It’s Friday early in the fall semester, and a group of students from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business board a bus for what Professor Andy Hoffman calls “a four-hour ride into the woods.” At a retreat center, they surrender their phones and laptops—returned only on Sunday—and prepare for a weekend focused not on team building, networking, or branding, but on discerning their life’s calling.

Andy Hoffman, a senior professor at Ross, is reshaping business education with a course centered on purpose rather than profit. The course, Management as a Calling, guides students through reflective activities and discussions designed to cultivate self-discovery and explore values. But why would MBA students, trained to maximize ROI, enroll in a course with no ranked grades or prestige? And why would Hoffman devote so much energy to it? The answer lies in a growing conviction: business education must be re-thought, and faculty must model the change they wish to see.

“There’s a lot of growing criticism of both business and business education,” Hoffman says. “We cost a lot of money, and for many students, business school has become just access to a network. We need to reform the curriculum to reconnect with what more of today’s business students seek, injecting a strong dose of character formation and helping them become thoughtful, compassionate leaders who exhibit judgment, character, and wisdom.”

Management as a Calling is anchored by two retreats and supported by readings and guest lectures throughout the year. 

“It’s centered around looking at your past, present, and future—writing a story of yourself—and then developing a personal mission statement,” Hoffman explains.

At the heart of the course are guided exercises and reflections on what it means to lead a good, purpose-driven life. One signature exercise involves Hoffman drawing on the students’ references for personal letters which are given to students as they prepare to write their mission statements. 

“The point is to impress upon them that you can’t do this alone,” Hoffman says. “You do this in community.”

The course’s impact is evident both in quantitative survey data and individual stories. Hoffman recounts alumni now at Deloitte who continue to meet regularly, supporting one another in staying true to their callings. And while career pivots are not the primary goal, some students do change paths entirely—one left a coveted McKinsey role for sustainable agriculture, finding immediate fulfillment, and another, a former Navy bomb squad member, left Nike to pursue medical school, telling Hoffman, “Andy, the program worked.” These stories highlight how the course equips students to be purposeful leaders, regardless of the sector they enter.

The course was initially met with skepticism. The curriculum committee rejected it as “too developmental,” and grading on a curve—required by Ross—was incompatible with its goals. Hoffman secured a pass/fail structure, but this excluded undergraduates—a tradeoff he had to make. Critics also challenged the inclusion of values in the classroom. 

“Colleagues have said, ‘Andy, I don’t think I’m comfortable bringing values into the classroom,’” Hoffman said. “My answer is: you already are. We are already instilling a set of values that is causing the problem.”

Hoffman argues that conventional assumptions in business education—maximizing shareholder value, prioritizing efficiency, and valuing nature solely as a resource—are themselves value-laden. These assumptions can alienate students motivated by broader purposes. Now more than ever, Hoffman believes business education must evolve.

His ground-up approach aims to create leaders who can run successful businesses and also exhibit compassion, wisdom, and character, measuring success beyond the extrinsic financial gains and more by the intrinsic satisfaction of a life well-lived. Hoffman hopes Management as a Calling will inspire similar courses elsewhere. 

“I’ve done some of these exercises in a one-and-a-half-hour class, and students still find it helpful—because they’re the questions they haven’t been asked in their business education,” Hoffman said.

Nonetheless, it remains true that few students are asked to venture into the forest, disconnected from phones, as preparation for careers in consulting or finance. Yet those who do, emerge changed—and society may benefit as a result.

The Institute for Social Concerns is partnering with Hoffman to provide a faculty workshop for business faculty interested in developing their own version of Management as a Calling. Contact Samantha Deane ([email protected]), Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Social Concerns, for more information.