RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS IN THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY CERTIFICATE
Western COlorado University Business Certificates
Develop your ability to innovate, think strategically, and lead the application of business tools to creating meaningful impact in the outdoor industry.
ABOUT WESTERN COLORADO UNIVERSITY:
Western Colorado University delivers career preparation, engineering, computer and other sciences and a liberal arts curriculum to 2,900 intellectually adventurous students in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Western is the first and only university in the country to offer an outdoor-focused MBA program.
OUTDOOR BUSINESS COURSES
Course Description
The most effective leadership and management styles are the ones that draw on people’s unique personalities and strengths. The aim of this course is to help students refine their signature leadership styles through reflective exercises that investigate current and past leadership experiences, define personal purpose, as well as readings to investigate the successes and mishaps of diverse leaders. The course will culminate with the student creating a leadership development plan to provide a roadmap for growth, as well as crafting a leadership credo, which will serve as a personal manifesto.
BrookeMoran_WesternMBA_OIA (1)
Course Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Define 2-3 core values and behaviors to realize them
- Clarify personal purpose
- Garner insight into personal leadership preferences, strengths and weaknesses
- Create a leadership development plan
- Craft of leadership credo
Course Schedule
Instructor
BROOKE MORAN
Brooke Moran is a Professor in the Outdoor Industry MBA and in the undergraduate Recreation and Outdoor Education Program at Western Colorado University. She is also co-owner of Zen for Business, a professional coaching, employee engagement, and culture and leadership development firm driven to enhance the effectiveness of purpose-driven individuals, teams, and organizations. Brooke has been helping people strengthen their leadership skills for over 20 years on six continents in a range of environments, from remote mountain glaciers and developing nations to five-star resorts and executive education classrooms. She has worked with diverse populations, including minimum-security prisoners in Australia to graduate and undergraduate students to C-suite executives in numerous corporations. Examples of Brooke’s additional skillsets includes non-profit board building, strategic planning, workshop design and facilitation, research, and writing thought leadership. She has worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School, Outward Bound, a variety of universities, Action Learning Associates and World Action Teams. Brooke has also earned money by cleaning hotel rooms and flipping burgers as a vegetarian in high school, waiting tables in college, and she has done countless hours of service work with a shovel and pick axe. She has authored several articles on leadership, sustainability, and purpose, as well as published a book titled Organizational Heartbeats: Engaging Employees in Sustainability by Leveraging Purpose and Curating Culture.
Marketing and Branding in the Outdoor Industry By the end of this course, students will be able to:- Understand the fundamental overview of marketing and brand strategy in the outdoor industry
- Gain an understanding of target audiences and how their similarities and differences affect how we position our products and services
- Comprehend contemporary tools that can support marketers in building relationships
- Cultivate critical thinking around evolving marketing issues and opportunities using outdoor industry examples and readings
Instructor
DR. D. SCOTT BORDEN
Scott Borden is the Director of the Outdoor Industry MBA and Assistant Professor in the School of Business at Western Colorado University. His research and lectures are informed by the real world experiences of: publishing a children’s book on rock climbing; being a senior contributor for a climbing magazine; working as the marketing director of an international outdoor education company; serving on the board of directors for a Benefit Corporation Certified investment bank, which has consulted on mergers and acquisitions for socially driven outdoor companies; supervising educators at the largest non-profit outdoor environmental education organization in our National Parks, which receives over 36,000 students annually; running sales for the largest whitewater festival in the U.S.; serving on Gunnison Colorado’s Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee; and, owning his own business which has consulted with organizations such as the business certifying organization B-Lab and the conservation non-profit organization The Access Fund. REGISTER NOWCourse Description
The outdoor industry has, in recent years, begun to see the increased need for greater cultural competency both internally and externally. As the industry continues to grow in size, scope and influence, so does the need for leadership, staff and board members to have a solid grasp of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles. Along with this knowledge, the industry must have the confidence to implement these values into meaningful and relevant initiatives, both internally and externally. This course is not meant to be a check-list DEI training, but instead the first step in a life-long path towards a better understanding of what it means to belong to a diverse community and the strength, power, inspiration, and opportunity that such a community can provide for the greater outdoor industry.
Course Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the framework and historical context in which Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work is based.
- Learn and utilize vocabulary surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work.
- Identify various ways in which bias shows up in their personal life and in the greater outdoor industry.
- Identify ways in which the outdoor industry can be a more equitable and inclusive community.
- Envision how the outdoor industry can be more culturally relevant and responsive to the diverse market it seeks to cater to.
Course Schedule
Instructor
ANDRES ESPARZA
Andrés Esparza (pronouns: he/his) is CLF’s Grassroots Engagement Director. Andrés has worked in the conservation and environmental education field for the better part of a decade on public lands throughout the western US. Through his time in a variety of roles, Andrés has always strived to engage diverse and often underrepresented population with their public lands through education, recreation, advocacy, and stewardship in an effort to ensure the survival, inclusivity, and relevancy of our public lands in the years to come.
Andrés holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Masters in Environmental Management degree from Western Colorado University. Andres works and lives in the Four Corners Area where he enjoys whatever outdoor recreation opportunities the season permits.