Glen Macdonald: Forge a legacy by staying true to your purpose and values

Glen’s path didn’t become clear to him until his mid 40s, when as a management consulting partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he realized he was increasingly dissatisfied with how he felt at work every day. He enjoyed the problem solving, the intellectual challenge of working with businesses and their issues, but he felt something was missing. He had turned away from his purpose. From that point, Glen’ s journey has been filled with a number of pivots and leaps of faith, always keeping in mind his purpose. 

Glen has always felt that the way to solve problems and create opportunities for people was through understanding the way the world works, and the mechanics of policy, economics, business, and nonprofits.

Glen is fond of epiphanies, and The Wealth and Giving Forum created an environment in which people could have epiphanies about what their wealth meant to them and how to use it with meaning. Glen made an astute observation about impact investing: "This is not about philanthropy; this is about money. This is about money and how it circulates in our society.” And venture capitalist Ross Baird reminded him, "You can't think and behave this way with one pocket and another way with the other pocket. It's all one." 

Glen also hadn’t given much thought about the word legacy until he heard the stories of Alfred Noble’s rare “life history do-over” and billionaire Ken Behring’s journey to creating the Wheelchair Foundation. He realized he had never thought about what people would say about him when he moves on, which is a very helpful thing to help you pinpoint your legacy. This epiphany was highlighted by Ken’s words at a WGF meeting "Don't do what I did. Don't just accumulate and wait until you're 74 to find purpose and happiness in life." From this, Glen hopes people will look for their purpose and legacy early, because you can miss it.

Glen has high hopes for younger generations’ ability to address injustice and trauma. Injustice anywhere, is injustice everywhere; trauma in one place can lead to trauma in another. "It's not just about the policy and government, it's what we do at our workplaces." Millennials are pushing corporations to adopt beliefs, policies, attitudes and cultural mores that will not result in trauma that manifests itself when people interact with one another. 

Takeaways: 

Curate conversations that help you decide your purpose. Align work and money with your values and create a legacy through investing in yourself, your work, your community, impact investing and philanthropy.

Sometimes you have to give up who you are to become who you want to be. And it's hard, like a reptile that has to shed its skin. 

There is no straight path to a legacy at work. Glen believes that who you owe an answer to at the end of your life is yourself! Don’t get to the end and imagine you missed it. Take risks to make what you believe in happen. 

Quotes: 

“Wine, is a subject that no one can master, just like it's hard to master yourself.”

“At the end of the day I think it's your heart and your belly that rules.” 

“Reflect on yourself. You don't have to be a billionaire to do that. At any level you can decide what you want your intended legacy to be.

How to reach Glen: shoot him a message on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glen-macdonald-5915ba5/

Bio: Glen Macdonald is a Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley and Co-founder and Chairman of the Wealth and Giving Forum (WGF). The Forum promotes values-aligned and strategic capital allocation among families and private foundations that seek positive social and environmental outcomes.  Glen is a recognized leader in the impact investing and philanthropy fields. Glen was a recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship at the Harvard Center for International Affairs and a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Mexico. His academic research and publications focused on economic development, foreign direct investments, and the formation of common markets. Glen serves on the Board of the Borough of Manhattan Community Foundation and the Board of the Intentional Endowments Network. He received his B.A. with highest honors in political science and economics and his M.A. in international relations, both from University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. His interests and hobbies include travel, history, tennis, skiing, and wine.