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“Hunter is disruptive…”

This post was written by Henry Vogt ’19

“Hunter is disruptive” is the phrase we first saw as we walked into our second guest lecturer of the semester.

Earlier this Fall we had the pleasure of hosting guest speaker Hunter Lovins. Suffice it to say, she knocked our socks off. I had heard Hunter’s name before, but wasn’t very familiar with her work or legacy. It became apparent right away that we were in for a unique and inspiring experience.

Hunter’s body of work in sustainability and climate justice is prolific: from starting numerous influential non-profits, creating successful sustainable MBA programs from scratch, authoring best selling books, founding impact investing firms, and consulting with some of the largest corporations in the world including Unilever and Walmart, Hunter’s influence is extensive. This is augmented by her down-to-earth, Colorado ranch-style demeanor. She tells it like it is, passionately, in an inspirational way. She’s the type of person that understands that solving world problems is best facilitated over a whiskey, face-to-face. Hunter also owns a beautiful ranch in Colorado, where she easily could spend all of her time but instead chooses to be on the move, committed to her mission.

I asked Hunter how she envisions American capitalism evolving and whether she believes it has the capacity to solve the massive challenges facing our planet under current frameworks. She answered by giving a prediction from economist Tony Sebens: “Within 10 years, economics will dictate that the world will be 100 percent renewable. For this to happen, the world’s economy will be disrupted. This will be the ‘Mother of all disruptions.’ In other words, to save the climate we have to crash the global economy.”

If this is, in fact, the case, then the next decade will be tumultuous to say the least. This led our class session to focus on the question of what’s next and how do we collectively begin to prepare for this disruption. While this notion and idea can admittedly be not very uplifting, it was encouraging to hear suggestions from many of my classmates on how we may leverage our global economy and invest in Base of the Pyramid projects to find solutions and begin to strategize on how we may “soften the landing” from major global disruption.

Overall, having Hunter present to us was inspiring and eye-opening. While there are massive challenges ahead, having individuals like Hunter who are disruptive, driven, and committed to finding solutions to these challenges provides hope for the future.

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Getting to Know the Class of 2019: Keil Corey

Originally from Bristol, Vermont, Keil studied Government and  Environmental Studies at Skidmore College. He comes to us from work at the Vermont Natural Resources Council and, most recently, Smith & McClain as their Solar Sales and Marketing Consultant. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Why did you choose to attend The Sustainable Innovation MBA program?

I wanted to continue working in a field that made a positive impact in our communities and on the world in general and felt the the private sector was the right place to move into, but I wanted — and needed — to expand my professional toolkit first.

What has been your favorite part of the program thus far?

Exposure to and interaction with some of the leading thinkers and doers in the business world who are solving some of our major societal challenges. Also, developing competencies in business management and applying these foundations to developing the new sustainable business paradigm has provided me with a newfound sense of agency and purpose. It’s been an incredibly inspiring learning environment so far.

What are three things someone considering the program should be aware of?

Squeezing two years into one is no joke. Be prepared for a full-time commitment to this program. Also, if you’re looking to better know yourself, face hard truths, and grow personally and professionally, this program may be for you. Lastly, be prepared to question your thinking and live in ambiguity a lot — essential skills for business leaders in my opinion.

How has The Sustainable Innovation MBA program benefitted you so far?

I feel I have already developed a solid foundation on the fundamentals I wanted to learn: finance, microeconomics, and business strategy, among others. I’ve also benefitted from professors and the student cohort that are especially gifted at taking big picture challenges and bringing them into a context that can be manageable and inspirational.

Anything else?

The future is here, it’s good, and it’s The Sustainable Innovation MBA.

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From the Lab to the Marketplace: Using Sustainable Innovation MBA Classes to Advance UVM Tech Development

This post was written by Steven Micetic ‘19

From solar power to vitamin D fortification, universities are a fundamental source of innovation that advances humanity’s ability to live healthy, sustainable lives. And yet research funding, though it often translates into exciting, new intellectual property, typically doesn’t result in innovations that make it to market and drive impact.

Many of UVM’s 13 colleges and schools are at the forefront in their respective fields of research. In 2016, UVM received $138m in outside research funding alone. Much of this funding goes to efforts that align with the ethos of the Grossman School’s Sustainable Innovation MBA program: mitigate agricultural runoff, improve the efficiency of renewable energy generation, and advance access to care and treatment of chronic diseases.

It is within this context that The Sustainable Innovation MBA offers a unique opportunity to young professionals seeking to translate innovation into impact. In the initial weeks of our classes, I reached out to Associate Professor and Steven Grossman Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship Erik Monsen because I wanted to learn more about the technologies under development at UVM. Within days, Erik and I were meeting with Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Dr. Appala Raju Badireddy. Dr. Badireddy and his team are developing a filter technology that can extract elements from wastewater previously thought impossible or cost-prohibitive to extract.

Initial conversations with Dr. Badireddy led to a group of Sustainable Innovation MBA students addressing one of the key questions in the technology’s underlying business model. Integrating this work into the Entrepreneurial Business Model class, the team spent eight weeks evaluating markets for captured phosphorous. Beyond making for a rich classroom experience, our work may have real-world application as Dr. Badireddy takes this work from the university to the marketplace.

As we move into the latter half of the program and acquire new skills through the our courses, the prospect of continuing to support the success of green technologies like Dr. Badireddy’s filter technology is an exciting one. Perhaps the next great green technology may come from the laboratories of UVM, and perhaps its success may be supported by one of my fellow students.

Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash

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Roomies!

Billy Rivellini ’19 and Adam Figueiredo ’19 (we’re not yet sure who’s Oscar and who’s Felix) found they each needed a place to live and a roommate as The Sustainable Innovation MBA school year approached. This is their story.

Billy:

“The pressure was on, it was mid-July and I did not have an apartment yet for the upcoming school year. Do I try to find someone looking for a roommate? Get an apartment then try to find a roommate? Or do I just find a one-bedroom apartment? Where do I try to live? Should I get a pet-friendly apartment so my dog can come up and visit?

“Then, I see that I just received an email in my freshly assigned UVM email with the subject “Burlington Housing Availability” from a fellow Sustainable Innovation MBA classmate, it sounds like a great deal and location, I’m in. After meeting up with Adam and confirming I would be moving in, I am pumped. Not only do I have an apartment, but I already got to meet a classmate.”

Adam:

“Sharing an apartment with a classmate has enriched my experience in the program. I’ve gotten more opportunities to socialize with those I care about outside of the classroom. I’ve also benefited from the added layer of accountability.”

Billy:

“Four months into the program and I couldn’t be happier to have a classmate as my housemate. We are on the same schedule, know the same people, and have the same workload. I don’t have to worry about a loud or obnoxious housemate who I have to worry about being a distraction when I’m trying to do work or not having a similar interest. We can bounce ideas off of each other, talk about our work and help each other out when one of us is struggling with a subject (or battle through it together).

“Reflecting upon the decision to room with a classmate couldn’t have been a better one, and I would highly recommend incoming students to consider this option and reach out to one another before the year starts. Not only will you be with someone that has similar interests and motivations (you both chose the program for a reason), you also have a sounding board for your thoughts, someone that can help you with a tough subject and be a lifelong connection in the sustainability and/or business world.”

Adam:

“We all need a reminder that class starts in 15 minutes sometimes. I highly recommend the institution.”

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In The News: Our Class in Entrepreneurial Business Models

“Across the Fence,” a long-running news program on WCAX here in Vermont, recently profiled The Sustainable Innovation MBA program.

The focus was on Professor Erik Monsen’s “Crafting the Entrepreneurial Business Model” course, the highlight of which is a business trade show featuring the students’ ideas for new, disruptive business models.

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Getting to Know the Class of 2019: Elissa Eggers

Elissa is a Connecticut native who received her undergraduate degree in Art History and Dance from Washington University in St. Louis. After graduating, Elissa attended the Ailey School in NYC before embarking on her professional dance career. Elissa comes to The Sustainable Innovation MBA from Lululemon where she channeled her natural curiosity and knack for visual storytelling into management and visual merchandising roles. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Why did you choose to attend The Sustainable Innovation MBA program?

I chose this program for its welcoming, collaborative environment and because I wanted learn the questions to ask and tools to use to make business better. I also love knowing that I will be back out in the world in less than a year, better equipped to make a difference!

What has been your favorite part of the program thus far?

So far my favorite element of the program has been the quality and array of guest speakers. There is an incredible network of sustainability and business professionals around this program, and being able to connect with them has been extremely valuable to all of us.

What are three things someone considering the program should be aware of?

1) This program fosters an intimate and collaborative environment to learn and work in

2) Days fill up quickly and there are numerous opportunities to take advantage of outside of the classroom so you need to prioritize what you are most interested in and curious about

3) This program is situated in an amazing city so no matter how much work you have, make sure to make time to get out of the classroom and explore!

How has The Sustainable Innovation MBA program benefitted you so far?

I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by my amazing cohort everyday. I know the relationships I am building will be lasting and I cannot wait to see what we all get up to after the program.

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Staying the Course: Coping with MBA Program Bandwidth Overload

This post was written by Chris Bortree ’19

Just about anyone can relate to how complex the human brain is. With nearly 8 billion people on the planet, it is easy to see how the human brain contributes to different values, beliefs, emotions, and actions. The adult human brain weighs somewhere around three pounds, has around 100 billion neurons, and contains roughly 100,000 miles of blood vessels.

Despite these amazing numbers, almost everyone has experienced a time when our brain seems small; incapable of remembering simple things, and incapable of performing simple tasks. This happens to almost everyone, including the brilliant minds of UVM’s Sustainable Innovation MBA students.

On a surface level, what is happening is actually quite simple. Think of the term bandwidth. Most people associate this with internet and computer power. It is the transmission capacity of a computer network or other telecommunication system. During the Holiday season this year, most of my family and my wife’s family were all staying in the same house for a few days. Of course, our internet seemingly quit on us, allowing only very slow connections and usage. In simple terms, the bandwidth capacity was not great enough to serve the needs of everyone’s devices and the tasks they wished to perform online.

It turns out, the brain works in a very similar way. The human brain has a “bandwidth”; a total capacity being used to deal with different situations. As one needs to remember more and more things, the available bandwidth shrinks, until there is little left to work with. To The Sustainable Innovation MBA cohort, this is known as “the end of module 2”, or the few weeks leading up to winter break.

Students are close to completing over a dozen classes since the end of August, and are trying to tie everything together for final exams, presentations, and papers. This is when abnormal things start happening at home, like putting potato chips in the fridge, forgetting to register your car, and forgetting to set up a dog walker (yes, I did all of that…).

Much like the internet, as my brain was stuffed with more and more it began give less bandwidth to each item to make room. As finals grew nearer, I struggled to remember simple but important things. It is not a new phenomenon, but a fascinating one. Getting caught up in this cycle is easy, but getting back out takes real concentration and effort. Writing down everything you need to do in a calendar, immediately as it comes to mind, is a great start. However, this can still lead to procrastination and bandwidth overload. It had been months since I had last practiced mediation on a regular basis. As I thought about the importance of getting back to meditating, something came to mind that served to be extremely valuable. Our mind is built to think, and that is what it does naturally. This is of course a good thing, until it becomes overwhelming. One of the keys to breathing meditation is to honor the exact moment when you realize your mind is wandering. Anyone who has tried a little breathing meditation will know just how hard it is to purely concentrate on breathing, and not let you mind think about anything else. The most important thing to remember is keeping your concentration on your breath is the goal, but forcing your mind to do it will result in failure. What will help you reach the goal is training yourself to catch your mind wandering, and reward yourself for coming to that realization. In this way, you will train your mind to become conscious of the moment when it begins to wander in direction that is not intended or useful. This practice alone greatly enhanced my ability to stay concentrated on important issues, and allow my mind to realize the moment when it is becoming overwhelmed.

As our program Director Joe Fusco mentions in regard to flying an airplane, the best course of action is small corrections early on. I believe the same is true for our minds. Catching yourself early on will allow you to maintain a better course, and land safely. Otherwise, you may end up realizing you have one week of class left with three papers, three presentations, two exams, and a household to run, without having prepared for any of it. At this point, it’s almost too late, and chances are a rough landing.

I highly recommend the book The Mind Illuminated, by John Yates. Even if meditation is not your style, it will bring forth some valuable skills to help cope with brain bandwidth overload. If nothing else, it may help you keep from having to eat cold, stale potato chips.

Photo by Alexei Scutari on Unsplash

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“How Not To Be Stupid”

We’re going to link to this because it’s fascinating and, well, the consequences for business, and business leadership, are significant.

How Not To Be Stupid

Excerpt:

“It took me about a month, and I defined stupidity as overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information. Right? It’s crucial information, like you better pay attention to it. It’s conspicuous, like it’s right in front of your nose and yet you either overlook it or you dismiss it. How not to be stupid, what are the causes of human error—and it took me a couple of months of research just to come up with data points, because most stupidity is ignored or swept under the rug. I studied instances of scientific stupidity and literary stupidity and military stupidity and every other kind of stupidity, as well as two domains that engineer stupidity.”

Read the whole thing, as they say…

Photo by Jack Hamilton on Unsplash

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Gender Diversity in MBA Programs: Ahead of the Curve

This post was written by Julie Keck ’19

As part of the 2018-2019 cohort of University of Vermont’s Sustainable Innovation MBA program, I’m proud to sit in a classroom that has an abundance of women. Since its inception, the program has been ahead of the curve in this area. In Years 1- 3, the program busted through the revered 50-50 gender barrier in MBA programs. As the program has grown, the percentage of women in the program has decreased: last year’s graduating class had 47% female attendance, and as I mentioned before, my cohort has 41%.

Percent of Women in The Sustainable Innovation MBA Cohorts

2015 –  55%

2016 – 56%

2017 – 52%

2018 –  47%

2019 – 41%

Important Note: I do not have information on what gender identities alumni and my current co-hort self-report: my numbers are based on my visual identification of candidates based on their pictures on The Sustainable Innovation MBA website. My apologies to anyone I have misidentified.

Although the overall percentage of female candidates has decreased, The Sustainable Innovation MBA program is still over the national average for MBA programs. As reported in Financial Times earlier this year, the Graduate Management Admission Council found in 2016 that only 37% of applications to full-time two-year MBA programs were submitted by women globally. The number is better in the US (42%) than in Europe (36%) and Asia (32%.) The primary barrier to accepting MBA school offers reported by women globally was financial concerns; for men, the primary barrier reported was that they were waiting for other offers. (Financial Times, 2018).

If you take a look at who’s actually attending MBA programs currently, things are looking up, and The Sustainable Innovation MBA is definitely ahead of the curve. As of 2018, no MBA programs report achieving gender parity, but all of the top 10 schools they surveyed had at least 40% female attendance, with only four schools in the top 25 ranked schools dropping below 30% (Poets & Quants, 2018)

While the presence of women in an MBA program is a good start, whether or not they’re being given all of the tools they need to succeed after graduation is another thing. Research shows (The Wall Street Journal, 2018) that women in the workplace are judged more harshly for their mistakes than men, and they often have to choose between being liked and being respected, and business culture shifts in response to the #MeToo movement (Bloomberg, 2018) may make it even more difficult for business women to get the mentors and opportunities afforded to their male counterparts.

In order to adequately serve female students, forward-thinking MBA programs should include not only instruction and mentorship for female students to help them when they encounter bias and misogyny in the workplace, but make a concentrated effort to move away from male-majority teaching staffs and leadership. Also helpful: having open and honest in-class conversations about what it’s like to be a woman in the workplace; this isn’t only beneficial for women: it’s also useful for the men in the program looking to become great leaders to all they work with.

In order to better support each other and supplement ongoing conversations about gender and leadership, the women in the current Sustainable Innovation MBA cohort have banded together to share experience and resources during extracurricular meetings. They’ve also found support from female alumni, female Advisory Board Members, and female members of the program’s leadership. While we have had several female professors in the first semester, none are currently on the schedule for the second. Seeing reflections of yourself in the mentors you are exposed to is important in the development of ourselves as people and professionals – hopefully as the program grows, so will the numbers of its non-male professors and leaders.

One final note: gender diversity is far from the the only metric of diversity, and I would hope that all forward-thinking, sustainably-minded program are looking for ways to make their programs more accessible to and welcoming of students of color, queer students, non-binary, trans and other gender nonconforming students, students with differing abilities, and other effective minorities, especially since embracing diversity boosts performance (Forbes, 2018.) Here’s to the future cohorts of The Sustainable Innovation MBA that more accurately reflect the world that we live in and seek to lead.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

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Workin’ Nine to Five: Managing Your Schedule and Your Productivity

This post was written by Lauren Masters ’19

On Friday, November 30th it finally clicked. I need to stick to a standard 9-to-5 work schedule in order properly manage my time. Steve Gagner, the co-founder of 14th Star Brewery spoke to our Family Business class and told us there’s no such thing as not enough time in the day, just poor time management skills. Even though we have over 20 credits of classes, that’s only 20 hours a week spent in class. The rest of the 40 hours allocated for a standard work schedule can be spent studying, reading and completing assignments. Since the majority of our classes take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the time not spent in class can be used for completing classwork. That still allows me before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. to accomplish my personal daily goals. It wasn’t until Steve framed it in this way that it finally clicked.

It seems simple and cliché, which it is, but keeping a schedule and routine will make a world of difference and dramatically increase one’s productivity.

It has been almost two weeks since then and I can already see the difference of thinking in the 9-to-5 mentality. Even if we don’t have class until afternoon I open my computer or books at 9 and begin the workday. Or, if we only have morning classes I keep working until 5 in the evening. This alleviates so much stress and allows me to feel accomplished before dinner time. Before, I would feel so unproductive during the day because I would sleep in or hang out with my cat during prime work hours. When 7 pm rolled around I would be a stressed-out mess, not eat a proper dinner and cram until I was falling asleep over my computer. That routine is simply not sustainable. It seems simple and cliché, which it is, but keeping a schedule and routine will make a world of difference and dramatically increase one’s productivity.

With the semester coming to an end and reflecting back on the last few months I wish I figured this “routine thing” out earlier. Since this program is so accelerated it is hard to maintain any consistency, but keeping yourself on a schedule that works for you amongst all the chaos is critical. I am excited for some time off where I don’t need to keep a strict schedule, but now I know what I need to do when we return in January to hit the ground running.

Photo by Seth Macey on Unsplash