyond the lessons from Zipcar.  Read Myra’s bio for the details but know she returned to school after having her children at age 37 to obtain her MBA at Harvard.  As she spoke, I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, how do I get there?  

Timothy Butler, Senior Fellow; HBS Director of Career Development Programs; and author of Getting Unstuck:  How Dead Ends Become New Paths, lead some career development visioning exercises. The participants split into small groups to discuss their career visions and receive feedback.

The conference also included an alumni panel discussion with, Carol Fishman Cohen, author of Back on The Career Track, Allison O’Kelly, founder of Mom Corps,  Natalie Barth, Director of Operations/Business Management at Perella Weinberg Partners and Jules Pieri, former President and COO of Ziggs.com, a social networking site for professionals.  Each discussed their career paths as mothers; the issues of re-entry; flexible work situations; and provided advice to the group.