Dr. Stephen Spinelli, president of Babson College, on entrepreneurship and why “action’s more important than ability”

Perhaps there’s no one better to lead the academic institution ranked No. 1 in entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report than a serial entrepreneur who developed a small Utah business into a national franchise brand.

On this episode of the PNC C-Speak podcast, Stephen Spinelli, Ph.D., details “the intersection between business” and Babson College, where he is president. Spinelli’s entrepreneurial journey began right out of college when he and several partners crafted a plan to buy a quick-service oil change business they eventually rebranded as Jiffy Lube International. 

After a slow start, Spinelli thought, “Boy, I’m either not good enough or I’m not educated enough. And so I made the decision. If I wasn’t educated enough, I could try to get some (entrepreneurial) education.” That led him to Babson, where he earned an MBA and, later, a doctorate in economics from the University of London.

Spinelli was named Babson’s 14th president in 2019. 

“I think the education system, and in particular, the colleges and universities (in Massachusetts) are an exceptional network of intellectual, human, sociological, spiritual capital that is rare in the history of the world,” Spinelli says.

Listen to the episode to hear more from Spinelli on:

• His first job as a health care administrator. (2:08)
• “Hard lessons” learned about failure. (13:42)
• One thing people don’t know about him. (22:00)
• His wish for Boston. (24:32)

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Download a transcript of the podcast.