Kellogg School social leadership takes many forms, including the following sample of initiatives

by Douglas Stein ’04, Fall Speakers Series organizer

Business and its Social Environment (BASE) major — Kellogg School curriculum option that offers students the opportunity to pursue detailed study of the role of the corporation in its broader social environment.

Business with a Heart — Kellogg student club that serves as umbrella organization to promote volunteerism; supports nearly two dozen service initiatives, from Habitat for Humanity to Christmas in April.

Ford Center for Global Citizenship — Kellogg research center that addresses challenges faced by corporations who have become the main agents of global social and political change; employs an interdisciplinary approach that combines ethical, strategic and organizational concerns.

Kellogg Corps — places small teams of MBA students on four- to six-week consulting projects with nonprofit organizations in developing countries.

Kellogg Service Initiative — allows new first-year students to provide a meaningful contribution to a service organization while bonding with classmates prior to formal classes.

LAUNCH — educational initiative with which Kellogg has partnered since 1998, that recruits and trains aspiring principals and leaders for Chicago Public Schools.

LEAD — national leadership organization with which Kellogg has had a partnership for 20 years; through LEAD, Kellogg faculty engage minority high school students, encouraging them to pursue business careers and giving them the frameworks to begin that path.

LEAP — “capstone” course primarily for first-year students that pairs them with nonprofit and for-profit organizations, using Kellogg leadership skills to resolve the clients’ business challenges.

Neighborhood Business Initiative — student-led organization that aids urban businesses, providing a chance for students to bring their leadership to life in real-world settings.

Public-Nonprofit Management Program — enables students to develop competencies tailored to their career interests in government, nonprofits or firms where knowledge of these sectors is critical.

Social Impact Club — supports and inspires Kellogg student interest in applying business skills to make positive social contributions in the nonprofit, public and private sectors.

Social Impact Club offers ethical perspectives as part of its fall speaker series. Given recent questionable corporate governance and leadership practices, it’s reassuring that at the world’s No. 1 business school, one of the most highly subscribed courses is addressing corporate social responsibility and nonprofit mission-driven ventures. A complement to offerings in the Public/Nonprofit and the Business and its Social Environment majors, the Social Impact Club’s Fall Speakers Series, a noncredit course, offers Kellogg students another opportunity to combine theory with real-world insights from guests whose leadership has made a positive social difference.

The series, supported by Kellogg Professor Donald Haider, began more than a decade ago. Today, the Social Impact Club works in conjunction with the Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management and the Ford Center for Global Citizenship to attract inspirational speakers who are using business skills to create beneficial social change. Students learn about the challenge and reward of pursuing “multiple bottom lines” by integrating management skills and passion for mission.

© Nathan Mandell Jennifer Steans '89

Recent speakers included Bill Strickland, president and CEO of Bidwell Training Center; George Surgeon, CFO of Shorebank; and Kellogg alumni Jennifer Steans ‘89 from the Steans Family Foundation and John Wood ‘89, president and founder of Room to Read.

Until this year, the series was a prerequisite for the Public/Nonprofit major and offered only to students pursuing that path. The series has now expanded to include all interested Kellogg scholars, resulting in more than 100 students attending each Tuesday night lecture, eager to learn about responsible organizations and ethical practices from distinguished leaders.

Many speakers are Kellogg alumni, such as Preston Kendall ’84, executive vice president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, which allows economically challenged students to earn more than 70 percent of their tuition while gaining valuable job skills and experience at some of Chicago’s top companies.

Kendall’s success at Cristo Rey, highlighted by the recent $8.8 million Gates Foundation grant to replicate the Cristo Rey model nationwide, is an inspiration to Kellogg students.

“ Seeing attendance at the series grow confirms my faith in businesspeople and the future,” says Kendall. “Here are professionals who look for ways to apply their expertise to initiatives that promote good in our society. Kellogg students are sincere in their motivation to transcend the stereotypes of the executive who is concerned merely with stock options and the corner office.”

The goal of the speakers series is well matched with the Kellogg School’s continued emphasis on leadership — leadership that is comprehensive and ethically responsible.

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