Thought Leadership

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.

Sharing Best Practices in the New World of Blended Learning

December 8, 2020

The 2020 calendar year has brought many novel experiences in teaching for most faculty. Our campuses have been closed for months and we have been forced to move our classes online. Teaching online has brought into stark reality the complexities of delivering high quality learning experiences remotely. Not only did we have to adjust to… Read more >

GBSN Highlights from 2020 and Looking Ahead to 2021

December 7, 2020

We held our annual Members Meeting last Thursday, 3 December, with more than 50 participants from 30 countries. As with anything that GBSN does, the meeting was designed to be interactive and thought provoking. The agenda included a pre-meeting for Asian members, two networking breakout groups, an insightful presentation on “Skill, Reskill and Upskill –… Read more >

Reflecting on GBSN Beyond

November 20, 2020

Objective of the Conference As CEO Dan LeClair previously noted, the Global Business School Network planned its 2020 Annual Conference, GBSN Beyond, with three main objectives in mind: Inclusivity: We wanted to be more inclusive by engaging business students and faculty in addition to business school leaders. By reimagining the conference, we were also able… Read more >

World After COVID-19: Erika James, The Wharton School of Business

November 18, 2020

Erika James is Dean of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In conversation with Soumitra Dutta and Dan LeClair of GBSN, she discusses the importance of engagement and outreach when dealing with global crises, as well as the positive developments she has seen during the pandemic. The interview took place 12 weeks after… Read more >

Learning from the Leadership Roundtables at #GBSNBeyond

November 4, 2020

Next week’s GBSN Beyond Virtual Conference includes a series of panel discussions on the Leadership Roundtables that took place in October. What can you expect if you join us? It all started this past summer when we identified the three topics that GBSN leaders most wanted to talk about. We then invited experienced educators to… Read more >