Dean Light on Social Enterprise

In April 2006, Jay O. Light was named the ninth Dean of Harvard Business School. During the Social Enterprise Initiative's spring Advisory Board meeting, Dean Light shared his thoughts on Social Enterprise at HBS.

I wanted to talk about what makes the Social Enterprise Initiative distinctive.

First, it's special because of the kinds of issues it addresses—like the challenges of education in this country through the Public Education Leadership Project, like the broad problem of poverty around the world through the Global Poverty Conference, or like any of the other activities that fall under the umbrella we call Social Enterprise. Having the energy of our faculty and students directed toward these important issues is a very special thing indeed.

Second is its unique interdisciplinary character. We do our most outstanding work across traditional intellectual boundaries by bringing people together from all units of the School. It's not easy to do, but it's one of the things this Initiative has done remarkably well from the start.

Third is the output of the program itself. Whether you look at the cases, research papers, courses in the MBA Program, or innovative new Executive Education programs that have been added as a result of this Initiative, it's amazing. The ideas and materials have been an important intellectual contribution to this growing and evolving field.

Fourth, the Initiative has had an important effect on the kinds of students we attract, on what they do while here at HBS, and on what they want to do with their lives after leaving the School. I predict it will have an even more important effect on what they do with their lives well into their careers.

Finally, the Social Enterprise Initiative has stimulated the flow of ideas through the faculty. It has shaped and redefined the kinds of problems they want to work on, and with whom they want to work. That, in and of itself, is a very important influence.

For all these reasons, and probably more, the Social Enterprise Initiative at HBS is like no other. It is a very special enterprise indeed.