At the Yale School of Management, our mission is to educate leaders for business and society. We view those two components—business and society—as inseparable; the health of one depends on the vitality of the other. The most effective leaders in any arena comprehend the interconnectedness of their organizations with their communities.
The scope of the challenges we face today—including the climate crisis, national and global inequity, and the imperative to root out injustice and racism in all our institutions—calls for leaders who can advance organizational goals while also facilitating progress on major societal challenges. A Yale management education seeks to make students more engaged with meaningful issues, globally and in their communities; more rigorous in capitalizing on the best data and ideas; and more attuned to the impact they have on all around them.
Across all of our programs, our curriculum trains students to think broadly about the issues they will face as leaders. The integrated M.B.A. curriculum, for instance, uses the latest research and contemporary case studies to explore how organizational decisions affect different stakeholder groups. By seeing challenges from many points of view, our students learn to think creatively about how the organization can create value for its customers, employees, investors, and society.
Our faculty teach a rigorous and evidence-based approach to decision-making. They are leaders in many fields of research, and they bring a passion for intellectual exploration into the classroom. Just as importantly, they care deeply about how their work as teachers and researchers can contribute to a better world.
Much of the value of a business education comes from the community in which it takes place, from opportunities to share ideas and form lasting connections. Yale SOM welcomes students from a wide range of professional backgrounds; this diversity of experience translates into a wide-ranging discourse and nuanced and incisive learning experiences. As a part of Yale University, our faculty and students extend their reach by connecting with experts in areas like law, medicine, the environment, and global affairs.
Within our community are many subcommunities with shared professional and intellectual interests, in the form of academic centers, specialized programs, and student-led clubs and conferences. They focus on issues critical to businesses and communities, including healthcare, sustainability, asset management, philanthropy, and education. All of our students, whatever their career aspirations, benefit from being in an environment where leading thinkers are grappling with these important topics.
Our programs train leaders who can thrive where business and society meet—whether that takes the form of launching a business that can refashion its market, advancing far-reaching and rigorously considered policy initiatives, or steering a multinational corporation with keen awareness of and respect for its impact on workers, communities, and the environment.
Kerwin K. Charles
Indra K. Nooyi Dean, Yale School of Management
Professor of Economics, Policy, and Management