BT天堂

The聽directed study group聽looked at聽ways聽in which聽management can鈥痩earn from the current Covid-19 pandemic.聽Earhart and Cath wanted聽students to consider聽how聽they聽might鈥痑pply鈥痶heoretical and pragmatic management approaches to better鈥痷nderstand the challenges anthropogenic climate change聽may create.聽鈥淐an we鈥痳eally expect the same social, political and economic systems that failed to鈥痯revent and effectively mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic to do the same with鈥痑nthropogenic climate change?鈥� asks Earhart.聽鈥淲e are offering聽a聽clear聽case for an ongoing and profound engagement with the very forces鈥痶hat threaten to destroy us so that we can rethink how we strategically address complex global challenges at the most fundamental level.鈥澛�

In total, five students contributed chapters to the book;聽Kevin聽Jarussi聽鈥�20聽was one of them.聽鈥淚鈥檓 originally from Montana in the United States, where my family has a ranch,鈥� he聽explains. 鈥淧rofessor Cath suggested that I do an autoethnographic study about my family鈥檚 land.鈥澛燢evin聽Jarussi聽spoke to ranchers in the region,聽along with聽the head of the Montana Organic Association,聽to get a sense of how the pandemic was affecting the聽local聽agricultural industry. 鈥淐ovid exposed聽a lot of cracks in the food supply chain,聽but it also led to farmers making connections that they might not otherwise have made.鈥澛燢evin聽proposed ways in which local knowledge and talent could be leveraged to foster relationships between agricultural workers聽that聽would be economically and environmentally聽sustainable聽in the long term.聽

He聽went on to turn the project into a way to fulfill his internship requirements,聽collaborating聽with聽both聽professors聽all along聽the book鈥檚 publication:聽鈥淚 now know the entire self-publishing process聽鈥撀爁rom designing聽and聽organizing, to submitting the finished product.鈥� He also聽produced聽a consulting report for the University,聽analyzing the costs and benefits of creating聽a permanent MSIM press.聽Kevin now works聽for a Minneapolis-based startup, Ethos, which has created a data platform for ESG (environmental,聽social聽and corporate governance) investing. The company has just finished its pre-seed round of funding.聽Kevin鈥檚 professional trajectory is an example聽of the kind of career reorientation that the MSIM program can facilitate.聽

鈥淲e are聽finalizing聽a second book聽which is produced by a聽new quintet of student authors,鈥� says聽Professor聽Cath. The new publication聽鈥撀爓hich explores the concept of hyper-management, or the management of聽organizations聽subject to聽complex聽forces beyond human control聽鈥撀爍uestions how well strategic聽management聽frameworks perform in diverse contexts, such as climate change,聽growing聽economic inequality, and the ongoing global pandemic. 鈥淎 simple question from one student聽in the聽summer聽of 2020聽has now led to this聽book project聽becoming part and parcel of the entire MSIM program,鈥� explains Cath. 鈥淲e聽like that kind of emergence.鈥澛�