The Workforce Is Changing. Entrepreneurship Is the Answer.

President Stephen Spinelli at USASBE Conference 2020
Listen

Disruption. It’s more than just a buzzword for Babson College President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD. It’s reality.

“The pace of change in the world and in the workplace is creating disruption in almost every industry,” says Spinelli.

Nearly 40% of U.S. jobs currently sit in occupations that are likely to shrink by 2030, according to one McKinsey study. Advances in fields like artificial intelligence and robotic process automation mean that half the millennial workforce is expected to find work in jobs that have yet to be created, as KPMG wrote in Forbes.

Why does this matter? Now more than ever, Spinelli says, students need to be prepared for the future of work, and with it, all of its uncertainty. This “creates an essential and growing need for learning across a lifetime,” he adds.

Spinelli shared his thoughts on the future of work and the importance of entrepreneurship, across all sectors of education, at this year’s United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) conference. There, he also received the John E. Hughes Award for Entrepreneurial Achievement.

Entrepreneurship as a Differentiator

“I’ve read thousands of articles about the future of education and the future of business,” Spinelli said. “I think (the education industry) is what the newspaper industry was in 1990 when someone invented the internet.”

In this time of disruption and change, when the world is more connected and complicated than ever, the need for lifelong education has never been greater, he says. It also is time for entrepreneurship education to take center stage, as a discipline that “has based its existence on motivating people to look at what market demand is and to really create value.”

A lifelong learner himself, Spinelli co-founded Jiffy Lube at the same time he started his MBA program at Babson.

“It was the first time I really began to understand the combination of thought and action,” he shared.

For Spinelli, the mindset is what distinguishes those who have participated in entrepreneurship education from those who have not. “Entrepreneurs aren’t people that jump out of airplanes without a parachute,” he said. “We may jump out of an airplane, but chances are, we’re well prepared to land where we want to land and to do something important when we get there.”

This mindset creates entrepreneurial leaders, no matter the industry, career, or job title—people who are able to turn problems into opportunities that create social and economic value.

“I believe we can have such a dramatic effect on education, not just business.”

President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD

Addressing the audience at USASBE, Spinelli asked: Will there be a need for more accelerated knowledge in the next 10 years? And, who has spent the last 30 years, including millions of hours, dedicated to figuring out what the entrepreneurial process is and should be?

The answers? Yes, and, of course, Babson.

“I believe we can have such a dramatic effect on education, not just business,” he said. “We’re the experts in understanding market demand, delivering value, and solving the problem. We should be leading this revolution.”

Read more from Heather McGowan MBA’01 on the future of work, from her session at Babson Connect: Worldwide during Babson’s Centennial Celebration.

Posted in Entrepreneurial Leadership

More from Entrepreneurial Leadership »

Latest Stories

a row of electricity meters
The Price of Power: What’s Driving Rising Electricity Rates? Electricity rates have been steadily increasing. Ryan Davies, a Babson professor of finance, unpacks the many reasons for that, including the massive data centers popping up across the country.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
September 30, 2025

Posted in Insights

The Babson community and mascot celebrate at the Roger Babson statue last year
No. 2 Again: Wall Street Journal Ranks Babson the No. 2 Best College for the Second Year in a Row For the second year in a row, The Wall Street Journal ranked Babson as the No. 2 Best College in the United States, lauding the College for its impressive student outcomes.
By
Eric Beato
Editor / Writer
Eric Beato
Eric Beato is the Editor of Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. A native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Eric has worked as an editor and writer at newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Boston Herald. Eric joined Babson College in 2019 after working as the communications director for a private educational travel company and as the managing editor of six regional sports publications.
September 29, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Insights, Outcomes

First row (left to right): Laura Bautista ’29, Ezel Bhatty ’29, Sydney Fojas ’29; Second row (left to right): Lucas Lebrija ’29, Tia Malhotra ’29, Remy Witt ’29
Class of 2029 Blank Leadership Scholars Bring Excitement to Campus The Class of 2029 Blank Leadership Scholars arrive at Babson equipped with entrepreneurial spirit and social impact experience, from launching nonprofits and tech solutions to championing environmental education.
By
Melissa Savignano
Writer
Melissa Savignano
Melissa Savignano, a content marketing manager at Babson College, has worked in higher education for almost a decade, where she tells authentic, compelling campus and community stories. Before Babson, she managed communications for Boston University’s largest college, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. She previously worked in client relations, helping brands of various sizes launch content marketing strategies and storytelling initiatives. When not at work, you will find her in the city of Boston, probably at the movie theater.
September 25, 2025

Posted in Community