Jonathan Reckford on Changing the World, One House at a Time

<p>Jonathan Reckford shares his incredible experiences at the helm of Habitat for Humanity and how he’s helping to change the world by creating strategic partnerships with other organizations, and how it all starts with building relationships first. Find out how the CEO of Habitat for Humanity, one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world, can still make time each month to work on his Protomoi List and why aligning a potential partner’s desire for impact with your goals is a great foundation to build a valuable long-term relationship on.</p> <p> </p> <p>Mo asks Jonathan Reckford: When did you realize you wanted to grow something big and make an impact?</p> <ul> <li>Jonathan had a lot of great role models growing up, with his grandmother being one of the first women in Congress. She would always ask Jonathan what he was going to do to be useful, a mindset that he eventually adopted and grew into.</li> <li>Jonathan assumed he would follow her footsteps into politics and law, but quickly realized after college that law wasn’t what he wanted to do.</li> <li>He later talked his way into a job at Goldman Sachs, received a grant and moved to South Korea to work for the Seoul Olympic committee, and ended up working with the rowing team as their coach for a few years.</li> <li>That experience allowed him to reorient his perspective and after returning home, Jonathan came back with a mission. He went into business school and spent the next 15 years helping large organizations grow.</li> <li>After that time in the private sector, Jonathan went to India on short-term mission trips. Seeing the challenges and suffering in rural India touched his heart and he realized the power of small interventions in dire situations.</li> <li>Jonathan began focusing on helping churches grow and contributing to the mission of alleviating international poverty, ultimately culminating in working for Habitat for Humanity nearly 17 years ago.</li> <li>You can’t always connect the dots going forward, but when you look back you see how