A Passion for Finding Talent and Investing in Others
Anne McNulty’s involvement is also a boon, he says. “I have had the pleasure of knowing her for almost a decade, and her passion for finding talent and investing in people so they can reach their full potential and impact the world in a significant way is amazing.”
Asked what she considers to be the three most important characteristics of a leader, McNulty came back with four. “The most important is having strategic vision—the ability to see beyond the immediate and short-term impact of anything.” Second is being able to communicate that vision to others. “I think also it is very helpful for a leader to have a real generosity of spirit and ability to listen and give to others,” she continues. And last but not least, a leader must have a significant level of energy and excitement to carry out the vision and get others excited.
In addition to the $10 million gift to Wharton, she also yesterday pledged $5 million to Villanova University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in 1975. That gift will be used to establish the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership. Together, the two gifts continue the McNulty family’s legacy of generous investment in higher education and leadership development in the Philadelphia region.
Klein, for his part, fully expects McNulty’s generosity and its impact to spread well beyond Philadelphia. “There are lots of different ways that people describe or think about leadership, but one of the ways we stay quite focused on is the impact that we have within the world,” he says. “Leadership development is fundamentally about learning and about change, and we think the work a participant in our program can do to understand and change themselves sets such a great foundation for them to go out and understand and change the world.”
Learn more about the Anne and John McNulty Leadership Program at Wharton.
