Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Accelerator Adviser Profile Part IV: Elizabeth Thornton

We are featuring profiles of our Butler Venture Accelerator advisers. Check back for updates!

Happy, Fearless, Objective, these three words describe Elizabeth Thorton. I had the pleasure of interviewing Thorton, Professor of Management Practice, Babson Executive Education and Adjunct Lecturer in Entrepreneurship. She is also Babson’s first Chief Diversity Officer.

Elizabeth Thornton

Elizabeth Thornton

According to Professor Thorton, entrepreneurship is a process of objective discovery of a sustainable, repeatable and scalable business model. She enjoys teaching more than anyone else. She loves interacting with the students. She has been very active even outside of the classroom. Professor Thorton is the advisor for the “Pursue” stage of the Butler Venture Accelerator. She has been part of the Accelerator program for about two years. She helps students move to the launch stage by trying to help them reach their goals. Thornton believes that the world needs an entrepreneur who is able to create a solution to the world problems. Professor Thorton teaches from experience. She stated “The venture that I learned the most is the venture where I lost my million dollars.” Thornton gives them advice based on her experience. She teaches entrepreneurs to be objective.

Recently, Professor Thorton published a book called The Objective Leader. This book is about how to leverage the power of seeing things as they are. Take things less personally and see things more clearly and make better decisions. If you are a student who loves to eat popcorn and who loves to talk about the objective aspect of business, Professor Thorton would love to meet with you.