To a packed house of aspiring entrepreneurial leaders in the Carling-Sorenson Theater, Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond shared a call to action. 

“If you want to get serious, you need to have skin in the game.” 

It was a closing argument to the one he was making on the Babson College stage and one he has been making for years as an academic. Desmond is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, where he is the principal investigator of The Eviction Lab. His 2017 book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. 

He came to Babson as part of the Littauer Series to discuss topics from his 2023 book, Poverty, by America, which is part of the Foundations of Critical Inquiry (FCI) curriculum this semester. During his presentation and subsequent Q&A with Assistant Professor of Literature Stephen Spiess and audience members, Desmond explained how he believes the United States and Americans can take action to eliminate poverty.  

“He said in his talk, ‘We don't need to overcomplicate the problem; we just need to hate it more,’” Sanjana Padmanabhan ’28 says. “My goal professionally and academically is to have patience in my passions.” 

Desmond’s messages about poverty resonated, but for first-year students in attendance such as Padmanabhan, they went beyond his specific cause. His discussion presented universal ideas for students to take into their classes, education, and eventual professional lives. 

When the Liberal Arts Meets Business 

To make a change in the world, Desmond says, you can’t leave it up to other people. Everyone, from politicians to storytellers, from established community members to young students, has a role to play, and for future business leaders, it may change how they do business. It’s all about rewiring how you think and engage with the world. 

“When I read that the Americans in poverty could populate an entire country on their own, it made me re-evaluate the significance of the issue,” Stoney Ferry ’28 says. “Foundations of Critical Inquiry and the discussions within the class have allowed me to broaden my understanding of the issues so many are faced with daily.”  

First-year students take FCI as an introduction to the liberal arts at the collegiate level, and the course explores issues of identity and systems of power, as well as helping students access their own agency and power. 

Every Babson undergraduate student takes a blend of business and liberal arts and sciences courses in pursuit of their degree. The latter specifically provides opportunities for students to expand their understanding of the world around them, while building out critical thinking and communication skills.  

“My main professional goal is to become an entrepreneur that puts a focus on making a social impact,” says Ferry, who is interested in using her business degree to address homelessness. “So far, my Babson curriculum has allowed my knowledge to flourish in that area.” 

Small Steps Toward Big Actions  

Desmond’s book and discussion place emphasis on the role storytelling plays in getting people to take action. He also emphasizes that small steps are still steps in the right direction. 

“The part that stays with me the most is Desmond’s inclusion of people’s stories and experiences with poverty, and his vulnerability in speaking about his own,” Padmanabhan says. 

It resonated so much with Padmanabhan that she brought it into another cornerstone of the Babson curriculum: Foundations of Management & Entrepreneurship (FME). Desmond’s specific idea that supply chain transparency is a small act that impacts the fight to end poverty allowed her to rethink how her team’s product was produced. 

“Since I started at Babson, sustainability and supply chain transparency are causes that have become important to me,” she says. “While creating our (FME) venture, WaterWise Bags, it became important to me that we were a sustainable product, and we are.” 

For Michael Moreno ’28, he draws on his experiences to define the small steps he will take to follow his dreams and better the world around him. He wants to expand financial literacy and access for children. 

Through the Babson Financial Wellness Program, he tutors kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Boston on financial literacy. “I wish someone helped me learn to manage credit or invest as a child. I consider myself incredibly lucky that I get to ensure these kids learn this at a young age. First, I will do this in Boston, but someday I will do it all over the world.” 

First-year students have many classes to attend before they cross the Commencement stage. As their course load evolves and they take more classes like FCI and attend more discussions like Desmond’s, so will their career aspirations and thinking of the world. 

The blended curriculum that balances acumen with ideas is partially why Babson students see strong success and professional outcomes right after college, across industries and disciplines. It’s how they develop into entrepreneurial leaders. And it’s how they discover what skin in the game means to them. 

“I am not even done with my first year at Babson, and I am already learning things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” Moreno says. “You rarely find that anywhere else.” 

(Photos: Nic Czarnecki)