In a time marked by identity confusion, performance-driven pressure, and increasing student disconnection, Jesuit business education is uniquely positioned to offer more than technical excellence - it can offer a path to interior freedom and purposeful living. This workshop proposes an integrative framework titled “Freedom From, Freedom For,” a model rooted in Ignatian spirituality and adapted for purpose-driven business leadership education. The framework invites students to examine internalized success narratives, name disordered attachments, and discern vocational direction through values-based reflection and intentional action.
This approach is grounded in the Spiritual Exercises and draws directly on the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs). It supports:
- UAP 1 – Showing the way to God through accessible tools of vocational discernment;
- UAP 3 – Accompanying young people by helping them name and live into meaningful, justice-centered futures;
- UAP 2 and 4 – Walking with the excluded and caring for our common home by empowering students to align personal purpose with social and environmental justice.
The methodology is reflective and experiential. The workshop draws from:
- Over a decade of classroom leadership development with undergraduate and graduate business students;
- Executive coaching practices with emerging and senior leaders seeking alignment between purpose and performance;
- Retreat-based formation experiences where students and professionals alike engage spiritual and ethical reflection through a Jesuit lens.
Participants will engage with the core elements of the Freedom From, Freedom For model, including a guided exercise used in leadership courses and coaching work to uncover personal values, attachments, and vision. The session will also introduce a companion practice called the MVP Compass (Mission, Values, Purpose), which educators can adopt or adapt in business curricula, formation seminars, or career discernment contexts.
This workshop is especially valuable for Jesuit faculty, administrators, mission officers, and curriculum designers seeking tools to integrate the UAPs into daily pedagogical practice. It connects the Inspirational Paradigm to classroom formation, supports Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm values of reflection and action, and offers a practical pathway to accompany students as whole persons. Attendees will leave with sample exercises, discussion prompts, and insight into how to implement purpose formation as a component of Jesuit business education’s response to today’s vocational and societal challenges.
By reframing leadership development as a purposeful ascent rather than a summit to reach, Freedom From, Freedom For offers a deeply Jesuit yet fully contemporary roadmap for preparing students to live and lead with authenticity, empathy, and impact.