{"id":635,"date":"2025-12-15T13:55:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=635"},"modified":"2025-12-15T15:53:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:53:20","slug":"thinking-like-a-business-leader-inside-first-year-business-experience-and-top-dawg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2025\/12\/15\/thinking-like-a-business-leader-inside-first-year-business-experience-and-top-dawg\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking Like a Business Leader: Inside First-Year Business Experience and Top Dawg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before most first-year students have even settled into campus life, they\u2019re handed a challenge: Here\u2019s a real company. Here\u2019s a problem. Now go figure out what to do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the heartbeat of the First-Year Business Experience<\/a> (FBE), a course that throws students into the world of business from day one, letting them learn by building, creating, presenting, and discovering. It\u2019s the class that nudges them out of the familiar and into the mindset of someone who asks hard questions, digs for answers, and thinks like a business professional from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teams begin the semester by diving into a publicly traded company \u2013 an intentional decision that gives students access to real data and real insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe choose publicly traded companies because students can dig in and find real research,\u201d Brenda Geib-Swanson<\/a>, Lecturer of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know yet, so exploring everything \u2013 from marketing to logistics to organizational structure \u2013 opens their eyes to how businesses actually operate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, every company touched the logistics industry: shipping, fuel, warehousing, and the many layers of supply chain work that shape how products move through the world. For many students, it\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve seen how interconnected business truly is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turning point of the semester comes during the final four weeks, when teams enter what Professor Geib-Swanson calls the \u201csustainability sprint.\u201d After uncovering a sustainability issue within their chosen company \u2013 whether it\u2019s emissions, waste, inefficiency, or something less obvious \u2013 they begin ideating a bold, research-backed solution. They sketch, test, revise, and refine, often discovering that the solution they start with is not the one they end up championing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSustainability is a hot topic, and we want them to think creatively,\u201d Professor Geib-Swanson said. \u201cThis is where they practice ideation, problem solving, business writing, and business presenting. Even if they won\u2019t become entrepreneurs, they still need those skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For first-year exploratory business student Charlotte Potts<\/a>, the sprint revealed a challenge she didn\u2019t expect to enjoy. \u201cI\u2019m not a numbers person, so the toughest part was getting them right,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I ended up handling the cost-benefit analysis, and seeing everything come together \u2013 and actually be accurate \u2013 felt really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the sprint, every team produces a research poster, a one-minute elevator pitch, and a full 4\u20137 minute presentation. Each class section votes on a winner, and those teams advance to one of the most anticipated traditions of the semester: the Top Dawg First-Year Competition, where section winners pitch to a panel of business professionals. The ultimate Top Dawg earns an automatic A and bragging rights that last long past finals week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really fun,\u201d Professor Geib-Swanson said. \u201cThe energy, the ideas, the excitement \u2013 students surprise us every year with how far they take this project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the semester, the transformation is unmistakable. Students who walked in unsure of what business school might look like leave with real experience in ideation, creativity, innovation, and complex problem solving. They\u2019ve researched real companies, uncovered meaningful sustainability challenges, and learned how to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently. They\u2019ve stretched themselves, surprised themselves, and discovered something essential about who they are and who they\u2019re becoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, Top Dawg is the defining moment \u2013 the culmination of a semester of hard work, curiosity, and creativity. For others, it\u2019s simply the spark \u2013 the moment they realize they are capable of thinking like a business leader long before they\u2019ve completed their first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to be open to learning as much as you can. You\u2019ll get out of this what you put into it,\u201d Charlotte said. \u201cProblem-solving, teamwork, communicating \u2013 these are skills I know I\u2019ll use in future classes and in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before most first-year students have even settled into campus life, they\u2019re handed a challenge: Here\u2019s a real company. Here\u2019s a problem. Now go figure out what to do about it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the heartbeat of the First-Year Business Experience (FBE), a course that throws students into the world of business from day one, letting them learn by building, creating, presenting, and discovering. It\u2019s the class that nudges them out of the familiar and into the mindset of someone who asks hard questions, digs for answers, and thinks like a business professional from the start.<\/p>\n

Teams begin the semester by diving into a publicly traded company \u2013 an intentional decision that gives students access to real data and real insight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,29],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-enterprise-innovation-enterprise","category-innovation-enterprise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}