Inspired Business

How would you know if a business education from Boler College is a right fit?

Put simply, everyone associated with Boler College, and especially our students, see business as both a career and a calling. We attract young people who understand that financial reward is only a piece of a larger truth and one element in a full and satisfying life.

What is Responsible Leadership?

Among investors, corporate executives, and a global financial network (banks, bond rating agencies, public accounting firms, stock exchanges, insurers), “responsible leadership” is increasingly viewed as a strategic necessity.

Take, for example, a recent announcement by the Business Roundtable, 181 of the most powerful CEOs in the world. The group’s new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation declares that it will now "lead companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders."

Putting "responsible" to the test.
According to a survey by the business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma, more than 80% of college graduates will face an ethical dilemma during their first year in a job. At some point, your strength of character and sense of purpose will mean the difference between:

• doing what’s legal vs. doing what’s right
• chasing short-term profit vs. thinking through the long-term implications of business decisions
• claiming leadership as a tool of influence vs. living leadership as a calling

Responsible leadership in practice.
Examples of how a new era of responsible leadership might shape your degree and career include:

• Accountants and CFOs are asking how forces that everyone agrees are financially material — resource scarcity, political unrest, consumer trust — might be mirrored in future shareholder and regulatory disclosures.
• Operations, logistics and supply chain professionals are asking how sustainability risks will lead to more and better tools for scenario analysis, higher quality data and more routine integrated reporting to senior management.
• Chartered Financial Analysts and other investment advisors are looking closer at the connection between companies that both do the right thing by the planet and people, while also outperforming their competition.
• Corporate executives, aware of data like the Edelman global report which shows a double-digit drop in their credibility ratings, are asking wide-ranging questions about public trust and their license to operate.

What is a Liberal Arts Education?

Before you excel as a financial analyst charting the biotech industry or a marketing lead for a fast-moving entertainment start-up, you will need to flex and build your mental muscle, starting with the essential powers of critical and analytical thinking.

Why study history, literature, philosophy, music, or art in addition to your business core? Because your entire life — and every business you touch — will be served by a few key thinking habits:

• Making sense of unfamiliar by means of the familiar.
• Grasping the underlying grammar (organized solutions, hierarchical procedures, rational sequences) of problem solving.
• Holding to your independent thinking, in the face of pressures, distortions, and overemphasized truths.
• Drawing fresh ideas from a storehouse of seemingly random material.

Why Build a Stronger Mind?

Business is a very complex undertaking where decisions (risk, scarce resources, human motivation, and financial investment) are made amidst the winds of constant political and social change. Such a world could intimidate or confuse you without the fundamental skills gained from a liberal arts education:

• Strong habits of attention and concentration
• An ability to construct and follow sound arguments
• A capacity to distinguish the important from the trivial
• An aptitude for formulating and grasping new concepts

We invite you to join us.