I’m in! DBA at RRU
Hatley Castle at Royal Roads University. Image by Jerry Meaden
That’s crazy!
It started with a mad idea. Go back to school. What? That’s crazy. But the idea was quietly persistent, and I know better, by now, than to say no to the gentle quiet voice. So I started doing research and making phone calls. I had no idea where this would lead – maybe simply to meeting someone along the way that would be important to the next step in my journey. It wasn’t clear to me at all if I would actually be going back to school.
At the same time, I recognized that applying for school is the kind of thing that can push the anxiety button, so my prayer throughout was “make it easy and make it obvious;” I definitely didn’t want any angsty choices along this path.
I began poking around, even looking to see if there were multidisciplinary programs between divinity and business schools. Eventually I ended up calling the admissions department for the PhD programs at biz schools here in Greater Vancouver.
No PhD for you
After a couple of zoom meetings, a kindly firm admissions person explained to me that PhD programs in Business Administration were for early to mid-career individuals looking to become tenured professors. To put a finer point on it she mused, “I think maybe once we had someone in their mid-40s in the program.” Well, that certainly made it obvious -- no PhD for me. She let me know that what I was looking for was a Doctor of Business Administration program. Ah, got it. (Honestly, I thought that Doctorate and PhD programs were the same thing! Clearly, I was starting from scratch in my understanding of how this all worked.)
These days DBA courses are often offered through online learning so I could theoretically take the program anywhere in the world as long as the degree was in English; however, I started my search in Canada, as I thought a better fit for me would be a hybrid program with an on-campus residency component. There are two (2!) DBA programs in Canada, one at the University of Calgary in Alberta and the other at Royal Roads University outside of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Calgary didn’t call to me, so that left one option. Obvious. And it was close to home. And a dear friend is a staff member there. And one of the most fabulous people I am know is on the RRU Board of Governors. The plot thickens.
Shifting capitalism
After mentioning to the enrolment advisor that I wanted to research something, let’s say, unconventional, she recommended I speak with the DBA program head. I remember clearly speaking with Dr. Hassan Wafai while sitting on a gorgeous hilltop on Salt Spring Island overlooking the ocean. I was immediately struck by his warmth and enthusiasm. Then we started talking. My background is operations; his background is operations. I lived in Innsbruck; he has been a lecturer in that beautiful city. Then he asked what I was interested in researching.
So, I launched into how I think capitalism needs to shift, that its fundamental architecture is no longer serving us or our business environment. How I believe deeply that the concept that the only responsibility of a CEO is to increase shareholder value is an idea that is harming us and our planet. That I want to research ways we can shift the principles of capitalism so that it is regenerative, inclusive, and equitable. I may have used the words love and/or peace, but I can’t recall all the details.
While I was speaking, I was also observing myself, thinking, “who calls a biz school to basically say capitalism is ruining us? This person is going to think I’m wackadoo.” Instead…
“What a fascinating topic Hillary. Did you know that Royal Roads is home of Dr. Julie MacArthur, the Canadian Research Chair for Reimagining Capitalism?” Reimagining capitalism. As soon as I heard that phrase my whole body was electrified with a “hells yes!”
And now I wanted to go back to school, to embrace the full experience of being a DBA student at Royal Roads. The admissions requirements included my transcripts, references (unending gratitude to my kind and supportive referees), and a five-page proposal outlining a research question, (which I’m welcome to change later) including references to peer-reviewed articles.
Interconnectedness through sovereignty
I dove into the research and, with further direction from Dr. Wafai, decided on looking into “business and governance models that fostered interconnectedness in organizations.” Because whether you study non-dualistic spirituality, nature (I’m looking at you, Suzanne Simard), Indigenous wisdom, or quantum physics, it is an absolute truth that we are all connected and that every action, whether hurtful or loving, ripples out to the whole. And yet so many of our businesses are about rewarding individualism, competition, mindless extraction of value to better a small number of people at the cost of many, and elevating and worshiping entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors as heroes, regardless of their actual qualities as human beings.
Although I admit to getting a bit in my head about the proposal, (when was the last time I’d applied to anything? I think it has been over a decade ago) I absolutely loved the research, diving into the dense writing that referenced another source every few words, finding connections between various perspectives and studies. And bonus, my brief and introductory research already pointed to the seemingly paradoxical theory that to have real interconnectedness in a company, it first needs to foster a sense of sovereignty in each of the team members; understanding and practising personal sovereignty in our work and workplaces is one of the things I truly believe will strengthen our businesses and heal our world and the people in it.
The application was submitted and, no spoiler alert needed, I was accepted into the DBA program at Royal Roads University two weeks later!
I’ve already started ordering and reading books such as “Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire” by Harvard professor Rebecca Henderson, and Beloved Economies, where authors Jess Rimington and Joanna Cea invite over 30 contributors to shape their findings and perspectives on creating an economy for everyone.
Join me as we reimagine capitalism
I am excited about many, many aspects of returning to school, including being so clear on my purpose and calling as I enter these next few decades of work. (Retirement has never held any interest for me.) But I’m most excited about sharing what I learn with my clients, my network, and other individuals who think that we can do better, that we must do better, in our businesses and organizations. I’ll be using this Transforming Ventures blog and setting up presentations and workshops along the way to share what I’m learning, with a goal of bringing the concepts to a practical level that can be operationalized by organizations of all sizes. (I am and always will be a systems and ops person.)
And I look forward to all perspectives, theories, discussions, and downright pushback of this work. (A dear friend already gifted me with the phrase “Go woke, go broke;” I accept the challenge to find areas in our businesses where this unequivocally does not hold up.)
It is going to be an amazing ride.
With love and peace, xo
Hillary