Building Beyond @GBSNonline

Two months ago, we announced something new and different would take the place of our regular annual conference this year. It would be more inclusive and reflect a strong commitment to action in pursuing our mission. And it would demonstrate support for the schools that make our mission achievable. We named it GBSN Beyond and went to work. Since then it has been exciting to work with the team, our partners, and our members to build GBSN Beyond. 

Already more nearly 40 schools have registered from 30 countries. Including Ghana, Philippines, United States, France, Brazil, India, Canada, Finland, UK, Australia, Cambodia, Netherlands, Thailand, Russia, Egypt, China, Colombia, Switzerland, Portugal, Lebanon, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Rwanda, and more. And tonight, as I was writing this blog, I received messages from colleagues in Indonesia and Malaysia saying that they will join us for Beyond. A list of registered schools can be found on the website.

It has been especially energizing to see the number and diversity of individual participants rise. Experiences in GBSN Beyond are for Students, Faculty, and Administrators in business schools and universities. The schools have already generated well over 250 individual registrations – and more than 60 percent are students signing up to participate in the HUMLOG Challenge, an international team competition we are running in partnership with Hanken School of Economics’ Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute (HUMLOG Institute). 

The student track also features career development opportunities, including a virtual career fair we are offering in partnership with a dynamic company called Localized, which was started to connect diaspora to young people in their home countries. Complementing the career fair, Beyond provides access to workshops and webinars develop valuable learning skills, such as a session on learning with cases offered by the Case Centre, and practical job search tips from leading career services professionals—an effort for which we collaborated with MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance.

Business faculty are also going Beyond. Many are joining our Faculty Simulation Lab a partnership with Capsim to turn regionally-relevant content into meaningful experiential learning modules. We know faculty are busy, so we designed the lab as a quick and easy experience using the award-winning CapsimInbox authoring platform. In addition to developing valuable skills, each author will have the opportunity to work with Caspsim to bring their simulation to market and earn royalties. The author(s) of the best simulation also receives $5,000 in prize money. In addition to the Lab, GBSN Beyond includes a series of workshop and webinars to enhance the virtual teaching skills as part of the Faculty Track.

Leaders in business schools are signing up for roundtable discussions on the following topics:

1. The Future of Experiential Learning (in partnership with Leaders of Experiential Project-Based Education (LEPE) and LX Consortium) 
2. The Role of Business Schools in Building More Inclusive Societies
3. Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Business Schools

These roundtables are being led by GBSN member schools, such as MIT Sloan, INSEAD, Tuck School of Business, Fundação Dom Cabral, University of Stellenbosch, Gies College of Business, Asia School of Business, and Miami Herbert Business School. The roundtables are part of the Leadership Track, which includes leadership development experiences, workshops, and webinars—including a digital transformation session for deans. 

All of these experiences culminate in a virtual conference, which includes provocative keynotes and panel discussions designed to take business schools beyond their comfort zone. We are building sessions on the climate change imperative, globalization and whether it is reversing, reducing inequality, and fixing capitalism. All students, faculty, and leaders from registered schools are invited to the virtual conference regardless of whether they participated in the tracks or core experiences. Indeed, we’ll enlist their help in judging the competitions. We will release the reports of the roundtable discussions with help from thought leader and partner, CarringtonCrisp. We also have planned a number of networking, cultural, and well-begin sessions, as well as a few surprises for participants.
GBSN Beyond is open to all quality business schools worldwide—a singular registration fee per institution means an unlimited number of persons from the institution will be able to register and participate in any of the offerings. For more information about joining GBSN Beyond, visit www.gbsn.org/beyond or message me on twitter, LinkedIn or by email.

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• GBSN CEO