NANCY'S MISSION
Bringing new ideas from all over the world to people all over the world.
To be a bridge across different fields, cultures, and people to find ideas that help organizations and people do things differently to get better.
N.K. Napier scours the world for ideas from Vietnam to Botswana to her own backyard of Boise, Idaho (USA). Many of those ideas have helped diverse organizations, from football to a jail, from software to theater, build leadership and creativity. In addition, she received two of Vietnam’s top medals given to foreigners for contributions to education in Vietnam and for helping to build friendship between the U.S. and Vietnam.
Through luck, grit, and perseverance, N.K. Napier had the opportunity to help establish Vietnam’s first international standard business school in Hanoi. What began as a one-year program to deliver her university’s MBA degree became a nine-year-long, $8.5 million project, funded by Sweden and the U.S. that was, essentially, a new venture start up. She learned, wrote, and met many fascinating people over the years.
MORE ABOUT NANCY
Distinguished Professor Emerita at Boise State University (USA), and a former Adjunct Professor at Aalborg University (Denmark), N.K. Napier teaches strategy and creativity, coaches executives and leads Boise State University’s one-week Executive MBA residency to Vietnam.
She first went to Hanoi in 1994, joining a project that helped to establish the country's first international standard business school at the National Economics University. After the project, she taught periodically for the university and did research with numerous colleagues.
Because life is not just research and teaching, Napier reached out to leaders and managers in other formats. She co-created and hosted NPR local affiliate’s Idaho Business Matters, was a regular guest on KTVB Channel 7’s Noon News, wrote for Forbes Vietnam, and continues to write for blogs for Psychologytoday.com and the Idaho Statesman. In the last few years, she has received two of Vietnam’s top honors for foreigners, the Medal of Honor, for contributing to the advancement of education in the country, and the Medal of Friendship for helping to build relationships between the U.S. and Vietnam
After 35+ years in the academic and research world, N.K. Napier is embarking on something completely new: Fiction Writing, which offers her the joys and challenges of being a beginner again.
As a child, my family “argued” for the sake of argument. You could take any position, but had to defend it, with logic and facts. Sometimes, in the midst of a discussion, one of my parents would switch sides and argue the opposite position. I learned that ideas become stronger when they are challenged, that brains become more nimble when they face competent opposition, and that it's possible to disagree and agree.
During these days of such division, within families and beyond, I yearn for a way to have discussions, even arguments, that build toward something better, stronger, more creative. I would wish for a movement that brings back learning how to argue as a sport, as a way to learn, and as a way to create a new direction and solutions to problems. Right now, discussion feels like a tennis match where a point goes back and forth but there is no gain on either side.
~ N.K. Napier
