MIT Sloan reading list: 7 books from 2024
New books this year include a retirement how-to, the reissue of a classic entrepreneurship guide, and a look back at the California energy crisis.
Faculty
Malia Lazu is a Lecturer in the TIES Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Malia Lazu, an award winning, tenured strategist in diversity & inclusion has sparked deep economic development and investment in urban entrepreneurship for over twenty years. In her most recent role as EVP and Regional President at Berkshire Bank, Malia worked to generate wealth for communities by expanding access to capital and spurring economic growth—especially in communities of color that have traditionally been left behind.
In her first nine months at Berkshire, Malia evolved the $13 billion bank’s strategic focus beyond traditional community banking services to prioritize tangible community impact. She helped to diversify the board of directors; developed a suite of financial products and programs that support entrepreneurs of color; and launched ReevX Labs, a collaborative workspace and innovation hub for the urban startup community.
A serial entrepreneur in her own right, Malia has created and led a number of socially responsible business accelerators across Boston. She worked with the city to create Accelerate Boston which helped launch over twenty minority businessesin its first five years and continues to help minority entrepreneurs raise capital. She was also the founder and president of the Future Boston Alliance, now known as Epicenter, which built an ecosystem of creators, consumers and investors to develop businesses in the creative industries. As a fellow at MIT’s Community Innovators Lab, she launched The Urban Labs, a multicultural agency helping brands see returns on diversity.
Malia began her career as a political organizer and bridge-builder founding Mass VOTE, a state-wide voter engagement campaign. She has led culture-shifting campaigns for the actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, as well as businessmen and philanthropists like Peter Lewis and George Soros.
Malia currently sits on the boards of GBH, Boston Harbor Now, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Revolutionary Spaces, Chica Project and The Nation magazine editorial board. She was named one of Essence Magazine’s 50 Founders To Watch in 2017, Boston Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business in 2019 and Boston Magazine’s The 100 Most Influential Bostonians in 2021.
Lazu, Malia C. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2024.
New books this year include a retirement how-to, the reissue of a classic entrepreneurship guide, and a look back at the California energy crisis.
MIT experts explain how generative AI — and AI generally — could transform enterprises this year, as well as how to set realistic environmental goals.
Will banks continue to support and trumpet their commitments to the underserved? Or will those commitments be trumped by the political climate?
"Democrats ran a race to the right, and we had to be silent on a lot of issues that we work on daily, that people find passion in."
"Restorative justice would be a positive next step for TD Bank to help repair the societal harm that has been caused."
"In today's complex global economy, companies will need to find their growth potential in the new and different."
Intention to Impact makes a case for the inclusion economy, particularly as businesses look to future-proof themselves within a highly competitive landscape. This course covers the vital importance of hiring the right mix of people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and how proactive diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) will show up in the top line of revenue growth and on the bottom line of profitability.