Chief Change Officer
#282 Impact Over Egos, Substance Over Soundbites: Josh Geballe’s Real Playbook
Tue, 8 Apr 2025
Forget hot takes and hustle porn—Josh Geballe has built a career on real outcomes, not optics. As a former IBM exec, startup CEO, crisis-tested public leader, and now head of Yale Ventures, he’s navigated every kind of system—and rewired more than a few. In this episode, Josh breaks down what it takes to lead without ego, make career moves without a roadmap, and support innovation without turning it into performance. For Gen Xers designing careers that are built, not branded, this is substance over soundbites in its purest form.Career Strategy ≠ Life Strategy“I never chased titles. I chased impact—and the challenge that came with it.”From IBM to a 16-person startup, Josh explains why logic alone doesn’t drive bold moves—and how gut instinct often knows best.Public Sector, Private Resolve“Nothing in my tech career prepared me for a global pandemic—but it helped me lead through one.”As Connecticut’s COO, Josh didn’t just manage state operations—he ran its COVID response. He reflects on balancing fear, facts, and forward motion in an impossible time.Yale Ventures: Innovation Without the Ego“PhDs know how to explain ideas to journals. I help them pitch to the real world.”Now leading Yale Ventures, Josh shares how he mentors faculty and students to translate research into startups—and how real innovation starts with learning to listen.Startup Lessons That Actually Scale“Startups taught me how to stretch every dollar. Government taught me how to stretch every second.”Josh draws on lessons from his software CEO days to modernize systems at scale—without turning leadership into theater.Advice for the Impatient Ambitious“Your first job? Work for someone you want to become.”Josh offers Gen X-flavored guidance to early-career MBAs: skip the shiny job titles and find mentors who challenge how you think, not just what you do.____________________Connect with Us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Josh Geballe --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Who is Josh Geballe and what is Yale Ventures?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today, we're talking with Josh Chabot, the managing director of Yale Ventures. You've likely heard of Yale University, but what about Yale Ventures?
It's a key part of the Yale's innovation ecosystem, collaborating with faculty, students, entrepreneurs, and local governments to drive all sorts of innovation activities. Yale Ventures, for example, helps scientists and scholars turn their inventions into real products. The commercialization process, so to speak.
A system in raising money, build teams, and support students in developing the innovation ideas. And a little personal note, George and I are both MBA alum from the Yale School of Management. We both graduated in year 2002. He chose a path in consulting. I went into finance. George's career has been nothing short of remarkable, filled with impact and challenges.
I'll save the specifics for you to discover in this episode. Among many roles, George was pivotal in managing Connecticut's COVID-19 health response. For those interested in his contribution during that critical period, check out the YouTube link in the show notes where he hosted a press conference. Without further ado, let's dive in.
Great. Thanks, Vince, for having me. I'm delighted to be here. As you point out, I started at Yale as an undergraduate, worked for a few years, went back to Yale to the School of Management to get an MBA, and then spent the majority of my career in the technology industry, so initially 11 years at IBM.
climbing the corporate ladder, a number of different roles and client facing consulting roles, the integral finance organization, general management, but left to become the CEO of a software startup that was doing scientific data management, cloud software as a service for scientists and grew that company.
Over a number of years, ultimately we were acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of the major global scientific tools companies. Worked there for a couple of years as running a new division they created when we were acquired called Digital Science. That was a combination of our business plus some other software assets that they had.
And once that was integration was set up and my team was integrated, Left was taking some time off for the first time in my career. And he got a call from the woman who led the Series B investment in my startup company, letting me know that Her husband had just got elected governor of the state of Connecticut and asking if I wanted to get involved in the administration.
And so that led to three years of a detour into the public sector where I worked for the governor here in Connecticut as the chief operating officer for the state responsible for all the executive branch agencies and
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