Icons: Jay Rosenzweig, A Man Of Many Hats And Talents
Jay Rosenzweig keeps an iron in many fires — a trained lawyer, talent strategist, executive team builder, human rights champ, environmentalist, and successful tech investor. Here he shares his take on the future of social entrepreneurship, more inclusive leadership, and the three most important things to look for in early stage investing.
Jay Rosenzweig, the founding partner of Rosenzweig & Company, is an expert in designing, building and attracting world class teams. He consults to public and private companies including large global corporations; emerging growth to mid sized businesses; professional services firms and private equity and venture capital firms Prior to joining the search industry - VITO AMATI
Brendan Doherty: Welcome Jay, to Icons of Impact; we’re pumped to have you with us today. I’d like begin by asking what does it mean to be a social entrepreneur in 2021?
Jay Rosenzweig: Thanks for having me! Given all the political rancor and social unrest these past few years, people may be surprised by all the positive energy flowing into efforts that create a more equitable and sustainable world. As a social impact entrepreneur, I find that Millennials in particular are very open to these endeavors. In fact many of them crave opportunities to do good in the world. Regardless of what type of entrepreneur you hold yourself out as though, it’s worth taking a closer look into environmental sustainability and helping create a more diverse, inclusive workplace. If anything, both will ultimately have a positive impact on your bottom line.
Doherty: Right. So you’re a tech investor, talent recruiter, dad, human rights advocate - you’ve got so many irons in the fire, what do you prioritize?
Rosenzweig: There’s nothing more important in this world to me than my wife and three kids. My priority is to always protect my time when it comes to them. Then the talent strategy and team building business, Rosenzweig & Company, is my other priority. But for me everything is interrelated. I don’t look at my various activities as siloed. One of the reasons I’m an effective advisor to earlier stage businesses is because of my connections and experience in the corporate world. And the same is true for corporations- they often want to work with me because I have a finger on the pulse of startups and tech. I think I mirror what they‘re looking for in candidates, given my experience.
Doherty: Did you consciously choose to wear multiple hats, or were there unique circumstances that brought you there?
Rosenzweig: If you take my diverse work portfolio and look at what they all have in common, the common denominator is they all require a genuine interest in people. I enjoy meeting and collaborating with a wide range of individuals—whether advocating for human rights, creating music, or finding the right candidates to match a company’s business culture.
Jay Rosenzweig Speaking at CJPAC Gala Diner - RAUL QUIJANO
Doherty: Tell me more about the human rights work.
Rosenzweig: I’ve been advocating for women’s leadership in business for the past 16years, through the Rosenzweig Report. I’m also helping produce a movie and movement inspired by the life of Lilly Ledbetter, the inspiration for Obama’s first piece of legislation The Equal Pay Act. And then I’m on the board of a number of other cool purpose-driven organizations led by friends who inspire me, like Xander Schultz’s When We Band Together. I recently joined the Board of Directors for BlackNorth too, a large scale, fast growing initiative which addresses systemic racism by creating more opportunities for Black people in the corporate world and beyond.
Doherty: And was there someone who inspired that in you?
Rosenzweig: I have to credit Professor Irwin Cotler, one of the world’s most respected human rights advocates. He's represented political prisoners like Nelson Mandela and Natan Sharansky, but he still stays humble and compassionate. That really shaped my own approach to life and service. I now sit on his board for the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. We’re combating hate, antisemitism and racism in all forms. We speak out to prevent current and future genocides. We work to protect democracy amid a global resurgence of authoritarianism. But my biggest inspiration and heroes are my parents, Rose & Myer Rosenzweig. They always taught me to treat folks fairly, respectfully and with love and kindness.
Doherty: How do you think your work, and the social impact world in general, will change because of COVID-19? Where are some missed opportunities post-pandemic?
Rosenzweig: Undeniably, COVID-19 has impacted the future of our world, in ways that are obvious and unexplored. The digitization of our world has only accelerated. Many disparities have deepened too. My own social impact activities were augmented in ways that were super inspiring to me. I advise Shelly Tygielski’s Pandemic of Love, for example. At the early stages of the pandemic, Shelly set up a program to match people in need with people who could give. It was so simple — just 1:1 giving between strangers. She raised over $50M in the process! And helped thousands of people with no end in sight to the giving.
Doherty: You’ve described progress on the advancement of women into top corporate roles as “painfully slow.” The same can be said for BIPOC communities. How do we accelerate the pace for both? What’s the greatest impediment?
Rosenzweig: Countries like the U.S. and Canada can do more to support a number of important initiatives such as universal daycare. Women still take on the lion’s share of child-rearing responsibilities. We also need to have more female and BIPOC board members and senior executives at the table. Diverse voices will bring a more informed perspective and understanding of what needs to be done, and push for it based on experience. I’ve also suggested the enhanced version of the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which makes a concerted effort to move past the old boys network to include diverse individuals and women. I am still optimistic that progress can be made, but it won’t happen without a concerted effort. At BlackNorth, we’ve gotten hundreds of corporations to sign a pledge to drastically improve their hiring practices. It’s a push to attack the problem systematically. Tactics are important, but at the end of the day, deeply intrenched racism, discrimination and structures of inequality need to be tackled systemically deliver lasting change.
Doherty: Switching gears, what are the top 3 things you look for in a company that you’re considering for investment?
Jay Rosenzweig & former basket basketball legend turned humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo & the Chandaria family - TOM SANDLER
Rosenzweig: The very first thing I always look for is quality of leadership. Has the individual had previous success as an entrepreneur? Can they mobilize a team to do the hard work of introducing a product or service to the market? Second, is their idea viable and can it be “scaled up” to bring a return on investment? And third, is that product or service sustainable? I mean does it create “social capital”, operating with purpose-driven objectives. Red flags for me are when an entrepreneur has difficulty delegating, believing they have to do everything themselves, rather than assemble a team and trust them to execute. Self-confidence is one thing, but having an inflated ego puts the entire enterprise at risk.
Doherty: Well said, thanks for joining us today Jay.
Rosenzweig: Thanks for having me!