How interdisciplinary thinking fuels meaningful entrepreneurship and innovation

In this episode, we are joined by Joe Steensma, Professor of Public Health and Social Entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis, to explore how higher education can reclaim its core purpose: Teaching people to think boldly, independently, and imaginatively. Joe shares why the future of innovation will not come from deeper silos, but from broader ways of seeing, blending science with systems thinking, creativity with problem-solving, and knowledge with understanding.

Drawing from a career that spans founding companies, advising governments, scaling environmental ventures, and teaching at leading institutions, Joe reflects on why imagination has become undervalued, how over-vocationalisation is narrowing the impact of universities, and why interdisciplinary perspectives are essential for solving complex global challenges. From bird behaviour to biological systems to microscopes that reveal different “truths” under different light, his stories illuminate what it really takes to nurture revolutionary thinkers in an age of information abundance.

You can read a summary below, and listen to the full interview in our podcast:

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Summary

The journey from startup founder to academic innovator

Joe describes his path into academia not as a conventional career change but as a long-held intention shaped by early mentors and an innate desire to understand the world deeply. After founding and scaling multiple companies in environmental and occupational health, he transitioned into academia with a vision of becoming the type of professor who is “so lost in curiosity” that learning feels electric.

His entrepreneurial journey taught him that social capital matters, that networks are fuel rather than burden, and that scientists carry the “hard stuff” — analytical depth, technical mastery, and problem-framing skills — that can translate into transformational innovation when paired with imaginative thinking.

Why imagination matters more than information

Throughout the conversation, Joe argues that higher education has drifted toward prioritising information transfer over imagination, reducing students’ ability to think independently or synthesise concepts across disciplines.

We’ve overvalued information and undervalued imagination.

Knowledge, he explains, is everywhere. What universities must cultivate now is understanding — the ability to connect ideas, see context, question assumptions, and imagine entirely new possibilities. His metaphor of the microscope illustrates this vividly: magnification matters less than the type of light you shine. Different intellectual lenses reveal different truths.

For Joe, this return to synthesis and perspective-shifting is essential to forming responsible innovators capable of designing solutions that do more good than harm.

Liberal arts, STEM, and the crisis of over-vocationalisation

Joe highlights a growing challenge: universities around the world are drifting toward vocational training at the expense of liberal arts education, which historically formed the backbone of independent thinking and revolutionary problem-solving.

The market is screaming to us, and higher education isn’t listening.

When every discipline becomes vocationalised, the value proposition of each type of institution becomes muddled. Liberal arts perspectives — history, philosophy, literature, comparative thought — provide the “light” necessary to understand systems holistically. Polytechnical education keeps the trains running; liberal arts imagines new types of trains altogether.

Entrepreneurship, he insists, should be taught differently across educational models, aligned with their pedagogical purpose rather than forced into a single framework.

Teaching through discovery, challenge, and real problems

For Joe, universities must redesign learning environments to encourage deep inquiry and interdisciplinary problem-solving. That requires removing distractions, teaching without technology when possible, and placing real-world problems at the centre of learning.

He envisions capstone experiences where students confront complex challenges — environmental crises, social issues, global health problems — and learn to navigate them using synthesis, creativity, and guidance from faculty only when needed. This form of challenge-based learning, rooted in discovery and imagination, mirrors how innovation happens outside the classroom.

What higher education can learn from birds and biological systems

Closer to the end of the chat, Joe turns to his lifelong passion: ornithology. Birds, he explains, are extraordinary teachers of efficiency, niche specialisation, and adaptive strategy.

Competition should help you get better at your niche.

Universities, like biological organisms, often waste energy on unnecessary expansion or performative competition. Birds, by contrast, optimise based on environment, feedback loops, and available resources — laying only the number of eggs the ecosystem can sustain. Applying biological logic to universities could help them become more focused, efficient, and aligned with their true purpose. This perspective also shaped Joe’s entrepreneurial success: treating operations like cells, designing structures based on natural systems, and constantly asking, “What would biology do?”

Returning to the purpose of higher education

As the conversation comes to an end, Joe leaves us with a call to action for university leaders and educators:

In a world overloaded with information, universities must reclaim their role as cultivators of imagination, understanding and responsible innovation. By fostering interdisciplinary thinking, embracing complexity, and restoring the joy of discovery, institutions can prepare students not just to navigate the future, but to shape it with originality and purpose.

Ready for more?

Joe Steensma’s contribution is part of the Future of Universities Thoughtbook | Entrepreneurial Edition, featuring insights from 35 global thought leaders. Download the full book for free until December 31st and explore what the next generation of higher education could look like.

And if you want to learn how teaching practices and partnerships are currently evolving to meet modern educational needs, the article Cooperation in education: Transforming learning through pedagogies and partnerships outlines collaborative approaches that support stronger engagement and capability development.

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