<p>As academic director of the <a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/explore/degrees-and-programs/ms-in-entrepreneurship-and-management.html">MS in Entrepreneurship and Management</a> program at NYU SPS, Clinical Assistant Professor Noa Gafni brings a multifaceted background across a wide range of business disciplines to the table. “My path has involved entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship across sectors,” Gafni shares.</p> <p>“I have lived and worked across five continents, speak three languages, and have spent my career at the intersection of business strategy, social innovation, and leadership development,” she tells us. Before entering academia, Gafni founded two companies and served on the founding team of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. Her writing has appeared in the <i>Harvard Business Review, The New York Times</i>, and <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, and she has advised C‑suite executives on how to navigate complex strategic challenges.</p> <p>“What brought me to SPS was a genuinely rare opportunity: to build something from the ground up that reflects what entrepreneurship education should be now,” she says. The MS in Entrepreneurship &amp; Management, which she helped shape, is designed for a world defined by rapid technological change, geopolitical uncertainty, and the need for leaders who can create meaningful impact. “NYU SPS’s commitment to applied learning made this the right place to do that work.”</p>

<p>Gafni sees teaching as “an opportunity to meet brilliant people who push [her] thinking.” What she values most about teaching is “the moment a student connects what we're discussing in class to a decision they're facing in real life. That's when learning becomes leadership.”</p>

<p>Gafni’s mission is to ensure that master’s candidates graduate the program with a clear understanding of what sets great entrepreneurs apart from the pack. “AI can generate a business plan in five minutes,” she says. “What it cannot do is tell you which problem is worth solving. Human wisdom, creativity, and judgment are our true competitive advantages.” Gafni encourages students to recognize that macro-forces she defines as: technology, geopolitics, society, environment, and economy are “reshaping every industry from the outside in.”</p> <p>She urges students to “stop treating [ESG] as a reporting framework and start treating it as a strategic lens. This program is not designed to give you all the answers. It's designed to make you better at asking the right questions.” Gafni offers a refreshing perspective to tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and managers: “The world doesn't need more people who fit a particular founder archetype,” she says, “it needs more people who can lead through complexity with curiosity, resilience, and purpose.”</p>