Dr. Jake Smith, Instructor, Louisiana State University

Ikigai Stories

Sam talks with Jake, Instructor at the Flores MBA Program at Louisiana State University, where he teaches management classes with an emphasis on leadership, organizational culture, and motivation. Jake spent nearly a decade in financial services, with much of his time in Australia, where he eventually noticed his job satisfaction and motivation on the decline. The question, "If money didn't matter, what would I do?", led him to pivot his career toward the PhD path. Jake shares a beautiful story about honoring his mother's legacy of compassion by incorporating kindness and gratitude assignments into his curriculum.