That’s certainly the case at MIT Sloan School of Management, one of the world’s top-ranked business schools, where students learn to become changemakers through a curriculum that’s rooted in honing an entrepreneurial mindset.
Channeling the school’s motto, ‘mens et manus’—mind and hand—MIT Sloan seeks to immerse students in an innovation ecosystem that will help them serve the needs of the modern world. To find out what that experience is like for students, we spoke with three current MIT Sloan MBAs to uncover some of the key lessons they’ve learned.
5 lessons MIT Sloan MBA students learn
1. Collaboration will maximize your potential
Mike Sanchez (pictured) enrolled in the MIT Sloan MBA having already launched his own company, a healthcare clinic focused on diagnosing sleep apnea. He brought that experience, plus various roles in sales, engineering, and a period living in South Korea, into the MBA classroom.
Despite this, Mike admits he found the MIT Sloan ecosystem of high-achieving students from diverse professional and geographic backgrounds daunting when first entering the program: “Imposter syndrome is real—you do ask yourself, ‘Am I actually here?’”
The program is designed to help students acclimate and immediately start building connections. As the year begins, they are assigned to core teams of six or seven who share the same classes with a wider cohort of around 70 students. By the end of the first semester, Mike had worked with most members of the MBA cohort of around 430 students.
Collaborating with other professionals on group projects and team-based exercises exposed Mike to a range of viewpoints from which he could learn and adapt his thought process. While preparing for a case competition for the pharmaceutical industry, a collaboration with a fellow MBA student became a pivotal moment.
“We worked together, became finalists, and realized that we wanted to start a business together,” he says.
2. You can be a changemaker
For David Brown (pictured), a former battalion operations officer in the United States Army's 25th Infantry Division and a chemical engineering graduate of West Point, enrolling in the MIT Sloan MBA was his route into climate technology, where he sought to continue making an impact after his successful military career.
However, with limited technical experience and qualifications, David's initial approach to his education was to explore, rather than take action. “I had leadership experience, operational experience, and my undergrad, but to me the climate problem felt bigger than something I could do,” he says.
Classes at MIT Sloan forced David to shift his mindset, with professors emphasizing that earning a place in the program means taking an essential role in finding solutions to global problems. Questions of how to curb the climate crisis or effectively implement climate regulation were no longer academic exercises, but practical steps toward bringing about change.
“I didn’t think I could ever play in that ballpark. Then I was seeing people at MIT Sloan saying, ‘Yes you can, and not only that—we need you to.’”
3. Always focus on your customer
Both Mike and David have used their opportunities as MIT Sloan MBA students to build business cases and work with fellow co-founders to scale their entrepreneurial ventures into impact-focused companies.
With Helix Carbon, David is seeking to tackle the central issue of CO2 emitted during steel production. So far he has secured more than $550,000 in non-dilutive funding through MIT Sloan initiatives, such as pitch competitions.
Building on his expertise in the healthcare industry, Mike’s company Otomo employs AI tools to streamline experiences for patients. Through the MIT delta V accelerator program run by the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, he has gained access to a board of 10 healthcare executives while also securing non-dilutive funding.
Mike attributes a large part of the company’s growth to channeling a core lesson taught at MIT Sloan: that focusing on the customer is paramount.
“If you're interested in entrepreneurship and have an idea, go out there and sell it before you actually build it—you want to make sure there's some pull. I think that obsessing over the customer is the best thing you can do,” he says.
David agrees, adding that taking this approach reduces the risk inherent in starting your own business. “There are classes where the task is to go talk to 100 people, figure out what they want, go build it, and then you’ll have a company—that’s how entrepreneurship is taught at MIT Sloan.”
4. Resources are available—use them
A wealth of available support and resources can provide MIT Sloan MBA students with opportunities to embark on transformative journeys. However, maximizing the value of these resources relies on students recognizing what’s important to them, and tailoring their learning priorities.
After being accepted into the program, former EY-Parthenon consultant Megan Hung (pictured) decided to dive headfirst into the MIT Sloan experience. Several months before beginning the program, she quit her job and began working with the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship in New York. Like David in seeking to make an impact in the climate technology space, Megan later volunteered with the Sloan Energy and Climate club, helping organize events and competitions. She also sought to broaden her horizons by taking classes outside of the management school.
“Whatever effort you put into your MBA is what you’re going to get out of it,” she says. “There’s a lot of random, cool things that just pop up through being in the ecosystem and having your ear to the ground.”
Through this approach, Megan has secured work with a seed stage startup over the summer after she completes the program, where she intends to decide which stage of a company’s growth would be the best fit for her career.
“You just have to go out and find opportunities. That’s definitely the biggest lesson, don’t be afraid to look for what you want,” she advises.
5. To do is to learn
The focus on entrepreneurial thinking present throughout the entire MIT Sloan MBA experience ensures that students learn to be proactive, whether they are seeking a particular career path or aiming to become a founder themselves.
In reflecting on their MBA experiences, the students agree that the school’s practical approach to learning has had a fundamental impact on their development as they’ve navigated their studies.
“It gives you a different frame of mind on how to think. I think that’s the most powerful tool to make you successful in the future,” says Mike.
“The hardest part of doing anything is getting started, and they really teach you how to get outside of your comfort zone and go make things happen,” David adds. “It’s amazing to get out of your comfort zone but also have the guardrails of the classroom.”
