Student Profile: Effective Solutions

Janhabi Nandy '09
Member, Dean's Diversity Task Force
Summer internship: Yale President's Public Service Fellowship

After law school I took a job doing plaintiffs law in New York. The firm did a lot of good work dealing with asbestos, but I didn't feel that I was having a direct impact on communities. I took a job doing legal services on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. I found the work really rewarding, but I wanted to get out into the international arena, so when I saw an ad to be assistant attorney general of the Federated States of Micronesia, I decided to apply. I had a 20-minute phone interview and got the job.

Micronesia is a very, very small country, with only about 100,000 people. But it has a seat at the United Nations and deals with a lot of international issues. My job was to advise the president and his cabinet. It was an incredible opportunity because I got to do things of a kind and scope I couldn't have in a larger, more developed nation. Working for a government was a revelation. Business has a powerful influence on society, but it's the public sector that is in the best position to shape how a society evolves and, especially, how the welfare of the citizenry can be improved. But my two years in Micronesia taught me how even the best intentions can be hampered by management problems. Few people in the public sector really understand finance, which is a big deal when you consider how many issues facing governments come down to money. Also, governments are often woefully inefficient, and while I could see the issues in Micronesia, I felt I didn't have the skills to frame the problem correctly, generate information, critically analyze it, and implement solutions. I realized I needed to study management so I could become an effective agent of change.

My choice to come to Yale was easy. SOM educates leaders for all sectors of society. And the curriculum is really focused on creating leaders who understand all the sectors, and can solve any problem that confronts them. Business school, to me, is ultimately about discovering a way of thinking that leads to solutions. The tools are important, but their effectiveness is limited without also learning how to critically approach each problem in the most strategic way possible.

Interviewed on April 23, 2008.