Embracing the “why”

Words can say everything or nothing at all.

In business, an email to a co-worker about a project or a major C-suite presentation are meaningless if the conviction behind the message is missing. Business communication is an art best crafted through unmistakable authenticity.

In Professor Jenna Haugen’s core Management and Corporate Communication course in the Undergraduate Business Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, students master the fundamentals: correct grammar, the power of subtle word choices and using communication to build and sustain vital interpersonal relationships.

And they also quickly learn that the “why” matters just as much as the “how.”

“Professional presence is what we’re really talking about,” says Haugen. “Before you can be authentic, you have to know who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing. What do you really care about and why?”

This exploration starts right away. Haugen’s students pick an organization, focus on a challenge facing it and interview someone in that field. Over the semester, they learn how to tailor messages in an executive summary, an elevator pitch and a formal proposal outlining a solution to the challenge.

“By the end, there’s a pride that develops from the assignment,” says Haugen. “They see the importance of having that pride; it just clicks. When great leaders share their vision, what they’re really sharing is who they are.”

Haugen visits Yellowstone with her blue heeler, Cypher.

Haugen practices what she teaches. Early in her class, students don’t just learn more about each other and their own communication styles, but also a lot about Haugen.

She grew up on a small horse and cattle ranch in Marion, Kentucky, and her family spent summers traveling from town to town on a rodeo circuit. Between the ages of 5 and 14, Haugen competed in barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying from the day after school ended to the day before it started again.

A first-generation college student, Haugen earned a bachelor’s degree in corporate and organizational communication and a master’s in organizational communication from Western Kentucky University. She began her teaching career as a graduate assistant while pursuing a PhD in communication at the University of Kansas.

She was on the faculty at the University of Louisville for six years before joining UNC Kenan-Flagler in 2021. Her research focuses on experiential education, community partnerships and identity management.

Above all, Haugen is an insatiable adventurer. When she moved to Chapel Hill, she drove down in a lightly used, 27-foot RV she got for a steal. She parked in a campground in Mebane, North Carolina, where she still lives with her blue heeler, Cypher, and where many of her neighbors are enjoying retirement. They didn’t quite know what to make of her at first.

“The first two days I was in the campground, probably 10 people came by and the first thing they said was “Are you really a professor?” she says.

Home is technically here but it’s also wherever Haugen wants it to be. During summer breaks, she and Cypher take off on seven-week trips to wherever she wants. One summer they headed west to explore Yellowstone, the Tetons and Flaming Gorge. The next summer, they drove to Maine to see Acadia National Park.

Haugen’s RV in front of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming

She’s an adventurer at work, too. Soon after starting work at UNC, she created and often still leads a Global Immersion Elective (GIE) to Thailand centered on businesses with social missions.

“The business visits on the GIE are very powerful,” Haugen says. “We went to an organic farm and the grandson of the founder talked about his family, managing the business and marketing — all of the strategies we study. But to see it in action, to see the desire for social change, the transformative nature of the business and to see his authentic communication, that’s eye-opening.”

Soon after she started teaching at UNC Kenan-Flagler, she launched a fast-pitch competition where students give three-minute presentations to top business leaders about why it’s strategically important for them to work with philanthropic partners.

During the competition, she sees students who were once insecure about their communication skills command a room with remarkable ease. Seeing that transformation is perhaps Haugen’s biggest “why.”

“Our students have such big ideas; they’re so powerful,” she says. “I know they’re going to make such a difference in the world. Where we fit in is giving them the tools to do that. When we’re not really thinking through our communication and how it might impact other people, that’s when we fail.

“That’s the challenge, and that’s what I love about my job.”