Lillian Lincoln Lambert

2011 Honoree -- First African American Woman to Earn Harvard MBA

Lillian Lincoln Lambert’s memoir, The Road to Someplace Better: From the Segregated South To Harvard Business School and Beyond, is a powerful reflection of hard work, creativity and vision.

In the book, Lambert, the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Business School, details the roads she traveled before building a $20 million company.

After graduating from high school in Powhatan County, Va., in 1958, Lambert was eager to leave behind her rural roots and follow her dreams, even though she was uncertain what those dreams were. She landed in New York, where she worked a series of dead-end jobs. Always in the back of her mind were thoughts of her mother who encouraged her to attend college.

Several years passed before Lambert enrolled in college. By 1961, she was living in Washington, D.C., and was impressed with students she met from Howard University. Although Lambert found work that was satisfying, she felt something was missing in her life. Her first step toward change came when she enrolled in the District of Columbia Teachers College and later was accepted at Howard.

At Howard, Lambert met H. Naylor Fitzhugh, one of the first blacks to receive a Harvard MBA in 1933. Fitzhugh became Lambert’s mentor and the person to convince her that she had the discipline and intelligence to succeed at Harvard. Despite the rigorous pace at the Ivy League institution, Lambert excelled. In 1969, Lambert became the first African-American woman to earn an MBA from the Harvard School of Business.

Lambert acknowledges that her degree failed to immediately open doors. "For a while I wondered when I was going to use this MBA," she said. Rather it was her hands-on experiences and the degree combined that, in 1976, enabled her to start her company Centennial One, Inc., a building maintenance company founded in her garage with a few thousand dollars.

Looking back, Lambert said that by surrounding herself with people who complemented her strengths, her company prospered. Major setbacks were avoided by her control of the company’s financial records, and assigning others to handle human resources and operations. Lambert also adhered to a common-sense business strategy of reinvesting profits in the company.

In 2003, Harvard Business School awarded Lambert the Alumni Achievement Award, its highest honor for alumni. Also, Enterprising Women magazine inducted her into its Hall of Fame and featured her on the cover of the April 2010 issue. She is the recipient of many awards, including Harvard Business School’s African-American Alumni Association’s Bert King Award; MBA of the Year, Harvard Business African-American Alumni Association; Small Business Person of the Year, State of Maryland; Entrepreneur of the Year, Black MBA Association; and Top 50 Women-Businesses, Washington Business Journal.

Lambert believes, "There is no substitute for education and there are no shortcuts."