In 1993, disillusioned by the prospects of a post-bschool career path so singularly focused on one thing – making money, and lots of it – a group of 13 MBAs banded together and formed a new student organization called Students for Responsible Business.  The objective of this organization (which was renamed Net Impact in 1999) was to promote the pursuit of jobs, companies and industries which existed not only for the purpose of generating a profit, but also for the benefit of people and/or the planet.  Thanks to the founders’ foresight and initiative, Net Impact continues to thrive today with 20,000 members nationwide.

Miles and miles of bike friendly streets

This past weekend, I travelled to Portland, Oregon with a number of my McCombs classmates to attend the annual Net Impact Conference.  The event brought together roughly 2,500 students, professionals and academics whose interests ranged from food systems to microfinance; education reform to renewable energy; active wear apparel to electric vehicles, etc.  The variety of subjects addressed was enough to make one’s head explode, but the unifying themes which ran a current through it all were sustainability, passion, and purpose.

I know, I know, right now you’re conjuring up images of the Portlandia episode where Fred Armisen relentlessly asks after the quality of life previously enjoyed by the chicken he’s about to eat, but I’m here to tell you that the subject matter experts I encountered this past weekend were pragmatic, genuine, and scary smart.  And thank goodness for that because whether you’re a vegan who believes in global warming or not, our generation is inheriting a whole host of serious environmental and societal issues that are going to need to be reckoned with ASAP.

Power Generating Bikes at HUB

What the conference further instilled in me is the fact that the best way for us as MBAs to tackle these problems is to apply our hard earned experience, skill sets and knowledge to the particular issues that inspire the most passion within us; and there we will find our purpose.  Also, we can’t be all doom and gloom. As the founder of Portland’s own Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) put it, we’ve got to have some nonsense every now and then too – nonsense like the Plug-Out stationary bikes (with built in beer stein holders) that his patrons can pedal to generate electricity back into the HUB building’s grid.

Aside from all the great ideas and people this conference introduced me to –  not to mention the opportunity it gave me to explore an incredibly special city – one of the highlights of my weekend happened when I picked up the “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” brochure The Aspen Institute was handing out.  Every other year, The Aspen Institute generates a bi-annual ranking of the top 100 MBA Programs “working to integrate the social, environmental and economic realities of business into management teaching and research.”  While McCombs was not on their radar when I was applying to school (which, incidentally, was not in of itself enough to sway me away from attending this amazing program, keeping in mind that rankings do not tell all), we’ve secured spot #28 this time around.  It is my hope that given the right amount of awareness, motivation, and involvement on the part of the students, faculty and staff of McCombs, we can continue to climb those ranks. In so doing, we will encourage other top MBA programs to follow suit and focus on producing leaders that want to do well, do good, and do nonsense!

These redwoods can be found within the city limits of Portland