Clubs Hopping

01 Dec 2014

Clubs Hopping

HBSCNY project addresses the midlevel skills gap

Re: Richard Kane (MBA 1968); Bruce Bockmann (MBA 1967); Michael E. Porter (Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Emeritus); Jan W. Rivkin (C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration); By: April White

Topics: Competency and Skills-General Relationships-HBS Clubs Education-Curriculum and Courses Planning-Strategic Planning

NETWORK SOLUTIONS In 2012, Richard Kane (MBA 1968) and Bruce Bockmann (MBA 1967) sat in the audience at New York’s Lincoln Center as Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin presented findings from the School’s U.S. Competiveness Project. There was one challenge facing the country that resonated with the men: the midlevel skills gap.

“That was the spark,” says Kane, who along with Bockmann and other members of the HBS Club of New York launched the HBSCNY Skills Gap Project to translate research into real-world action. The group identified health care and the early-stage tech sector in New York as those most in need of skilled midlevel workers and focused on community colleges as a solution. In partnership with the LaGuardia Community College in Queens, the group created a program to connect interns with tech firms—to date, more than 30 have been placed—and in the fall, with the help of the Skills Gap Project, the college debuted a new health-care curriculum designed to meet the skill needs of a nearby medical center.

Their next project: encouraging other HBS alumni clubs to tackle the issue in their communities. “We can use our networks to bring people together and solve real problems,” says Bockmann.