For 25 years, David Brunell (MBA 1962) has worked in private sector development all over the world, transforming centralized economies to market-based economies in 20 different countries, including Zambia, Vietnam, and Pakistan. His most recent work was with the government of Myanmar, which recently emerged from decades of military rule with a planned economy. Bulletin editor Dan Morrell talked to David about his experience in Myanmar, and what the process of private sector development looks like at the ground level.

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Dan Morrell: Talk to me about the situation that you saw when you walked into Myanmar. What was the state of the country? What were the signals that were coming from government at that point?

David Brunell: Interesting question. I flew into Myanmar in July 2015. Global sanctions were just being relaxed. And both the military government and Aung San Suu Kyi's populist party were scrambling in fast forward helter-skelter mode towards the election. And both sides actually decided that they had more to gain by collaborating in an unprecedented, high risk transition. There were countless challenges ahead. But they had virtually no experience in the roles of government and private sector in creating a dynamic economy.

Putting Myanmar in perspective, it's the size of Texas, and it has a population of 54 million-- same as California and New York combined. There were over 100 ethnic groups, many in conflict. Yangon was the only large city and was like a time capsule from the past.

When we got to the hotel in Yangon, for the first breakfast, my wife and I got into a conversation with the waiter, a very bright, animated young man. He said I'm 25, or I'm 30 years old-- without saying it, he was obviously smart and had a great spirit. And he just said, our problem is we have nothing in our brains. We're yearning to be able to dream and to be able to have intelligence and information so that we can do our part in this country.

Morrell: What was your first meeting like? Who was there? What sort of questions did they have?

Brunell: Well first, there was a preliminary meeting with the head of the investment agency in Yangon. He told me his objective was to prepare a private sector development transition plan to accelerate and influence economic policy after the next election for whatever new government coalition might be in place in March 2016. Then he looked at me and said, the real power is not here. It's with Minister number five.

Morrell: David, tell me about the meeting with Minister number five. What did that look like?

Brunell: Well, that's interesting. And I have to set the scene for what happened next, because we took an hour long flight over vast remote green plains with barely any village in sight and landed several miles from a fairly large clump of ultramodern buildings, which looked like a Florida movie set in the middle of nowhere. We drove in from the airport on a two-lane road that all of a sudden widened to 28 lanes wide with not any lane separation for several miles, right up to the steps of the new capitol. I'd never seen anything like that before. And the driver whispered to me, in case of emergency the government wants to be able to fly 747s in and out of here right from the statehouse.

We were then ushered up the steps into a large hall and seated across a long table facing 10 high ranking officials with Minister number five in the middle. They were all in full dress. And there were 15 minutes of ceremonial formalities about the government's request for this private sector roadmap and lots of flattering about the need for our outside expertise.

But it was clear to me we would not have a clue as to the ground we were standing on or meaningful terms of reference unless we got to the heart of the unspoken elephant in the room. We needed to understand three critical issues. The first was about political will for such a sweeping change in governance. How strong was it from the government, from the military side? The second one was whether they appreciated the tough realities and the implications for sweeping transformational change, radical change. And finally, we needed to know more about the commitment from our Myanmar counterparts and the quality of their collaboration.

Morrell: What questions did you ask during that meeting?

Brunell: We really weren't going to know what kind of ground we were standing on until we found a different way to talk about this. So I interrupted the whole formality of the conversation, and in a respectful way I said, Mr. Minister, you have a noble dream. It involves radical change from where things are now in Myanmar. And it's going to mean a very, very different way of business happening. It's going to involve tough, gutsy, courageous decisions. You're going to be taking some big risks. And it's going to be the most challenging mission ahead. How do you feel about that? Are you up for it? Are you willing to belly up to those really big stakes, and big decisions, and big risks to get to where you want to go?

And the whole room went silent. And I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Anyway, he stands up from the table, and he starts talking like he's performing on stage, taking off his whole mask. And he proceeds to talk about how much this means to him and the country and that he is up for it. He will provide the leadership for it. And I said, well, how do you think you'll go about it? And he literally takes a deep breath, pounds the table, and said, we'll just make it happen.

When we walked out of that meeting we knew we had two top champions-- a Colonel and a General. But we also knew that the biggest challenge-- the biggest need-- was going to be to have hundreds more champions working all over the government and the private sector. The reason we needed exponentially more champions was because the entire governance culture was going to have to be changed from top down, outside in, and be reversed to bottom up and inside out.

Morrell: What happened after that? What was the next step?

Brunell: The next step was to help stakeholders understand private sector development in more depth. So I diagrammed a holistic overview of the very fundamentally different, but vitally complementary, roles of government and the private sector. We take all this for granted. But for them, it was just radically new. For them, this was like seeing a sonogram of a baby they were going to have for the first time.

Morrell: What were the steps in achieving this, David?

Brunell: The heavy lifting really began at that point. With the support of the Colonel and Minister number five, and a network of business leaders that we got to know over drinks and dinners and interviews in Yangon and in Mandalay and Naypyidaw. Together, we identified a core nucleus of 80 to 100 key leaders in business and in government to participate together in a comprehensive case development and intensive workshop experience over a six-month period.

And breakthroughs happened. So we came out of that whole six-month process with a large group of stakeholders that had coauthored and now owned their final package of specific recommendations. In March, they turned it over on schedule to the new government.

Just a month or two later, Aung San Suu Kyi's new government announced the formation of a new presidential council with equal government and private sector leadership to oversee private sector development, policy, and implementation in Myanmar, all in virtually the same spirit and language as generated by the stakeholder team.

Morrell: So essentially it was adopted?

Brunell: Yeah, it was adopted.

Morrell: This thing that you helped build goes into practice in some way, shape, or form. How did you hear about that? How did you know about it? And what was your response to it?

Brunell: Actually, we found out about the news in an article in The Myanmar Times.

Morrell: Were you surprised? I guess you weren't surprised about it at that point?

Brunell: So most of all, I was proud, and I was excited for Myanmar and its future and for all of the people that had risked a lot and given their all to create the new DNA of the new Myanmar going forward. It was just such a pleasure to work with so many people that were willing to put it all on the line-- leave it all on the field, as we say in the competitive sports arena-- and reaffirm my deep belief that everybody, that every citizen and every leader can be a champion of change, and can, by working really together, create the relationships, create the visions, and create the energy and spirit to take charge of their future.

They risked a lot. They worked hard. They broke new boundaries in their thinking, in their experience, and their imagination, and really created the basis for the new Myanmar of the 21st century.

For me personally, though, it was also an experience of transition. Because all of a sudden, I experienced a moment that I think comes to each of us a few times in our life, where all of a sudden, all of the work that we've done over the years and all the experiences we had, suddenly become blazingly clear through the rear view mirror. I was just glad for the opportunity and for the sense of fulfillment and the chance to be an agent of empowerment in this process.

Skydeck is produced by the External Relations department at Harvard Business School and edited by Craig McDonald. It is available at iTunes or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. For more information or to find archived episodes, visit alumni.hbs.edu/skydeck.

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