Hobart and William Smith Colleges

13 May 2012 McGuire 78 Reflects on Leadership

The Centennial Center for Leadership recently welcomed venture capitalist Terry McGuire 78 as the final speaker in its Leadership Cafe series. McGuire spoke with students about entrepreneurial leadership and the ways in which their liberal arts education has prepared them to be successful. In February, he joined the campus via Skype as a judge for The Pitch entrepreneurial competition.

Entrepreneurial leadership comes from, first and foremost, a desire to change the world, says McGuire. Successful entrepreneurs always invest in people first, products second. This is true for venture capitalists, managers and club leaders on college campuses. The people who you surround yourself with will play a tremendous role in your success.

After the floor was opened for questions, students took the opportunity to pick McGuires brain about how a liberal arts education was specifically geared to engineer their success in the workplace.

Recent studies indicate that a greater number of professionals who are in top positions in the workforce, including CEOs, CFOs, and COOs, have liberal arts backgrounds, compared to those with strictly technical training, responds McGuire. Liberal arts enable students to peel back the layers and ask important questions. While there have been people who have been successful without graduating college, including the late Apple founder Steve Jobs and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, they are the exception, not the rule.

Raphael Durand 13 attended the event in order to gain insight on the leadership path that McGuire had taken in order to provide insight onto Durands own career path.

Terry McGuire offered useful advice for approaching not only leadership, but in pursuing ones passions, says Durand.Specifically, he believed that integrity is vital to ones credibility as a leader. These are the pieces of advice that allow us to reflect on our own leadership.

McGuire earned his B.S. in physics and economics from Hobart and was a member of Sigma Chi. He attended Dartmouth College for his masters in engineering and then continued on to Harvard University to earn an MBA, where he was elected president of Harvard Business Schools Venture Capital Club. Prior to co-founding Polaris Venture Partners with Jonathan Flint 73, McGuire worked at Golder Thoma & Cressey as well as Burr Egan Deleage.

Since his graduation, McGuire has been involved with the Colleges in numerous ways. He and his wife, Trustee Carolyn Carr McGuire 78 provided for the renovation of 775 South Main Street, the former Sigma Chi fraternity building, into a student residence, the Carr McGuire House.

The Leadership Cafe is designed to be unrehearsed anduncensored, and invites leaders to share their leadership path and experiences. Past Leadership Cafe speakers have included President Mark D. Gearan, Assistant Vice President for the Performing Arts Initiative Mara OLaughlin 66, Professor of Economics Tom Drennen, Instructor of Philosophy Rodmon King, and Head William Smith Soccer Coach Aliceann Wilber.