Mark Newberg

For the better part of the past twenty years, my focus has been on and in the Impact Economy. It’s the place where traditional concepts of business, innovation, and profit align with measurable social benefit. It’s also a place where I get to spend each day focused on solving problems worth solving.

The key to making this intersection of “doing good” and “doing well” work is using rigorous management practices, especially when theories back them as enduring as those the Institute uses every day. It’s not a pathway I planned out. If I had, I might not have gone to law school in the first place. But it has taken me from post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans to Federal roles in D.C. (where I helped craft the initial policy framework for the sector) to the private sector, working with multinational corporations, foundations, SMEs, and startups alike.

When I think about how I ended up here, I come back to the day I first encountered Clay’s theories…at a youth basketball concession stand. I was fortunate enough to grow up with many of the Christensens, and just as fortunate that Clay took an interest in teaching me in high school. I still have the copy of The Innovator’s Dilemma he handed me at that concession stand, back when it was first published. Over the years, I would ask him questions, bounce wild ideas I was enamored with off him, and come to understand that being certain and being right weren’t the same thing. And I learned to view ideas and observations through the lens of theories I use to this day.

Those theories, including Jobs to Be Done, have fundamentally shaped how I think about impact and how I design solutions that deliver it. It’s also why I’m so excited to be working with the Institute: the impact of good theories, used well and applied to problems worth solving, can be immense and enduring.

Being part of this community of leaders, researchers, and practitioners gives me hope in the future. It gives me a place to think out loud. To explore ideas. To become better at what I do. And to be a tiny part of carrying on the legacy of someone who had a profound impact on my life, and on how the world understands the opportunities innovation can create.

Experience

• Founder and President: Stockbridge Advisors
• Innovator-in-Residence: Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Tulane University
• Sorenson Institute Global Impact Leader
• Director of Impact Strategies: Womble Bond Dickinson
• Senior Policy Advisor: United States Small Business Administration
• Advisor: New Orleans City Council
• Tulane University, BA
• Tulane Law School, JD
• Harvard Law School, Visiting Student