Q&A with Jonathan Reckford

Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, is visiting his alma mater UNC today to deliver a speech about finding passion for a career.

His speech is part of the Eve Marie Carson Memorial Speakers Series. Staff Writer Trevor Casey talked to Reckford to get a sneak preview of his speech.

Daily Tar Heel: What was your transition to Habitat like?

Jonathan Reckford: You know, it was a whirlwind…

The founder, who was the only person who had ever run Habitat, was fired by the board, and I was brought in to replace him. So there was a lot of turmoil over that.

Second, the week before I joined officially … Hurricane Katrina hit. So instead of a very gradual, easy start, it started with a huge crisis. I had to scrap my former 100-day plan I’d devised and immediately jump into the organizational response work.

DTH: What was your time in Asia like? Would you consider that one of the bigger influences for going into Habitat?

JR: It was a huge influence on my faith that year. It was also a huge influence in thinking about life as a global citizen and having a more global perspective of the world.

I think both of those, in the end, were huge parts of my deciding to leave the business world and go full-time into service work.

DTH: You said religion and previous experiences helped you make your decision to join Habitat. Were there any other influences?

JR: Habitat was the kind of thing I had always wanted to do. I went to business school … and got very interested in how organizations grow. I thought I could learn more in the business world and apply that, but I really wanted to do something in government service or nonprofit work.

I think what really appealed to me about Habitat was it sort of put all the pieces together.

It was a way to put my faith into action, and it had both the complexity and scale that I really liked about the business world, but it had the meaning and passion I found in working in the church.

DTH: What will your lecture be about?

JR: So we’ve titled it “Finding Your Passion.” What it’s really about is helping students think about the critical question they need to answer to discern their calling or what their career ought to be, and with all the pressures out there how to pull up and think about those most important issues or problems that grab you in a way that makes you want to be a part of solving them.

I tend to think that in the best world you get to work on a career where you’re getting to work on solving some problem that’s meaningful that really engages you in a full way.

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