Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print to give you a quick overview of the latest trending topics from top schools around the world.
Here’s your quick MBA News You Need digest for the week of April 5, 2018.
Financial Times Examines Business School Donors’ Motives
Donations to business schools are booming. Just compare the $41.3 million INSEAD raised in 2016-2017 to the paltry-by-comparison $7.2 million that the school raised in 2011-2012.
The University of Illinois recently received $150 million from Larry Gies, the CEO of Madison Industries—the largest gift in the school’s history. Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler also reportedly gave $10 million to his alma mater, London Business School.
But why have business school gifts become all the rage? What is truly motivating donors?
Nida Januskis, associate dean of advancement and alumni relations at INSEAD, believes the reasons underlying these generous donations extend beyond mere tax breaks.
“Donors believe the challenges the world is facing, such as inequality, cannot be addressed by government or NGO intervention alone. They believe business is part of the solution and they want to bring business closer to society through their gifts,” she said.
Read more to learn how not all donations are created equal, according to the Financial Times.
Tuck Students Launch Mentorship Program Connecting MBAs to Dartmouth Undergrads
There has historically been a disconnect between the Tuck School of Business and Dartmouth undergrads, despite the fact that they’re all on the same campus. When one of Dartmouth’s undergraduate students became a Tuck MBA student, she took it upon herself to try and bridge that gap.
Meghan McDavid (D’10, T’18), with the help of Alison Byrne Donnally (T’18), developed the Dartmouth Professional Insights Network (DPIN), a mentorship and career guidance program to guide Dartmouth undergraduates into the world of business.
Launched in May 2017, the program pairs Tuck first-years with Dartmouth sophomores for a total of 16 months. Students are matched according to their mutual interests, backgrounds, and career objectives. These duos commit to forging relationships that extend far beyond the program. (Tuck News)
Haas MBA Students Test Their Leadership Skills in the Andes
UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business reckons MBAs can learn a lot about extreme leadership by trekking through the Andes.
Berkeley Haas offers a two-credit course consisting of two treks to either the Andes or Patagonia in an effort to inspire students to implement different leadership styles in an extreme setting where new challenges must be addressed daily.
“We talk a lot about different leadership styles at Haas, but going to Patagonia really allowed me to put those in practice and see which ones worked better for me,” said Charles Limido. Read more about this unique experience.
UVA Darden Hosts Global Water Initiative to Tackle a Worldwide Problem
How will cities manage water scarcity? What can be done to offer affordable drinking water under any circumstances? These are just a few of the problems that UVA Darden‘s Global Water Initiative has sought to tackle. Launched at the end of March, the initiative brings together top faculty members in environmental sciences, engineering, architecture, history, law, business, economics, public policy, and medicine to develop strategies to address global water issues.
“Water issues are among the biggest challenges we face, and they are less divisive, at least in the United States, than say, climate change. That’s one reason I want to work on them,” Darden Professor Peter Debaere, who is executive director of the Global Water Initiative, said. “But I also believe they are manageable problems. … We know what some of the solutions are, and we know we can implement them at a local level.” (The Darden Report)
LBS Research Reveals What Companies Millennials Will Work For
It’s no secret that millennials want to work for companies whose values match their own. According to the latest London Business School (LBS) research, the most attractive companies are purpose-driven firms—organizations that consistently focus on tracking their long-term performance to understand how to meet their purpose-driven goals. LBS says millennials look at more than just the potential financial security of a job to identify a strong connection between a company’s values and their own.
By 2025, millennials will comprise 75 percent of the global workforce, according to PwC. Projections indicate that the companies that will attract talent are those that drive passion and self-worth.
“There has to be a strong connection between what your company wants to do and be, and what you want to do and be,” advises Richard Hytner, adjunct professor of marketing at LBS. “If you can’t see any connection at all, you’re in the wrong place.” (LBS News)
How Can Female Entrepreneurs Overcome Bias? Wharton and INSEAD Professors Discuss
Many female entrepreneurs fear being held back in their ventures because they’re not taken as seriously as men. It’s a “gender penalty” that cannot be denied but can be overcome. According to professors at INSEAD and Wharton, the key is for women entrepreneurs to play up their social mission and proposed social impact.
When women emphasize the social impact of their venture, it helps them overcome the stereotypical image that female entrepreneurs are less aggressive and ambitious risk-takers—necessary traits when it comes to getting a startup off the ground. Interestingly enough, the study—published in Organization Science and titled “Gender Bias, Social Impact Framing, and Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Ventures”—did not find similar results for male-led ventures. What’s the silver lining? (INSEAD News)
Georgetown McDonough Hosts Third Annual Blockchain Summit
More than 600 people attended the third annual D.C. Blockchain Summit, led by the Chamber of Digital Commerce and hosted by the Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and Policy. The Georgetown McDonough event welcomed global thought leaders to discuss a range of topics, from initial coin offerings to bitcoin futures, trading and investing in cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and more.
During the summit, more than 70 speakers took to the stage, including Reena Aggarwal, director of the Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and a finance professor at McDonough. Other speakers included James Sullivan, the deputy assistant secretary for services at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Matthew Roszak, the co-founder and chairman of Bloq. You can find the agenda and full list of speakers here.
