The vision of the University of Denver is to be a “great private university dedicated to the public good,” and the aligned vision of Daniels is “pioneering business for the public good.”  The goal of this course is to bring those visions together by challenging students to develop business driven solutions to important social issues.

This course is a culminating experience of the business core at the Daniels College of Business.  Throughout the business core, students master the language and basics of business.  Pioneering Business for the Public Good takes a broader view of the role of business in society.   This course challenges students, as members of a team, to use the knowledge and skills from the core, along with new knowledge and skills, to creatively address an important social issue. 

The course provides students with an opportunity to develop new and important skills for career success.  These skills complement important skills learned in accounting, finance, marketing, analytics, business law and ethics, and management.  New knowledge, skills, and abilities from this public good course relate directly to what employers are expecting from today’s college graduates, both for entry level positions and for advancement in the organization. 

Employers want students who can:

• Work with and lead others in teams or work groups.
• Analyze and assess problems, including understanding the system in which the problems are embedded and the stakeholders who are affected.
• Design and test business driven solutions by understanding the needs and desires of stakeholders, who are at the heart of the issues.
• Demonstrate how to develop and execute plans of action in terms of achieving results and having a social impact.

Yuval Harari (author of best selling Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century) says, “Many pedagogical experts argue that schools should switch to teaching ‘the four C’s'—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity" (21 Lessons, 2018, p. 266).  This course provides an opportunity to practice and strengthen all of these skills.

The course challenges students to produce written summaries of their project proposals.  Students also do an oral pitch to a panel of judges who represent authentic audiences of potential funding agents and other significant stakeholders.  This course is intended to prepare students for personal success while appreciating the role of business in addressing important social issues.

Course Overview

Pioneering Business for the Public Good is a Daniels undergraduate core course that serves as the culminating course experience of a Daniels undergraduate business core. We want this course to be transformational as students prepare to step into the world of practice.  We want the course to be one of discovery and challenge.  We hope students will discover the power of business to have a positive impact on promoting the public good through building relationships that will add value for all stakeholders related to business.  We also hope students will discover theri own unique purpose or commitment for finding a meaningful and fulfilling life as a future leader in business or whatever organization they choose.

This course presents each student with two challenges in this discovery process:  

1. The individual challenge:  As students complete the business core, it is useful and important for to assess your their personal purpose in business or whatever kind of organization they choose. The personal plan will engage students in thinking about their future in contributing to the public good.  This plan will be very personal in nature and may identify a career path that builds upon a Daniels education. 
2. The team challenge – To work with others on a team to practice and develop team problem solving skills.  Teams are challenged to design/evolve a purpose-driven business to address worthy problems and issues.  Teams must demonstrate that these businesses are financially sustainable and can measure their social impact on the chosen problem/issue. This will involve using skills and tools from the core curriculum, as well as other tools and skills introduced in this course. 

Teams each quarter  have created their own DU Portfolio site to serve as a repository for key solution documents and interim deliverables during the quarter as well as the complete summary of their final solution.  These team links can be found under the tabs above.  At the end of the quarter, each team will present their solution to a panel of external judges.  Final team portfolio sites will remain active into the future where they can be shared with both DU and external stakeholders as well as friends, family, employers and the general public.

If you are interested in serving as a mentor, judge or guest speaker in the Fall 2019, Winter 2020, or Spring 2020 offering of Pioneering Business for the Public Good, please contact dennis.wittmer@du.edu for consideration. We are particularly interested in students who participated in our Spring 2018 offering of the course who are interested in volunteering as team mentors. 

The teaching team has benefitted greatly from the input and guidance of the Daniels Undergraduate  Committee under the leadership of Lisa Victoravich.