“All is connected... no one thing can change by itself.” —Paul Hawken, CEO, Environmentalist

Cornell University, Johnson School of Management

Stanford University School of Business, Center for Social Innovation

IN FOCUS: INSTITUTIONS AND PROGRAMS

The changing world of Good Business education

CORNELL UNIVERSITY: The Johnson Graduate School of Management

Think business innovation. Think “out of the box.” Think socially progressive. Does it conjure up thoughts of Cornell University? Probably not. Yet the Johnson School Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE) at Cornell University is unique in the Ivy League world for its breath of vision and academic opportunity.

The Center was founded and created by Professor Stuart Hart. (See IN FOCUS: Leadership) Along with two former students, now professors, Mark Milstein and Glen Dowell, the Center offers classes in “Sustainable Global Enterprise Immersion.” Conservation tourism, tools for Sustainable Enterprise, corporate social responsibility, organizational management, business ethics, and social entrepreneurship strategies are among the academic offerings at CSGE.

The "Base of the Pyramid Learning Lab" (BoP) is a ground-breaking social entrepreneurship venture established in 2005. The lab allows students "hands-on" experience in resolving social problems of extreme poverty through business solutions. For example, to address unsanitary conditions in Kenyan slums, a new business concept was formed with Kenyan youth and Johnson School students called “Community Cleaning.” Another BoP Lab initiative involves Johnson students partnering with local village women in rural India to resolve issues of food contamination and malnutrition. A “cooking outreach team skilled in culinary arts and nutrition” taught the village women how to prepare and sell fresh locally sourced foods. These are only two examples of the socially innovative BoP initiatives at Cornell aimed at relieving extreme poverty.

The Johnson School states its goal is to go beyond ordinary sustainable practices. It endeavors instead to create a “global network engaged in collaborative research and field work” toward developing new strategies and systems for state-of-the-art sustainability and Base of the Pyramid innovations.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Graduate School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business (SGSB) states its core belief is that “organizational leadership is a noble and critical pursuit.” That statement may sound overly idealistic, until you realize it is true. Leading people should be noble. Remarkably, the Public Management Program at Stanford has applied business principles to social and environmental issues for 37 years. This is a school that means what it says. The Center for Social Innovation (CSI) which opened in 2000 states its academic intention as follows: “We inspire and educate social innovators, providing knowledge and ideas that strengthen the capacity of current and future leaders to champion social change.” To support that foundation, CSI publishes the award winning Stanford Social Innovation Review quarterly. (See What's Happening)

Yet Stanford’s claims go far beyond championing change. The business school states that it has a responsibility to train principled “leaders who can change the world.” This credo is what makes Stanford’s Graduate School of Business rise above the pack of other exceptional business schools. The typical MBA program for decades has been a relatively unimaginative curriculum with little flexibility. Stanford rips the cover off cookie-cutter management teaching and encourages students to do the same. To create something new and better is the Stanford Center for Social Innovation mandate for change.

In 2006, SCSB announced its new curriculum called "the Personalized MBA Education.” The new program allows students even broader flexibility to develop their MBA around courses specific to their interests. It is no wonder that The Aspen Institute’s “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” named Stanford the number one business school in the world for its social business programs in 2007. Innovative classes include “Entrepreneurship” and “Frontiers of Social Innovation.” Business school student initiatives include initiatives to help the university achieve overall environmental sustainability. The business school also offers executive education for working professionals in social entrepreneurship, leadership programs, non-profit management, and sustainable business designed to guide leaders to “impact social change.”

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