Changing the World with an MBA Degree

More and more companies are working to better the world. More MBA degree grads are too.

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More often associated with the soulless excess depicted in movies like Wall Street or American Psycho than with a "save-the-world" ethos, the MBA degree is fraught with greed-inspired stereotypes. The truth, however, is that you can do a literal world of good with the same skills and credentials that can land you in the high-finance fast lane so disdained in Hollywood. You can, in fact, do an amazing variety of socially conscious work with your MBA degree.

A Rising Trend of Conscientiousness

In recent years, more and more people have been looking to use their MBA degree to benefit the world around them. Net Impact, a non-profit organization that recognizes business leaders interested in raising social, environmental and economic standards, conducted a survey of more than 2,000 MBA students in October 2006. This survey revealed that 81 percent of MBA students believe that corporations should increase their efforts to develop a better, healthier society.

Additionally, in the past few years, topics like social and environmental responsibility have made their way into many MBA degree programs. The key, the programs stress, is learning how to strike a balance between your personal goals and the world you want to help create.

Blending Business with Social Responsibility

Having an MBA degree already shows that you are intelligent and ambitious, but how do you start using those smarts to make a difference? First, write down a list of issues that are important to you. Are you interested in addressing environmental concerns such as global warming? Protecting human rights? Preventing animal abuse? While many of these causes seem unrelated to business, organizations that want to make a difference require a healthy dose of business savvy. Most non-profits constantly struggle to match their idealism with funds and need passionate people who can help maximize their monetary efficiency and effectiveness.

Setting Priorities, Making Choices

Once you have chosen the cause you want to address, it is important to decide the amount of time and energy you are willing to contribute. Many people choose to volunteer for a cause in addition to their job, but it is entirely possible to make your issue-driven passion a full-time career.

Luckily, today's job market is favorable for people looking to dedicate their MBA skills to a cause on a full-time basis. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, almost 1.4 million non-profit organizations currently operate in the United States. With this remarkably high number comes both a large number of jobs and increased competition for funds, public awareness and action—MBA-specific skills have rarely been more necessary.

Non-profit work, however, isn't for everyone, and many traditional companies offer opportunities to simultaneously work in the corporate world and improve ethical and social standards. Companies such as Timberland, Gap and Yahoo! look for candidates with MBA degrees who have a background in corporate social responsibility and give employees paid time off for volunteer work. Additionally, large corporations such as Starbucks have official social responsibility divisions and hire entire teams to oversee charitable efforts.

Finding Satisfaction

Though clichés and culture have taught that money alone can't buy happiness, the combination of an MBA's salary and the personal fulfillment of helping to make a difference just might be the ticket. Even better, the benefit of combining an MBA degree with socially conscious work is a two-way street—not only does it allow employees to get more out of their job, but it also seriously benefits the cause at hand. An article on the Princeton Review's website, "Doing Good Well: MBAs in the Nonprofit World," stresses the importance of bringing skilled, educated managers to issue-driven work. "It's not enough to do good," says Liz Livingston Howard, associate director of the Center for Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. "You have to do good well."

Sources: businessweek.com, careerjournal.com, foundationcenter.org, netimpact.org, payscale.com, pbs.org, princetonreview.com