By Traci Macnamara
An adjunct instructor at the Royal Institute of Technology and the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship in Sweden, Gregg Vanourek teaches on topics that include ideation, business model innovation and leadership. He has co-authored three books, multiple book chapters and more than 100 articles. But despite a full schedule that involves developing new courses and leading workshops, he works hard to make sure that his values guide his life and work.
Vanourek, a former Colorado resident and Vail Centre for Leadership (VCFL) board member, offers an example of these values in action as he recalls the impact of speaking with a fellow VLI board member who said, “Your kids are only young once.”
Vanourek says he thinks of those words almost every day, especially when he is walking his two young daughters to school each morning. He is committed to being a loving and present father, even as he works hard at the office.
He also strives to practice what he teaches about relying on a strong sense of personal values to help make complex moral decisions. Vanourek scripts cases for his students to work on, including a recent one, which posed an ethical dilemma for a potential startup team. Participants were asked to simulate team roles and decide what to do when funding got cut for a service they were planning to offer. The situation challenged them to consider personal and shared values when financial pressure was at stake, a common real-world scenario.
“I try to spark conversations about how values can and should guide the decisions we make as leaders,” says Vanourek, “That’s something VCFL helped me develop for myself, so now I’m bringing it to students.”
Ultimately, Vanourek’s work shows that putting values into action requires everyday practice, whether that means making values-based business decisions or making the time to share life with family and friends.
