MIT Sloan MBA Students Learn from Leaders Who Do Good by Doing Well; Leaders of City Year, Boys and Girls Club of Boston and Share Our Strength Stress Vision, Core Values and the Need to Nurture Talent

Business Wire, April 13, 2005

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT Sloan students explored personal and passionate views of leadership in a workshop with a number of progressive CEOs who merge social and commercial entrepreneurship to make a difference in people's lives. These "social entrepreneurs" talked with students about how they lead, motivate employees, attract top talent, and create enduring organizations to meet society's needs, while, in some cases, making a profit.

The session on nonprofits, led by Jeff Shames, former CEO of Massachusetts Financial Services and executive in residence at MIT Sloan, was one of a dozen leadership workshops offered during the Sloan Innovation Period (SIP) in March. SIP is a one-week period at the semester midpoint when regular classes are suspended, and MIT Sloan students enroll in seminars taught by faculty and industry leaders.

"Never compromise on your fundamental vision, but be ready to compromise on everything else," said Michael Brown, president and co-founder of City Year, a national youth service corps.

Brown illustrated his point by explaining how he and co-founder Alan Khazei were offered government funds to start City Year provided they limited corps members to needy, at risk youths. "We turned it down," Brown said. "That wasn't our vision. We wanted young people from all backgrounds."

Today, City Year is a robust private-public partnership with more than 1,000 corps members working in multiple community service programs.

Jeff Swartz, President and CEO of The Timberland Co., a founding City Year sponsor, began his experience with City Year by donating 50 pairs of boots. Timberland is now a national leader in civic engagement. "I am a social entrepreneur who works for a publicly traded company," Swartz said. "I have to create value for my shareholders who would also like to have clean air and water, and a solution to social problems."

Other speakers included Bill Shore, Founder of Share Our Strength -- best known for "Taste of the Nation" where 10,000 chefs and restaurants hold banquets in 70 cities to raise money for anti-hunger programs. During the program, Shore discussed the scrutiny nonprofits face over operating costs as a percentage of funds donated. "Everybody tries to squeeze a nonprofit's margin," he said. "We need to be an efficient service provider, but also get the word out that a nonprofit's total return on investment is how you improve quality of life for people in need."

Other nonprofits adopt business-like strategies to measure success. At the 112-year old Boys & Girls Club of Boston, CEO Linda Whitlock outlined how the agency changed from a loose affiliation of sites and programs to an integrated network. The result: 12,000 young people are club members, up from 5,000 seven years ago.

Whitlock's keys to effective leadership in a nonprofit setting included:

--Leaders frame and reframe the shared vision constantly.

--Leaders assemble and nurture talent.

--Leaders ask the right questions so they can show the way for colleagues and others.

"SIP is designed to allow students to learn about leadership by seeing a broad range of role models, building skills and reflecting on their own leadership styles," said Deborah Ancona, the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management and faculty director of the new MIT Leadership Center. "In this session, we looked at several models of leadership in nonprofit organizations. These speakers are exemplars of great leadership. They show how profit and justice can come together."

SIP sessions are part of a rich set of leadership programs developed and offered by the MIT Leadership Center. The Center develops cutting-edge theory, tools, and action-oriented curricula to develop leaders at all levels of all types of organizations from tiny nonprofits to mega-scale multinationals.

MIT Leadership Center

The MIT Leadership Center is changing the way leadership is researched, practiced and taught. It blends MIT's pre-eminence in technological innovation with cutting edge theory, research and practice of management and leadership. Working with faculty, students and executives, the Center creates tools, models and curricula for developing leaders at all levels across all types of organizations. By transforming intensive study into action-oriented practice, the Center gives leaders the tools to solve complex problems, invigorate organizations, and create positive social change.