How do you know what your dream job is? And what happens when you finally land it? In this week’s episode, you’ll hear the story behind how Christine Bader answers these questions.
After earning her MBA at Yale, Christine got her first job at BP – during a time when corporate social responsibility (CSR) was just emerging. There was no playbook or foolproof guide – it was simply new, uncharted territory.
But she loved the concept of CSR, so she took that passion with her as she moved on to other opportunities, including writing her book, Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil, and finding (what she thought was) her dream job as the director of social responsibility at Amazon.
In this episode, we talk about how she had “everything” professionally but realized this actually wasn’t the life she wanted. Listen to find out how she ultimately decided to quit her dream job and pursue her latest venture as the co-founder of The Life I Want.
Favorite Moments
- (4:25) – Storytelling
- (12:24) – Rudy Giuliani
- (15:49) – Working at BP
- (21:35) – First CSR project
- (34:29) – Working at Amazon
- (42:55) – Finding the life she wants
About Christine Bader
Christine Bader is co-founder of The Life I Want, a storytelling project with Eva Dienel reimagining a future of work that works for all. She is a coach, facilitator, writer, consultant, and speaker whose sweet spot is the messy intersection of business and society.
Christine is the author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil (2014). From 2015-17 she was Director of Social Responsibility at Amazon, where she built a global team working to ensure respect for the rights of workers in Amazon supply chains and operations. From 2011-15 her posts included advisor to BSR and visiting scholar at Columbia University, where she co-taught human rights and business.
Christine’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and numerous other publications. She has given talks to conferences, companies, and universities around the world, including a TED talk in July 2014.
After earning her MBA from Yale in 2000, Christine joined BP and proceeded to work in Indonesia, China, and the U.K., managing the social impacts of some of the company’s largest projects in the developing world. In 2006 she created a part-time pro bono role as advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for business and human rights, a role she took up full-time in 2008 until the U.N. mandate ended in 2011.
Christine has also served as a corps member with City Year, a special assistant to the New York City Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor, and a teaching fellow in community service at Phillips Academy Andover. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Christine played squash and rugby at Amherst College and competed in the 2002 World Ultimate Frisbee Club Championships, but now finds her athletic glory running after her young twins. For 2018-19, she lived in Indonesia with her family as part of the Green School Bali community. A New York City native, she now lives in McMinnville, Oregon, in the heart of wine country, continuing to search for community and a way of life that is sustainable in every dimension.
