What to Study to Save the World: Business

You don’t have to be a king, queen, president, or prime minister to impact the world significantly. Regular people with a vision and a strategy can alter the course of humanity through seemingly mundane means like education, hard work, and determination. Many pathways that lead to a greater quality of life for all can be found in the business industry. 

Managers, entrepreneurs, real estate titans, and government officials have no small amount of power when it comes to improving lives and saving the planet. Here are just a few ways students pursuing a business career can put their education to good use and affect radically positive change in their corner of the world.

Start a Business That Fulfills a Need

At a basic level, all entrepreneurs do the same thing: they notice a void and then set out to fill it. Said a different way, entrepreneurship is about recognizing a problem in the world and offering a solution. For example, when video stores were rendered obsolete and families everywhere began complaining about exorbitant cable costs, streaming services stepped in to provide on-demand viewing at significantly lower prices. It’s basic supply and demand.

When it comes to students wanting to positively impact the world, there is no shortage of needs that are begging to be fulfilled throughout every community and across every demographic. Causes like tackling food insecurity, domestic violence assistance, eliminating drug addiction, alleviating poverty, and so on deserve visionary and steadfast leaders at the forefront who have the education and experience necessary to strategize innovative solutions effectively. 

To be an effective leader and dedicate your career to affecting positive change, you’ll need a solid educational foundation and a robust professional network. Participating in an entrepreneurship program before college to learn critical technical and intangible skills is a fantastic first step. From there, we recommend applying to top business schools that offer diverse electives and internship programs and have ongoing relationships with reputable companies. 

Entrepreneurship is a rocky road with many twists and turns, but it offers aspiring students a direct pathway to tackling the problem they’re most passionate about.

Prioritize People Over Profit with Business Management

In 2015, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, shocked the world by implementing a minimum salary of $70,000 annually at his company. He then immediately raised everyone’s pay–including that of entry-level employees–to this salary floor AND reduced his own pay from $1.1 million to $70,000 to pay for it. His ultimate goal was to increase his employees’ quality of life and combat income inequality by paying a livable wage.

This move sparked equal parts praise and outrage from the general public, with some lauding him as a gallant hero and others labeling him a radical socialist. Regardless of his peers' personal opinions, this incredible shift had a huge impact. 

Six years after raising the salary floor, Gravity Payments reported that they had doubled their workforce and grown revenue by 300 percent. Also, the number of employees who had babies and those who bought homes each increased 10 times over. We look to Dan Price as an example of what’s possible. Consider the impact one man had on 120 employees and, therefore, the 120 families and 120 communities they each represented. He not only directly improved the lives of those who worked for him but also influenced public discourse about wage stagnation, income inequality, and so much more. 

Students interested in reducing society’s staggering wage gaps can follow Dan’s example by studying business management or business administration. The skills they acquire in economics, management, and leadership could lead to real, systemic change that affects the lives of hundreds, thousands, or even millions.

Address the Housing Crisis Through Real Estate

Real estate agents, realtors, and investors are the housing industry's gatekeepers and ambassadors. These professionals can directly impact historically disenfranchised communities’ homeownership goals by prioritizing first-time home buyers as their clientele. A realtor who offers free workshops that educate the public on the importance of home ownership, how to improve credit scores, how to apply for a loan, and general financial literacy can go a long way in positively affecting the quality of impoverished communities. 

Also, it’s not uncommon for realtors to eventually turn into investors. Real estate investors invest in properties to renovate and sell them or rent them out to tenants. By becoming an investor and, potentially, a landlord, you can offer affordable housing to those who need it most while still making a healthy profit for yourself. 

Tackle the housing crisis from the inside out and get involved in the world of real estate. To be the most effective in this industry, you should major in marketing, finance, or business administration to gain a comprehensive understanding of business practices before getting licensed as a realtor.

There are many ways for students with an acumen in business to influence lasting, positive change in this world. In addition to these avenues, you could also study supply chain management to prevent another pandemic-era grocery store disaster. Or you could become a professional lobbyist who braves the frontlines of government legislation to lobby for the causes important to you. 

Our society is run by businessmen and women who make important, far-reaching decisions every single day that impact us all. Why not pull up a seat at the table?