Over my long career I’ve been called a professor, maverick, tour guide, wild duck, technologist, guru, trusted advisor, and mentor. Also a few names not fit to print. My children have some of their own.
People reading my resume are usually less impressed than confused—they look up and ask: “Why and how did you do so many different things?” Answer: When I had the choice, I pursued opportunities to learn something new. Led to many unexpected opportunities. Also a few minor disasters—but those were always instructional. Zig-zagging in search of something new and different supported my natural curiosity.
Liberal Arts for Nothing and Everything
I was born in pre-fashionable Brooklyn, to a marketing exec father and Esquire magazine editor mother. Schooled in suburban Connecticut, with Sputnik-era emphasis on math and science: STEM before STEM was de rigueur. At Yale, I made my first zig-zag—dumped my pre-med plans and majored in Classical Civilization, encouraged by a few extraordinary teachers. Was lucky to win a post-graduate fellowship to continue three more years of classical study at Oxford. In the austere final exams, (as my English friends say) “I took a First.” Neither I nor my tutors were expecting that: “Frankly, Manville, it was a surprise. But then again, lightning sometimes strikes erratically.” The success carried me back to Yale, for a PhD in history. Even better, in that sojourn, I met my future wife of now 43 years.
In 1979, I was hired as an assistant professor of Greek history at Northwestern. As one older colleague told me: “I know your type. First year, you’ll be terrified. Second year, exhilarated. Third year, bored.” He nailed it. In my fourth year I zig-zagged again.
Digital Opportunities
Left academia for New York City, now interested in media and the burgeoning digital revolution. Did a little journalism, talked my way into a corporate job at CBS Inc, and then with the nudging of an unexpected mentor, jumped into a start-up that the big media company was now funding—to launch what became the world’s first online medical information service. CBS got the idea for that from McKinsey & Company, which then later hired me into their own firm, to help them develop a global technology and knowledge strategy. They offered me the job after my last interview–when I suggested that ancient Athens was history’s first high-performing knowledge organization.
After several years of working on McKinsey’s “knowledge project,” and then consulting for large clients too, the firm elected me partner. Just in time, as I was also on my way to becoming a father of three children.
Bleeding Heart-ish
As the millennium ended and the Internet blossomed, I zigged once more, to Silicon Valley. Led the strategy and then “customer evangelism” for Saba Software, an online learning start-up, and in parallel began writing articles and then a couple of books on topics related to technology, knowledge, and organizational design. Another zag—joined United Way of America, to oversee their Center for Community Leadership, broadening the mission beyond simple fundraising. Then, five years later, sort of another zig: running my own independent consulting practice, providing strategy and executive coaching to a wide range of non-profit organizations (Ashoka, Root Cause, Partnership for Quality Medical Donations) and several foundations (Bill & Melinda Gates, Hewlitt, Cargill, New Hampshire Charitable).
Present in the Past
In recent years, my zig-zagging has rounded full circle. I now spend my time writing and lecturing about topics both historical and leadership-related, especially as relevant to democracy and democratic society. Three grandchildren and a still-patient wife help keep my feet on the ground.