As a senior associate at the Cynosure Group, a private equity firm founded by former partners of the Carlyle Group, Bracken Seaberg is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing new investment opportunities, as well as managing portfolio investments. With negotiation as a key and ever-increasing component of his everyday work, he decided to expand his skills with the help of the HBS Executive Education program Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision-Making
What attracted you to executive education?
I had always planned to enroll in a full-time MBA program. My grandfather was a college professor at the University of Oklahoma and my dad earned an MBA from HBS. The combination of these and other family member examples caused me to value education very highly—especially advanced degrees from top schools, where practical experience is embedded in the curriculum.
When it came time for me to make the decision to pursue a full-time MBA, I looked at my career progression and opted not to do it given the attractiveness of the work opportunities ahead of me. However, I still wanted the experience, the network, and the breadth of learning that a broad business educational experience could provide.
I act in multiple roles: as an advisor to portfolio companies, as an investor assessing company buy and sell decisions, and as an operator helping to improve portfolio company performance. Leadership—an ability to engender a following and uniquely assemble human capital and other resources to get things done effectively—is at the core of each of these roles and is what helps me perform at a distinctive level. Beyond analytical tools and frameworks for problem solving, HBS Executive Education programs develop these leadership qualities through the case method. I needed to continue to expand my senior leadership skill set in a practical way across each of these roles, while still continuing an accelerated career path in private equity. Executive education was ideal for me.
What drew you to Changing the Game?
I had already attended the Private Equity and Venture Capital program. But a lot of what I do now is not assembling the analysis of businesses I invest in—I have a team of people who do that. I spend more time making investment decisions and handling the critical negotiations with business owners, attorneys, and lenders to buy or sell a business, execute adjacent acquisitions, or resolve credit terms. This program was a way to help me improve my ability to be more successful in those negotiations.
What were some key take-aways?
I was already doing a lot of negotiating in my day-to-day job. But coming into the program, I quickly realized how much I could improve. Before the program, although I knew I should first understand the other party's key desires, I would still tend to focus on identifying the key terms that I needed to get out of a negotiation. I'd ask myself, "How do I paint the picture of why I need these things so that I can convince the other party to give them to me?" The most important program take-away was the need to come into a negotiation differently, with more of a "learning mindset," as Deepak Malhotra instructed. I need to first really listen to the other party so I can understand their point of view and what's important to them. This opens the door to creating a bigger "negotiating pie" and coming to an agreement where both sides can have greater benefit from the deal.
What other aspects of the program impressed you?
In my job, I negotiate with people of varying years of experience and who come from many different backgrounds, but they're mainly from the U.S. At HBS, it was great to work with people from around the world. The diversity of participants that HBS brings into the classroom—in terms of years of experience, industries, and geography—is so valuable because you never know who you will be negotiating with as your career proceeds. This exposure gave me a more global perspective, a broader understanding of varying motives, and an expanded ability to connect with others.
Do you plan to take more executive education programs?
Definitely. I hope to attend the Program for Leadership Development (PLD) at HBS, which will give me the solid foundation I would have gained in a full-time MBA program, but in a way that works for my career focus and current career progression. I’m looking forward to working through that comprehensive business curriculum with other people who are at a similar stage in their careers, but who have different life and business experience to bring to the table. They will add to my business perspective and I will add to theirs.