James Tarbox, Ph.D is the Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Stanford Career Education in Stanford, California, a position he assumed after a storied 15-year career at San Diego State University.

James' leadership embodies active commitments to student development, to aligning career development with meaning and purpose, and to strengthening individuals and communities by actively engaging diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

In this episode, we discuss how his career has been shaped by "taps on the shoulder", why he developed and launched the new Stanford Purpose Summit, his unique reporting line to the Office of Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning and how that shapes his work, why he encourages himself and his team to use professional development funds to "explore tangents", and so, so much more!

James shares some wonderful, inspiring thoughts on why career services offices need to continually tie what we do to the educational mission of the university. I personally love this metaphor that James shared: "If I were to pull a thread and there was no connection to the fabric, then it comes out. But if I'm connected to the fabric, and I try to pull the thread, then the fabric resists."

James, thank you for a great conversation!