The inspiration behind a unique class about business

How does a new course quickly become a must-take class among honor students from across the Rutgers University campus? Rutgers Business School professor Mason Ameri explains what went into developing the Business of Everything. The class begins its second year in September with a line up of corporate and academic speakers.

What was the thinking behind creating a new class about business concepts for honors students across Rutgers University?

Once the Honors College and Honors Program came together across the New Brunswick campus, I kept coming back to a simple idea: business touches everything. No matter what a student studies, they are going to enter a world shaped by organizations, logistics, decisions, resources, people, and power. This course was built to help Honors students see that early. To step back, look across disciplines, and realize that business is not some isolated thing over there. It’s part of how the world moves.

Why did you choose to structure the class with guest speakers, written reflections, no tests, and an emphasis on class participation?

Because that felt more real. I’m building a curriculum for 2026, not 1996. Students want more from RBS and from the Honors College than memorizing material and handing it back on an exam. They want to wrestle with ideas, hear from people who have actually lived the work, and make sense of it for themselves. That is how curiosity grows. The reflections and participation make space for that. To me, that is where business education needs to go.

What are you hoping Rutgers Honors students gain by taking this course?

A stronger feel for the business basics, yes. And selfishly, I keep coming back to leadership and humility. I want students to understand early that leadership is not about being above others. It is about how you carry responsibility, how you treat people with dignity, and knowing that title alone doesn’t warrant followership.

Why did you choose Simon Sinek’s Start with Why as the only required textbook for the class?

Because “why” matters. It is easy to get pulled along by momentum, ambition, or expectation. But purpose grounds you. That book gives students a simple way into a bigger question: what is driving you, really? And if they can start asking that now, they are already ahead.

After two semesters of teaching the class, what has been the most surprising outcome or realization?

How hungry students are for improving their presence. Their communication. Their confidence. The soft skills people like tocall soft, even though they are often the hardest ones to build. When students were pushed to speak, to present, to really show up, they lit up. That stayed with me. It told me there is real room within the RBS and Honors curricula to build something that pushes back against the deskilling so many people now worry AI may accelerate.