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Kellogg’s 2011 Change the World Conference

This past Saturday Kellogg held its 12th Annual Innovating Social Change Conference.  The Conference is one of the Net Impact Club’s most important events during the year, and it constitutes the largest gathering of game changing social impact thinkers and students here on campus.  Participants from all around campus attended this year’s event. And in my view, as well as the opinion of most of this year’s attendees, the conference didn’t let any of us down.

Just like the conference last year, the quality of the speakers and panel was exceptional.  The topics were varied, the speakers engaging, and discussions interesting. And in part, that was a testament to some of the people that spoke on panels at this year’s conference, including:

• Jason Saul, Faculty, Kellogg School of Management
• Drew Von Glahn, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Third Sector Capital
• Liam Krehbiel ’07, Founder & CEO, A Better Chicago
• Megan Kashner ’03, Founder & CEO, Benevolent.net
• James Shepard ’95, CEO, Achieve Mission
• Dr. Jamie N. Jones ’09, Assistant Director, Social Enterprise Program, Kellogg School
• Amy Chen, Program Director, Food for Good, PepsiCo Global Nutrition Group
• Paul Ellingstad, Director of Global Health, HP
• Baily Blair Kempner, Director of Growth & Sustainability, Endeavor Global
• Pompa Debroy, Program Director – India, Embrace

In addition to great panels, the conference also featured scheduled breaks to interact with other attendees and panelists, a lunch session to eat with panelists and attendees that have similar interests in in the nonprofit space, and a networking event at the end to meet other students and attendees over a glass of wine.

This year’s keynote speakers included Seth Goldman: President and Chief Executive Officer, Honest Tea; Darell Hammond: Chief Executive Officer and Founder, KaBOOM!; and Lisa Hall: President and Chief Executive Officer, Calvert Foundation.

Seth Goldman kicked off the Conference where he talked a bit about his company “Honest Tea” during his opening keynote address. How he  founded the company and sustainability initiative. At the same time, Mr. Goldman was optimistic that all the MBAs in the room had the power to change the world by doing the same thing. And that one of the best ways to have that impact was to make change in business because business has access to a massive set of channels. “If we don’t change the direction we’re headed, we’ll end up where we’re going” he said, quoting an old Chinese proverb. He said that we need to move in a different direction and one thing that won’t work is waiting.

Darell Hammond discussed his personal experience in the industry.  He talked about his work with communities & corporations to build playgrounds and that helps kids.  And he also talked about the importance of getting new blood in the nonprofit industry.  For his company, he said “We are about the cause not the credit” and that’s the reason you go into the nonprofit space” encouraging us to think similarly.  He also said, “You don’t have to start something. But everything you touch, make better.”  The idea was that we don’t have to come us with the next novel nonprofit but that we can find a novel nonprofit to work with.

But perhaps my favorite ideas came from panelist , Megan Kashner who used to work at the Taproot Foundation. Megan shared her experiences saying how she worked in nonprofit from a young age and went straight into the industry after getting an MBA, a stark contrast to the former bankers and consultants on the panel.  Megan acknowledged that nonprofits “need to find more ways to attract and retain high potential employees to nonprofits.”  And unlike the advice of her fellow panelists, she said “You don’t have to wait”. You can go work at a nonprofit right away after Kellogg.”

In the end, some of the main themes from the conference are some that  I write about here on my site. That it’s not just about using your MBA to do well, but it’s also about giving back and to make the world better.  And secondly, that the world is in need of people to enter the industry. And that MBAs are prime candidates to take on leading roles and have real impact. And that you don’t have to wait to do that.

To learn more about Kellogg’s annual Change the World conference, go to the main conference website at http://kellogg.campusgroups.com/isc/schedule/