Creative Entrepreneurship and the Transformation Economy

A Six-Week Online Course with Marco Robledo, PhD

March 23rd - May 4th

Change is not only happening faster than ever before, it is also occurring on a larger and more unpredictable scale. As the challenges facing the human species become more complex, the imperative for individual and collective adaptation and evolution is more urgent and important than ever.

Business, education, and psychology practitioners alike are called to creatively engage with the emerging transformation economy to establish flourishing practitioner habitats in emerging socio-cultural ecosystems.

The "business of transformation" is about partnering with the consumer towards empowering them in transforming their identity and life in ways they aspire to and in ways that foster mutual well-being.

This course explores the process of personal transformation, how practitioners can support it, and how customer transformation emerges and consolidates in this context. This is relevant for entrepreneurial practitioners in business, education, and psychology preparing for success as coaches, facilitators, managers, leaders, and business entrepreneurs. This meaningful and relatively new field offers significant business and right-livelihood opportunities.

Course participants will learn about the key trends and forces shaping the transformation economy and how to identify opportunities for creating a practitioner ecosystem. Through a combination of individual, group, and in-class analyses and projects, participants will develop the skills and knowledge needed to succeed as creative entrepreneurs in the transformation economy.

Course Faculty

Marco Robledo

Marco Antonio Robledo PhD is a faculty member at Meridian University, where he teaches courses on entrepreneurship and the transformation economy. Marco is a Professor at the Department of Business and Economics at the University of the Balearics where he serves as the Director of the MBA Program, Director of the School of Tourism EUTFM, and Vice-director of the Laboratory of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation.

Transformation is the common thread in everything he does. In fact, he defines himself as a change agent that helps organizations and individuals in their transformation towards higher levels of development and consciousness.

His research focuses on Strategic Management, Quality Management, and Organizational Theory with a special interest in the study of New Organizational Paradigms and the Future of Work. His expertise includes perspectives and models such as teal organizations, holacracy, sociocracy 3.0, conscious capitalism, the economy of the common good, and B corps.

In 2020 he published a book on 3D Management which pioneers the application of Integral Theory to business. His theory of 3D-Management is the first integrally evolved management metatheory. This disruptive theory denies the imperialism of the bottom line and replaces it with a harmonic triumvirate that takes equally into account profit, people, planet, and purpose.

Finally, he is a pioneer in the study of the Transformation Economy, which empowers the consumer’s need for self-actualization through authentic and meaningful experiences that makes them stretch, learn, and grow into new ways of being and engaging with the world.

Course Modules

Module One

Who Can I Be? Understanding Transformation

In Search of a New Me
Types of Transformation
Structural Development: Mindsets and Meaning
Stages, States, and Lines of Consciousness

Module Two

The Emergence of the Transformation Economy

Evolution of Economic Progress
The EC Model
Stages of Consumer Evolution

Module Three

Entrepreneurship: Designing and Launching a Transformation Business

Entrepreneurial Mindset
Designing and Communicating the Purpose of Your Organization
Partnership is the Key: Practices that Promote Shared Value

Module Four

Marketing the Transformation Business

Defining Your Target Customers
One-to-one Marketing: Adopting Customer-Dominant Logic
“Customer” as Client, Partner, Learner, Citizen
Relationship Marketing Sustains Transformation at All Levels: Individual, Team, Organization, Ecosystem

Module Five

Guiding Client Transformation

The Transformational Journey
Transcending the Archetypes We Live By
Overcoming Immunity to Change
Integral Transformation

Module Six

Managing the Transformation Business

Theory and Practice of 3-D Management
Designing Memorable Experiences for Transformational Outcomes
Process Design and Customer Journey Maps

Module Seven

Sustaining and Reinventing the Transformation Business

Managing for Sustained Entrepreneurship
Managing for Scaling, While Still Innovating
Fostering Value Ecosystems
Coaching and Motivation

Online Course Format

Course Structure

Six-week online course from March 23, 2023 through May 4, 2023
Six live 75-minute Zoom sessions with faculty held Thursdays at 9:00 am PT (Pacific Time) and recorded for participants who cannot join every session live
Resources, networking, and emergent community outcomes
Content and collaboration via Meridian's social learning platform

Course Schedule

March 23rd at 9 am PT - First live course session
March 30th at 9 am PT - Second live course session
April 6th - No course session - Spring Break
April 13th at 9 am PT - Third live course session
April 20th at 9 am PT - Fourth live course session
April 27th at 9 am PT - Fifth live course session
May 4th at 9 am PT - Sixth live course session

Course Fees

$250, including the synchronous course video calls (with access to recordings until one month after the course ends), online learning platform access, participation in the course learning community, and written course resources.

Accreditation

Meridian University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) - a higher education accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education. WASC is also the accreditor for Stanford University, UCLA, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Frequently Asked Questions

Meridian’s online courses are conducted via the University's own learning platform.

Our online courses promote community learning, through strong interactive engagement with fellow students and faculty as well as live video sessions with faculty.

You will need an email account, a high-speed internet connection, and access to a computer, iOS or Android device.

If you are planning to attend the course video calls live, you will need a webcam and microphone for your device. (Course video calls are conducted with participants video-enabled.)

Live 75-min video sessions with faculty and fellow students will be conducted throughout the course. Each week's live video call will be recorded and posted on the course platform.

Video presentations, readings, discussions and learning activities will be accessible asynchronously and may be completed on participants' own schedule. Course resources and recordings will remain available up to 30 days after the close of the course.

Full refunds are available until two (2) days before the course begins, by request via email.

You do not need to apply to a Meridian graduate degree program to take this online course. This course is one of Meridian’s open-enrollment courses

The course support team will be available to assist from start to finish. Please send your questions/requests/issues to openenrollment@meridianuniversity.edu

Convening faculty generally lead each live session. Contributing faculty typically contribute in one of the live course sessions. Course resources address the work of both convening and contributing faculty.

Meridian has institutional and federal financial aid options for our graduate degree programs. This open enrollment course does not have financial aid or payment plans available.