Finding happiness the MBA way

These days, when Jesper Hornberg goes to work he's likely to be stepping into a mud hut in Kenya, checking on a solar lamp. He's the founder of an NGO called Givewatts, which is trying to reduce dependence on kerosene lamps. Rather than having to work in the poor light given off by kerosene, children whose families have his lamps can now see well enough to do their homework. In some cases, their school test scores have increased by 50%. On other days, Hornberg might be in a maternity ward, hearing how infant mortality and maternal complications have decreased now that midwives can deliver babies in electric light. Hornberg has worked in development before, but far from the front line. So what brought him to Kenya's poorest homes? An MBA.

… Although this side of MBAs has come to the fore in recent years it is not wholly new. The granddaddy of transformational business education is the renowned Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn professor of management studies at McGill University in Montreal. For years, he has run a sort of anti-MBA called the IMPM (International Masters in Practising Management). One module aims to boost the 'reflective mindset' and involves going to the Lake District to discuss Wordsworth, theatre workshops and 'pilgrimages' to places of worship. Another module, in India, is about developing what Mintzberg calls 'worldliness'.

Read full article: Management Today, October 1, 2012