Director's Message

Welcome to Our Winter 2026 Issue!

This quarter, we are exploring empathy as a core element of the entrepreneurial mindset. I’ve been thinking about that a lot in my role chairing the search committee for our next Dean of the Leavey School of Business. What has struck me most is how Jesuit the process feels — rooted in listening and discernment. Faculty, students, alumni, staff, and industry partners all carry different hopes for what Leavey should become. My job has not been to advocate for my own view of the future, but to create space for those perspectives to surface clearly and honestly. That kind of listening — setting aside ego long enough to truly hear others — is the foundation of empathetic design.

Entrepreneurship operates the same way. Founders who fall in love with their own ideas too early often build impressive solutions to problems that don’t quite exist. The real work begins with humility: understanding the potential customers' lived experiences before defining the solution. Whether we are shaping the profile of a dean or launching a new venture, the principle is the same — listen first, discern carefully, and let service shape the design. That is the entrepreneurial mindset we strive to cultivate at the Ciocca Center.