602: Harvard's Scott Levy on His Path from Investment Banking to Public Education and Leading in Uncertain Times

Scott Levy spent two decades as an investment banker at firms like J.P. Morgan, advising corporate boards and senior executives on risk, growth, and capital decisions. Then he pivoted, serving on a public school board, teaching at Harvard, and writing Why School Boards Matter.   In this episode, we discuss: How Levy broke into investment banking and the lessons that carried him through twenty years on Wall Street What he learned about resilience, risk-taking, and long-term thinking at the highest levels of finance Why he left a successful career to focus on public education and democracy How business principles can, and cannot, be applied productively to education What executives misunderstand about AI, and the questions they should be asking   Get Scott's book, Why School Boards Matter, here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552721/why-school-boards-matter/   Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF   Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions   Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom   Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build   Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach   Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Acton, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift