Leon Laubscher belongs to a new generation of business school alumni — one very different from the profit-obsessed cohorts that once emerged from MBA classrooms. Where his pre-2010s predecessors went all out for investor returns, Laubscher argues that companies should put social purpose before, or at least on a par with, profit.
Laubscher says one visiting professor — Lawrence Pratt — helped him see the link between sustainability and profitability during his MBA at RSM in 2019. “A lot of people think sustainability is this hippy, tree-hugger thing, but the professor drew the connection with financial performance,” Laubscher says.