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 form the following Leadership Roundtables.
The Role of Business Schools in Building More Inclusive Societies
- André Almeida, Fundação Dom Cabral
- Karoline Mortensen, University of Miami Herbert Business School
- Arnold Smit, University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB)
Future of Experiential Learning
- Andrew Allen, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Bryan Andriano, George Washington University.
- Michellana Jester, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Kerry Laufer, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
- Shannon McKeen. LEPE and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
- Loredana Padurean, Asia School of Business
Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Business Schools
- Stephanie Woerner, MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research
- Balagopal Vissa, INSEAD
We established three objectives for the roundtables. The first two were to (1) facilitate peer-to-peer sharing and (2) connect leaders across schools internationally. We built the agendas accordingly—to enable participants to meet and talk with each other, sharing ideas and strategies.
It is safe to say that these objectives were achieved. The roundtables attracted 55 business school leaders from 40 institutions in 16 countries. Each of the three roundtable groups met twice in October, for 90 minutes each time for a total of six meetings and nine hours. The meetings were relaxed and engaging, with participants sharing openly about their challenges, as well as the successes.
That brings us to the third objective. The idea was to pose the right questions, listen carefully to capture the themes in the dialogue, and share what we learned with the rest of the GBSN community. Since the meetings concluded, we’ve been sorting through the transcripts, notes, and recordings, connecting the dots and fleshing out the ideas. We are now working with partner and sponsor CarringtonCrisp to produce reports, which will be released during the panel sessions featuring leadership team members. Please join us to be the first to receive these reports.
The Role of Business Schools in Building More Inclusive Societies
November 9, 2020 I 10:30 am EST, 4:30 pm CEST, 5:30 pm CAT, 9:00 pm IST, 11:30 CST
Future of Experiential Learning
November 10, 2020 I 10:45 am EST, 4:45 pm CEST, 5:45 pm CAT, 9:15 pm IST, 11:45 CST
Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Business Schools
November 12, 2020 I 10:30 am EST 4:30 pm CEST, 5:30 pm CAT, 9:00 pm IST, 11:30 CST
November 13, 2020 I 3:00 am CEST, 4:00 am CAT, 7:30 am IST, 10:00 CST
We are anxious to share the roundtable reports. For now, I want to conclude with a few general observations about the roundtables. While each had its own personality, the roundtables had three things in common. First, local context played an important role. Participants often began their contributions by a description of their location, history or culture of the institution, economic and political environment, and/or the current COVID-19 situation in their country.
Second, there was a serious commitment to societal impact in the roundtables. This societal emphasis was obviously expected in the inclusive societies roundtable. But it was also evident in the types of experiential projects that schools want to curate for their students and the kinds of new ventures that schools want to help communities build.
Third, across all three roundtables, it was clear that business schools everywhere and of all types are open for innovation. I’ve been working closely with business school leaders for two decades and I’ve never seen them so open to change—and to redefining boundaries of business education.
We look forward to seeing you next week, for the roundtable panel discussions and more.
Dan LeClair is the CEO of the Global Business School Network