Inviting Wharton’s Leadership in a Time of Transition ⎈
This letter is meant to be a conversation starter and rally point for folks in the Wharton community and broader business world who are interested in the evolution of one of society’s most influential institutions: the business school.
If you would like to participate in the conversation, fill out this quick form, join the Wharton Wisdom Facebook Group (if affiliated), or get in touch with me directly. I would be thrilled and honored to hear your reflections and ideas.
UPDATE 3/6/21: The Daily Pennsylvanian published an abridged version of this piece!
Dear Wharton + the modern business school community,
I (Andrew Dunn W’12), along with students and alumni of Wharton graduate and undergraduate programs, want to express concern for the trajectory of the business school institution and explore a bold path forward together.
At this most critical juncture in the history of business school education, we see clear opportunities for us to demonstrate the leadership required to meet the complex challenges of our time, while re-affirming Wharton’s reputation as a symbol of innovation and excellence in higher education.
“It’s not just about doing good. It’s about integrating the good into the core of business so it’s not tangential–it’s fundamental.” — Wharton Dean Erika James
A Time to Rise
Well before the events of 2020 exposed deep systemic flaws, there was a growing chorus of voices highlighting the dire need of a new way of being with ourselves, each other and the Earth.
In the business world we’ve seen employees staging #techwontbuildit boycotts and walkouts and now unionizing at Big Tech firms. Business leaders from Larry Fink to Ray Dalio to Marc Benioff making statements against market fundamentalism and endless growth. Wharton undergraduate students pushing back against norms of success. Davos talks deconstructing business school rankings. Harvard Business School’s hottest new class is Reimagining Capitalism.
Last fall, researchers at the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity concluded:
“The most significant and transformative human rights project is one that has received little attention within the human rights domain: challenging the corporation itself and re-imagining our economic enterprises.”
Even as visionary impact, sustainability, inclusion, blockchain and other disruptive projects emerge throughout the business world, the mantra doing well by doing good is not nourishing the kind of changes that can create a thriving and regenerative future based on care, connection, healing and equity.
This is a multi-layered problem that implicates financial incentives, personal mindsets, cultural norms, and echoes of a complicated and violent history.
As I sit in inquiry around what is mine to do during this time of uncertainty, I keep circling back to the network privilege of being connected to a number of stakeholders in the Wharton community who seem to have pieces of this [incomplete-able] puzzle. We are social entrepreneurs, impact investors, consultants, leadership coaches, facilitators. Students, workers, parents, elders, philosophers, current and former executives, educators, lawyers, doctors.
We don’t want to smash the business school. We are not interested in calling out, blaming, or making wrong. We want to help with the next set of upgrades. We see abundant opportunities for the Wharton community to rise. We want to call IN leadership from those who have the power to improve the system.
It is in our rational self-interest and world-interest to do so. We want to be proud alumni with an authentic desire to support our alma mater throughout our lifetimes (there is a significant positive relationship between alumni satisfaction with the academic system and current alumni involvement with their alma mater), encouraging friends and family and followers that the value of the degree and the caliber of people in an increasingly digital and democratized world is not only still there, but is trending upwards and honorably.
Reconnecting with the Mission
The pioneering vision of Joseph Wharton was to prepare graduates with the breadth and depth of knowledge to become “pillars of the State, whether in private or in public life.”
Fast forward — President Amy Gutman’s Penn Compact 2022 motivates community members to “innovate, be radically inclusive, and positively impact their local, national, and global community.”
Amidst an increasingly complex and destabilizing society, we fear graduates are deprived of a diversity of knowledge and wisdom, inadequately prepared to become strong pillars of the state (which appears to be checking into hospice care anyways), and starved of the tools and awarenesses needed to move society beyond business as usual or incremental change to deep change.
How can Wharton meet this moment and adapt in a good way, as the rallying critiques cry louder claiming that the more corporations excel by current success metrics, the faster civilization loses?
Fortunately, Wharton leadership is already thinking about this. Former Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett argues “To be successful, all organizations will need not only different leaders, but also a whole new style of leadership.”
While Professor of Marketing Americus Reed observes “Students are saying, ‘I want to be a captain of industry, but I don’t want to be out there just chasing materialistic objects. I need something deeper. I need self actualization in addition to the usual metrics of success in business.’”
And Wharton Dean Erika James asserts: “Our competition is complacency, and when you’re the best, it is very easy to become complacent. So one of the things that I hope that my tenure as dean will do is to motivate us to think about how do we want to define business education in the future, and not only rely on what we’ve done in the past.”
It’s 2021. The pandemic offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate the path we are on. The millennial generation is beginning to inherit all of these institutions. Let’s work together to support a graceful transition. Let’s celebrate how far we’ve come. And let’s take an honest look at the metrics, the mission, the culture, the approach. Let’s reckon with the past. It is no longer acceptable to ignore or shrug off the impact of The Doctrine of Discovery on our modern economic, social and political systems.
Ok real talk. Business as usual is actually driving this whole thing towards self-termination. That’s like, something people agree on, right? So we have to do something radically different. And the solutions aren’t rocket science. They just aren’t prioritized or promoted widely. We have a fairly good idea of the direction we need to shift into. We’ll just have to take some big risks. To adapt. Like we’ve done since time immemorial. Or GSB/HBS/Haas will do it first and we’ll just follow em 😂
In all serious. As one of the world’s most influential institutions, producing leaders who in turn have an outsize impact on the lives of their stakeholders, Wharton has a responsibility to persistently challenge itself to do better. It’s about time we go for our full potential. What are we really doing otherwise?
Invitation to Envision a More Beautiful B-School
We are signaling our interest in expanding this conversation to all interested Wharton stakeholders about opportunities to bring courageous leadership forward in the coming times.
The vision is Wharton undergoes a rapid metamorphosis that inspires the evolution of business education globally, which becomes one of the top reasons humanity survived and thrived through the Anthropocene.
How’s that for a long term recruiting strategy?
But we’re very early on that adoption curve. And change takes time.
So the main goal today is to seed ideas, spark dialogue, and build relationships with those who feel excited by what’s possible on a multi-generational time arc, and are willing to experiment with integrating that higher octave into the educational experience of the next generation of business leaders.
We do not claim to have the answers, though we sense we are connected to lots of clues that may be useful for this shared effort. Our community numbers 100,000 with diverse life paths, values, capacities and awarenesses. And many of us care. We are here, finding each other, and gearing up to help. Schools like NYU and Cambridge are already making headway with programs like The Inner MBA and Homerton Changemakers. Let’s use our Wharton ingenuity to come together and find the interdisciplinary solutions. We have everything we need.
Examples of the types of high impact actions we are interested in include:
Creating a council of diverse Wharton community members to contribute to a long term strategic vision of the institution
Developing a Regenerative Economics course and eventually concentration
Establishing a dual degree program with Penn’s Positive Psychology Center on Expanding Access to Psychological Support & Growth
Creating further boundaries for corporate influence in On Campus Recruiting
Overhauling freshman year curriculum to include some of the course suggestions listed below, as well purpose discovery, shadow work, and graceful off-ramps for those who want to transfer out of a lifepath they did not sovereignly choose
Re-imagining conventional success metrics (like SAT/GMAT scores and starting salaries) to include personal happiness and fulfillment
Limiting screen use in class except for critical educational needs
Expanding alumni mentorship programming, with a special focus on leveraging alumni who have forged a different path
Adjusting admissions criteria to select for qualities such as collaboration, self knowledge, compassion and empathy
Establishing equivalent of readers advocate / ombudsman to safely voice criticism of institution
Increasing capacity of Career Services to advise on alternative career paths
Creating a Hippocratic Oath for students planning on starting a company
At the center of this is the core curriculum. We want to challenge Wharton to overhaul its key content at both the undergrad and graduate levels to train the next generation of leaders in a deeper, more diverse and holistic skill and awareness set that we anticipate will be required to navigate the ever-complex challenges ahead.
Not to throw the fundamentals away, but to complement and balance them.
We need to ask the question: what does society demand from the next Mark Zuckberberg? If whatever they create is an expression of their values, biases, stories and studies, then what do we need to support that person in learning so they can steward their innovations in greater alignment with the well-being of life on Earth?
Examples of domains to augment the current curriculum:
Business in the New Normal
Business in 2051
Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression
Systems Thinking
Connecting With Your Life’s Calling
Emotional Intelligence
Managing Stress, Burnout & Quality of Life as a Business Leader
Alternative Ownership, Funding, & Governance Structures
Ethics and Entrepreneurship
Workplace Culture / People Management / Psychological Safety
A People’s History of the Business World
Mindsets and Worldviews
Applying Ancient & Indigenous Wisdom to Modern Business
New Archetypes in Leadership: Inclusive, Evolutionary, Heart-centered
Non-Violent Communication
Developmental Psychology
Collective Intelligence and Sensemaking
Well-being Economy
Teal Organizations
Resilient Organizations
So You Want to Save The World?
We also want to lift up the groundswell of efforts already planting seeds for this upgraded institution:
People create businesses create society. We envision a future where prospective students apply to Wharton not because they think they will be able to earn the most the fastest, but because they can develop the leadership capacities in order to achieve their highest expression of service in public life and richness in personal life.
Where schools compete on societal impact and love and justice instead of test scores and starting salaries. Where Wharton is unleashing hundreds of celebrated leaders each year into the world, inspiring a Renaissance of creativity and a race to the top for a new breed of businesses that meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet.
We see clear examples of actions Wharton can take to position itself as the most forward thinking and responsible business school in history, and sense there is a wellspring of others waiting for a context to come out of the woodwork and contribute their gifts.
We believe there are endless untapped opportunities to better support both current students and alumni on their personal and professional journeys. We have everything we need to see this through within our powerful global community.
We are here to help the institution that gave us so much. We care about what happens next. We have been trained to spot a good market opportunity. This is one where everyone can win 💪🏼
Personal Why
I’m putting energy into this because I care about the future of this place. I’ve been fortunate to have access to unique opportunities to explore alternative communities and ideas and experiences. I wonder if one of my roles to play is as a bridge, weaving connections between worlds that don’t often communicate and synergize.
I understand the precarious state of the world, appreciate my proximity to folks with influence, and see unique possibilities for how to move forward in an omni-win way. It’s easy to deconstruct the business world. I get that side of things, but my interest is more on the reconstruction. I have vision and energy to bring ideas and people together.
I also had a challenging Wharton undergraduate experience: difficulty focusing in class, regularly questioning my degree choice and career options, drowning in greek life, wallowing in crushing fears of having to work for the next few decades on something my heart wasn’t connected to. I got lost and didn’t get the support I needed. I feel pulled to support those who may experience similar challenges. See here for more on why I’m doing this and related projects.
“Many students use the term “Penn Face” as a colloquialism for the widespread practice of students hiding their constant anxiety, depression, fear of failure, and exhaustion behind a veneer of happiness and carefree success.” — Disorientation Guide 2020
My saving grace was the entrepreneurship community. Since then I’ve been on a whirlwind: starting companies, chasing fast life NYC, wandering around India and Peru seeking Truth, getting in trouble for labor organizing, pioneering a new industry of humane technology, starting angel investment groups, questioning gender identity and capitalism, living with activists and emerging political movements, trying to save the world so I could feel whole.
These experiences have humbled and exposed me to a diversity of ways of knowing, being and doing. Through my work with Siempo, I’ve tried to model a more ethical and inclusive what and how for entrepreneurship. As an advisor with JumpScale, I am connected to a powerful ecosystem that supports organizations in resilience and wellness. Through Flexport and One Nation I’ve helped design and disseminate cutting edge leadership development training. In the last year I’ve convened circles of investors who are thinking differently about capital and spoken at Nexus, Family Office Association, Keep Families Giving and Strategic Impact Cohort on aligning wealth with impact and purpose. These days I coach/consult founders who are ready for a new way of creating value in the world.
I’ll end with a story inside a story. During our 2012 graduation ceremony, activist Geoffrey Canada shared a moving vision about a future in which our class cultivated the courage to come and “play for the losing team.”
I’ll go down fighting with my team because that is what we have decided to do.
But here’s my fantasy. One day, not too long from now, my team and I will be doing battle against the forces of darkness. They will be trying to reverse our progress. Hurt our children. Destroy their souls. And it will suddenly hit me that I can do no more. The forces against us are too powerful, too mighty. Defeat is at hand.
I won’t bow my head. I won’t be afraid. I will look my team right in the eye and say “If this be the last time, let’s go down fighting.”
And suddenly from behind me, I will hear a mighty roar. I will turn around and see a most glorious sight. An army of better prepared, smarter, more powerful young warriors. They swarm past me headlong into the battle.
The enemies of truth, of fairness, of liberty, of equality are over-matched and begin to retreat.
And I grab several of these young warriors and I ask:
“Who are you? Where did you come from?”
And they said: “Don’t you remember us? We are from the Penn class of 2012!”
And as I move to the back to let the next generation do what I could not, I realize that all is not lost. We will win.
There was a surreal quality to the talk. I cried. It seemed a tragically timed invitation; one that we could safely delight in considering for that hallmark moment, before marching on to whatever we each chose to spend the last few years gearing up for. But he knew, that by planting all those seeds in that peak coming of age moment, that some of those seeds might one day blossom into something beautiful.
Next Steps
Fill out this quick form if you would like to participate or be kept in the loop. In 2021 we would like to convene conversations among diverse stakeholders to explore what’s here (digital and eventually physical).
Join the Wharton Wisdom Facebook group (if Wharton or Penn affiliated) to share your reaction to this invitation. This group was created in 2018 to bring together alumni who are interested in personal growth and integrating that with their work in the world. We have held in-person meetups in SF and NY and organized an Alternative Careers panel with the undergrad Wharton Wellness club.
Write me at andrewmurraydunn at gmail dot com to let me know your reflections or schedule a focused conversation. Building relationships is my #1 goal in this phase.
Share this Medium post with others in the Wharton/UPenn/business school communities. We hope these organizing efforts may serve as a case study experiment that can ultimately inform a template for inviting the transformation of other institutions, academic and beyond.
Reflect on your own vision for a more beautiful b-school. Start conversations with friends, family and colleagues. What would you change?
Thank you for your trust and attention,
– Andrew Murray Dunn & friends
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Andrew (W’12) serves as an initiator, bridge weaver, and thought leader at the intersections of ethical technology, systems change, impact investing & personal development.
Inviting Wharton’s Leadership in a Time of Transition ⎈🗣 was originally published in DataDrivenInvestor on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.