In a Time of Change, an Entrepreneur Returns to School
Editor’s note: As Babson’s new Doctor of Business Administration program begins, we are highlighting the entrepreneurial leaders who comprise the inaugural cohort. This is one in a series of DBA candidate profiles.
Paul Joseph MBA’97, DBA’28 is a man of many hats. He is a consultant and advisor, entrepreneur and business owner, community leader and college lecturer, and a steady-as-she-goes marathoner, who enjoys “running long distances at slow speeds.”
And now, he is again a student, a path for his life and career he has wanted to pursue for a long time. Joseph is part of the inaugural cohort of professionals earning their Doctor of Business Administration degree at Babson College. “I have contemplated pursuing a terminal degree for about 20 years,” Joseph says.
In a time of profound change, Joseph feels the value of relationships has been diminished in business. He hopes the degree will allow him to achieve a greater impact in his multifaceted career. “There is an increasing need for empathetic leaders who are creative and for critical thinkers and emboldened decision-makers,” he says.
Joseph is the founder of Contexed, a management consulting and business education firm. He also owns and operates Metroworks, a coworking and collaboration space in his hometown of Natick, Massachusetts. All told, he has more than 30 years of leadership and business experience, including sales, marketing, consulting, and executive management, spanning venture capital-backed startups to Fortune 500 companies to the Boston area’s MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, where he once was president and CEO.
“Babson is such a vibrant, energetic place to learn and grow. … To be back as a student, working with the faculty and other students, who are committed to this new DBA program, is a unique and exciting opportunity.”
Paul Joseph MBA’97, DBA’28
Beyond business, he has served in various community positions in Natick, including on the town’s Select Board, and is currently the chair of Natick’s Economic Development Committee. He also has spent time teaching in undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs in China, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S., including at Babson.
To Babson, he has again returned. “Babson is such a vibrant, energetic place to learn and grow,” Joseph says. “This is home, as one of my former colleagues put it, and to be back as a student, working with the faculty and other students, who are committed to this new DBA program, is a unique and exciting opportunity.”
What drove you to pursue your DBA, and why did you choose Babson?
“Our new economy—built around ‘attention’ and affinity groups, many of which are virtual—has diminished the perceived importance of personal relationships, alliances, in-person community building and networking, and committing to a shared vision or the greater good.
“Babson’s DBA launch was timely and its focus on developing entrepreneurial leaders as practitioner scholars aligned with my interests in deepening my practice as a consultant, teacher, and advisor while expanding my understanding of the impact of technology in our workplaces and society as a whole. The blended format fits perfectly into my current, self-employed work-life balance, too.”
What is one big problem you most want to solve, and what research area will you explore to help solve it?
“I’m currently considering two potential paths with the DBA. One is focused on addressing the impacts of technology and our augmented selves on the workforce and employers.
“For example, how will entry-level workers, including lifelong learners and career changers, be affected by the rapid adoption and evolution of AI and machine learning? How must organizations reconsider their approaches to talent acquisition and professional development, including succession planning, leadership training, and culture building? How will human identities be shaped by machines (and vice versa) and how will those identities affect how we interact with other people, systems, and society at large?
“The second direction relates to some work I’ve been doing with colleagues working in China and Israel, which focuses on how leaders and systems respond to rapidly changing, unpredictable, and chaotic situations. We are living in an era of seemingly constant, rapid change at scale, and there might be a role to play in developing a validated process that can help leaders and their organizations anticipate and respond to sudden, potentially catastrophic, circumstances in near real time.”
What are your hopes and aspirations professionally after the DBA program?
“I look forward to deepening my impact as an advisor and consultant to growing organizations.
“The rigor and focus provided by this program and the dissertation process will help to establish a new or revitalized subject matter expertise that will hopefully benefit not only the business community, but also local and global communities as well. For me, that might include more opportunities to advise, teach, and present my research and client experiences, maybe in a book.
“As ‘students of a certain age,’ especially as society continues to emerge and evolve in this post-pandemic era of rapid change, I think my colleagues and I appreciate both the awesome opportunities in front of us and the responsibilities we carry to model entrepreneurial leadership in action while advancing the global impact of the Babson community.”
This is part of a series of profiles highlighting the individual entrepreneurial leaders in the inaugural cohort of Babson’s new Doctor of Business Administration program. Read more about Babson’s first DBA candidates.
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