183. Thomas Norman, Professor & Faculty Founder of the CSUDH Innovation Incubator

Show Notes

Thomas Norman grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, before moving to northwestern Wisconsin. He lobbied to add a class period in high school so he could take four years of foreign language, to ensure he was competitive for universities like Harvard. While at Harvard, he focused on social studies and wrote a thesis regarding the economic forces behind NAFTA which led him to his first job.

Transitioning to Business Banking

After graduating, Thomas worked for Procter and Gamble in Minnesota before transitioning into business banking. He had to take night classes in accounting to learn how to be a business banker and lend to utilities like Minnesota Power. He then pursued a master's degree in human resources and industrial relations at the University of Minnesota. During the dot-com boom, Tom and his wife moved to Mountain View where she worked at E*Trade and he worked for Sun Microsystems after an internship there. His tenure at Sun involved managing training and executive training programs during a period where the company grew from 10,000 to 30,000 employees, and he worked with people who became very successful such as Ed Zander of Motorola and the future CEO of Google.

 

Running for State Senate

Following the dot-com crash, Thomas returned to northern Minnesota and worked as a business banker for four Wells Fargo branches. He decided to run for the state senate as one of the first statewide candidates for the new Independence Party. His political platform emphasized fiscal responsibility and transparency through strict campaign finance limits. The experience led him to realize his true passion was teaching and engagement, and he enrolled in a PhD program while simultaneously running for state senate.

From Politics to Professor

Thomas earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota and became a professor at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He serves a diverse student population in Carson, in the South Bay near Compton, that is largely first-generation and Pell eligible. At Dominguez Hills, he built a formal human resource management program aligned with SHRM standards. He also established an innovation incubator to help students translate their entrepreneurial "hustle" into viable businesses.

Beyond Academia

Thomas is a board member of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, Co-Chair of its Planning, Land Use and Port Committee, and Vice Chair of Development for the LA Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates. He contributes to local governance by working on committees involving land use, port development, and city budgets. As a Budget Advocate, he has reviewed city department budgets, including the LA Zoo and LAX. Thomas has adopted new habits including reading classic literature like East of Eden and studying the Bible through podcasts.

 

Harvard Reflections

Thomas credits certain Harvard professors with shaping his approach to teaching through both intellectual rigor and humility. He is currently writing books titled Judgment Call and Lead What Lasts, part of the More Capable series, which focus on management frameworks in the age of AI.

Timestamps

02:30: Career Transitions and Silicon Valley

03:51: Political Ambitions in Minnesota

18:11: Academic Career at Cal State

27:48: Civic Engagement in Los Angeles

32:45: Personal Growth and Future Works

Links

Website: professornorman.com

The books: morecapableseries.com

CSUDH faculty page:

https://www.csudh.edu/cbapp/contact-us/faculty/thomasnorman

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thomasjnorman

Bluesky: @thomasnorman.bsky.social

 

*AI generated show notes and transcript