The purpose of this chapter is to share a process to compose a mission for a business program, conceiving it as an aspirational quest, where mindful and critical methods are invoked. By proposing a set of sensitizing questions, organized in a comprehensive matrix, the author argues about the importance of discovering insights, promoting critiques and formulating transformative intentions in business education. After adopting a set of comprehensive goals, some logics of change are explored, and ulteriorly, a mission statement in presented.
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This chapter weaves a mission proposal for a business school, teleologically oriented towards protecting the dignity of the widest possible spectrum of interested parties, but also mindful of the process to be implemented, which attempts to be inclusive and reflexive.
By recalling a basic definition of a mission, as “a preestablished and often self-imposed objective or purpose”, (such as given by the Merriam – Webster dictionary); the chapter wishes to evoke the importance of going back to basics, and of exploring the potential of business and business education to constantly be a transformative force for society.
In the particular setting of an emerging country, that continuously faces multiple socio-economic problems, environmental threats, and unsatisfied developmental needs of its population, business could be either an inhibitor or an enhancer of institutional coherence, and multi-dimensional development.
The author believes that the process of composing a mission for a business school would benefit by questioning conventional beliefs and examining taken for granted premises about business. Such a reflexive and inquisitive approach would be, by definition, philosophical, i.e. friendly of, and seeker of wisdom. Such a wisdom can be sought-after, by both, individual introspection and inter-subjective dialogue. Therefore, the chapter proposes to trigger reflection by asking some very basic questions, and empathically, trying to incorporate with equanimity the perspectives of all parties concerned with business education.
Exploring a possible venue to conceive a mission (before espousing specific values), the chapter proposes a set of questions, just to trigger the conversation. These questions do not pretend to be exhaustive, nor do they depict canonical intentions; they just wish to articulate discussions around some related topics, making room for all sorts of legitimate concerns.
When facing the challenge to compose a Mission for Business Education, a good set of starting questions could be about the transcendent challenges of business, and the correlated extraordinary challenges that education must assume.