09/03/2026
Business judgment gets better when students can test their thinking with someone who lived the decision.
Today in Prof. Connelly’s BUS 101: Business and Society, students had the opportunity to learn directly from hospitality leader and entrepreneur Terry Coughlin.
Terry joined the class to help students test their thinking on stakeholder analysis through the Union Square Hospitality Group case examining its 2020 decision about whether to rescind its Hospitality Included approach to tipping and employee compensation.
Drawing on 22 years with Union Square Hospitality Group, including service as a Managing Partner and Director of Operations, Terry helped students look at the decision from multiple perspectives — front-of-house and back-of-house employees, customers, management and other stakeholders. He responded to students’ questions, challenged some of their assumptions, and shared what the decision looked like from inside the organization.
Today, Terry is an entrepreneur and co-owner/innkeeper of Granville House in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a business he and his wife, Terri, created after their careers with USHG.
A great example of what we want students to experience at Muhlenberg: take a framework from the classroom, apply it to a real business decision, and engage directly with a leader who lived it.
Thank you, Terry, for spending time with our students and making the conversation so engaging.
