Hatfield lecturer offers insights on obtaining success

Read the full story by Julie Greco in the Cornell Chronicle.

“Do we work to live or live to work?”

Christy Pambianchi ’90, Cornell’s 42nd Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, asked that question of the nearly 300 alumni, students and Cornell community members gathered on April 10 in 105 Ives Hall and online.

“You think you may know the answer to that,” she said, “but maybe after I give you these things to think about, you’ll see that these two things aren’t that extricable.”

In a conversation with Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff, Pambianchi reflected on her more than 30 years of experience as a human resources officer at some of the world’s most well-known companies, including PepsiCo, Corning Inc., Verizon and Intel, where she has worked since August 2021. She will leave Intel at the end of this month to join heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar as its chief human resources officer.

Pambianchi, the ILR School’s Groat Award winner in 2023, said Americans spend most of their time at work. And as life expectancy increases, she said, many individuals will work 50 or more years – so they have time to “pivot” if they don’t love what they’re doing. With that in mind, she said, organizations must see that employees have different needs.

Pambianchi urged the students in the audience to think about their careers as Mount Everest. “You think, ‘How do I get to base camp 1?’” she said. “‘OK, now that I’m at base camp 1, do I still want to go higher, or do I want to go and climb a different mountain?’”

A rapidly changing world of work, she said, provides challenges and opportunities for employees and employers.

“The speed of innovation is exciting, and it’s thrilling to speak about this at Cornell,” Pambianchi said. “Every element of the innovations in the world are touched by research or advancements made at Cornell.”