Bentley University News

As part of Bentley's PreparedU Project, Barbara Stevens, Hall of Fame coach of the Bentley women's basketball team, shares how the principles for success on the court translate to success on the job. 

Sports are a great platform. And they help teach students and prepare them for the world that awaits upon graduation. What you learn on the basketball court, for example, extends far beyond the X’s and O’s. So, as a coach, my mission is to give my players all they need to be successful in their future careers.

Ensuring that bright, promising, talented women and minorities are able to live up to their career potential is a serious issue that one might say borders on a movement. And removing any obstacles or barriers that might be in their way, from student to CEO, has been proven to be in the best interest of the businesses that hire them after graduation — diversity does wonders for a bottom line.

But, what about before those students even reach college?

Knowledge is power — particularly for women navigating the business world. In the following five books, influential women reflect on their quest for success, and the stumbling blocks they overcame along the way.

The Path Redefined: Getting to the Top on Your Own Terms by Lauren Maillian Bias

In a previous IMPACT post, I wrote about what skills millennials will need in the accounting field of the future. A high-school business teacher asked, in response, what I’d like to see from high-school students who are interested in pursuing accounting in college. It’s a great question.

When people think about educating artists, they often focus primarily on the technical artistic skills. But given the current economic climate, simply being able to write, sing, or sculpt isn’t enough. Tomorrow’s most successful students will come from programs and schools that recognize the importance of integrating business training into their arts education.

If you want to be a successful company, you have to sell a great product or service. That’s business 101.

But there’s a growing piece of the business equation that not enough companies are talking about: how you give back to the world around you.

It doesn’t matter if you call it “social good” or “corporate social responsibility.” What does matter to a growing section of your customers? Knowing what you and your company stand for and how you are helping the larger world.

The billion dollar question: What happened to Detroit? When the U.S. city declared a record-breaking $18 billion bankruptcy in July, Americans looked on in awe. Now municipal workers are left wondering how to survive without a pension and an emergency manager is taking over mayoral duties. But Detroit’s demise didn’t happen overnight.

In my previous blog, I put Detroit’s financial condition — or lack thereof — under the microscope. The truth is, Detroit’s story is not unique. Pittsburgh, for example, was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2004. Heavily in debt, the city borrowed $870 million, twice its annual budget at the time. The city teetered on the abyss but didn’t fall in. What happened?

Pittsburgh’s demographics parallel Detroit’s in many ways:

In an earlier post, I wrote about unintended consequences that emerged from a bank’s well-meaning efforts to provide micro-loans to help people succeed in starting small businesses. “Outsider-ness” is a problem on many levels — and often right from the start.

Scam artists — the only criminals we refer to as artists — are quite clever at taking advantage of whatever is capturing public interest. Obamacare is no exception, particularly as data is collected during the October 1 launch of the initial open enrollment period.