Publisher’s Letter – Spring 2012

I recently had the privilege of attending Celebrating Women: Leading Change with Passion and Courage at Babson College to benefit Lemonade Days Boston. Lemonade Days is a national program that teaches young people life skills through running a lemonade stand. The idea is that by opening and operating their own businesses, young people will learn at an early age the value of entrepreneurship and how to become “proud members of society and forward thinkers of tomorrow.” Babson College is responsible for bringing this national program to our area, and serves as the primary sponsor, which is quite appropriate since the college is ranked number one in the country for entrepreneurship education.

While attending the event, I had the pleasure of meeting Babson College President Leonard Schlesinger, who was instrumental in getting this program up and running locally, and you’ll get to meet him as well in our Face to Face interview. President Schlesinger believes that there is a great deal to be learned from serial entrepreneurs, and in Lisa Henderson’s interview with him, he explains why this knowledge is so important for leaders in today’s unpredictable world. As a business owner, I found the interview especially interesting, and I have also been reading Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future, the book President Schlesinger co-wrote with Charles F. Kiefer and Paul B. Brown.

Wellesley resident Katie Smith Milway’s new book, The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough, featured in this issue’s Books department, provides another valuable lesson on how entrepreneurship can be learned and implemented at an early age. The book tells the true story of a young Honduran woman who has the entrepreneurial vision to employ basic sustainable farming methods to transform her family’s struggling subsistence farm into a supplier of vegetables to the entire country.

And to prove that it’s never too late to realize your own entrepreneurial dream, two Wellesley couples, who just so happen to be friends with each other, share their stories about buying and running a bookstore. You’ll meet Linda Seamonson and Jeff Mayersohn, owners of the Harvard Book Store and Gillian and Bill Kohli, new owners of Wellesley Books. Their candid conversation with Allison Ijams Sargent is as enlightening and absorbing as a really good book.

Whether it’s owning your own business, growing a garden, or simply relaxing and appreciating the spring blossoms, I think you’ll find plenty of inspiration in this issue. Enjoy!