Gib Bulloch and Accenture

After getting his MBA, Gib Bulloch pursues a conventional management consulting career with Accenture for seven years. Concerned that he is not contributing enough to society in his everyday work, he is given leave to work on a development project with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Macedonia. The experience strengthens his resolve to transition to a career with social impact. He wonders if he could build a development consulting business within Accenture, but struggles to come up with a business model that could yield a favorable return for the company. What should Gib do?

It is common for people on seemingly successful career paths to have doubts about whether they are making a positive difference to society. Gib Bulloch’s dilemma provides a platform to discuss how people evaluate the societal impact of work, how each person defines career success and finds their own unique path to happiness in professional life. It can be used to debate whether and when maximizing societal impact requires giving up a corporate career and joining an impact-focused organization instead (e.g., a non-profit or social enterprise). This idea can be developed to explore the potential to bring about significant positive change from within a traditional company (e.g., an “intrapreneur” who triggers corporate social initiatives).