3 People 3 Questions

Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas 

The Mosaic Company Foundation, Senior Manager, Social Responsibility

What are you reading?

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. The book weaves the tale of how unlikely protagonists with complicated, different visions banded together to form alliances that created disruptive innovation. Lesson: collaborate with diverse people on wacky ideas to make something awesome.

What is your favorite website?

www.epicurious.com. I practice my creativity and relax by cooking interesting dishes and meals, and recipes are a helpful guide. I start with an ingredient or two and improvise from there. Mostly I am successful (and failure has great lessons, too), and it always makes mealtime for family and friends an adventure!

What is your dream job?

President/CEO of a for-profit company with a meaningful mission and products/services, maybe even a social business model. When businesses create and share value for stakeholders and communities, the returns are greater than the sum of the parts.

Bryan Doan

Carlson School undergraduate student, class of 2016

What are you reading?

I’m currently reading this big, fat book called Corporate Responsibility: The American Experience. It’s about the role corporations play in society and how this continues to shift over time. If you are interested in this intersection that is for-profit and nonprofit, I definitely recommend this one.

What is your favorite website?

It’s hard to say since I spend my free time browsing various fashion/art/social innovation sites, but my go-to would have to be the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

What is your dream job?

I actually get this question a lot! My dream would be to marry my business skills and passion for social issues to discover ways in which we could address and combat various needs within local communities.

Gurneeta Singh

Associate Professor, Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship

What are you reading?

Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes and Ecologies. It’s a book about formal/mathematical models for developing organization theory.

What is your favorite website?

The Animal Humane Society’s website. I found my adorable pooch—Viva, a Manchester terrier—on it. And there are plenty of other lovable rescue animals on it waiting to be taken home.

What is your dream job?

Air Force fighter pilot. I come from an armed forces background. My uncle was a test pilot in the Indian Air Force, so I think it’s a really cool job—neither the jet nor the troops on the ground know if you are a man or woman!