193 | Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing in Business Education
Image of Dr. Mitzi Montoya, Dean of Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico
Our guest on the pod this week is Dr. Mitzi Montoya. Mitzi is the Dean of the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. She is a thought leader in higher education who has supported student and faculty success, enhanced entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems, and collaborative initiativesa that advance economic and community prosperity.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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Mitzi Montoya Awarepreneurs interview
SPEAKERS
Paul Zelizer
Paul Zelizer 00:01
Hi, this is Paul Zelizer, and welcome to another episode of The Awarepreneurs Podcast. This podcast is all about the intersection of three things, conscious business, social impact, and awareness practice. Each episode I do a deep dive in with a thought leader in this intersection. Someone who has market tested experience, and is already transforming many lives. Before I introduce today's guest, and our topic, and this is a very special topic and a very special guest, one that's near and dear to my heart, one request, if you could go over to iTunes or whatever app you're listening to the show on and do a rating and a review. It helps tremendously. Thank you so much. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Dr. Mitzi Montoya. And our topic is social entrepreneurship and impact investing in business education. Dr. Mitzi Montoya is the Dean of Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. She is a thought leader in higher education, who has supported students and faculty success, enhanced entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems, and collaborative initiatives that advance economic and community prosperity. Mitzi, welcome to the show.
Mitzi Montoya 01:14
Thank you, very nice to be here.
Paul Zelizer 01:15
Such an honor to have you and we are in the build up phase to an exciting event here in New Mexico that we're going to talk about and tell people about and then we've been talking about literally for more than a year. But before we get to all that and your background, and what's happening here what's happening at Anderson, we're called aware of foreigners Mitzi and one of the ways we like to get to know somebody is to ask you about a wellness or an awareness practice that you personally use to bring your most resilient most resourced self to this really important work?
Mitzi Montoya 01:50
Well, it's a great question. And I love that about your organization that you are helping people and reminding people to, to stay focused on their whole selves and, and bringing their full energy to their work. For me, I would say it's two things. Well, it's really three things. But I start every day, with some reading time and reflection time. And I, let's say, been a standard practice for really nearly 25, maybe even 30 years. And it's really important to me that I am always focused on thinking about my impact on others. And so that's an important part of my personal faith and practice, and then also regular outside time. So whether that's hiking, running, walking, riding a bike, whatever it is, I love being outdoors. And I get energy from that. And I find that I am more at peace and calm and reflective, and it gives me a chance to think so those are the two big things. And then of course, connections with family and friends is always been important to me.
Paul Zelizer 02:54
We don't have anywhere to be outside here in New Mexico. We really suffered that way, right?
Mitzi Montoya 03:01
That was a huge draw. And coming to this today it drove where I where I bought a house, I could get easy access to the foothills. Beautiful. I
Paul Zelizer 03:09
love Ron every Friday. We have a Friday's Foothill trail running group called the New Mexico dirt baggers. So anyway, big shout out to the New Mexico Dirtbaggers are up in the foothills. If you ever see a group, maybe even running with a burro, one of our members does burro racing.
Mitzi Montoya 03:27
I want to keep an eye out for you.
Paul Zelizer 03:30
You see us running along with a burro? Oh, you're like, oh, there's Paul.
Mitzi Montoya 03:35
I look for you.
Paul Zelizer 03:36
So you've been at this work for quite some time at sea. And like before you even got into business education. You were really passionate for many years about innovation in business, and how did you get into the whole field of business? And this you know, kind of beginning passion. That's really been a three line for your whole career about innovation?
Mitzi Montoya 04:00
Well, it started very young. And I would say it started even you know, before the first school and it was just it was very much a part of how I grew up and particularly motivated and inspired by my dad who was an engineer, and a first generation college student, but I would call him an old school engineer that is tinkering, making stuff. We never bought things new. I thought going to the dump was a normal practice because you went and bought stuff and you made stuff. So the the process of innovation was always very interesting to me. When I went to school, I wanted to understand more about what that means. And as it turns out, there's not a degree in innovation. So I made my way through a variety of different programs. And what I really discovered was an interest in understanding the process and helping innovators and helping organizations innovate and helping create change in communities and institutions. And so that led me to Research pap. And and from there consulting and working with a wide variety of organizations and of course, teaching and trying to connect that, that process of teaching innovation to a variety of different academic programs. And so that ultimately found its way to leadership roles in engineering programs, my backgrounds in engineering, and prior to business, and then eventually business education, and how do we think about how do we create the capacity for personal innovation and organizational innovation and of course, product and service innovation. And so for me, it's a, it's a thread that runs through everything I do, whether I was studying it, doing it, or trying to lead innovation and and change that that provides benefit to whoever we're serving.
Paul Zelizer 05:55
So after a lot of years, and thinking about engineering and innovation and business, somewhere along the way, you started being invited into leadership roles in business education, like what was that transition? Like? And, you know, we can talk about these things on aware printers, like there aren't as many women in positions of leadership in high levels academic as we wish there were, even though the research tells us that better outcomes happen when women are in leadership positions. So what was that like for you personally? And were there any, I don't know, ways that you had to work harder as a woman to find your way into those roles and to earn people's respect in those roles?
Mitzi Montoya 06:39
It's, it's a great question. And we've clearly we have a lot of work to do in terms of having more equitable representation of many different groups and leadership roles, I had the great benefit of having incredible mentors along the way, and not always in, you know, positive, warm, fuzzy relationships, most of my mentors, and I think we all choose mentors differently. My mentors were people who pushed me really hard, and saw things in me that I would say, I certainly didn't see. So I'm, in many ways, I often call myself an accidental academic, I didn't set out to become an academic, I didn't set out to get, you know, the graduate degree I didn't set out to end up in a leadership role. But the people that I work for, and with, put me into leadership roles, and and then also probably the most significant thing that influenced my career was a dean at North Carolina State University, recommended that I go into a fellowship program that specifically focused on leadership development. And as it turns out, it's specifically focused on recruiting underrepresented and marginalized groups into leadership programs, and that's called the American Council on Education fellowship. And you take a year, and you go shadow and work with major leaders in your area or related areas and and really work to discover if it is a path for you. And I had the opportunity to go work for and shadow the president and provost at Arizona State University, and a spark was lit. And it completely changed the trajectory of my career. So I would say that I think that we find our path different ways. And for me, it was a process of just a point in career where I was, I was I needed another way to make an impact, I felt a calling to try to help change higher education and address some of our problems. And, and I found a really nice fit in a group of mentors that helped me in place me and opportunities to do that. And from which I learned an incredible amount. And it really completely inspired a new path in my career.
Paul Zelizer 08:59
Nice. And we'll put a link to the American Council in the show notes so people can go find out more. So you found your way. It's so funny, you call yourself an accidental, academic, I call myself an accidental social entrepreneur, like I didn't, I didn't even know that was a thing. I started out in community mental health, and it was about making communities better. But then when we ran into so many structural and funding issues, like there's got to be a way we can, like hook up the desire to like make the communities that I care about, and that you know, are oftentimes under representative in terms of who's at the table where real, like the most resources are being discussed, and the biggest engine on planet Earth, which is business and how do you sync those up, and I didn't even have a name for it. But it came from being a community mental health and not being synced up with the engine. And that wasn't fun. So I sort of found my way into this thing right at the time, social entrepreneurship was taking off all over the world about 2008. But anyway, so just funny to hear you describe yourself that way. So as somebody who did, it wasn't like he sort of positioned yourself. And I'm going to go here and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to make the choices I need to make to find that particular seat. But it was more like, oh, wow, here I am, I'm now in leadership in business education, like, give us a timeframe like when did that part of your career start?
Mitzi Montoya 10:23
Well, I spent 15 years at North Carolina State University, just really doing kind of, I would say the very normal things that the least I thought normal things faculty do, which was doing my research and teaching. But what I also accidentally found myself doing accidental is a theme of my life is I have always been very interested in less the the clean normal, this is what you do if you have this label or title and I have always worked at the intersection. And so I launched the Innovation Lab, which was a joint project with cutting across business engineering, design, textiles, and we worked on problems, innovation problems for any type of organization. And it was fantastic. And I and I love that bringing together of different disciplines. And what it started in me was recognizing that we had work to do on ourselves, meaning higher education, higher education is not well suited to working the way sometimes real business works and outside of silos and and so as I kept getting put in these opportunities are having these opportunities to create new things, I would get asked, Hey, can you come do that for us. And so it really just continued down this process of, I would come in and look at problems and we'd figure out how to make change. And and I started getting labeled a an innovator or a change agent. And, and some of what I have taken on, generally speaking, all of my leadership roles have been a response to some change that was recognized by the organization that needed to be made. And and then I have had accumulated experiences, creating change and helping organizations move forward. And so those were the opportunities that I that I kept taking, and that kept fitting. And so I moved into a leadership role at Arizona State University where I took on the College of Technology and Innovation as their Dean and and really worked to turn that around, which led to opportunities to lead entrepreneurship and innovation for Arizona State writ large. And that was between 2010 and 15. And, and that was exciting. But I wanted to get back to a business school. And so I took a job as the Dean of the business school at Oregon State University where there were they were at an inflection point. And there was a need to lead a different kind of change in that state, where we needed to move online, we needed to serve a more rural community. And we had a variety of things that we needed to accomplish. And so that's when I moved back into business education was 2015, at Oregon State University.
Paul Zelizer 13:07
And then not too long ago, you wound up in New Mexico.
Mitzi Montoya 13:10
I did. And so there was an opportunity here, that was especially exciting to me, that really relates to being at a point in my career, where I wanted to make a difference in a community where we certainly have just this unbelievable population of students and incredible need for access to business education as we work to create opportunity in this community. And I couldn't be more proud to be here. I should mention that my grandparents on my dad's side are from New Mexico. So there were a variety of really just this couldn't have been the intersection of a variety of personal things that made this this place attractive, and it felt right. And it is a place that has tremendous potential and need for us to really, I think, take a step in upping our game so that we are of greater service to the community and also showing a different way in business education. And that's, that's important to me. And it was right time in my career to do this kind of thing.
Paul Zelizer 14:20
Nice. If somebody doesn't know New Mexico now, it'd be hard to imagine listeners, if you've been around for a while, you've heard me talk about this place many, many, many times. But if you're newer listeners or you just haven't heard one of those episodes, that give us a context to see who lives here and how is New Mexico may be a little different when we're thinking about inclusive education.
Mitzi Montoya 14:42
Like I have said in various talks that I've given that one of the things that's exciting to me about New Mexico is of course the the demographic of the state which is important because we are a very diverse state. We have this incredible rich history that I'm sure you could share far better than me. But But what we have is this, this cultural history and ethos and diversity here that is there, of course, significantly Hispanic, Latino, Latina, but also Native American with our tribal communities, and including African American, Asian American. Basically, if you look at us in relation to the rest of this country, I would argue that we look like the future of business. If you follow demography, and you look at what is projected to come of the current census, we are already there. So we are this incredibly rich, diverse environment, which means that what we are already doing as a university, so business education, in particular, here, we're educating what the future of this country is going to look like, given our projections, which means we are effectively a living lab, we are an opportunity to understand how we have already adjusted business education to serve this population, and how do we need to in order to really create access to inclusive prosperity. And those are both important things, because we are already doing it to some degree, that we haven't necessarily deconstructed what that means. And we need to do more, and others need to learn from us. And that's extremely exciting to me.
Paul Zelizer 16:31
So listeners, hello from the future, right?
Mitzi Montoya 16:35
Exactly right.
Paul Zelizer 16:36
It's messy, and it's beautiful. And it's so rich, and I love living here. There's no place else I'd rather This place is amazing. You've heard me say that before listeners. But it really is a remarkable place to live in a time when there's a lot of people talking about diversity, equity inclusion. If you live in New Mexico, and you're paying attention, and you're in the conversation, I love your word lab, Mitzi. This is a living, breathing experiment in diversity, XC equity and inclusion. And I have learned so so much I oftentimes the biggest teacher in my life have been people in the place called New Mexico. I just am so humbled and so grateful to this place.
Mitzi Montoya 17:22
Well, I'll put one other one out there for you, which I like that occurred to me right after I got here, as you know, some people may call this the land of manyana. And I actually agree with that. I may not always be said politically, but I think it's exactly right. I think that the the heart and soul of this place is in fact, the We are the future. This is what it looks like. And it matters. And it's important. And we need to understand the how and why. And it's why people that come here, you feel it immediately. He is very hard to put into words. But it's real, it's palpable. And I believe it is the future of what people both want and aspire to in terms of the feel of the place. And it is also something we need to understand from a business perspective.
Paul Zelizer 18:09
I promise you listeners, we didn't get paid by the tourism department in New Mexico to say all the nice things.
Mitzi Montoya 18:18
Maybe we should I don't know.
Paul Zelizer 18:19
Yeah. Right. Why did we not think of getting sponsored on this? So So understanding that context, Mitzi, we were talking before we hit record like, like the young people of all over the world, social entrepreneurship and sustainability in business, and ESG, environmental, social governance, and Sri socially responsible investing, and ESD and STM sorry, SDGs un Sustainable Development Goals. Young people want to talk about that all over the world. But that's particularly true here. Why are these themes about how to do business in a way that's more intentional about impacts and communities we care about and not just chasing money? Why are young people clamoring for that conversation? Not that it's not a singular these conversations?
Mitzi Montoya 19:11
Well, I think it's um, it's a moment in time and generational in that we, when you go through a period of time where you know, there I think there are a lot of studies around this, that that say, there's two pieces to it one, many of us. There's, there's a great book called The happiness hypothesis, and I'll save you the trouble of the book, The nutshell is that what drives happiness is meaning and purpose and striving for a purpose. And so, if you agree with that hypothesis, then this is historical study of really psychology, but if you agree with that, which is what I think you're seeing and young people so what it suggests is that perhaps it's been missing in the popular media and the way we have a approached things for some years prior, not always prior, but let's call it a stretch of our recent history, where that has been missing. And so young people are seeking it. And I think that, to go back to the prior point, the reason you feel it, so it's so palpable here in New Mexico, because one might argue that maybe New Mexico never lost it. It's why you feel it when you walk here immediately, it is that connection to family. It is, this is the land of enchantment, and it's a state with a soul. And so it, it's there, and it's real. And I think that's why it's so much more on the surface in this state than in some but I will also say generationally having been in multiple states over the last 25 years. It is an emergent and different feel, with this current generation that's coming into college today. And high schoolers and this desire for something more than just caring about money. They're very willing to make trade offs for quality of life and caring, and, and being cared for. And I think it's, it's, it's not going away. It's not just a it's a short term. reality here, it's changing what is changing the nature of the contract between consumers and business. And so again, there's a lot of valid reasons why our current business leaders who may not be of this generation need to understand that, because whether it's through shareholder activism, or consumer activism, it will impact business. And it therefore, is something not just to respond to be out of concern for profit. But these are, people are choosing where they will work, and where they want to live, based on a deeper set of principles that go well beyond profit. And I don't think it's going away. This is here to say
Paul Zelizer 21:58
It's changing the nature of the contract that I love. I've never heard it said that concisely. It's a no really well stated. It's changing the nature of what young people like where they're going to get their education and business to. Right. Right. Yeah, is that fair to say?
Mitzi Montoya 22:16
I agree, because if you allow it start specifically about business education, because it means that there are a lot of people whose it used to be the assumption was that every you go to business school, because you want to earn a lot of money and or you want to go to Wall Street. That is that's not been true for a long time. But increasingly, students are demanding a different perspective and a more holistic way of thinking about business, which means we have to educate differently, which often means we need a different type of faculty. And, and so it is changing where people choose to go, and, and what they value, and what values they expect to be reflected in their university and in their school. And in their classrooms.
Paul Zelizer 23:03
I can only imagine some of the push factors and pull factors I've heard it called right. of young people are, are really asking for this. And they're the consumer, if if we look at it that way, in business, who, where do they who pays the dollars, right? It's young people driven, whether they're earning it themselves, or getting help from family or, you know, working through school or whatever, even if they get a scholarship, they can choose where to take that scholarship. So they are the main determination or factors of where the resources that they can access go, and they're clamoring for this. And yet, most of the folks who are in Professor positions, department chairs, university, you know, Dean's of schools, this wasn't your experience of this wasn't baked into the DNA in the same way that young people are wanting it. So talk about the push and the pull, like how do you maintain the integrity of what business education has been about competent leadership and ethics and things like that? earning money and accounting and all the things that go into business? But then you have this whole new, incredibly dynamic ask to folks who that wasn't their experience of education?
Mitzi Montoya 24:27
It's a great question. And, and also, though, I will also say that, you know, in addition to students being different, our younger faculty are different too. So you know, they're not that far out in front of and I'd say many of them is like you you've met those that are like this, where younger faculty also have this same worldview and mindset. And so the paradigm shift has affected the the younger group in the professoriate. And so I think that that's, that's a positive thing. And so that means one of the things To me that's attractive about you nm. And, and there are other schools like this too. But as we continue to bring in new and young junior faculty, it is also changing the culture of how and what we teach and deliver. So that's important that that you think of it that way too. We're all changing. And so yes, even inside any given University, we have generational gaps, we have more senior faculty who clearly are of a different generation, and we have young faculty who represent your the new and emerging effects that we see. So I think that's a positive. And that's part of how we deal with it, we, we make sure that we listen to those different voices, and we're listening to our students. And we create ways to make sure that we're still providing very strong foundation on skills and fundamentals that are important. Your accounting is a great example. There are just fundamental skills and and technicalities and, and rules and regulations. And that's, that's the what, but where we have an opportunity for creativity in the process, is the How to, to what you apply those fundamentals, and those principles, and those foundational skills. And so that's where I think we have opportunity to create opportunities for students to learn about a variety of different ways they can apply their fundamental foundational business skills and knowledge. And, and we have students of all types, some are extremely interested in this area of social entrepreneurship and impact investing. So you can have courses in that or projects or student clubs and organizations. And we have others who may be interested in other applications. And that's okay, too. I think that rich diversity is what makes education fantastic and amazing and accessible. And our job is to create pathways to what what lights any given students fire, and I never know what it's going to be. So my goal always is to put as many amazing, diverse, rich, hopefully inspiring opportunities in front of our students as possible. So that so that we can get the spark lit and then create a pathway for them to chase it and go to go do well in whatever it is they choose.
Paul Zelizer 27:24
So let's do this. You just mentioned Mitzi, your professors and their how cool they are. They're awesome. And I want to tell you the story, listeners have two of them that I'm incredibly blessed to work with Dr. Wellington subject and Dr. Riley white on an incredible event coming up later this month, I will tell you all about it's one of the most nuts, it is the most collaborative experience I've ever had at the business school. I've never, anyway, I'll tell you more about it will tell you more about in a second. Let's take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. And when we come back, we'll tell you those stories. Do you have something that is about making the world a better place, and you want it to grow? Both in terms of your impact and your income? If you do, I'd like you to consider podcasting for a moment. And let me tell you why. It's I got to learn about podcasting. I found out that it's a pretty special group of folks, podcast listeners. The research tells us in general podcast listeners are early adaptors. Mitzi talked about innovation, right? podcast listeners are looking for innovations. They listen to podcast, because they want new ideas. And they want to hear people who are doing things out of the box and trying new things, not the same old, same old. They're also what's called natural leaders. So people in their professional and personal church circles, it just, oh, you're you're one of those folks who has great ideas and knows a lot about something and kind of keeps tabs on what's fresh and new and up and coming. People in their networks know that in turn to folks like that and people listen to podcasts to keep that supply of fresh ideas coming. They're also tend to make more money, not a little bit more money, but a lot more money. The other thing about podcasting itself is that it's a deep dive medium. The average podcast episode is 43 minutes long. You have time to get into the nuances and the intersections that we put together who listens to podcasts, and what the actual medium itself is. It's a pretty incredible and unique opportunity. Not quite like anything else out there. So if you'd like a little help to learn about how you can leverage this, either as a guest, like Mitzi as today, or as a host, I get that honor today. Check out the aware printers podcast success team will walk you through it every step of the way. can learn more by going to aware printers.com forward slash podcast dash success and thank you to everybody in the podcast success team. Who sponsors this podcast? So, Missy, there's this fabulous event coming up. And as I was mentioning myself and another aware printers community member, Genevieve Chavez, Mitchell, we talk to each other. And we say in the spirit of john lewis, we try to make good trouble here in New Mexico, and to the people that we recently have had the incredible opportunity to make some good trouble with or Dr. Wellington septic and Dr. Riley white. And one of the things that both Genevieve and I were remarking on actually, Wellington, big shout out to you, I'm going to tell a story. At the event, the four of us have been meeting about this event, it's on March 26. And it's called believe in New Mexico, social entrepreneurship and impact investing in New Mexico. Genevieve is an impact investor, I'm a social entrepreneur. And we've been learning about it from a guy named Lawrence Ford, at a group called future capital. And they're doing this at the United Nations. And they're bringing together social entrepreneurs and impact investors about how to get more resources in the hands of social entrepreneurs and make it work for the people investing and really supercharge the work about things that are happening in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. And we learned about it up in Boulder from Lawrence Ford, and we came back about a year ago. So we need to do more of that in New Mexico. And somebody put us in touch with two of your professors Wellington septic, and Riley white. And so we've been meeting now for quite some months. And this event is coming up on March 26. We got Lawrence, he's one of the speakers, Mitzi you're going to help us open it. Yeah, there's a crowd of panelists and people doing amazing things in this intersection. And the other day, when we were planning to meet in Wellington turned to us, as we were saying, Goodbye, you know, it's become, you know, a very friendly working environment. And and we have a lot to do, but we also like, how are you just on a heart emotional intelligence before we check in, and you do that for six months, and you start to care about people in Wellington said, our business education should be like this, right? Meaning like the community involved and not siloed. And we got impact investing, and people on the finance side working with people on the business and entrepreneurs side, and we got academics working with people on the ground as entrepreneurs and impact investors, and I can't tell you how good it feels. And I naturally have that inclination. And I'm a collaborator and a community builder. But to hear a professor say that I'm like, Is that legal? Like, is that the kind of culture you want to see happen at UNM?
Mitzi Montoya 32:48
Absolutely. I used the phrase earlier that, what I would say about it as well is that first, I think we should practice what we preach. We got to get out of the classroom, and we have to, we have to partner we should be collaborating. And I fundamentally believe it's the opposite of the old phrase, you know, this is just business. It's not personal business is personal. And this is about our community. And that is what we should, we should care. First and foremost about as a business school, are we helping lift the business community and the community in general in our backyard. And that's incredibly important. And that's what our purpose should be.
Paul Zelizer 33:31
One of the things that's going to happen at this event, I'll put a link in the show notes, and it's super affordable, ask for 25 bucks for a whole day. But if you can't afford it, there's like a scholarship for 100%, no questions asked. So like, don't if you're interested, go check it out. I'll put a link in the show notes. One of the things is going to happen in this event is Wellington, the sustainable business, social entrepreneurship side of things, and Riley on the finance and impact investing side is doing some research about the state of the state. And anything you could say about like, how do we bring research into a community focused, impact driven or intended initiatives like this? how, you know, like, sometimes there's a disconnect between academics and researchers, and people who are kind of boots on the ground? And what's your sense of in a really well functioning sync up of those two things, Mitzi? How do they inform each other? And how can that work? Well, as opposed to being siloed?
Mitzi Montoya 34:36
Great question. I think that they, there's no reason that we we can't connect those two. I think we sometimes will think of research we'll think of, you know, it's inaccessible. But the amazing thing about our faculty is that they are there. They're always researchers at heart when they're working on these projects. And we just think differently because we have, you know, the benefit of the training, not unlike you have training in a different backgrounds and what you're doing now as podcasting, but you bring that frame with you all the time. And so how do we do it, it means for those of us that are, for example, I'm a statistician. And so those that have worked with me for very long at all know that at some underlying moment, I'm going to be asking for data and studying it, and using that to make decisions. And so that's how we connect is we create opportunities to, to really take advantage of all the different skill sets that all of us bring to the table, whether that's as an analyst, as a writer, as people who step back and see systems, and can look at multiple perspectives. You know, I think that, as researchers, and one of the things that we do is we, we look at problems, we study them, we try to understand them, we write them up and try to communicate that in an effort to, to help create, benefit and change and share what we know. So if the way you all work together, as you think of the different skill sets that you bring to the table, I think sometimes the public forgets to ask us to bring that skill set to the table. And we as researchers, sometimes forgetting that it's relevant to everything we're doing. It's part of who we are, no matter what kind of problem we're looking at. We're critical thinkers, we're analysts, and we're writers, and, and we're teachers. And so I think it's more just about acknowledging that about ourselves and each other, that we can bring those things to the table and help move things forward by drawing on all of those strengths.
Paul Zelizer 36:44
See, you're the leader of the most visible and largest business school in New Mexico. And I'm curious as you're like taking in the data about what comes out of this research study, and you're hearing young people asking for more on sustainable business and social enterprise and impact investing, like when you assess where Andersen Business School is now, and where you want to see it go forward, what kind of things are like going through your head as you're This is pretty new. We didn't say that I should have back let me just back up and say congratulations, I should have said that way before. Like, what how long? Are you into this position?
Mitzi Montoya 37:33
I guess about seven months or so now.
Paul Zelizer 37:34
Seven months? That's still pretty new. I don't know if it feels new. Maybe it feels like you've been doing it forever.
Mitzi Montoya 37:39
I don't know. It still feels new. I haven't met most of the people that I work with in person. So I'm looking forward to meeting people in person soon.
Paul Zelizer 37:46
Yeah, you'd landed here in the midst of COVID. What a wild time to take a leadership position. Yeah. So So fairly new, still kind of getting oriented in a very disrupted chaotic time and trying to figure out online education for everybody all the time. Because the COVID I mean, I can only imagine what that was like, like, wow, welcome, and congratulations. And wow. As you're digesting and kind of like state of this research is kind of state of the state as you're assessing like state of Anderson. And where you think Anderson is on these themes of paying attention to the Sustainable Development Goals. That's a pretty clear benchmark that young people want to talk a lot about these days. Like, how do you think Anderson is doing? And where do you think you might be five years from now?
Mitzi Montoya 38:39
And I think that's a great question. I think one of the things that we have some opportunity here that was exciting to me is we have some real strengths that are that are represented on our faculty, and you know, Riley and Wellington being great examples of that. So we have this great passion and strength on our faculty. And you couple that with this place, which has its own unique strength, meaning the people of this state, so the students that come to us, and then there are some other unique other unique aspects about the state that that make us, I think, create for us an opportunity to do some really unique things. So how do we blend that together? You know, where I think we have an opportunity to do is to continue to, to integrate these sorts of emerging those issues of, of concern and need from the business community standpoint, and as well as interest on the student standpoint, and make sure that what we're doing is continually integrating that into our curriculum. And, and I would say that where I see you and M has sort of four distinct areas of strengths and or opportunity, here's what I would list. One of them is everything that that we've talked about so far around ethical and socially response. on small businesses, what does it mean? And making sure that we're integrating that content into the degree programs, that's a key area that we, the nice thing is we have a lot of strength in this area. So we have to make sure it's connected to curriculum and student engagement opportunities. And we also need to make sure that we're listening to business on what is it that they, what do they want their future employees to know about those things? And what skill sets do they want them to bring in relation to that, and other is diversity, equity and inclusion. And again, here, this is a reflection of our student body, we are a very diverse student body, which is of great interest to employers, locally, and also beyond. And we also need to think through them, how do we make sure that we're educating our students to understand why it matters. And to be aware of this, this great strength that we have, and that we make sure that we are communicating effectively with future employers on how they can improve their current workforce, in terms of its diversity, and support their workforce, in terms of making sure they're retaining and promoting diverse talent. So that's a secondary, third would be global business, we are a border state. And it's actually a really incredible opportunity for us to think about the importance of global trade to the New Mexico economy. And changes we may see forthcoming as a result of the supply chain disruption we've seen due to the pandemic and how it may change and reinvigorate interest in reshoring. And thinking differently about supply chains. And New Mexico has great opportunity, I think there were ongoing investment and attraction of new companies because of our location. Lastly, would be economic and business development. We do need to think through how do we continue to support small business in this state, scale it and create job opportunities here at home. So our students can stay here and have fantastic great lives and support their families here. So those are the four areas that I see Anderson continuing to evolve and lean into its strengths, and invest further to make sure that we are connecting to those those areas, and creating opportunity for students to learn and do more in those areas.
Paul Zelizer 42:31
One of the things as we've been talking about this event on March 26, and bringing in wide diversity of people from folks at Arrowhead and southern New Mexico who were focused on building entrepreneur ecosystems, and the native communities and indigenous communities throughout New Mexico, and we have somebody like Lawrence Ford, who's like working at the United Nations level and and big focus is, you know, this morning, I'm getting emails of people reaching out and one of the financing change our little group of john lewis spirited troublemakers for positive, reaching out to different, you know, business schools to make sure that you know, people in northeast part of the state or somebody down in Las Cruces area, make sure that they get invited in it doesn't all come from Albuquerque, which is the biggest state Albuquerque, Santa Fe corridors, kind of like the only urban center, or the largest urban center in New Mexico and a lot of rural outlying areas, and we didn't want to lose them, right. So as we're bringing in these wide variety of folks to like, you know, share stories and be on panels and give chance, our hope is at least half the people, maybe more will be students attending. How do we help young people find a version of business that fits their values, their vision for the world, they're interested in not just like businesses, this like cookie cutter monolithic thing that you have to do in a way somebody who was trained 30 years ago and started their careers 30 years ago did?
Mitzi Montoya 44:05
Well, I think that's a really good question. And I am I have always been a very strong proponent of making sure that a big part of our message in the higher education community is that, that, really, your education is what you make, and we don't talk about that enough. And I think it's really important. And it goes to kind of my point about why we have to put in front of people, lots of examples, especially young people, lots of examples of what success could look like, because success is very personally defined. And and so I might not know that I would have no idea that you could make a career out of podcasting if I had never heard anyone explain it to me and understand how that works. And so I think I have long since been a fan of even for our current students. Choice is important it is their education, and they should pursue it in a way that makes sense to them. And I think we also have an obligation to expose students to things that they may never self SELECT INTO. And, and that is more true for students that come from backgrounds, where they may be the first in their family to go to college, and they've not been exposed to any of these things. And so that exposure is incredibly important. So what does that mean? It means it's, it's not optional, and ways that we do this is we need to embed it in class, I think it needs to be part of what happens in high school, and even Middle School, right? You, students self select out very early of pathways and don't understand what they could do with a degree in sex. Oh, here, we're talking about business, I could make this argument for almost any discipline. So exposures, step one, it is incredibly important. I encourage you all to think about inviting high school students as well, because you know, what you're really doing is creating a window to an opportunity that they may never have known that they could have, if they don't get a chance to hear and to see and feel that excitement and that passion that social entrepreneurs have for their work. And I could say that about many other areas that I think the more people see options, the more they start finding in their own mind, the one that connects with what they care about. And and when you do that, when it becomes personal for me and I engage, that's when you really are truly unleashing potential. Because it's got to be that it is a spark in me something I care about. And that's what we're trying to do with with our students is find that thing that clicks for them, and then get out of their way.
Paul Zelizer 46:54
A story about that when my daughter was 12 years old, we were living in Santa Fe at the time, but Albuquerque is only about an hour away. The city of Albuquerque funded a social entrepreneurship bootcamp weekend for teens. And she did it. And that weekend changed her life, to change the trajectory of how she thought about what was possible for her. And she's worked for clients of mine doing social media management and marketing assistant stuff. And she's when she went to college, she builds websites and like it, she's done some amazing things. And it's all for impact oriented groups that are aligned with her values. And oftentimes, somebody will say, we need to do blank, does anybody know how to do it, and she raises her. Because at 12 years old, I would say, hey, so and so needs this, do you want to learn how to do that, and she was like, sure, you know, like if it was values aligned, she didn't let it get in the way that it was some skills to learn how to use this particular newsletter mailing program, or this particular you know, she knew how to do Facebook, but Instagram was new. And you know, learning how to post things. And what worked algorithmically on Instagram is different. She didn't let that get in the way she started saying, I'm aligned with the values. And I'll learn how to do this. And it's opened so many doors for her just incredible doors for her. And it all started with a weekend boot camp funded by the City of Albuquerque to change the trajectory of her she's about to turn 21. So the past nine years have been a really amazing ride for her. And that weekend is one significant contributor to what her journey has been like as a young adult.
Mitzi Montoya 48:41
I think that's a great example. And it speaks to why application matters. And why what really changes is when something clicks for somebody, then they have it now now I'm motivated. And now my learning is driven by a very different force, then I'm just taking tests in second boxes, you're now you described it perfectly, that she was driven to learn how to do something because she cared about the thing that she was working on. And the skills were just things to pick up and do. And she was motivated very differently. And so I think that for me, you know, social entrepreneurship is one of those areas where if we can connect to the meaning and the desire to make a difference that matters to so many young people, and we give them lots of examples of what they could possibly do in that realm, which is endless. I mean, it's an infinite number of things that someone could do, then it changes their whole agenda in terms of what they're, what they're picking up and why and how they're how they're applying their formal education to that location. And that's, that's the, that's the art of courses. That's our goal in education always. And, and how to do that at scale at the level of one It's really our biggest challenge.
Paul Zelizer 50:03
So I could hang out and talk to you all day. But I know you're busy. And I wouldn't do that to you, our audience. And by the way audience will be March 26, a whole bunch of us, like, literally hundreds of us will be getting together for the whole day. So if you're interested in this, come join us. But if there was something you were hoping we were going to get to, and we haven't yet talked about it Mitzi and you think it's important? Or is there something you want to leave our listeners with on these themes of social entrepreneurship and impact investing? What would that be?
Mitzi Montoya 50:38
Well, I would say that, I think that one thing I hope people take away and they're listening, because I know they're interested in this topic. But I also would say, I think it's important that we recognize that we all have an impact, whether we think of ourselves as social entrepreneurs, or change agents or not, we do all have an impact. And so I will leave people with the thought that maybe surprisingly motivated motivated me when I came out of school and took on my first teaching job, I had an opportunity to work with someone who is very senior person in this field. And and I ask them for advice on teaching, I've asked a lot of people for advice. And he said, You know, he said this, he said, remember that we all have an impact. And ideally, our goal is to have a positive one. But more importantly, be the one, I think that each of us has an opportunity to make a difference, no matter what seat we're in, our titles don't matter. And it's what I love about what you all do. And I hope that what you do is we come together at the symposium is that we inspire everybody to be the one and go back into their circle of influence, and, and work to make the difference that needs to be made to serve this state and serve wherever you live. So I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you. And I thank you for your work with our faculty. And I love the collaboration, and I can't wait to see what comes out of it at the symposium.
Paul Zelizer 52:07
Thanks so much for being on the show. Mitzi.
Mitzi Montoya 52:09
Thank you very much, I appreciate the opportunity to have a chance to talk with you.
Paul Zelizer 52:14
So we'll put a link to that believe in New Mexico Symposium on March 26. And look forward to folks joining us, anybody who feels values aligned, we'd really appreciate you helping to get the word out, shout out on social media, put it in your newsletter, all that good stuff, really want to bring in a wide variety of people who care about these issues and engage the community in conversation. I do also want to say if we love listener, supported guests and suggestions, this interview came from a whole community endeavor that said, Oh, if we could get Mitzi here, it'd be so cool. And she was very gracious enough to say yes, if you have an idea of a topic or a guest, please go to the aware printers website. Look at our contact page. And it has the three simple criteria the lenses we use to decide who's a good fit. And if you think you got somebody please fill out the form and let us know. For now I just want to say thank you so much for listening, please take really good care. These are intense times. And thank you for all the positive impact you’re working towards in our world.