Social Enterprise Initiative

Business Leaders Explore Social Sector Role

Social Enterprise Newsletter, Summer 1998

Hailing a new model of business involvement in the social sector — one focused on viewing social enterprises as beta sites for developing and testing innovations — a national group of experts recently gathered at HBS for a three-day forum titled "Business Leadership in the Social Sector" (BLSS).

BLSS chair and HBS professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter unveiled the model and invited top-level decision makers from the business, government, academic,and social sectors to participate in the dialogue. Grounded in extensive research by Kanter and her team, with contributions from HBS professor James Austin, the forum combined case discussions and video briefings,as well as a public town meeting and a satellite roundtable with the White House. The conference, which concluded with a national call to action, was an important part of the business involvement mission of the School's Social Enterprise (SE) Initiative.

The Honorable Tommy G. Thompson, Governor of Wisconsin, discusses his state's approach to welfare reform

Designed to determine how business resources can have the highest impact on solving social sector problems, the event centered on three interconnected domains that contribute to urban economic prosperity: public education, welfare-to-work, and urban investment. "This forum will provide valuable information in helping the U.S. as it strives to reinvent government, transform public education, and meet the social and economic challenges of the global information age," noted Kanter at the April 6 opening reception. Following remarks from Kanter,HBS Dean Kim B. Clark, and former Goldman Sachs cochairman John Whitehead, the event kicked off with a town meeting-style discussion titled "Old Needs, New Times: Call for a New Paradigm?" Participants included U.S. Senator John F. Kerry, Metropolitan Life CEO Harry Kamen, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and BankBoston CEO Charles Gifford.

A key component of the BLSS gathering was a series of video briefings coupled with supporting written reports. These provided a springboard for extensive discussion among forum participants and highlighted a diverse group of business/community projects:

  • Bell Atlantic's Project Explore. Bell Atlantic CEO Raymond Smith and Union City, New Jersey, school superintendent Thomas Highton discussed how they created one of the first-ever models of using computer networks to improve public schools.
  • IBM's Reinventing Education. IBM VP Stanley Litow and school superintendents Michael Brandt (Cincinnati), David Hornbeck (Philadelphia), and Linda Murray (San Jose) reported on how IBM grants stimulated innovative solutions to educational challenges as well as hands-on corporate R&D.
  • Marriott International's Pathways to Independence. Marriott CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr. highlighted his company's job training and placement initiative for welfare recipients.
  • United Airlines Welfare-to-Work Program. United CEO Gerald Greenwald detailed the recruitment, training, and mentoring initiatives of the company's model program.
  • Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Partnership. WTW Partnership CEO Eli Segal discussed WTW's goal of moving people on public assistance to jobs in the private sector.
  • Lockheed Martin Information and Service Sector. Arthur Johnson, president and COO of Lockheed Martin's Information Management Services, explained how Lockheed Martin privatized welfare services.
  • Cleveland Tomorrow (CT): Investment Funds. CT executive director Joseph Roman and Brush Wellman CEO Gordon Harnett outlined some of CT's initiatives for economic revitalization.
  • New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF). Morgan Stanley managing partner Michael Loberg and NYCIF CEO Katherine Wylde described the large urban economic development fund created by the New York business community.

A centerpiece of the BLSS conference was a town meeting on "The Role of Business in Public Education and Welfare Reform." With opening remarks by the Honorable Tommy G. Thompson, Governor of Wisconsin, the public-private dialogue featured CEO panelists Raymond W. Smith (Bell Atlantic), John E. Pepper (Procter & Gamble), and Gerald Greenwald (United Airlines), as well as Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.

Gerald H. Miller (left), senior vice president of Lockheed Martin IMS, poses a question in the town meeting forum

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton participated in a discussion via satellite live from the White House. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, one of this session's many distinguished attendees, asked the first question, initiating a vigorous discussion on the most effective roles for business in public education at the state and national levels.

While the seminar provided a forum for research and reflection, it also highlighted the crucial need for further investigation and dialogue on effective corporate involvement. The forum concluded with a session titled "Next Steps for High Innovation, High Impact," in which participants discussed how to leverage the results of their three-day exchange. Findings from the conference will be disseminated to the public through a variety of media, including video and case-based teaching materials that highlight how to work on these critical issues. Forum participant Roberts T. Jones, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Business, found the substance of data presented particularly important: "The conference took a crucial first step in exploring the changing nature of institutional relationships between business, nonprofits, and government."