Last Monday, April 2, Dr. Kerry Healey, President of Babson College and former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, visited the Choate campus to discuss entrepreneurship, shifting business approaches to fit the new models of sustainability, and social and environmental responsibility.
Throughout the lecture, Dr. Healey stressed the importance of business as a means of rendering service to humanity. In citing the business program at Babson, Dr. Healey explained that students had the “common goal to have a positive impact on people in communities in one way or another.” She explained the innate abilities of entrepreneurs and how Babson strives to teach the principles of start-ups in business.
One of Dr. Healey’s most emphasized points, however, was the modern business idea of the triple bottom line — innovative solutions that work with people, profits, and the planet. She stressed the importance of transforming businesses to meet a more globalized, modern structure, as well as redefining capitalism to better address the triple bottom line. Students were given the chance to ask questions following the lecture.
Dr. Healey took office as President of Babson College in July, 2013, after nearly three decades of work in academia, philanthropy, and government service, both domestic and abroad. As president, Dr. Healey has focused on expanding global access to education and entrepreneurship, as well as building upon Babson’s online school and increasing alumni participation.
Preceding her work at Babson, Dr. Healey served with distinction as the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts under Republican Governor Mitt Romney. The Romney-Healey Administration implemented many initiatives, most notably the nation’s first bipartisan effort for health care reform legislation.
Dr. Kerry Healey, President of Babson College, speaks on the benefits of responsible business.
In addition to her political career, Dr. Healey holds membership at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics and Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership and at the Executive Committee of the U.S. State Department’s Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan. She holds an A.B. in government from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in political science and law from Trinity College, Dublin.
Sarah Bonnem ’19 introduced Dr. Healey and explained the namesake behind the Adlai Stevenson Lecture Series. Mr. Stevenson, who was a member of the Choate School class of 1918, was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Kennedy administration. Mr. Stevenson was essential to the diplomatic talks surrounding rising tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, in particular around the Cuban Missile Crisis. HPRSS teacher Ms. Amy Foster then introduced Dr. Healey, reminiscing a bit about their time as college roommates.
Ms. Foster explained, “The lecture was not just about business and making money. It’s about the triple bottom line, making sure entrepreneurship is socially responsible and making sure that it is more inclusive so that more people have access to entrepreneurship education. I think her broader perspective on what it really means to be an entrepreneur and the social responsibility and vision that can come with that was interesting to me.”
The lecture series, although it has had many notable speakers, has also lacked in female and more conservative perspectives. “We had a woman last year, but if you look at the history of the series, there have been very few,” said Ms. Foster. “While Adlai Stevenson himself was a Democrat, we also want to reflect a range of political views and perspectives and so she brought that as well.”
Bonnem noted, “I thought that she engaged a lot with the audience, and I thought that she was very perceptive. Her familiarity with Ms. Foster made it seem like she was very comfortable.”
Other students had varying perspectives of the presentation, ranging from support to respectful critiques.
“Entrepreneurship is something I’ve always found incredibly appealing, but at the same time very hard to grasp. I think Ms. Healey did an outstanding job explaining the underlying concepts of entrepreneurship. But receiving the knowledge and skills to actually act on an idea still seems primarily accessible at the college and university level,” explained Ollie Chessen ’19.
Charlie Yockey ’19 said, “Overall, I found her ideas for profit ventures being used to promote social change interesting, though I took issue with her conception of government’s place in regulating marketplaces.”
“I really enjoyed the lecture and the basic premise of the piece, which was focusing on how we, as a society, can shift business from looking at its purpose as taking care of its investors to looking at its role to also serve those who are part of the enterprise and society at large,” said Mpilo Norris ’18. “It is something that I really appreciate, and I think it was really refreshing as we think about how businesses will operate in the future.”
Audrey Powell ’19 said, “As a student interested in politics, I wish her speech would have included more about her time spent as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, or just her political career in general.”
“I thought that she had good intentions,” added Reeve Sobol ’19, “but I felt like a lot of the content was very dry and more focused on her promoting her school. It also felt like she was avoiding tougher questions about different socioeconomic groups, other than saying that if you go into a poor area you can fix their problems. I would have preferred her talking about how people there can make better lives for themselves.”
Thinking perhaps of these criticisms, Ms. Foster said, “I think it is always important to hear from people who have had a wide range of experience and have formulated their ideas and can articulate them. I am hoping that people learned something, whether they agree with her or disagree.”
