Building Business in the Context of a Life - Harvard Business School MBA Program

Building Business in the Context of a Life

Course Number 1647

Senior Lecturer Janet Kraus
Entrepreneur in Residence Lauri Union
Winter; Q3; Q4; 3 credits
20 sessions
Paper

Career Focus

Building a Business is the Context of a Life is designed for anyone who is interested in the idea of defining and pursuing their life vision and success like an entrepreneur pursues a business opportunity - with relentless passion and without regard to resources not currently controlled. You do not need to have a business idea or be sure that you want to start a business, you only need to be intrigued by the notion of leading and entrepreneurial career and life.

Educational Objectives

  • Gain in-depth understanding of your vision, values, motivations, interest, definition of success, importance of meaning and happiness, comparative strengths and weaknesses
  • Understand and apply frameworks, self assessment and processes to develop a life vision and engage in a life plan that encompasses your deepest life interests, the way you want to make a difference in the world, your preferences for lifestyle, your aspirations for work, money, family/relationships, community and yourself. Develop a skill for re-engaging with you plan over time to ensure that it remains relevant over time
  • Understand how to identify and assess meaningful entrepreneurial opportunities from a business and personal perspective
  • Understand mindsets that support enduring success (living life forward, just enough, juggling not balancing, the practice of happiness, being in flow)
  • Consider the life context in which you will make career choices: How are your decisions affected by major factors in your life - (e.g., important people, where you want to live, what lifestyle you expect to have)
  • Acquire a language for communicating and negotiating life choices with your stakeholders
  • Understand the role of crisis and unexpected events in shaping your ideas and choices

Course Content

  1. What is Success and What am I Striving For?
  2. Understanding Life Planning
  3. Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunities
  4. Integrating Business and Personal Life
  5. Life Journeys - Reflections at Various Stages