Dialogue with New York Times Bestselling Author Dr. Mark Albion
Don't live a resume, live a life

Net Impact, a Smith MBA club, recently hosted a dialogue with the New York Times bestselling author Dr. Mark Albion. Albion spoke on successful leaders and socially responsible businesses. He also highlighted various points made in his latest book, "True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business.

Albion has dedicated his career to helping the next generation of business leaders." He spent nearly 20 years as a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School and is the co-founder of seven organizations including the organizational precursor to Net Impact. His 2000 book, Making a Life, Making a Living, was a New York Times best seller.

Albion started his talk by urging the MBA students not to postpone following their dreams. He often hears students say they really want to pursue their dream, but will probably do so 10 years later, after they have made some money. Albion said this reasoning did not appeal to him. Using himself as an example, he described his riches-to-rags story. Despite giving up a lucrative career to pursue what he found to be personally rewarding, Albion has no regrets. In fact, he wishes he had done it sooner. Albion urged students not to get caught in the trap of planning their career based on what will look good on their resume. Don't live a resume, live a life! he urged the students.

Saying that he wanted this to be a true dialogue rather than a monologue, he opened the floor to questions rather early on in the event. The questions flowed for more than an hour. Albion answered each and every one of them with a passion and an enthusiasm that was contagious. He told the students that mentors can make a tremendous difference to their success or failure in the workforce. Mentors can help MBAs navigate the political environment within an organization. He added that, The number one quality that you need in order to be effective is to be collaborative.

In response to a question on the real or perceived lack of efficiency in the nonprofit world, Albion said the nonprofit world needs more MBAs because they have the skills to understand the economic model which underlies the nonprofits activities.

He cited several examples from his most recent book, True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business, to illustrate the points he was making. Albion's book looks at the successes and mistakes of 75 successful leaders to find out how to build a business that reflects ones values.

After the event, Noah Greenberg, president of Net Impact said, Given the crazy schedules that MBA students have, we had originally planned an hour long event. Dr. Albion is such an interesting speaker that the questions spilled over! We are glad that our first event of the year received such a positive response and we hope to bring many more such talented and wonderful speakers.

▓ Sachin Agarwal MBA Candidate 2007, Smith Media Group

Net Impact Web Site: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/organizations/net-impact/