Gen Y Dream Job: Helping Big Business Save the World

Last summer, when the economy was wallowing at the bottom of the worst recession in decades, the National Association of Colleges and Employers asked nearly 15,000 American students where they wanted to work after graduation. In the face of a brutal job market, did they rush toward safe-sounding traditional sectors like law or accounting? No. Nearly a third hoped to find work in a non-profit, up five percentage points from 2008.

According to experts, the survey results are further evidence that the generation graduating now is notably socially conscious and keen for their careers to mean something beyond a regular pay check. But is this doable in the real world -- or for those with business, rather than social science, experience?
Jocelyn Wyatt, who leads social innovation at ultra-cool design firm IDEO, says yes. Wyatt has put her MBA skills to use assisting for-profit companies with a conscience in the growing field of "social enterprise." She spoke with Entry-Level Rebel about how worthy aims, hard-core business skills, and stable employment can in fact mix.

You lead IDEO's Social Innovation domain. What exactly does that mean?
I work to create the vision for social innovation at IDEO. This entails working on social innovation projects, like the recent Ripple Effect project. I also do business development for social innovation projects and work with supporters, like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, and partners like IDE and VisionSpring. Finally, I provide thought leadership by writing about design thinking for social innovation and speaking at conferences.

What one thing are you most proud of accomplishing during your time at IDEO?
The work that I'm most proud of is the design coaching I did with WaterHealth in Hyderabad, India. We worked with them to design a communications strategy for informing the communities where they are working about the importance of drinking clean water.

How did you find your way to this job? Did you start out with a focus on social issues and move toward business as a means to solve them, or did you start out in business and move towards putting those principles to use for the social good?
I started in international development, working for Chemonics, a USAID contractor in Washington, D.C., for five years before going to business school at Thunderbird. While I was there, I spent eight months in Hyderabad, India, as Interim Country Director/MBA intern for VisionSpring, a social enterprise that sells low-cost reading glasses.

While I was there, Acumen Fund decided to invest in VisionSpring and I hosted a field visit from Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund, and Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. After I completed my MBA, I was accepted as an Acumen fellow and spent nine months in Nairobi working. I reconnected with Tim, who was interested in growing IDEO's social innovation domain and came on board in October 2008.

You mentioned that you have an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. How well did your business education prepare you for what you're doing now?
When I started at Thunderbird, I knew I wanted to do something related to business and international development. I learned about social enterprise about two weeks into my time at Thunderbird and immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. I spent my time in business school learning about social enterprise and applying my business education to challenges faced by these unique organizations.

I'm really glad I went to business school. It definitely taught me how to support social enterprises in finance, marketing, strategy, and operations. While I was at Thunderbird, there were classes in international development, but not in social enterprise in particular.

Are there any business schools that excel at teaching social enterprise?
It seems like in the past two or three years, more MBA programs are offering social enterprise courses. For the last two years, I've taught a class on social enterprise at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Other than Thunderbird and Berkeley, programs I really admire are University of Michigan, Stanford, Cornell, and Duke.

I have to admit that just a few years ago, I'd never heard the term 'social enterprise' but it seems to be all over the place now. What do you think are the job prospects for a young person who wants to follow this career path? Is it a growing field?
Social enterprise is absolutely a growing field. We're seeing more and more organizations pop up and more and more funding going into this area. At the same time, there is increasing demand for jobs in social enterprise, and the market for social enterprise jobs is extremely tight. Once one has a few years of experience, it's easier, but the first step in can be a tough one to make.

Any tips on how to can get that first foot moving and get started?
I recommend fellowship programs or volunteer programs that allow people to spend time abroad and really understand the realities of doing the work on the ground. Field experience -â€" working with a social enterprise at the local level -- is extremely important. I think fellowship programs like Acumen Fund's or other opportunities to volunteer abroad, like with Kiva or Technoserve, are a great way to gain field experience and credibility.

Why try and tackle social problems with market-based solutions? How did you come to think the tools of business offered the best way for you to help solve these problems?
I started my career working on large U.S.-government-funded projects that were not very sustainable. After the project ended, after five years, everything shut down and there was little impact to point to. I felt like there must be a more sustainable model to development, and I saw this was what the private sector could offer.

As Jacqueline Novogratz says, "the market is a great listening device." and by applying business-based solutions to poverty alleviation, we can ensure that we're providing people with the products and services that they want, need, and truly value.

While big business has gained a bad reputation, we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water. Business principles are still powerful and can be applied effectively for growth and sustainability. And if we can rethink the motivations of business (it's not just about maximizing shareholder value anymore), we can create amazing social impact in the world.