Helping Individuals and Institutions Invest in Their Own Communities
On a DC Roadshow, I met Karyn Polak, Founder of Shift the Prism Advisory. She shared her journey with me.
“The thread that runs through my life is a deep belief in the potential of every human being. If each person on this earth had the ability to reach their full potential, just imagine what we could accomplish — the problems we could solve, the innovations we would identify, the communities we would let shine.
With that premise, I eagerly sought a university with a strong study abroad program – in my case, Washington University in St. Louis, from which I spent my junior year in France and began to embed myself in other cultures and other countries’ challenges. I then chose law as my discipline because it provides a foundation that can be used to uplift individuals from the 1-to-1 all the way to the national/global/systems level.
I started out practicing in top-25 law firms and then transitioned to in-house practice in top-10 financial institutions. One of the craziest moments in my early career was when my then-boss – on New Year’s Eve, no less – asked me to take on my first General Counsel role for Citi Private Bank. As much as this was the job I was working towards, I couldn’t imagine I was ready for it. For the hours between his offer and my sitting down to the festive meal with my husband, I was in torment. I opened the dinner conversation by telling Aaron about the promotion and firmly stated, “I can’t possibly take this job!” He promptly responded by saying, “Of course, you’re going to take it. Now let’s discuss how you’ll make it work.” Maybe that’s why we’re still married after almost 30 years.
Maybe that’s also why I went on to bigger and bigger general counsel roles for Citi Investment Research, for the Citi ownership interest in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture, and ultimately as Chief Legal Officer for Transamerica. Those roles allowed me to see the power of traditional financial services -- from consumer banking to brokerage and wealth management, from asset management to insurance and retirement – and the gaps.
For a variety of reasons, those institutions rarely offer the tools for people without wealth to gain and build it, and they rarely provide for truly placed-based, local investing. So, I launched Shift the Prism to address those gaps (and more). Crowdfunding, community ownership, small business ownership, and homeownership are some of the best tools we must use to facilitate wealth-building. When we do that with not only the input of but in collaboration with those closest to the issues that need addressing, we develop much stronger, longer-lasting solutions. And when we help individuals and institutions invest in their own communities, those communities are stronger, and everyone does better.
These tools need lawyers to implement and expand on them, and yet important gaps exist between traditional legal practice and an impact-focused legal practice. Through my membership in the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers and direct advice and support across the legal industry, I work to help lawyers appreciate the impact they can have in every practice area and to amplify that impact in ways that are most beneficial to people, place, and planet. I want lawyers to know they don’t have to leave their firm or leave the law to have meaning and drive positive change with their professional expertise. Many lawyers are already doing that!
As daunting as it was to go from a role in a company that everyone understood to a non-traditional role, I know I am right where I am supposed to be.
I met Alissa on a road show to the DC area. We worked on both headshots and lifestyle branding photos. It was fascinating – and frightening -- to think of how I show up in photos and to think about traditional headshots from this nontraditional professional space I am now in. I thank Alissa for that opportunity to consider myself from way outside my comfort zone.”