Around the world and back again.
One woman's journey to seek and spread the entrepreneurial mindset.
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Is every step in the journey posed as a metaphorical preparation space for the next stop on the journey? If flexible, each twist and turn in the road can take you to places you never dreamed of. Those twists and turns could even lead you right where you are meant to be. This applies to Dr. Mary Conway Dato-on (MCD), Executive and Academic Director of Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Bradley University, as her journey has brought her full circle back to Bradley University (BU) in August 2023.
Dr. MCD grew up on the East Coast, mostly in New York and New Jersey. She was recruited to BU as a student in 1980. She graduated with a bachelor's in International Studies and Spanish in 1984. She completed her master's in International Management at the University of Denver (DU) in 1986. It was here that she got the opportunity to study abroad. She spent an interim summer studying comparative banking in Spain. This would only be her first stop on her journey around the world.
What did you do once you completed your master's degree in Denver?
I went into corporate and worked at Ford Motor Company for about five years. After a while, I just knew corporate wasn't for me. So the joke was we bought our funny hats and toured Europe for six weeks. So I took some of my retirement, set it aside, quit my job, put everything in storage, and toured Europe. We planned to see Italy but never made it there. So it's like, this is absolutely my best-laid plan; it doesn't matter that it doesn't happen. Just go with the flow. We had a great time backpacking and visiting youth hostels and stuff.
“It’s not that I didn’t have a goal. I just don’t let the constraints of what’s happening right now or the exactness of a goal get in the way of making progress,” she confessed.
After making an attempt to pursue her Ph.D. but wasn’t accepted into the school she wanted, she packed up again, but this time, she headed for Japan. She had no previous exposure to Japanese culture and knew very little about building a life there. This was her first time experiencing what it felt like to be functionally illiterate.
“After a year, I could read and write at a second-grade level, just enough to be dangerous,” she laughed.
She left Japan and moved to the Philippines. She began teaching at Ateneo de Manila University, a catholic research university in Quezon City.
She returned to the US and began her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky at 38, teaching at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, to support her education. She also taught at the University of Kentucky North as part of her degree requirements.
After completing her Ph. D. in 2001, Dr. MCD went to work at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins University, where she taught Social Entrepreneurship and International Business for 20 years before returning to BU.
What are your goals for your new position?
I see an opportunity to build on the incredible generosity that the Turners have given us here at Bradley by endowing the professor of entrepreneurship. By starting both the Turner School and the Turner Center, they've created a foundation for how we can spread and help adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. Regardless of your major, education, or personal background, you can develop a set of skills and maybe a mindset or attitude that helps you launch. I want to see us advance that mindset and that openness to innovation more broadly, not only across the curriculum but also within our staff and faculty. I see us working together with the community, the faculty, and the staff to advance all of our entrepreneurial mindsets. I would like to say that an opportunity to develop your entrepreneurial mindset is available to every student on campus.
In addition to her career, Dr. MCD has been on many boards of directors for several non-profit and for-profit organizations worldwide. She has been the faculty director for Empowering Women for nearly 13 years. She has connections in India, Spain, and Brazil and is establishing a relationship with Mexico. She hopes to bring these connections to the BU community.
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To learn more about how Dr. MCD plans to bring her global perspective to Bradley, check out the interview here:
Disclaimer: This clip has been edited for clarity and length purposes
Dr. MCD shares her personal perspective on generating real change in the community, which begins with the ability to start and lead with empathy. Change happens when you don’t do it to help others but to help yourself. Since change starts within each individual, the goal is to find each person's assets and combine them to create true change. This is when the work turns from charity to empowerment of one another.
From your experience, what is the driving force behind lasting change?
The driving force behind being a good leader and making change is to lead with empathy; through empathy, we create community, and through community, we create innovation. Only through empathy can we fully understand others, and that’s how we move towards success.