It's Too Late to Be a Pessimist

This week I jumped into the 2nd year of my MBA with a weeklong, intensive course called "Global Sustainability". A relatively new offering at Boston University, the course promised to cover a broad spectrum of ideas and questions relating to sustainability:

"Global Sustainability" explores the underpinnings of today’s global sustainability challenges and how entrepreneurial thinking can be applied to government, NGOs, multinational corporations, small startups and the capital markets to address these challenges...Students will gain deeper understanding of both root cause, the interconnected and interdependencies across sectors such as energy, the environment and the global food and water supplies along with entrepreneurial thinking, methods, models and practices being employed by innovative individuals and organizations at the forefront in the search for solutions.

While that description does scratch the surface, over the last week my class covered an incredible amount of content:

• History's impact on today's world, including the Industrial Revolution and classic economic theory (ala Adam Smith)
• Population growth over time, the expected explosion, and the effect population has on every other aspect of our lives (with an amazing look at the World3/Limits to Growth Simulator)
• Water usage, future concerns over supply, and the conflict that has arisen (even in the U.S.) over who controls precious water supplies
• Agricultural practices and policies around the world, as well as the issue of famine in developing countries and obesity here in the U.S.
• Environmental Policy, specifically the Kyoto Protocol and the Waxman-Markey Bill currently being debated in Congress
• Current uses of Energy and the technological innovations taking place in renewable sources like wind, solar, and biofuels (hint: this is a great business to get in to!)
• Migration into urban areas due to climate change and the resulting tensions that arise when too many people live one space
• Corporate involvement in sustainability, including the cases of WalMart and Millipore
• Exploration of the economies of BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - and how they are addressing sustainability issues
• The paper and pulp industries, including a look at International Paper
• Public Policy strategies for creating change, including the importance of stakeholder analysis
• Social entrepreneurship as a means for grass-roots change, with an inspiring look at one entrepreneur who's seeing an opportunity, not a problem in Peru.

It was an amazing week of learning, and while I can't possibly reproduce it here on The Changebase, I did want to address one major takeaway from my time in class. And, oddly enough, it starts with a confession:

Until this week, I tried to pretend that sustainability wasn't "my" problem.

Now, let me explain. It wasn't that I didn't know our water resources were scarce, our livestock was factory farmed, or our environmental resources were being depleted. I did. And, when I had the courage, I tried to inform myself and be a conscious and responsible consumer. But that's just it: when I had the courage. 

Case in point: this summer, convinced I needed more information, I bought "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman and began the arduous task of reading about how our world is on the wrong track. Over 6 weeks or so, I slogged through the first half of the book, absorbing information but feeling more and more depressed as I turned the pages. After a while, things got so heavy I just had to put it down. I know that at some point he starts talking about solutions, but I found myself so overwrought with concern and dread that I couldn't continue reading it. I still don't know what he proposes as our way out of this mess.

But this week in class, things changed. I couldn't get away from learning about where our planet and our people are headed. I couldn't escape the inevitable worry and fear that comes through being informed. And believe me, it's scary stuff. Just a few statistics:

• The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that by 2080, 33% of the world's coastal wetlands will be eroded and become open water. What happens to the millions of people who benefit from the water, food, and livelihood these coasts provide? Where will they go (hint: urban areas) and what strain will that put on our world's cities? 2080 may seem far away, but believe me, this is our problem to address now.
• I learned this week that water, food, and energy are inextricably linked. For example: While globalization has led to an increase in standard of living for many people worldwide, it also accounts for an increase in meat consumption in people's diets. Amazingly, it takes 7 times more water to produce 1lb of meat than 1lb of grain, and yet, demand for meat in countries like China and India is expected to rise by 25% by 2015. If we look at the U.S. alone, it's not surprising that Confined Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFO's) are so prevalent, especially given how cheaply we want to buy our meat. But at what cost? 
• Population growth and the strain it puts on our natural resources is perhaps our greatest concern: in the 1950's, there were 3 billion people worldwide. Today, there are roughly 6 billion. By 2050, world population is expected to grow to 9 billion. Just think of how these 9 billion people will use and deplete our planet's resources.

Yes, these statistics (and the questions they raise) are scary - and like me, I'm guessing a lot of people would rather pretend that these issues are not their problem. After all, it's easy to go about our daily lives, using all the water and energy we want and not really thinking about the consequences. Plus, I thought to myself, "if the world is on such a depressing and irreversible track, how can I really do anything to have an impact on the problem?".

Thankfully, my professors (Paul McManus and Kristen McCormack) knew that by the end of the week, we'd be looking for answers to this question. And so they left us with a clip from this video, entitled "Home", that I'd like to share with you too.

(Ashley's note: unfortunately it's not currently possible to embed the movie so I've instead embedded the trailer. If you visit here, you can see the entire video. Also, while the whole movie is worth watching, I suggest you fast-forward to around 1:16:00 - in the final 15 minutes of the movie they really do a terrific job of summarizing the issues and inspiring us to make change. Sorry for the technical difficulties - but trust me, it's worth the effort.)

As the narrator in the movie suggests, in fact "it is too late to be a pessimist". We must act, and we must act now.

It is everyone's responsibility to make changes in our behavior, in our lifestyles, and in our beliefs about the world and how we use it. Yes, it's scary. Yes, it's easier to pretend it's not my problem. But it is my problem, and yours too. I encourage you to also have the courage to inform yourself, and then ask: "What can I do to inform others?".

In addition to the links above, here are a few other terrific resources to learn more about global sustainability issues:

• Gapminder.org: Wondering how countries stack up according to themes like population, energy, disease, education or transportation? This is a fascinating site and definitely worth checking out (After checking out the homepage, click on Gapminder World to get started).
• Worldmapper.org: Like Gapminder, this site is an amazing illustration of the disparities and differences that exist between countries.
• Limits to Growth: A 30-year Update: Learn more about how three scientists staked their reputations on an unpopular and pessimistic (but increasingly realistic) view of our world's future.
• Monsanto: Whether you're for or against genetically modified crops, Monsanto is a powerful force in agriculture today that everyone should know about.

A Nonprofit Gal Goes Corporate

For as long as I can remember, I have always felt a connection with the nonprofit sector. Maybe it’s because I grew up doing community service and working with local charities, or maybe it’s just that my heart and my spirit have always needed to engage in projects that had a positive impact on others. Whatever the reason, I have always gravitated toward work with a social mission. So it was a no brainer that when I graduated from college, I joined the ranks of nonprofit employees across the country and got to work.  The first time I dipped my toes into the corporate water was when I applied to business school. After five years of fundraising for Bay Area nonprofits, I felt deeply rooted in the nonprofit community. I understood how to exist and thrive in that realm, how to partner with donors and other organizations to truly effect change. In short, they were my people, and I was theirs.

Yet, no matter how attached or connected I felt in the safe nonprofit space I had created, I knew there was something missing. Some people say that nonprofits don’t focus on the cold, hard impact numbers. Others say nonprofits suffer from a crisis of management and leadership experience. And others actually say both are true. For me, no matter how aligned my personal beliefs were with the nonprofit sector and the good work it does, I felt as though I could do more and do better by understanding how “the other half” lived. Which is how I found my way to the Boston University Graduate School of Management.

The BU GSM (as we call it) has been a great place to land for a nonprofiteer in the midst of a bit of an identity crisis (check out BU’s Public and Nonprofit Management Program for more info). I came to BU armed with my fundraising experience and a keen understanding of how the nonprofit sector operated. Yet I also arrived with a true curiosity about how business—with its access to financial, technological, and staff resources that often far exceed those in the nonprofit world—might tackle some of the global, social issues that I care about. Thus I began my first year of business school.

The past 9 months have been a time of intense questioning and driven exploration for me. I have started getting better at seeing problems through the lens of business, and my solutions these days often involve a deeper consideration of revenue streams, operating costs, and shareholder concerns. Yet what’s interesting is that when you think about it, these three issues, while packaged in business language, are actually also necessary priorities in any nonprofit organization. More organizations these days are looking for ways to become self-sustaining through revenue, especially in this economic climate. Maintaining low operating costs is also a huge issue in the sector when so many funders only want to support programmatic expenses. And shareholders in the nonprofit world are simply donors who believe in your mission enough to invest in the work that you do. If there's any development director out there who’s not concerned about keeping her donors happy, I’d like to know what her secret is.

In short, while there may be some very fundamental differences between businesses and nonprofit organizations (which I’m sure will become its own post at some point!), I do believe there are a lot of similarities. And, with a year of business school under my belt, I’m pleased to say that I will soon have the opportunity to become a bit of an expert on this topic.

Starting next week, I’ll be interning at an international consumer products company in Massachusetts (for confidentiality’s sake, I’ll be calling this company ABC throughout my blog). As one of their first-ever corporate philanthropy interns, I will be responsible for solidifying and growing ABC’s corporate giving efforts, which include cash and product donations, as well as employee volunteer hours. It’s a very big job that I’m very excited to start—and I’ll be bringing The Changebase readers along with me throughout the summer.

When I look back at where my journey started in fundraising, and the path I have taken through my first year at BU, I laugh a little bit when I think about my summer plans. Before business school I would have never expected to work anywhere but a nonprofit, and yet I am thrilled to have the chance to understand philanthropy through the eyes of a for-profit corporation. While I’m sure that there will be an inherent, steep learning curve, my hunch is that perhaps it won’t look that different from what I’ve known so far in my career. After all, ABC wants happy, healthy and satisfied customers, which is what every nonprofit wants for its community. At the end of the day, we both want the same thing—we just get there differently. Here’s to seeing how the other half lives!

-Ashley

Social Entrepreneurship 101

Hi all, I came across this great intro presentation on the basics of social entrepreneurship and how to get a job in the field. It was put out by the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. It's maybe a little specific (since it looks like it was put out with Kelley students in mind) but it's still an interesting resource. Plus, I always love seeing MBA career centers actually promoting "non-traditional" career paths like social entrepreneurship and CSR.

For those of you looking for these kinds of jobs, what strategies and tips have you found most useful? What advice would you give to other job-seekers?

-Ashley

Ethics and MBAs

Rule #1 of business school: Q: What is the #1 responsibility of management?

A: To maximize shareholder wealth.

I remember hearing this from one of my professors for the very first time; fresh-faced and ready to change the world through my new business education, I was immediately thrown back: surely this can't be the only goal of management, I thought. What about concerns for customers, for employees, or for the environment or society?

As it turns out, if you ask any MBA student at any MBA program, you're bound to get the same answer to this question. And while it may not be 100% true (even the most straight-laced finance concentrators would agree that this idea is oversimplified), the theme of maximizing returns to shareholders is recurring and prevalent. And it raises a second, important follow-up question:

What does it say about MBA students if this is the most important question they learn to answer during their two years of school?

Over the last few months, as news of corporate scandal, greed, and bankruptcies continues to make headlines, my business school class discussions have taken somewhat of an ethical turn. Through conversations about Enron and greed, McDonald's and nutrition, and Google and online privacy, it's clear that my professors want us to think about how we would handle real-life decisions where the line between right and wrong is blurred. But in my opinion, none of them have quite gotten there yet. Yes, we need to be discussing these issues, but to say that a few isolated classes are sufficient to ensure my classmates and I have strong, ethical compasses is surely a stretch.

I've been thinking and reading a lot about this recently, and it appears that others have been too. Harvard Business Review has been hosting an especially interesting online debate featuring a series of posts on "How to Fix Business Schools". One of my favorite posts in this series is from Angel Cabrera, the president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, called "Let's Professionalize Management". In his article, Cabrera advocates the institution of a business version of the Hippocratic Oath, a basic do-no-harm for management. And here's the kicker:

A professional ideology of service to the greater good is not at odds with the principle of shareholder value creation. It actually grounds shareholder value morally and it integrates it in a richer multidisciplinary context. It reaffirms the importance of shareholder value as both a source of societal prosperity in itself as well as an indicator of other forms of value. But it acknowledges that businesses create multiple forms of value and it attributes to managers responsibilities that go beyond profit maximization.

I just love this paragraph. The idea of grounding shareholder value in a moral context just resonates with me. As a "conscious consumer", I support companies like Target because I have witnessed the kind of commitment they make to the community; while I may not own Target stock, I would like to believe that its shareholders feel proud to own a part of a company that's doing good things.  And that last sentence about "multiple forms of value" in measuring business success is so true.  

So it seems that others are recognizing the inherent flaws in this oversimplified question and answer set. But where do we go from here? One of the steps I'm most excited about is my own school's entry into the U.N. Initiative Principles for Responsible Management. Boston University School of Management now joins over 200 other schools committed to "responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally".

In the current academic environment, corporate responsibility and sustainability have entered but not yet become embedded in the mainstream of business-related education. The PRME are therefore a timely global call for business schools and universities worldwide to gradually adapt their curricula, research, teaching methodologies and institutional strategies to the new business challenges and opportunities.

Certification is a great start, but I'll be curious to see what the next steps look like. In the meantime, I wonder: how are other business schools approaching and integrating the topic of ethical leadership ? What success stories can you share from your own classroom experiences? What have you seen that hasn't worked? And how much do you hate that stupid shareholder wealth question?! I certainly do.

A few more interesting resources on Ethics and MBAs:

• "Are MBAs the Problem?": self-selection bias and the MBA-type
• "It's Time to Make Management a True Profession": more on the business Hippocratic Oath