The Business School Broadcast

Over at Harvard there was the feel good story of Drew Fink . With the backing of Harvard’s Summer Fellows program Drew spent a summer working on solutions to reduce the burden of administrative hurdles that refugees face while handing back more personal control the individuals in question. In a world where it’s all too easy to become cynical and driven by personal gains, it is vital for business schools to place an emphasis on helping others during studies.

It’s always good to get an insider’s view and Yale School of Management recently asked a number of EMBA students what they pack in their bags for weekend classes. Certainly, an interesting take on what it takes to be short on time and long on responsibilities while desperately trying to maintain a healthy work/study/life balance. Along with the expected technology required to accommodate work and study on the go there are also some great tips to be had. Expect to see a lot of branded swag, water bottles and healthy snacks to look after the body as well as the mind, and aspirin for when things become a bit too much.

The FT (subscription required) also focused on integration and the importance of diversity in a piece entitled ‘How MBAs can develop cross-cultural skills’, written by an associate professor of managing people in organisations at IESE Business School. Not for the first time a light is being shone on leaders and their ability to get the most from cross-cultural teams, something achievable through awareness, empathy and openness. The writer argues business schools should be putting more focus on highly diversified small teams, a cross-cultural mindset across all subjects and structured reflection.   

We also came across an interesting piece from Above The Law that conducted an interview with David Saenz, the COO of an urban delivery technologies company called Stuart, with a focus on his transition from his role as an IP litigator to the c-suite via his MBA at the London Business School. A great read for anyone apprehensive about taking the leap into studying an MBA and switching career path.

Finally this week we take a look at the news that University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business students reached the finals for the US$1 million Hult Prize. While the team who were pitching an app called Kwado, a web-to-text message platform that connects employers with jobseekers didn’t win the prize the process was about more than that for EMBA student Francis Duahn. He said, “The experience, the learning, the associations and connections we made — all of those are classified as winning instead of just the actual prize.” The story is made all the more remarkable by the fact that from the age of 12 until 27, Duahn was a refugee wandering between countries in West Africa and now the app that he is so heavily involved in is making a social impact in refugee communities seeking work.

Congratulations must of course also go to the winners, a team representing Rutgers Business School, and consisting of student Gia Farooqi, new graduates Hasan Usmani and Moneeb Mian, and alumna Hanaa Lakhani. Together they created the Roshni Rides start-up which uses a pre-loaded transaction card, encourages ride-sharing and employs existing rickshaw drivers.