Lindsay Norcott ’12
My Experience
In my work at ImpactAssets, I was primarily focused on two field-building projects to grow the field of impact investing by creating resources for mainstream investors. Specifically, I worked on the production of the ImpactAssets 50, which is an open-source, publicly published database of experienced private debt and equity impact investment fund managers. The IA50 provides an illustrative landscape of impact fund managers across asset classes, issue areas, and geography, and is a resource for advisors and investors seeking investment opportunities that deliver both financial and social or environmental returns. I also worked with Jed Emerson, Chief Impact Strategist at ImpactAssets, to produce additional Issue Briefs, which are accessible, concise articles that help advisors and investors become familiar with key topics in impact investing. A highlight of my work over the summer was the opportunity to co-author an Issue Brief with Jed Emerson titled “Present Risks, Future Rewards: Shared Reflections on Building the Market for Impact Investing.”
I also spent a significant portion of my time over the summer as the Social Entrepreneur Coordinator for the Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) conference. SOCAP is the premier global convening at the intersection of money and meaning, and each year they provide scholarships to social entrepreneurs who are generating financial return in addition to delivering social or environmental impact. I led the selection process of 100 entrepreneurs from over 400 applications, was the main point of contact leading up to and during the conference, and also co-produced the inaugural two-day, pre-SOCAP program designed specifically for social entrepreneurs, the Impact Accelerator @ SOCAP. Being able to work on field-building initiatives for impact investing as well as capacity-building programs for social entrepreneurs has been a truly unique opportunity and is perfectly aligned with my post-MBA goal of catalyzing the market for social impact.
The Impact Investing Seminar with Bruce Usher and the Launching Social Ventures course with Ron Gonen have both been directly applicable to my work this summer. They provided me with a practical, rather than a theoretical, familiarity with the entrepreneurs and fund managers that are doing this work by bringing the practitioners into the classroom. I also noticed myself applying the framework that Michael Preston teaches in Managing the Growing Company to put certain organizational immaturity into context. However, what has made the biggest difference in my ability to quickly plug into a new organization and add value is the overview that CBS provided of how all business functions work together. Both ImpactAssets and SOCAP are young, entrepreneurial ventures and I feel that I have a clear sense of where these organizations are effectively leveraging resources as well as where they will need to add infrastructure to continue their growth. Having this insight is really valuable to me in identifying the ways that I can be of most use to these organizations going forward.
The many team projects that I worked on at CBS with outside clients were a surprisingly good proxy and practice for project management challenges that I would face in this internship. This summer I have needed to steward projects to completion where team members were pulled in other directions, had various levels of experience and attention to detail, and had strong opinions. This was a frustration that I often encountered at Columbia and attributed to students having different goals and incentives, but those team dynamics are just as present in my current situation even though I’m confident that my co-workers are all aligned and motivated towards a common goal. Getting the best out of each team member and navigating towards mutual success is still a challenge, but I realized that I am much more comfortable and experienced in leading a group in this way after my time at CBS.
This was an invaluable experience to position myself in the middle of the social innovation ecosystem of the CA Bay Area. Although there are arguably more jobs in impact investing and social entrepreneurship concentrated in the Bay Area than any other part of the world, these jobs are still hard to come by and highly sought after. I had a clear goal to break into this ecosystem after CBS and knew that if I could get my foot in the door at the right organization that my passion and leadership skills would lead to a permanent role. I pursued an internship opportunity at ImpactAssets that didn’t exist, and because of the support from SESF they were able to bring me on with limited funding. This gave me a few months to evaluate if this organization was the right fit and opportunity, and also gave ImpactAssets the chance to test my adaptability and contribution to the organization. We have found it to be a great fit, and they have also been really responsive to my interest in working with entrepreneurs by connecting me to the Social Entrepreneur Coordinator position at SOCAP. I will be staying on full-time, splitting my efforts between these two organizations. Because both ImpactAssets and SOCAP perform such central roles in the growth of the good economy, I feel confident that this is the ideal place for me to launch my post-CBS career and that it has unlimited potential to connect me to the change I seek in the world.
