Category: Learning

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Challenging Business to Connect to Sustainable Development Goals

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was previously published on Impakter.com. It was written by Jason Wiff, a member of the SEMBA Class of 2017

global-goalsWith the introduction of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, we are faced with the challenge of implementing these goals into the way we live, impact communities and use business as a catalyst for change. Stuart Hart, one of the world’s leading experts of sustainable enterprise explains his framework for making these changes a reality. This interview has been edited for clarity. Highlights of our conversation are below.

What is your definition of business sustainability?

Stuart Hart: There can be sustainability at many levels. Business sustainability provides functionality that make[s] people’s lives better in ways that are inherently cleaner or regenerative. You’re able to serve and uplift many people in the world, not just a few. Business sustainability has two components: environmental sustainability, social sustainability and financially to propel business forward.

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Innovation: Top 10 Lessons from John Abele

This story was written by Lauren Hesterman, SEMBA ’17. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: SEMBA regularly brings in business icons, executives, and entrepreneurs for hands-on, face-to-face workshops on issues ranging from sustainability to organizational leadership. In mid-October, John Abele, co-founder of the pioneering medical device company Boston Scientific, sat with the SEMBA cohort and talked about innovation and collaboration.

Not surprisingly, I found myself Googling new and exciting ideas no less than a dozen times while listening to John Abele speak to our SEMBA cohort last month. A dozen times – and it most certainly was not because I was distracted or disengaged. Rather, it was quite the opposite.

boston-scientific-us-boston-scientificJohn is one of those people that has inspiration oozing out of him. His relentless curiosity is apparent through and through. He had me searching for a new Irish company that is selling light instead of bulbs, a human anatomy chart, and the economic theories of Elinor Ostrom. Co-founder of Boston Scientific, where scientific innovation and humanitarian collaboration meet, John Abele has been driving innovative medical solutions for more than four decades. While John’s list of tangible accomplishments is enough to fill up a CV many times over, perhaps his greatest asset is his remarkable ability to collaborate.

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Networking, and Launching A Career, In Sustainable Enterprises

Editor’s Note: SEMBA’s goal is to launch its graduates into a deep and tightly connected network of people and companies dedicated to building sustainable enterprises, and to an ethic of disrupting, innovating, and reinventing business in a world that demands it. As part of this effort, SEMBA gives students a myriad of opportunities to meet, network with, and be mentored by sustainable business leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world, and around the corner. In our first event of the academic year, SEMBA students will be connecting with our Council of Mentors on the evening of October 4, 2016.

In light of that event, Caroline Hauser ’16, offer insight and tips on successful networking — and job hunting — in the world of sustainable business.

As a former recruiter and an experienced job searcher, I know a few things about networking, and building careers — it takes a lot of time, a lot of grit, and a lot of hustle. I don’t have all of the answers, but wanted to offer some tried and true advice to job seekers, in hopes that it helps to get someone at least a bit closer to landing a position in a sustainable enterprise that is fulfilling and exciting. Continue reading “Networking, and Launching A Career, In Sustainable Enterprises”

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Michael Russo, Leading Thinker on Sustainable Business, Visits SEMBA

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Chris Howell, SEMBA ’17

This post was written by Chris Howell, a member of the SEMBA Class of 2017.

One of SEMBA’s more impressive elements is the program’s direct connection to so many innovators in the discipline and practice of sustainable entrepreneurship. From our well-connected advisory board to the steady stream of speakers from a range of industries, our network grows by the week.

This week, we had the pleasure of attending a talk and class with Michael Russo, professor of Sustainable Management and head of the Department of Management at University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business.

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Living and Learning the Burlington Way

Caroline Hauser, SEMBA Class of 2016 (Valedictorian), on the benefits of spending a year in one of America’s most livable cities

Hauser, Caroline
Caroline Hauser, SEMBA ’16

“I could not have asked for a better experience living and learning in Burlington while working toward an MBA.”

I moved to Burlington to start the SEMBA program last August. I’d visited the prior April — it snowed twice and the lake was still frozen. It was freezing but I still fell in love with the view of the Adirondacks over Lake Champlain, the energy of Church Street, and the dollar oysters at Hen of the Wood.

Arriving for school at the end of summer, I drove up from Pennsylvania with my parents and as soon as we crossed the border into Vermont it just felt different. Everything looked brighter, cleaner, fresher. To this day, I am in awe of how beautiful it is here. I could not have asked for a better experience living and learning in Burlington while working toward an MBA.

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