Princeton Review Ranks Acton Students “The Most Competitive in the United States”

Students and Alumni Reflect on Classroom Competition On Friday, The Princeton Review released its 2013 Business School Rankings, designating Acton’s students as the most competitive business school students in the country. Acton first registered on Princeton Review’s top ten lists in 2005, the year after Acton graduated its first...

Questioning “Homeless Hotspots” at SXSW

At Acton, our philosophies and programs are built around asking, rather than telling. Questions are the most surefire way to gain insight into what you don’t know (and don’t know that you don’t know) so that you can make an informed decision. This week presented a unique opportunity to...

Wealth, Gender, And Evolution – Discussing Entrepreneurial, Female Billionaires

What does it take, as a woman, to become a billionaire? There are 1,011 billionaires in the world right now. Since they released the numbers in March, Forbes has been running various pieces on subsets of the billionaire population. Lately, that subset has been women (like here, here, here, and here)....

Does Power Corrupt Or Does It Just Attract The Corruptible?

Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. – Lord Acton, 1887 Bill Clinton. John Edwards. Mark Sanford. Mark Foley. News of politicians having extramarital affairs has become almost commonplace. In fact, 2008 was the first election in which confessed adulterers ran for President. Still others seem to have sticky fingers,...

Are Entrepreneurs Born or Bred?

The age-old debate between nature versus nurture also applies to entrepreneurs: are successful entrepreneurs internally wired to own businesses or did they learn the needed skills to be successful? Some say that entrepreneurship cannot be taught — that true entrepreneurs are born with the drive, determination and burning desire...

Does The Golden Rule Apply In Business?

How is your personal morality connected to your business morality? Do the same ethical frameworks apply in business as apply in friendship or romance? And if not, how do you rationalize the difference? Many of us think that (and act as if) business has its own set of rules....

How To Fix Business Schools

In response to a recent debate on the Harvard Business Review website about how traditional MBA programs contributed to current economic crisis, Master Teacher Jeff Sandefer had the following comments: Most business schools don’t care much about students or their journeys through life. Until this changes, ancillary efforts like...