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How to Have it All in Your Career

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We need to make it easier for mission-driven young people to explore public service. I’m often asked how to talk to young people to get them interested. But in my experience, the problem isn’t a lack of interest. Today’s students are looking for purpose-driven work ... What’s missing is the lack of a clear, easy pathway. This is the goal of the NobleReach Scholars Program.

In his first 100 days, President Donald Trump has pushed to remake the federal workforce in profound ways that have provoked strong reactions. He and many of his supporters say big change is necessary to build a government powered by entrepreneurial, patriotic, highly skilled Americans. Opponents, on the other hand, feel like the White House is undermining essential government functions and creating uncertainty and instability.

In this polarized environment, it can be tempting to fall into false binaries – right or left, public or private, profit or purpose. The reality is far more complex.

In truth, the private and public sectors have a lot to teach each other. A spoonful of the public sector’s focus on supporting the national interest could allow leaders in industry to better manage risk and to see opportunities for growth that traditional thinking might miss. And government leaders with commercial sensibilities who are mindful of how the private sector operates can make for a better balance of the national interest and prosperity.

But the two don’t always see eye to eye. A fundamental lack of trust between them can sometimes make it nearly impossible to collaborate in a way that taps into each side’s unique strengths.

Here’s where the right talent can build bridges. Spanning the divide between the public and private sectors requires individuals who feel at home in both, allowing them to use transferable skills and translate between mutually incomprehensible languages. In two decades in the venture capital and investing world, the most important lesson I learned was that without the right people, even the strongest technology or idea stood little chance of success.

That’s why we need to make it an urgent national priority to develop the next generation of what I like to call “dual citizens” of the private and public sectors. Dual citizens possess a unique blend of skills and perspectives that enable them to succeed in both public service and private enterprise. They understand the value of innovation and efficiency, and they know how to communicate effectively across barriers and build enduring trust.

So, how do we make more of them?

We start with spotlighting the leaders and role models already serving in government who have notable private sector backgrounds and skills they use every day to make a difference.

I’m talking about people like Nand Mulchandani, who spent more than 25 years in Silicon Valley. Mulchandani founded a string of startups bought by tech titans like Oracle and Cisco before becoming the first-ever chief technology officer of the CIA in 2022, where he found that public service and mission-driven entrepreneurship were more alike than different.

There’s also Brynt Parmeter, who might not have known at the time that his stint leading workforce development for Walmart from 2019 to 2023 was essential training for his role as the inaugural chief talent manager for the Department of Defense.

And Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, used his time in the venture capital ecosystem to build smart policies around emerging technologies, spearheading efforts like the American AI Initiative to position the United States to lead the artificial intelligence race.

All of these individuals share three key attributes: a clear lane to and from government, an openness to a nonlinear career and a willingness to be entrepreneurial in addressing big societal problems. For the class of 2025 and beyond to benefit from the dual-citizen approach, we must replicate these factors in our national talent infrastructure.

To start, we need to make it easier for mission-driven young people to explore public service. I’m often asked how to talk to young people to get them interested. But in my experience, the problem isn’t a lack of interest. Today’s students are looking for purpose-driven work, with more than 80% of millennials and members of Gen Z reporting that having a sense of purpose is important in their careers, according to a 2024 Deloitte study. What’s missing is the lack of a clear, easy pathway.

This is the goal of the NobleReach Scholars Program. Launched in 2024, the inaugural cohort of 19 college graduates from across the country was placed in innovation-focused roles in eight federal agencies and three mission-driven ventures focused on defense systems, biotech, and materials and manufacturing. These incredible young people range from a computational linguist and a business and computer science major redesigning business processes at the IRS to a 3D-printing enthusiast engineering materials to perform reliably in extreme conditions.

Through the program, the scholars grow their skills alongside a community of peers, industry partners and dual-citizen mentors and gain exposure to private sector leaders they wouldn’t encounter in a traditional government role. More than 1,200 candidates from 100-plus universities applied for our latest cohort, with this year’s finalists interviewing now for placements at the state, local and federal level and in the private sector.

These recent grads, most of whom have studied technology, science and business, are committed individuals – living proof that an untapped wealth of entrepreneurial talent is ready to rise to some of the biggest challenges our nation faces.

But how do we get there?

We must prepare our students for a world in which having multiple careers is the rule, not the exception. In the classrooms where I’ve taught at Stanford and Georgetown, I’ve seen my students face enormous pressure to pick one career, usually focused on either purpose or profit, with the default assumption that they will stay in that career for several decades.

In reality, they’re much more likely to have four or five careers spanning disciplines and sectors. Our universities equip them with the tools they need to thrive throughout their career journeys, such as training in entrepreneurial methods and the safe and effective use of AI. But today’s students also need role models who have succeeded because of their nonlinear career path, not in spite of it.

Finally, today’s leaders must listen to and engage with this new generation of change-makers, who are entrepreneurial thinkers with skills in technology that barely existed when the previous generation started their careers. This will require investing in an ecosystem of collaboration based on shared goals for innovation. Just as students shouldn’t have to choose between a successful career and a meaningful one, the private sector can drive prosperity while working in tandem with government to take on the challenges that threaten our collective security.

To realize this vision, we need the infrastructure to support talent who can understand, communicate, and navigate the complexities of both public and private sectors. Implementing and supporting programs that allow experienced professionals to transition between government and the private sector can foster more effective cross-sector understanding and innovation for everyone involved. Spotlighting leaders like Mulchandani, Parmeter, and Kratsios can show our young people what’s possible when they explore pathways that allow them to use their skills to contribute to a larger mission.

And they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The next generation of dual citizens is out there. We just need to set them on the journey.

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