Green Options

Today’s business climate is more competitive than ever.  Several highly qualified MBA grads are vying for fewer and fewer corporate jobs.  According to a 2008-2009 survey by the MBA Career Services Council, business schools have experienced a drop in corporate recruiting of more than 10 percent affecting more than half of the 94 top-ranked business schools in the United States, Canada and Europe.  Scary, isn’t it…especially if you’re one of the many contemplating a return to graduate school.  So what would set you apart or give you the competitive edge to land that corporate gig?  Corporate Social Responsibility

The Aspen Institute just released the 2009-2010 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and alternative ranking of full-time MBA programs that integrate issues of social and environmental stewardship into curricula and research.  Did your school make the list?

To prepare bright eyed, bushy tailed young managers and indeed, young enterpreneurs eco or not, for the challenges that the business world has laid out for them, dramatic shifts in their education and training - as well as a new Hippocratic Oath will be necessary, say Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria of Harvard’s Business School.

Bryan Gallagher already brought up the need to seriously shake up the undergraduate silos system to keep up with business reality and demand for corporate environmental and social responsibility (CESR) leaders.

Khurana and Nohria want it to happen at the MBA level.

Have you been pondering getting your feet wet in the ever expanding world of green business? Perhaps you’re already in it, to a degree, but want to go deeper. An MBA perhaps? Sustainable Development? Design? But where? Coming next Thursday, I’m going to tell you what I know from personal experience at one of the premier places today to get a sustainability focused MBA: Presidio School of Management.

But first, let me tell you what else I know, and I invite you to fill in the blanks. There are now several programs out there, such as the esteemed Bainbridge Graduate Institute up in Washington state, which has been around roughly the same amount of time as Presidio. They offer both a full MBA and two certificate programs, in Sustainable Business, Entrepreneurship, and Intrapreneurship. The certificate programs are aimed for those already in business, or who have already gotten an MBA.

The Green MBA program is another early entrant into this realm, and recently underwent what seems a helpful transformation, relocating to Dominican College in San Rafael, California. They currently offer an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise. As before, they have a social justice/activist leaning, in addition to their business education. Judging by their website, the future looks promising for this program, with a stronger integration between academic learning and active engagement with the real world.

In Europe, a dynamic, creative, real world oriented business program of a different flavor exists, known as KaosPilots.