MBAs for the Greater Good
MIT Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer Andrew M. Wolk attended a White House event June 30 in which President Obama echoed what Wolk has been seeing in the classroom for some time: “results-oriented” efforts can meet social goals.
Implementing rigorous ways to measure program success can benefit not only social innovation and communities, but MBA programs and MBA students anxious to combine classroom lessons with socially meaningful work in the field, Wolk has found.
Nonprofit and grassroots organizations striving to bring about social change should start looking toward MBAs who are interested in bringing their training and skills to work with a social dimension.
“A lot of people in both government and the nonprofit sector are recognizing that they need the help of MBAs,” says Wolk, the founder and CEO of Root Cause, a nonprofit in Cambridge, MA, that seeks to advance social innovation.
“MBA programs sometimes don’t recognize that a new generation is emerging that cares equally about earning a living and how they do so. Every top MBA program needs to offer a comprehensive package that allows students to have a career and to do greater good.”
For more of Obama and Wolk’s thoughts on results-oriented nonprofits, click here.
Also, check out MIT Sloan’s piece from early last month on new MBA grads looking at alternative careers. The recession, it states, has caused many grads to reevaluate their priorities and determine what they want to do with their lives ”” often trading jobs with status and hefty paychecks for careers with a positive social impact.
*
For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.
