At an upcoming on-campus event, Jared Schoch will discuss the lessons he learned at Daniels and the blueprint for a different way of doing business.
Jared Schoch
When Jared Schoch (MBA 2002) arrived at the University of Denver in 2000, fresh off a career in the technology sector, he was already a person of faith who valued integrity. But what he found at the Daniels College of Business was a way to translate those values into a business philosophy.
The curriculum included three dedicated courses in business ethics, along with classes on principle-based leadership and the responsibilities businesses have to their employees, communities and the environment. “I was already a pretty high-integrity, soulful, spiritual person, but it really took it to a whole other level,” Schoch said.
Schoch remembers the cumulative effect of studying hundreds of business cases, examining corporate failures, and considering what leads organizations astray. At the time, the scandal and subsequent collapse of energy company Enron was fresh in everyone’s minds and a perfect example, he said, of what could happen when putting financial success ahead of ethical responsibility.
More than two decades later, those ethics lessons remain central to his business journey, including how he runs TurningPoint Energy, a solar development company he founded in 2014 that has grown from $40,000 in annual revenue in its first year to more than $100 million in recent years.
“It’s a cornerstone to how I’ve done business since I left,” he said.
That journey, and the lessons it taught him about leadership, is the subject of Schoch’s forthcoming memoir, “SOLAR COASTER: The Untold Story of the Solar Industry and One Man’s Journey Leading with Soul,” hitting shelves in November. The book traces the evolution of the solar industry alongside his personal and professional experiences, exploring what he calls “soul-based leadership.”
On Nov. 12, Schoch will discuss his book with Daniels College of Business Dean Naomi Boyd at an on-campus reception. RSVP to the event, which includes refreshments and networking opportunities.
Profitable and purposeful
Schoch built TurningPoint around the conviction that a company can be both profitable and purposeful. Its approach includes sharing project profitability with employees and investing in the communities where it develops solar projects. At previous solar companies, Schoch saw how those projects could deliver benefits beyond electricity, creating jobs, generating property-tax revenue and supporting local needs. He made community investment a business priority, drawing on the emphasis on giving back that he encountered at Daniels.
“Money is not the purpose of a business,” he said. “Purpose is the purpose of a business.”
That commitment extends to philanthropy. TurningPoint, Schoch and his wife have given millions of dollars to causes focused on the environment, spirituality, homelessness and education.
His choice of industry was driven by a similar sense of purpose. After watching Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Schoch recalls thinking, “I feel like I need to spend the rest of my life doing something about this.” He joined the emerging solar industry believing it could transform the world.
Schoch saw renewable energy as an opportunity to address one of humanity’s greatest challenges while strengthening energy security and benefiting communities. Still, the work proved more challenging than he anticipated.
After years of corporate growth, extensive travel and demanding workweeks, Schoch began to recognize the personal costs of pursuing success on conventional terms. After his wife challenged him to reconsider the toll his career was taking on their family, he stepped away from corporate leadership and took a sabbatical to reassess his priorities before building TurningPoint around a different vision.
In his book, Schoch writes candidly about those setbacks, as well as his successes. At the heart of his philosophy is the belief that leaders must examine what motivates them and whether their work reflects their values. For him, the soul serves as a moral compass, helping people navigate difficult decisions and find meaning in what they do.
“You don’t have a business life and a personal life,” he said. “You just have one life.”