Stories
Stories
The Pursuit of Impact
Michael R. Bloomberg (MBA 1966) is founder and CEO of the financial data firm Bloomberg LP, the former mayor of New York City, and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies. He is a 2019 recipient of the HBS Alumni Achievement Award. In this interview, he talks about the goals and outcomes of his philanthropic efforts.
“Bloomberg the company has been in existence for 35 years. It is a private company. We give most of the company and all of my share of the earnings to the foundation. It is a real big recruiting tool when we say, ‘Go to work for the other company; you'll make a bunch of rich people richer. Go to work for Bloomberg, and the money is going to go to end polio, and educate kids.’
“And we try to do things where, number one, other people aren't particularly interested in it. And then once we get in, then we try to get them interested in it. So it's not just us, and there'll be a successor.
“I'm very interested in government and what mayors do to improve people's lives. So we have the Bloomberg Harvard program. Professors from the B school and the K school have provided real help to cities around the country and around the world in training mayors how to take the next step in actually doing the job that they ran for. And you’ve got to remember, the skill sets to run for office have nothing do with the skill sets to do the job once you get there.
“I'm not obsessed with numbers, but we always have a saying at Bloomberg, “If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.” So I don't think you have to demand results right away in everything, but you have to have a vision and think that down the road, have some confidence that it's going to work. And if it's not working, be willing to adjust it, change it, cancel it, do something else with your money.”
(Published July 2019)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 01 Sep 2023
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
That Was Then, This Is Now
Re: Tony Deifell (MBA 2002); Heidi Brooks (MBA 2003); Peggy Yu (MBA 2007); Jon Swan (MBA 2009); Robyn Bolton (MBA 2005); Kareem Reda (MBA 2011); Nitin Nohria (George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor); By: Photographed by Tony Deifell (MBA 2002); edited by Julia Hanna. Above: Heidi Brooks, photographed in 2003 and 2023. -
- 25 Jul 2023
- Australian Financial Review
Why Leaders with Big Egos Worry Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott
Re: Robert Scott (AMP 179) -
- 19 May 2023
- Wall Street Journal
Quiet Acceleration
Re: Zachary Kirkhorn (MBA 2013) -
- 12 May 2023
- Forbes
Alabama's Yella Fella
Re: Jimmy Rane (OPM 11)
Stories Featuring Mike Bloomberg
-
- 12 Dec 2022
- Worth
HBS Alumni Named to 2022 Worthy 100
Re: Mike Bloomberg (MBA 1966); Jane Fraser (MBA 1994); Alice Vilma (MBA 2007); John Doerr (MBA 1976); Lara Hodgson (MBA 1998); Xiao Wang (MBA 2014) -
- 04 Apr 2022
- The Jerusalem Post
Strengthening City Hall’s Foundations
Re: Mike Bloomberg (MBA 1966); Yossi Sagol (MBA 2008) -
- 02 Mar 2021
- Harvard Gazette
Bloomberg Philanthropies & Harvard Create New Bloomberg Center for Cities to Support Mayors
Re: Mike Bloomberg (MBA 1966); Emma Bloomberg (MBA 2007)