Thought Leadership

Africa Powering Digital Transformation

April 5, 2021

Digital transformation plays a central role in the sustainable development of Africa. Yet the continent does not yet have the tech talent to enable this transformation. How do we develop the skills to support the needed investment? How can business, academia, government, and civil society work together to create an environment that unlocks the full potential of Africa’s aspiring entrepreneurs? Can business schools and universities take the lead in connecting diverse talent needed to accelerate innovation? The fifth and final session in the Talent for Africa series aimed to answer these questions.

Austin’s Five Forces Model for Transformation

March 11, 2021

New beginnings (such as the current pandemic) bring about opportunities for transformation if we suppress current realities and augment possibilities. This enables us to adopt agile strategies to create new systems which then become our new realities. I have codified below, the relation between Transformation, Vision, Team, Time, Resources and Resolve in a model which… Read more >

Women and Business Education: It’s About Realizing Our Full Potential

March 3, 2021

When I was a teenager one of the popular television news magazines aired a segment about women who wanted to become firefighters. Although I’ve lost track of the details, I will never forget my reaction. It was nothing short of a profound awakening. In the segment, women candidates were shown doing physically demanding tests, such… Read more >

Leadership is About Asking the Right Questions

March 1, 2021

Many important questions need to asked today by business school leaders as we start the slow process of coming out of the Covid pandemic and reshaping business school education for a sustainable and inclusive future. Determining which questions to ask is the first and important challenge for a business school leader. If you get this right, you have already overcome the most important challenge of leadership and made significant progress towards your goals.

Evolution of the Case Method with The Case Centre

February 8, 2021

In anticipation of #worldcaseteachingday, we were honored to be joined by the Director of The Case Centre, Richard McCracken, who discussed the evolution and future of case teaching and writing with leaders from GBSN member schools at our February Cross-Border Collab.

5 Ways B-Schools Can Accelerate SDG Progress in the Context of Covid-19

February 6, 2021

It’s not as if the world was on track to achieve the by 2030. Of the 38 targets assessed in, the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development declared we hadn’t made sufficient progress on 37 of them. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact across all 17 Goals and threatens to turn back progress by years in several areas, such as poverty, hunger, education, and justice.

Meanwhile, in business schools, scholars have been engaged in an epic struggle to replace the dominant intellectual foundations of business with new ones that better reflect the needs of society and the changing rules of business. While there has been steady progress, anyone familiar with higher education knows that paradigm shifts can be painfully slow. It’s not just about what we should start teaching, it is especially challenging to identify and remove the content we should stop teaching.

Africa’s Talent Challenges in a Changing World

January 20, 2021

This week, GBSN and Ecobank Academy launched the Talent for Africa Virtual Forum — the first of many partnership projects.  The first session, entitled, “Africa’s Talent Challenges in a Changing World” launched the series by covering thought-provoking topics such as talent challenges, the growth of the informal economy, and what type of education is truly… Read more >

Chairman’s Corner: A Year Full of Hope Ahead

January 14, 2021

“We should actively seek to spread the gift of education to more. This can be our important contribution to help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. We have to recommit ourselves and our institutions to creating a better future – one that is more inclusive and sustainable.”

What is Impact?

January 10, 2021

Impact is the provable benefits of research in the real world. It’s not judged by traditional methods – such as citations – simply appraised by factors we can see and feel in wider society. Impact emerges differently across various disciplines, but ultimately it is about connecting academic research to the world around us.
It is also driven by other dynamics, including funder requirements, research assessments and, of course, societal shifts and changing environments. While these are clear points of focus, the real significance comes from making impact meaningful to you, your partners and your research. We believe that maximum benefit comes from planning impact – enabling you to create and navigate compelling pathways for your research.
Consider the definition of ‘impact’…

Leading High Performing Teams in Turbulent Times

December 28, 2020

Professor Manfred Kets de Vries and professor Graham Ward from INSEAD have a discussion on how the psychodynamic orientation to leadership can be helpful to guide people through the present crisis. Referring to Kets de Vries’ recent eBook, Journeys into Coronavirus Land: Lessons from the Pandemic, leadership in times of crisis is one of the subjects.