EMBRACING THE HIGHER WHY
The entrepreneurial mindset of Naropa students By Danielle Poitras Photo by Sofia Drobinskaya
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aropa University’s mission of contemplative education invites students to engage in an internal process of exploring how they might make a positive difference in the world. Lyndsay Farrant (MA Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, '15), Executive Direc tor of Strategic Projec ts, underscores that Naropa’s emphasis on cultivating present-moment awareness and encouraging courageous engagement with the world attracts students who want to be catalysts for change. “Our education supports people in getting clear on who they are as individuals and how they want to shine,” Farrant says. “Contemplative education embraces inner discovery, and this speaks to the students that want to learn more about their unique gifts and strengths that they bring to this world…. Our students inspire each other to be creative and embrace an entrepreneurial spirit.” In June 2021, Digital Information World highlighted Naropa University in their survey of the best U.S. universities for aspiring business founders and entrepreneurs. At 14.2 percent, Naropa has one of the highest percentages of founders, ahead of Stanford University with 13.6 percent. Our students further refine the skills needed to develop a founder mindset, whether it be through a specific course or our holistic approach to career
counseling. “Fundamentally, how do we develop our own bold vision for the future that we want to see?” says President Charles G. Lief. “And how do we do that through deepening skill in creativity, in collaboration, in courage, in compassion—all of which are aspects of successful social entrepreneurs.” President Lief, whose professional work has been focused on nonprofit social enterprise, teaches the undergraduate seminar Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Surveying local, regional, and worldwide examples of social enterprise and the impacts that innovators can have in the twenty-first century, the course explores the ways that business tools can be harnessed for significant social change. As the culminating project, students develop a business plan for a mission-driven enterprise that addresses a social issue they are passionate about. They then present their plan to a panel of judges composed of community leaders, including faculty from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. Some then take their refined plans and start their own business after graduation. Lief describes the work of the seminar as building students’ capacity to be visionary and pragmatic change agents. The undergraduate internship is another course that offers on-the-ground training. Blending
Naropa Magazine | 2021–22 | magazine.naropa.edu
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