BCG & Other Consulting Giants Sponsor 3-Day Forum For Disabled MBAs & Allies

From the report, State of Disability Inclusion in MBA Programs, by Access to Success, a not-for-profit organization that studies disability. Access to Success has established a fellowship for MBA students with disabilities.

AIMING FOR LONGEVITY 

In a first-of-its-kind study released earlier this year, Access to Success, a Canadian not-for-profit organization that supports the development of future leaders with disabilities and gives fellowships each year to MBA students with disabilities, noted that 15% of the world’s population, or 1 billion people, experience some form of disability — yet just 7% of business leaders identify as having a disability. That presents a major dilemma: “How do we bridge this gap in representation when it comes to leaders with disabilities?”

The group posits that one way to achieve greater representation for those with disabilities is to “build a pipeline of future leaders with disabilities” through business schools and MBA programs. “While business schools have made meaningful strides in fostering diversity and inclusion in their programs, little is known about the number and experiences of people with disabilities in MBA programs. We cannot address what we do not know.”

Barnett hopes that EMPWR can be part of that pipeline, this fall and into the future. To make that happen. she’s been spending 20 hours a week not only planning the inaugural event but also helping to secure funding for the next one. Thanks in large part to a grant from the Ford Foundation, Empwr 2023 already has $75K in the bank. Barnett and other UNC MBA students have filed the paperwork to establish Empwr as a nonprofit foundation independent of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s MBA Student Association that will continue to host annual diversity recruiting conferences in addition to eventually offering scholarships and networking opportunities for B-school students who belong to the disability community.

DIVERGING FROM NEURODIVERGENCE

Claire Barnett will graduate in the spring and go back to work for BCG, for which she interned as a summer consultant this year. Despite all she’s done to raise funds and awareness about disabilities, she’s not convinced that’s where her path leads.

“I would like Empwr to operate like Forte operates or like MBA Veterans Network operates, to use the youngest of the diversity organizations,” she says. “And I think that if we are a nonprofit then we will continue in year two as kind of volunteer-run, with me leading the nonprofit group and board members that come from some of this year’s students, and keeping board members on who are current students at different schools. So that’s like year two, year three. And the idea is that by year four, year five, we’re bringing in enough money to hire one or two staff people, and this is what they do.”

The need is there, she says.

“I think it serves a purpose for the companies and the students, and I always want to be involved in this work. Even at BCG this summer, I spent a significant amount of time bringing up some of my past research experience with neurodiversity and disability and asking people inside the company, ‘What are we going to do about this?’ I got lots of encouraging responses, so that was exciting. But my plan is for this to always be like sort of one-fifth of the work I do in my life.

“I definitely learned when I worked at Vandy that I don’t like the reputation of being ‘disability girl.’ Don’t love that being the only label. I like an intellectual challenge. Consulting was fun and I was on the type of case this summer where I had no background in that industry, and that’s the kind of work I would love to do for four-fifths of the week.

“But I’m hoping to continue running this nonprofit, to continue coordinating events, sponsorships, to be asking whatever other company I work for like BCG, ‘How are we collectively going to do this better?’ And also I’ve done a fair amount of speaking and submitting opinion articles to places, and I think that’ll always be a passion. So when it comes to the future of Empwr, I would like it to join the ranks of Forte, ROMBA, the National Black MBA Association. When it comes to who will run it, most likely someone else — but I plan to always be involved.”

Learn more about the 2022 Empwr Conference here.

AND DON’T MISS MY STORY: FROM THE PARALYMPICS TO STANFORD GSB and AN MBA’S AIRBNB FOR THE DISABLED