There is a new school being launched out of the Metropolitan State College of Denver called Center for Innovation.
The Center for Innovation seeks to foster cutting-edge and effective curricula utilizing creative learning tools that make entrepreneurship education a college-wide and community-wide experience. The mission of this initiative is to:
- service the College and its unique constituents, including minorities, women and urban youth,
- transform the way the College prepares students and community members for success in the rapidly changing American and Global economy, and
- enable any student or community member, regardless of their field of study or business, to have access to entrepreneurship and innovation training.
Such an undertaking and difficult when considering mixing entrepreneurs and educators. This early success is where the magic is happening. The Executive Director, Mick Jackowski is a long time Marketing Professor who has the internal relationships and knowledge of higher education. He is also one of the founders of a student run business called Brand Spanking New and has working knowledge in industry and entrepreneurial ventures.
The board of the new center adds to the nice collection of personal brands that make sense. Christina James has done a magnificent job building a diverse, connected and talented board. Not to mention passionate.
As a team builder and personal brand strategist myself, I am always fascinated to see how talent migrates to committees. On this board, there are multi-talented individuals who would make a significant impact on one or many of the committees from fund development to marketing/PR/Speaker bureau to curriculum. But when you know the talent and the interested combined, you can predict where people want to play making for a well built team that is dedicated because they are contributing in an area of passion.
The other interesting decision to watch is the personal brand looking to flex talent muscles in areas they don't get to develop as much in a day job or on other boards. A talent that needs a light shined on it for that personal brand's own development. When you have a culture that encourages growth and accountability, amazing people show amazing talent. When the personal values based mission and vision match with that of the organization, magic takes place. It is going to be a lot of fun to be a part of a team doing something amazing for the Denver community and beyond.
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