Winding down.

Very close to the end of my MBA program! Where did the time go? I've definitely learned a TON, met amazing people and am energized to go out and do good work.

Standing between me and an MBA right now:

One Human Resources class

One Human Resources Final

One reflection paper on my internship

One business plan for sustainable farming organization

And then ... I'm done!

The job search has been interesting to this point. More to come on life plans post-MBA.

Giving thanks

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, which will be upon us in a few short minutes now, I thought I'd offer up a few thoughts on things that I've been feeling particularly thankful for lately. This whole graduating in three weeks thing can cause one to become rather introspective. Pondering the potential for my future naturally causes me to reflect on my past and present.

So, here goes. The list is long, but simple ... if you don't want to read all the way to the bottom, it can be summed up like this: I'm thankful for bold & inspiring people who open my mind, generate ideas, opportunity, hope and love.

But, here's the long version, just in case:

1. people, people, people. all of you. all of them. relationships are what makes my world go round, open my mind, ignite my passion. thanks for sharing your thoughts, ideas & ambitions!
2. my educational opportunities
3. small farmers who grow beautiful, healthy food for me to eat in spite of the barriers they often face to doing this noble work
4. activists and organizers who teach me the power of citizen movements to create social change
5. social entrepreneurs who dare to dream big in the name of changing the world
6. friends and family who love & support me no matter what ridiculous ideas i've come up with lately
7. Twitter
8. a winter CSA share
9. books
10. 8 hours nights of sleep
11. strong fair trade, organic, black coffee
12. Obama's presidency
13. Alan Khazei's senate candidacy
14. Graduation!
15. People who still read my blog, even though I haven't written in over a month. Thanks!

It's been a good year, I think, judging by this surely incomplete list of mine. What are you thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving!

Campaigning for CHANGE

I'm now volunteering with the Alan Khazei campaign for the Massachusetts senate seat. I see it as an opportunity to get someone into office who will be revolutionary, bringing new ideas and ways of thinking to the table. It's refreshing to support such an awesome candidate! Khazei is one of the most exciting political candidates I have come across in a long time - my excitement about Khazei is perhaps right on par with my excitement about Barack Obama's campaign. I have been a pretty disenfranchised voter for most of my eligible voting years, but first Obama, and now Khazei?! WOW. Keep them coming, and I'll be the most politically active citizen you can find.

So, for those who don't know, Alan Khazei was the co-founder of City Year, which is arguably one of the most successful national service and youth programs ever created. He's a game changer - he put national service on the map here in the US. I know that my time with AmeriCorps drastically influenced my desire to work for social change - and I'm just one of potentially millions of national service alumni that have been mobilized by the efforts that Khazei has been a part of. He's actually created a movement for social change already, without being in public office. Imagine what he can do if elected!

He's got loads of experience collaborating with government, community agencies and the private sector; he believes in citizen empowerment. Judging from his success with social movements like City Year and now, Be the Change, I think he's got the right idea about how to create the change that our country needs to succeed and prosper. US citizens have such potential power, and Khazei knows how to bring out the best in us.

Juxtaposed Mondays

My brain usually feels like it's going to explode on Mondays by the time I am finished with class at 9:30 pm. I feel SO drained - like I can't possibly utter another intelligent phrase. Totally tapped out. I do have two 3-hour classes on Mondays, but the sheer time spent in class isn't the factor causing my brain drain, as I see it.

You see, it's the completely opposite ways of thinking that my brain has to shift gears into during the one-hour break between said classes. I start out my afternoon with a class about social policy and social change. Taught by a professor who completely challenges the world view that I hold. Who challenges everything I think I have learned during the past 3 semesters. Who thinks that we, as a country and society, are headed for self-destruction if we keep up living the way we are living. I tend to agree with him. But, his extremeness is refreshing. He challenges me to think outside the confines of capitalism that pervades everything we do on a daily basis. That dictates the work available to people in our country, that dictates how resources are allocated and who has power and privilege. Can I even articulate how overwhelmed by the thought of all of the progress our society needs to make in order to survive after I leave this class? GOSH. Do we have some work to do!

From this class, I head to class about corporate governance. That's a good thing. But the feel of the class is completely different. Instead of challenging currently held beliefs, we talk about ways to live within the system that exists and how to make sure that people aren't getting duped by Corporate America. Man oh man.

From a socialism to capitalism, all within the span of an afternoon. This is why my brain feels like it has been sucked dry on Mondays. It's awesome and really challenging, all at the same time. I see it as being the beauty of being in grad school. I spend my days thinking about ways to make the world a better place. I get a taste of so many of the viewpoints that are out there. My beliefs are constantly challenged. What better preparation for a life of creating social change is there?

TIME CHANGE for EXCITING Net Impact Event!

So, we at Brandeis Net Impact have been working since April to organize one of the most exciting events that our chapter has ever been responsible for: Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation fame is coming to speak at our campus in just one week!

An Evening with Jeffrey Hollender:
Creating a Game Plan for Business to Transition to a Sustainable Economy
Shapiro Campus Center
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 4:00 pm

Can a for-profit company really be profitable, strategic and benefit the environment at the same time?

Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist of Seventh Generation is a well-respected leader in the socially and environmentally responsible communities. Jeffrey led Seventh Generation from its humble beginnings to its current position as the leading and fastest-growing brand of household and personal care products for your living home. He is also a leading authority on issues related to making a positive difference in the health of the planet and its inhabitants through our everyday choices. Seventh Generation is committed to becoming the world’s most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally-responsible products for a healthy home.

Check it out Facebook: http://tr.im/ybcR

We're pretty excited about it, as you can tell. So, I thought I'd post it on here - the event is open to the public. If you're in the Boston area and this is up your alley, please come!

EXCITING Net Impact event!

So, we at Brandeis Net Impact have been working since April to organize one of the most exciting events that our chapter has ever been responsible for: Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation fame is coming to speak at our campus in just one week!

An Evening with Jeffrey Hollender:
Creating a Game Plan for Business to Transition to a Sustainable Economy
Shapiro Theater in the Shapiro Campus Center
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 7:00 pm

Can a for-profit company really be profitable, strategic and benefit the environment at the same time?

Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist of Seventh Generation is a well-respected leader in the socially and environmentally responsible communities. Jeffrey led Seventh Generation from its humble beginnings to its current position as the leading and fastest-growing brand of household and personal care products for your living home. He is also a leading authority on issues related to making a positive difference in the health of the planet and its inhabitants through our everyday choices. Seventh Generation is committed to becoming the world’s most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally-responsible products for a healthy home.

Check it out Facebook: http://tr.im/ybcR

We're pretty excited about it, as you can tell. So, I thought I'd post it on here - the event is open to the public. If you're in the Boston area and this is up your alley, please come!

"in-between" time

Our summer semester officially ended last Friday with our team consulting presentations - win! But really, I just handed in my corporate finance take home this morning and classes resume for me again tomorrow morning at 9am. So, on paper I had about 7 days off; in reality, I took about 3 days off this past weekend to go biking and beaching. We presented our consulting project to our classmates and one member of our client organization's staff last week, but this Friday we get to present our results to the entire organization. It's very exciting, and something that we hoped we'd get the opportunity to do.

Doing the consulting project was probably one of the highlights of my time in the Heller MBA program so far. I learned so much not only about the consulting process and working with a client, but I also gained incredibly important lessons from my teammates and mentors throughout the project. I learned how to prioritize; when to let go of an idea; how to create constructive conflict; how to apply course frameworks to real situations; and how to stay within the scope of a project when there are so many intriguing possibilities to branch off into.

Perhaps my reflections aren't quite complete on this subject yet, given that it's so fresh an experience; I remain intrigued in consulting as a potential career given my experience with my team this semester. I'm going to dig deep in the coming weeks to try to figure out what it is that I most want to pursue when I graduate as I get in position to begin the big job search. I know that I enjoy big-picture thinking, mission-related work, and using numbers to back up my big picture ideas. I like thinking about how to make organizations perform better and have higher impact.

What's the point of this post? Just to update, since I've been gone for so long, and to make the transition to the last semester of my MBA program. You'll get to read a lot about this "in-between" feeling as I search for a job. I'll be hovering in the space between student and professional; in fact, I can already feel the job search pressure starting to mount. I'll be planted between carefree learner enjoying the last months to soak up as much knowledge as possible and realistic individual who knows that very soon there will be bills to pay and no more loans coming in. So, stay tuned. It should be an interesting few months ahead!

Could I be a consultant?

I had never considered consulting to be high on my list of career options, but I must say that it's moving higher and higher as I work on my consulting project this summer. I am LOVING this project and the consulting experience overall. My team and I have spent the past few weeks really digging in, getting to know the organization.

Now, we're in the heart of our work. We're strategizing, doing lots of big thinking, figuring out how the data fits and where it should lead our recommendations ... it's exhilarating to be able to take a "big picture" look at the organization, figure out where our project fits into the whole and hopefully deliver a high-impact recommendation. It's fun to be challenged and engaged in this way.

I have finally found some time during the last few days to immerse myself in reading, thinking & analysis for this project for large chunks of time, and it has helped my process immensely. My progress during the past week feels like it has increased exponentially, perhaps due to this extra time spent as well as finally having a very clear picture of the workings of the organization. I'm excited to continue working on this project for the next 6 weeks, and I'm most excited to think about delivering a set of recommendations backed by strong data that will solve a problem and create some change!

Summer classes are iNtenSe

We are just wrapping up our last week of the first module of summer classes. Let me tell you, they took a little getting used to. Only, we didn't really have time to get used to them ...

Our summer semester is broken into two modules, with two classes during the first half and one more during the second half. Our TCP spans the entire summer. The summer courses are only 6 weeks long, meeting for three hours twice a week. INTENSE! I must say that this is not my preferred course schedule. I didn't feel like I had the time to spend delving into subject matter that I found interesting. It was always a sprint to get work done for the next class sessions. I'll be happy to get back to our regular once a week, semester-long class schedule this fall. I'm also happy to be nearly finished with our first summer module, which will allow more time to spend on my TCP project.

Our marketing project was a good way to end the first summer module! I had a great group, and our project focused on marketing the use of locally grown produce to restaurants in a local Boston neighborhood. It will be interesting to see if our organization implements any of our suggestions. That is part of the fun of MBA projects ... sometimes they have a real purpose!

Innovation in tough economic times

Much has been written about this topic - innovation stemming from this time of economic hardship - but I continue to find it all very interesting. Here is an article about how recent grads are turning into social entrepreneurs and coming up with great ideas, partially due to the fact that they have the freedom to think about other options now that their prescribed potential high-power, high-money career options have dried up. My take-aways from this article:

1. the importance of finding work that "feeds your soul";
2. and the potential of my generation to learn lifelong lessons from experiences such as these when we are forced to think of new ways to do things and new paths to carve out

These new adventures don't necessarily involve all of the things we "should" be doing with our education , but I'm pretty sure they're going to have good results for our world overall. My question is how to continue to support and encourage opportunities like this for recent grads when the economy begins to recover and the potential for great wealth from traditional career paths returns?

Building capacity

I need to build some capacity into my schedule so that I have more blogging time, right?!  I think this summer semester might need to subscribe to the philosophy of quality over quantity ... 

Anyway, for those current and former VISTA members out there, the phrase "capacity building" should be ringing a bell!  I'm here to tell you that this phrase exists in real life, in case you ever doubted the validity of your capacity building work to help you in your next steps.  It is potentially one of the most important things an organization can do. 

I am being reminded of the importance of capacity building as I get started on my Team Consulting Project (TCP) with ACCION USA this summer (who, by the way, just announced a cool partnership with Kiva!  Check it out here.).  We're working on reaching more potential borrowers through ACCION's internet loan program, an innovative idea that has room to grow.  We'll be looking at how to build capacity and systems to make this program sustainably grow in a few different ways.  It's potentially going to be one of the coolest projects I work on during my grad school stint, and I'm looking forward to digging in a little bit more. 

As a final note, if you think my grad school program sounds cool, and you're looking for one of your own to get into, check out the upcoming Idealist Grad School Fairs in DC and NYC.  Here are a few quick details, but visit www.idealist.org to find out more!

Wednesday, June 17 5 - 8 pm American University, Katzen Arts Center, Rotunda, 1st Floor 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington 

Thursday, June 18 5 - 8 pmFordham University, Lincoln Center, Pope Auditorium 113 W 60th Street, New York, NY 

Back at it

Finals have been finished, vacation has been taken, and now I'm back in this game of grad school.  Though Brandeis classes don't officially start until next week, I decided to pick up a tax accounting class this summer at Bentley.  That started last week, and it's going to be a six-week learning whirlwind.  I find it to be a very interesting and useful subject, though the fact that the professor thinks that we'll be competent enough to prepare individual and business tax returns (and that we'll know 95% of the CPA exam material) by the end of it all baffles me.  It seems impossible now, but I bet he's right.  He's probably done this a few times before. 

The semester ended well.  I finished two big projects: a strategic position for Citizen Schools (which I still need to pass along to my contact there ... eek!) and a financial plan/budget for a youth organic farming program that I hypothetically started up.  Though those projects were a TON of work, they both turned out to be pretty interesting.  I wish I'd had more time to spend on them and really dig a lot deeper than I did.  It was a taste of what doing something like that for a job might be like, and in retrospect, it was pretty fun.  

I'm looking forward to our summer semester.  We're doing our Team Consulting Project, and my team is working with ACCION USA to expand an internet loan program.  It's a super interesting organization, and I'm looking forward to producing something that will hopefully be valuable to them as well as learning a few things along the way!  

Finals are upon me!

My apologies for being MIA in the blogosphere ... the insanity of finals has firmly taken its hold on my life from now until May 10th at midnight when my final take-home final shall be submitted. Or else.

I have TONS of ideas of fun things I'd like to write about and share with you. I even made a list! That's what I do when the workload is overwhelming ... make lists of all of the things I have to do and all of the things I want to do. A little forward-thinking motivation never hurts, in my opinion.

So, upon completion of said finals, you will be graced with the presence of multiple blog entries from me. Perhaps even multiple blog entries in one day! Until then, here's a little sampling of what's left until I am the proud owner of 1/2 of an MBA:

• Finish creating budget package for hypothetical organic youth farming program
• Study (ALOT!) for Cost Accounting Final
• Finish group presentation for Operations Management and present to classmates
• Study for & complete take-home final for Operations Management
• Complete final case analysis/assignment for Corporate Fraud

Whoa! Better get to work ...

Three Cups of Tea

I just finished reading "Three Cups of Tea" written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it was truly one of the best books I've read in a while. The book basically details Mortenson's quest to build schools to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is a mountaineer who nearly dies on an attempt to summit K2 and subsequently has a change of heart about what he wants to make important in his life from then on. He becomes what I consider to be one of our greatest social entrepreneurs as he works to fulfill his mission to bring peace through education.

Some of the pieces of his story that I found most remarkable were:

• the determination he showed to complete his goals and keep his promises despite MANY obstacles
• the relationships he formed with his "second family" of Pakistanis thousands of miles from his home
• the way that he integrated himself into a completely foreign culture and came to love it
• his efforts to share his personal story and knowledge of Muslim people post-9/11 in an attempt to diffuse the hatred that was seeping into Americans' culture for this "enemy"

We discussed the book in a book club gathering last night (accompanied by a delicious Pakistani meal!), and one of the questions/comments that arose was a general admiration for Mortenson's complete faith in his mission and his choice to give up most material possessions in order to achieve this mission. I think it's a very real tension that is becoming more apparent as we face the deterioration of our economy and a serious reduction in opportunities for people to "get rich" in the ways that have worked for the past 15 years or so. What is the price of doing humanitarian work? Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Is there a happy medium? Where does idealism meet reality in our financially-based society?

I have some thoughts on this trade-off, which I'll share in a subsequent post because it's a topic that I'm pretty interested in and passionate about ... and I could ramble on, making this the longest post ever! But, for now, read the book! I hope you will love it and be inspired.

School/Work/Fun BaLanCE

I had the opportunity to attend a lunch for accepted students last week at the Heller School, and one of the most commonly asked questions in my group was whether it was possible to keep a part-time job while going to school full-time and vice versa. There are people of all work/school balance levels in my program, and they all manage to do it somehow.

My opinion on the matter is that it is possible, but it's certainly a situation that forces you to prioritize and often times make trade-offs. I had two small part-time jobs during the fall semester - tutoring and coordinating community service spring break trips - and found it to be manageable most of the time. I've now pretty much completed my community service trip work and am on the verge of having no part-time jobs! This is probably a good thing, given the amount of work I expect the summer semester to hold.

That said, I believe that it would be possible to hold a more substantial part-time job and still get a good educational experience. Though, if I had a significant part-time commitment, I can see where some trade-offs would need to be made. I'd definitely be spending less time with Net Impact and networking activities and perhaps not doing these things at all. And though my blogging on here is slightly infrequent now, I imagine I might not find the time to do it at all with more outside work commitments. I know that I'd have to cut down on social time as well. I usually spend one day each weekend doing something fun and not school-related. These activities would most likely be supplanted with some of the homework that I didn't have time to do during the week because I was working.

I find that I need this balance of fun and meeting inspirational people alongside my coursework to give me energy and to find meaning in my school work. Nothing's impossible when it comes to balancing school with work and fun, but each person's formula for achieving this balance is probably different. Seek your balance!

Freya's right on the money:

I got this quote in my weekly dose of inspiration via the Ripples email yesterday:

"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
-Freya Madeleine Stark

And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Stark gets right to the heart of the matter, right to the heart of why we do the things we do, of why people choose to pursue careers that impact the greater good, perhaps of why some people spend entire lifetimes unhappily whittling away at jobs that are unfulfilling and meaningless. If your daily life is not in line with your values, can you ever truly be happy? Goodness - it seems so simple, right? To live out our values in our everyday lives. To believe wholeheartedly in what we are doing each day.

In view of my career as a business student right now, I find this philosophy to be very relevant. As business leaders of the future, we'll need to make sure that our values are injected into everything that we do. When values are not present, it makes it so easy to be part of the business ideas of the past where profits reign supreme and people & the environment finish last. We'll need to operate our personal lives and our companies on the same plane. I see responsible business practices being all about values, all about producing products and services that can have positive and meaningful impacts on stakeholders' lives.

Sometimes I get these quotes in my email and research the quoted person, only to find out that they weren't really all that inspirational in their actual lives and this supposedly wonderful quotation on the meaning of life was really just a snippet taken out of context. Freya came through for me on this one, though. She genuinely and profoundly pursued meaning in her life. She picked up in her early thirties to travel the world, to write, to live out her dreams - she did this in the 1930's, a time when it was unheard of for a woman to be traveling alone around the world. Her biography is entitled "Passionate Nomad". Google her.

Reusable bags are in style ...

But it seems that those who dictate the style world, namely the fashion industry, aren't nearly concerned as the grocery store business is about the environmental effects of hundreds of thousands of plastic shopping bags leaving the malls in the hands of patrons each day. As I was walking around Boston last weekend in a pretty serious shopping district, I noticed the distinct lack of reusable shopping bags and the distinct abundance of multiple bags from multiple stores in the hands of nearly each passerby.

Though it's nearly the norm to bring your own bags to the grocery store these days, the shopping mall seems to be a completely different story. People just aren't doing it yet. I suspect that one of the reasons that it hasn't caught on is that people like to carry around lots of bags from lots of stores - it's a sign of the treasure amassed that day. It was a good shopping day, the plentiful handles wrapped around their hands are reminding. Even the legendary San Francisco plastic bag ban seems to focus only on grocery store bags.

This seems to be the next logical step in the world of reusable bags. The fashion industry is masterful at getting people to want to buy the things that they make. I'm amazed that no one has yet created the perfect reusable, yet fashionable, shopping bag. The possibilities are endless - receipt pouches so you don't lose one, bags made just for carrying shoe boxes, etc...

VISTA Impact & Beyond!

I'm incredibly excited about the possibility that all of the new service legislation moving through right now holds both nationally and globally. You may be wondering about the impact of some of the existing programs and why upgrading and expanding them can create great social change. I'd like to share with you the AmeriCorps*VISTA annual report, which highlights projects from each of the 52 United States: Overcoming Poverty, Building Capacity.

(If this link takes you to the Vista Campus website, simply login as a guest to see the report.)

I'm particularly proud to share this report, as the project that I was a VISTA member and leader in for the last two years, the Children & Youth Project of NW PA, is the featured project in Pennsylvania.

Read it over, and I hope you'll be inspired to raise your voice in favor of the Serve America Act and the GIVE Act. It's the right time to expand national service in our country - I get chills imagining the potential that will be unleashed with the support of this legislation!

My AmeriCorps experience is such a large part of the reason that I'm studying what I am right now and aspire to work for social change in the future. Not only will this legislation impact those being served by the expansion of programs and those who commit to service during their terms of service, but I venture to predict a large increase in the number of people entering social impact fields as a result of their term of service. It's life-changing to be a part of a national service movement, and as service opportunities expand, the potential for creating a critical mass of people concerned with the future of our world also expands.

Time to Retrain B-Schools?

This article appeared in the NY Times earlier this week, questioning the role of the business school training, that many employed in the finance world received, in leading to our current financial crisis: Is it Time to Retrain B-schools?

It's a great read if you're thinking about attending business school. Some of the criticisms the article mentions is that B-schools are too narrowly focused on analyzing problems using numbers and technical knowledge without consideration for real world complexities. The article ends with a quote saying that business schools are good at producing managers, but not necessarily leaders.

This sentiment resonated with me because we discussed the difference between a manager and a leader within at least two weeks of beginning our program at Heller. My program is interested in producing leaders, which is something that they are very clear about. The article also mentioned the Aspen Institute study - I'd recommend checking out their "Beyond Grey Pinstripes" rankings for a list of business schools that are the best at integrating social and environmental topics into their B-school curriculum.

Some people may think that we are not "hard core" enough at Heller because we don't crunch numbers all day, figuring out how to maximize shareholder value. My response is that we are learning the skills that our world is going to need to be improved from this day forward. Things are not going to be the same in the business and finance world for a long time - we're learning leadership skills that will give us the ability to create purpose, solve complex organizational and social problems, and fulfill missions. We are certainly learning a little something about numbers along the way, but the real value of our education comes from our preparation to be social change leaders in the incredibly complex, sometimes very scary real world.

How did I get here?

You may be wondering how I ever ended up choosing the Heller MBA as opposed to the many other public/social service degrees out there. Now that I'm halfway through my second semester, I should probably share this information with you!

As a senior undergraduate, I applied and was accepted to graduate programs in Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs. My friends and mentors told me to take some time off from school and get some experience because I would be burned out after four years of intense academic work. Though I was reluctant to do this, I ended up taking their advice.

After graduating, I worked as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member in the Center for Experiential Learning at Allegheny College, my alma mater. I buckled down and got situated in my new role on Allegheny’s campus, working with students to plan service events, running a tutoring program in local elementary schools and functioning as part of the college’s student affairs staff. About a month into my year of service, I realized that I was indeed quite burned out from my undergraduate experience. I was incredibly grateful to not be trudging through a graduate program at that point in my life.

The middle of my year of service came and went, and I was in no position to apply for admission to graduate school again for the upcoming fall semester. I was feeling unsure of my original desire to obtain a degree in higher education and wanted more time to find my focus. In light of this development, I stayed on with AmeriCorps*VISTA for another year, progressing to the position of a VISTA Leader. I wanted to gain more experience in the administrative and management aspects of VISTA than I had in my first year of service.

I knew at this point that I loved the work I was doing, but I wasn’t sure that higher education administration was a field I wanted to study in depth at the graduate level. I knew that I loved the students, their idealism to create change, and the community that I had built in small-town Meadville. I knew that I wanted to study ways in which to bring all of those things together more effectively and to use the resources that a community has to create change. I also knew that I had enjoyed my undergraduate major in Economics and somehow wanted to incorporate those skills into my next field of study.

I narrowed my interests to the fields of community development, nonprofit management or business. After further examination of several degree programs in each of these areas, I decided that a business degree would allow me to gain the management and technical skills that I was interested in, as well as experience in leadership and organizational behavior. I looked specifically for programs that had coursework or a concentration in community development or socially responsible business. I also examined the list of schools that match the AmeriCorps education award.

This list is precisely how I found Brandeis’ Heller School. When I looked at the website for this program and saw that Heller’s motto is “Managing for a Social Mission”, I was hooked! This seemed like the perfect fit for my interests and ambitions. I would be surrounded by people with diverse work and educational experiences, yet who all shared a common interest in social justice and mission-oriented work. My initial impressions were quite accurate, and here I am today - happily pursuing an MBA at Heller, meeting incredibly inspiring people and learning many of the skills that will help me to do the work that I want upon graduating.

Co-Sponsor the Serve America Act!

As an AmeriCorps*VISTA alum who believes in the power of national service, this is something near to my heart. The Serve America Act has the potential to drastically expand the national service movement. Now you can be part of the change by co-sponsoring the legislation. Check it out here: http://www.bethechangeaction.org/servicenation/take_action/cosponsor

In my opinion, it's a crucial time for important programs like this to expand!

Backtrack: BCCJ & Harvard Social Enterprise Conference

Let's back it up a week or two - a little late is better than never, right? I had the opportunity to participate in two great events in the past few weeks: a networking breakfast with BCCJ and the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference. Combining them into one week made for a fabulous reminder of all of the exciting, high-impact stuff going on out there and the reason that I'm studying in grad school right now.

Starting with BCCJ - it stands for the Boston Center for Community and Justice. Their mission is to develop a diverse community of socially responsible leaders that advances social justice throughout Greater Boston. The speaker for this particular networking breakfast talked about "Business Strategies for the Age of Conscious Capitalism". He was a marketing professor from Bentley College and did a great job of explaining why this is the time to change things to make business more sustainable. One particular statement that resonated with me was that profits should be the outcome of doing the right thing, not the driver. This seems like a highly plausible strategy, given the recent statistics that I've seen where the companies who are part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index have consistently outperformed companies who are not. So, maybe we should be thinking about how to be a good, conscious business generating positive returns for society and then our profits will follow? No more of this profit vs. social responsibility talk.

Another great piece of the BCCJ breakfast was the networking component. We had a chance for a good deal of discussion around our table before and after the presenter. I met some wonderfully intelligent people who are working for social justice and responsible business in their daily lives, and it was great to connect with this community. BCCJ does several interesting events and programs throughout the year - they are definitely a group of people that I want to stay connected with.

Reinforcing the fire that was ignited at the BCCJ breakfast, the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference fell just a few days later. Hosted by students at HBS and Harvard's Kennedy School, this conference was one of the best $40 purchases of my entire graduate school career (and I'm not just saying that because the goodie bag was fabulous, though it really was - an entire box of Newman's Own cereal and a bag of Dancing Deer cookies?! Yes, please.) The format of the breakout sessions was all panels so that there was a great deal of audience participation and time for questions. It was fun to get a chance to interact with the great minds on the panels in this way.

I attended a session on human capital in education where we heard from panelists from the New Teacher Project, a start-up charter school in NYC and two other education organizations. I've been reminded of my interest in education and year of service programs this semester and think this is a field that I may be interested in working in someday. There are so many innovative education-focused social enterprises out there to study and create change through.

I also attended sessions on social investing and food & social change. Food issues are another of my interests that have recently been reignited. We make choices everyday about the food that we will consume, and those choices pack so much punch. Behind every bite of food there is a story about how it was created - how were the workers treated who picked or packaged it, how many pesticides were used that potentially may damage the earth, what sorts of artificial and unhealthy chemicals are we being exposed to? I think food is another area where it is possible to create great change and I was inspired by the panelists that I heard - particularly, the Executive Director of Slowfood USA and an exec from Newman's Own.

Overall, the past few weeks have been exciting and formative as I continue to learn about what's already going on to create social change, what new problems and challenges are continually popping up and ways that I might want to work in these fields upon graduation. Here's to learning a little something new every single day!

Clean-tech is hiring!

All hope for job seekers is not lost.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/03/06/renewable_job_market/

A bright spot in the midst of recession: Clean-tech jobs are still hiring in Boston, even as other parts of the economy continue to struggle. Hopefully the growth in this sector will continue!

Whirlwind!

The past two weeks have been quite eventful - there's so many exciting things that I want to share with you from my recent experiences. I've been to NYC on my service trip, participated in a great networking breakfast hosted by BCCJ and attended the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference yesterday. Those are just the highlights!

God's Love We Deliver, the organization we partnered with in NYC, was phenomenal. One of the most striking things about the organization was that we were told on the first day that although this is a nonprofit, it is run like a company. Throughout the week, I heard employees referring to GLWD as their company or the company.

The organization seemed very efficient and well-run, from what I could learn in a few days working there. The employees were happy and committed - mostly everyone I met had been there for several years. It seems to me a perfect example of our Net Impact motto of using business tools for good. In this case, GLWD seems to have taken some of the best practices from the private sector and implemented them successfully in their nonprofit organization.

Not only was I impressed with the operations of the organization, but the employees and other volunteers were inspirational and the service they provided was high quality and high impact. We spend hours chopping and cooking fresh vegetables. I saw the chefs making their own sauces and baking desserts from scratch. If I remember correctly, something like 29% of GLWD's clients have special dietary needs, which are accommodated on a daily basis. The scale of the operation happening down in GLWD's kitchens and the amount of customization that takes place is more than impressive.

And last but not least, my Brandeis group was great! They were a fun group of students to work with for the week, and all of them impressed me in some way at some point during the trip. Their idealism and enthusiasm was contagious. This trip was a great refresher and a reminder of why all of the work I'm doing in my classes is important: so that I can take the skills and knowledge that I'm gaining and apply them in organizations as remarkable as GLWD so that they can continue to innovate and serve the people who rely on them each day.

More on the other exciting, inspiring events of the past week later!

NYC bound!

In a throwback to my days as a VISTA, I'm heading to NYC for the upcoming week to do a community service spring break trip with a group of Brandeis undergraduates. I'm pretty pumped about it. We're spending the majority of our time working with an agency that delivers nutritionally-appropriate meals to seriously ill people who cannot cook for themselves: God's Love We Deliver.

This trip will be very different from my past trips: rural Appalachia vs. New York City. Mountains vs. skyscrapers. Coal mines vs. subway systems. But, some of my most meaningful spring break experiences have come from conversations with the people I encounter during the course of the trip ... and I'm sure that I'll meet some amazing people during the next week. I'm looking forward to learning a lot ... and to not checking my email for 6 entire days. See ya!

In recession, MBA students seek backup plan

An article in this morning's Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/02/in_recession_mb.html?s_campaign=8299

Good thing my original ambition was never a Wall Street finance job. My advice: MBA's are going to be valuable people in the next wave of business venture that will be popping up as this recession ends. Social enterprise, responsible business, green tech - using business skills for good. Our country can't stand it any other way.

I'm LinkedIn ...

Now what? I recently joined the professional networking site LinkedIn. I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to do so, judging from the shocked replies I used to receive upon revealing that no, in fact, I am not on LinkedIn. So, I did it.

And now my question is what to do with it? I'm pretty versed on the art of Facebook and how to best NOT tarnish my professional reputation, but LinkedIn is a new beast. The point seems to be less about protecting my reputation (which is easy, because there's no option for your friends to tag you in photos involving ridiculous late-night antics), but more about building a really impressive LinkedIn profile and good networks. At least that's what LinkedIn tells me to do. My profile is only 40% complete right now, which is apparently a detriment to my online networking abilities.

For now, I think I'm content to have people find me and "connect", but I'm wondering where we're headed with these sorts of networking sites. Will joining LinkedIn provide some professional benefit to me in the future? Have you ever found a useful professional connection using sites like LinkedIn?

It seems logical that we'll use things like this more and more, even if it's just to learn that your friend has a friend who works at a company that you're interested in. Maybe this will spur a phone call or email to said friend, who will then help you "connect" to desired friend in real life. Very plausible ... Thoughts? Stories?

Triple Bottom Line

We had a great speaker in our Corporations and Communities class last week - Andy Savitz, author of "The Triple Bottom Line". I've never read the book, but have definitely heard the term use many, many times. The triple bottom line basically takes into account not only the economic bottom line in a business, but also the effects of business on people and the environment. We spent alot of time talking with Savitz about how we've reached this age of accountability on the part of businesses. Business used to just be about making money, but now businesses are accountable for so many other factors, such as public health, labor standards, environmental effects.

The point that Savitz strives to make is that there is a sweet spot for businesses where they can make profits, as well as solve some social problem. A few examples that we spent time talking about were Toyota and the Prius and GE's Ecomagination campaign. Both of these segments of their respective companies are responsible for generating a huge portion of revenue for the companies, but are also revolutionizing the their respective industries with respect to environmental accountability.

The phrase that stuck in my mind during most of the talk was, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." I think Voltaire is responsible for this philosophy. I struggle with companies who are still doing things that are bad for people and bad for the planet, but have a few segments that are good for people and planet, being labeled as socially responsible. However, as much as I struggle with this contradiction, I realize that there will be no such thing as a perfect company (in that they are achieving good for all three: people, planet, profit) in the very near future. Even some of the most socially responsible companies in the world - I think of Patagonia - are still probably generating some negative externalities.

So, I applaud the companies that are making strides toward being industry leaders in being accountable to the triple bottom line. As more companies embrace this approach and as more consumers demand it, I see it becoming the norm for business. And that's an incredibly good thing.

Eco-friendly Super Bowl shirts!

Seeing as I am a faithful Steelers fan, I was most impressed by Reebok's initiative to produce organic cotton Super Bowl t-shirts this week. Read the press release here:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090127006356/en

People buy these things like crazy - I'm sure there was a line somewhere this morning in Pittsburgh to get a Steelers Super Bowl Champions shirt. This is awesome on Reebok's part for a few reasons:

• They're making a statement and taking a lead in the industry by producing such an important piece of fan attire in a socially responsible way.
• They are the only ones making official shirts, so if someone wants an official Super Bowl shirt, they'll be wearing organic cotton. This probably exposes some customers who never would have cared about organic cotton to the fact that it exists and is better for the earth.
• Hopefully this action by Reebok will help to expand the market for organic cotton, thus enticing more farmers to grow cotton organically, thus saving the planet from TONS of pesticides in the long-run.

Go Steelers! Go Reebok!

Pepsi Co's Counting Carbon

This story, about Pepsi Co calculating the carbon footprint of their Tropicana orange juice brand, ran in the NY Times this morning:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

It's a good example of a company taking responsibility for the environmental effects of both their supply chain and production. As I have heard several times in the first semester of my MBA, "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it".

The most carbon-heavy step in the process? The actual growing of our beloved citrus fruit, specifically the abundance of nitrogen-based fertilizer that is used on the fruit.

What will they do next? Pepsi Co's plan is to work with researchers at the University of Florida to develop a way to grow oranges that create less carbon emissions. It would be awesome to see a movement toward organic orange growing as a result of this information ...

They also plan to create consumer education around carbon footprint numbers. According to this article, Pepsi Co will be among one of the first companies to provide actual carbon emissions numbers to its consumers.

MLK: A day on, not a day off

That was always our motto when I was working with AmeriCorps, and I think it's a pretty good one. Though many of us do not have classes or work on this snowy New England day, I would ask us to pause and remember the person who we celebrate on this day. What an inspiration his dream is, and how fitting for our country to celebrate MLK's legacy on the day before we officially welcome Barack Obama as our nation's 44th president.

I've traditionally participated in a national day of service on MLK day, but just didn't make any arrangements to do it this year. I want to give a shout out to the NW PA AmeriCorps VISTA Project, though. I know they will be "stuffing the bus" with much needed supplies for NW PA nonprofit agencies many times over the next two weeks in honor of MLK's legacy of service. Thanks for making a difference, VISTAs!

In closing, I'll share one of my favorite quotes from Dr. King: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." I have reflected upon these words many times for many different reasons, and they always just seem to inspire me.

fRugAl weekend fun

I've spent this last weekend before classes start doing some fun things around Boston with my brother, who came to visit. Always a fan of fun things that fit neatly into my grad student budget, I'll share with you two great entertainment options in our fine city that cost me a grand total of $6 and provided hours of fun. I learned some new things too!

First on the list: the USS Constitution museum. Part of the city's Freedom Trail, this museum is located in the Charlestown Navy Yard. A $3 donation is suggested, which is used to help directly fund the museum. The amount of history present in this space is well worth your donation, and who can resist a tour of a battleship built in 1797?! Do you know why she's called "Old Ironsides"?
http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/

Second on the list: the MIT Museum. Admission is only $3 for students (and is free on Sunday mornings between 10am and noon if you get out of bed early). They had an enlightening exhibit on artificial intelligence, as well an exhibit of holograms. Rounding it out was a room filled with tiny fragile machines created by a scholar who calls himself half artist and half engineer. And of course you can learn about the history of MIT by strolling through a room filled with remnants of this great institution's legacy. Overall, I was very impressed.
http://web.mit.edu/museum/

Check them out!

Goals for '09:

It's fun to think about goals for this year, because they get to be pretty lofty! I'll hopefully graduate with my MBA and have a fabulous new job by this time next year.

So, here goes:

• Internship(s). I'd like to do an internship or two before I graduate, which will hopefully help me to further clarify the type of work that I want to do after graduation and give me the opportunity to get some experience and meet some interesting people.
• Volunteer work. I haven't done quite as much of this during my first semester as would have liked, so I'm going to try to add it back into my schedule this semester.
• Team Consulting Project. I have to do this to graduate, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited to see what organizations applied and who I'll get to work with on this project.
• Securing a job! This will probably (hopefully) happen closer to the end of '09, but it never hurts to start thinking ahead.
• Balance. I am setting the goal for myself to have all of my work done an hour before I want to go to bed on most evenings so I can spend that time reading for fun or writing or just mindlessly watching TV. I've determined that laying in bed falling asleep while reading cases is not a productive use of my time and I'm going to change that.

There's my short list. Good luck on your goals (or resolutions, as some like to say) for this year!

Ready or not!

It's almost time to start classes again. Break went unbelievably fast, but it's time to get my head back in the game for my second semester of grad school. This semester's lineup includes: Strategic Management, Operations Management, Financial Management, Corporations and Communities, and some sort of accounting class.

Lots of management things to learn this spring! I'm excited about Corporations and Communities, too. It seems like there will be several good guest speakers, and the intersection of business and communities is something that I am very interested in studying. I'm pretty sure that's what I wrote about in my admissions essay. So, this class seems like it will be exciting!

And accounting - I'm attempting to incorporate some extra accounting courses into my program through Brandeis' consortium program. This means that I can take classes at several schools around the Boston area and have them count toward my degree. It's a great opportunity to take advantage of, and I'm excited to experience courses at other universities. I'm hoping to get into an accounting class at Bentley for this spring semester. Fingers crossed!