Stories
Stories
Confronting Sustainability in Business; Pro-Bono Consulting for Black-Owned Companies
Clubs News
The HBS Club of Japan (HBSCJ) launched a new and comprehensive virtual speaker series in September to help the business community confront the challenges of environmental sustainability.
The Sustainability Series kicked off September 15 with HBS Professor George Serafeim, who talked about his Impact-Weighted Accounts Project at HBS. Impact-weighted accounts offer a tool for measuring a company’s external impacts on society and the environment, “to be able to factor into our decision-making the consequences of our actions—not only for financial and physical capital but also for human, social, and natural capital.”
HBS Professor George Serafeim discusses impact-weighted accounts during the first virtual talk in the HBS Club of Japan's new Sustainability Series.
The club reached out to the HBS Clubs of Australia, Singapore, and Thailand to participate in the virtual event. Close to 400 alumni, guests, and regional affiliates joined the conversation, and were welcomed by club President Wakana Tanaka (MBA 2003).
The club’s Director of Social Events, Tatsuo Kawasaki (MBA 1995) says the club developed the series in recognition of the fact that sustainability is “everyone’s issue” to act upon.
HBS Club of Japan president Wakana Tanaka (MBA 2003)
“We wanted to raise awareness by inviting prominent speakers and experts on matters of sustainability in the HBS community here in Japan,” he says. “We believe, where political processes fail to come up with solutions for our society, equipping businesses with the right ideas is a very important aspect of dealing with sustainability issues. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for us to engage business leaders now. We believe in the value of business education for the purpose of the betterment of our society. HBS has a very important role in that regard.”
Kawasaki says the club selected Professor Serafeim to be the inaugural series speaker because measurement is crucial in visualizing issues, considering options to counter the issues, and then finally seeing the outcomes.
“Measuring the impact of our actions on the environment, employees, and customers is becoming increasingly important,” Serafeim says. ”With impact-weighted accounts, we have the opportunity to redefine what is a profitable and successful business alongside creating new data and analytics that allow us to generate insights that were unimaginable a few years ago.”
Kawasaki is part of a steering committee from the HBS Club of Japan that has been working since June to develop the monthly Sustainability Series. Other alumni on the committee are: Nobuo Sato (MBA 1982), Masako Egawa (MBA 1986), Yumiko Murakami (MBA 1994), and Masato Nakamura (MBA 2020).
“We will have monthly talks with different perspectives: measurement (accounting), corporate, venture, renewables, historical, climate risk assessment, and new paradigms for capitalism,” Kawasaki says. “And we will look closer at technology aspects and other ways to help ease the burdens that our society is seeing today.”
The club’s next discussion in the Sustainability Series, “From Capitalism to Purpose-ism,” will feature Hitotsubashi University Business School Professor Takashi Nawa (MBA 1990). The October 11 event will be in English. Interested alumni can register here.
In an effort to maximize its community impact, the HBS African-American Alumni Association (HBSAAA) recently launched the Opportunity and Performance Network (OPN), a national pro-bono consulting service for Black-owned companies.
The program emerged from the association’s desire to “use our education and experience” in concrete ways to make a difference in the Black community, says OPN co-lead Michele Rogers (MBA 1986), Director at Chicago Partnerships and an assistant professor in Executive Education at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.
“The OPN is a way to provide support to Black-owned businesses that are ready for growth but lack a few tools,” she says. “Our function is to help with operations, and organizational and management-level issues.”
OPN Co-lead Carol Barnett (MBA 1990), Founder of the Creek School, LLC and director of operations for Medline Industries, LP, says the program signed its first client—a hybrid tech incubator and downtown revitalization real estate developer in Jackson, Mississippi—in July.
“We’re providing HBS case materials, articles, and other alumni resources to this client, and introducing the client to our network on a monthly basis,” says Barnett.
The Opportunity and Performance Network seeks to serve between three and six client teams each year on strategy, talent recruitment, planning, digital transformation, and more. Rogers says the goal is to help companies already focused on growing, so candidates need to have a minimum annual revenue of between $10 and $25 million, a clearly-stated plan for growth, and no more than two areas of needed improvement.
“The larger the business, the greater the impact, often in a shorter time frame,” says Rogers. The program seeks to work with clients offering types of work that allow employees to thrive, which is critical for turning around a community.
The program takes inspiration from the values of scientist and entrepreneur George Washington Carver, who advocated excellence both personally and professionally, generosity, and service to others.
To prepare for their increasing portfolio of clients, Barnett and Rogers have actively engaged with alumni clubs across the country to expand OPN’s network and get the word out to potential clients and volunteers. They have also participated in HBS Social Enterprise Initiative events and invited several management consulting firms to participate in the program beginning in 2022.
While both Rogers and Barnett hail from the Chicago area and are affiliated with the HBS Club of Chicago, they are quick to emphasize that the program is open to qualified Black-owned companies anywhere in the country. Indeed, the growing OPN team of volunteer consultants are located across the country, including: Janie Goddard (MBA 1998), from New Jersey; Ivy Jack (MBA 2004), and Herb Johnson (MBA 1974), from Massachustts; and Genea Wilson (GMP 29), from California.
The OPN is actively seeking alumni volunteers to consult to client teams. Interested alumni can learn more at the HBSAAA web site.
Post a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 21 Mar 2024
- HBS Clubs
OC Alumni Get Clarity on AI; Inequality and Climate Change Explored in DC
By: Margie Kelley -
- 22 Feb 2024
- HBS Clubs
GCC Crossroads Aims for a Bright Future; Seattle Alumni Talk Leadership in Tech; Italy Preps for European Alumni Summit
By: Margie Kelley -
- 25 Jan 2024
- HBS Clubs
Alumni Gain Insights on Nigeria’s New Government; Taipei Alumni Host Faculty Guest
By: Margie Kelley -
- 15 Dec 2023
- HBS Clubs
Exploring Business Opportunities in Africa; Alumni Grapple with Plastic Waste Problem
By: Margie Kelley