Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys, playing with bombs like kids play with toys…
Thus begins the song penned by Stevie Wonder. While I understand that not all celebrate Christmas, the sentiment stands. The song imagines a world where there is no war, where people are not hungry, and all live fearlessly in a genuinely equal society. With such an understanding that appreciates the value of life, we would realize peace on earth.
How do we come to realize such a state? I believe that business must play a facilitating role and that is our mission. The WPI Business School develops adaptive leaders who create sustainable solutions, deliver globally responsible impact, and conduct transformative research at the intersection of business, technology, and people.
To dissect the statement, our mission starts with us – faculty, staff, students, and alumni. We are made adaptable as leaders by our learning and engagement with one another. As lifelong, adaptable leaders, we are called to demonstrate a nimble flexibility that enables us to take an action, reflect upon the efficacy of our action, and improve our efforts for the good of others.
When we do this, our leadership results in sustainable solutions that yield globally responsible impact. We imagine a world where businesses and leaders work in concert with stakeholders to ensure that all benefit. Such effort requires diversity of thought and experience, inclusion of voices that have been historically marginalized, and creation care for our environment. A tall order, yes; however, as we endeavor to work in this inclusively collaborative way, we are accountable to our constituents and the impact of what we produce is maximized.
Our mission is additionally inclusive of our research enterprise which is centered in business, technology, and people. What we do and the ways in which we work must yield a generative capacity that builds on what is good and expands to ensure that all are served. The results are transformational.
Taken together, our mission is the application and embodiment of theory and practice. Our theories are applied through research, pedagogy, and innovation to ensure that what we create is sustainable. It is the WPI way. And as we realize this mission, we assert our role as a premier business school that bridges business and technology for the greater good. We are committed to this goal and poised to bring it to fruition.
“Someday all our dreams will come to be, someday in a world where people are free. Maybe not in time for you and for me, but someday at Christmas time.”
We wish you the brightest of holidays filled with peace, hope, joy, and love.
Blessings,
Rev. Debora Jackson
Dean